The main reason for the Linux operating system not seeing widespread adoption is because of its multitude of distros. Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Mint… there are just so many choices, just like how when someone asks how to join the Fediverse people will response with “which instance?”
Who the fuck cares about instances and whatnot when an average grandma just wants to make a post on knitting in a supportive community? It really turns people off and without niche communities, there is no way Lemmy will grow any further than its current state.
Without niche communities, what are we going to talk about? Memes? Just programming-related stuff? (I can just surf stackoverflow for that) It can be fun for a while but without diversity, the site will just devolve into boredom and circlejerks. I love this place to death and really want to see it grow, but man, seeing how confusing it can be for an average user makes me anxious for changes.
edit: paragraphs & grammar
edit 2: I’m not saying the Fediverse should be something else. Just like someone here said it better than me, Fediverse can be as complicated under the hood as it wants, but the end user does not need to know that. It must be presented in a way as simple as possible, with plenty of signs and helpful directions.
I won’t nitpick how Linux is a kernel not an OS but how is it not widespread? It just runs basically the whole internet…
The reasons the average Joe doesn’t use it for their desktop are convenience (Windows and macOS come pre-installed) and that you can run into technical issues due to bad support by hardware vendors. The latter is a chicken/egg problem and will possibly never be resolved.
Anyway, I disagree it’s due to the number of choices - we don’t need monopolies. Your grocery store is full of different brands of cheese and all of them still stay in business.
Google has a monopoly on search, Youtube has a monopoly on videos and that helps aggregating interesting contents and users towards the product. Social media platforms thrive on user growth. I had Linux as a daily driver also (until it badly messed up my ssd), but customer support and friendliness are definitely limited parts about Linux that scare people away.
I’m willing to bet that between
I had Linux as a daily driver also
and
until it badly messed up my ssd
there are a number of systems management decisions you made.
The main reason for the Linux operating system not seeing widespread adoption is because of its multitude of distros.
No it isn’t - it’s because the vast majority of computer/laptop users just stick with the OS that comes installed on their device and probably aren’t even aware than installing a new one is even an option. Your grandma isn’t sitting there thinking “should I install Ubuntu or Fedora on my MacBook?”
Lemmy/Kbin do have something in common with Linux in that the Fediverse concept requires a certain amount of technical knowledge to understand, but it’s far easier to grasp that than it is to install Linux on your home computer.
Can’t blame her, they have some real bangers!
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Also because the mainstream manufacturers don’t want to have to support Linux.
There is less hardware support for Linux than Windows on laptops – largely because very cheaply made components just have their firmware loaded into them by the OS when it starts, and since they’re largely proprietary firmware they conflict with open source licenses.
Linux laptops are just flat out more expensive to make, because you have to use more expensive components that don’t do that, confirm compatibility, and have everything setup before you ship it. Also manufacturers don’t preinstall bloatware because they feel like it. It’s because they get paid. The kickbacks for preinstalling bloatwave well exceeds the cost of the Windows license.
So preinstalling Linux is more expensive component wise, support wise, and bloatware wise. There’s little reason for companies to do it, unless they’re trying to court software developers. Dell and Lenovo and others court software developers quite well. But there’s little incentive for them to try to increase Linux’s market share.
Please don’t do the one thing that it’s meant to do?
What you’ll end up with is Threads, do you want Threads?
maybe the better way is to tell the person where to signup, not ask them which instance they want to join, you choose for them
You mean like join-lemmy.org? Also taking away the option to choose / choosing for them is a very dangerous idea.
It shouldn’t be a s dangerous idea. It doesn’t matter what email service you’re signed for - you can still communicate with any one in the world. It should be the same for Lemmy. Lemmy UI should be improved to better search and present communities from all over the Fediverse. And join-lemmy should have a random link to a single registration page on a random instance. That will not only make the process better for end users, but will also manage the load between instances, making the whole network more resilient.
I don’t mean a website, I mean a friend. When I tell my friend to join Lemmy I should just link them direct to an instance for them to join instead of giving them 1000 choices
If the website does want to help you choose then maybe it could just use a simple flow chart or ask some questions to narrow down the choices
Of course I don’t want Threads. I’m just saying the user is being bombarded with information at the first step, which is bad product design.
I don’t disagree that the Fediverse has an image problem; the sign-up stage could be killing legitimate interest from the average user - I found the instances confusing too when starting out on Mastodon and Lemmy.
But obviously I don’t think anybody wants a Threads-type solution.
Maybe, to add on to what u/Die4Ever said about pointing users to an instance, the solution could be to have some sort of sign-up page that isn’t tied to an instance. Using a bunch of user-selected inputs (e.g. location, interests, etc.), it selects the best matching instance and the account is created on that instance. This could relieve the confusion at sign-up.
IDK just spitballing.
You know what I really hate about the worldwide web? All these different websites. It is so confusing, how is anyone going to remember them?
It won’t catch on until it’s one big website that does everything
As a linux user if 25+ years, you’re off on a bad foot with me from the beginning.
The base idea of ActivityPub is that we can’t let things get too big, because that draws attempts to takeover the userbase. There are already organized efforts beginning on Mastodon to mass defederate from any server (maston.social) that get’s to 51% of the total userbase because it would be an existential threat to all of ActivityPub if that happened. You’re basically asking starfleet to please ignore the prime directive.
