Milos wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 3:41 amBut then again switching to Linux from Windows also requires an effort for an average Joe, despite your experiences. Sure it is easier now than ever, but still not painless for most.
Sure it's an effort. Choosing a Linux distro (googling for "beginner Linux"), making a bootable USB stick under Windows (requires third party software), figuring out how to make a computer boot from the USB stick - at that point, 90% of the users are already out. That's something people don't do because they always let someone else install the OS - i.e. the computer manufacturer. So having someone to install Linux for them just puts Linux on a par in terms of outsourced effort.
Milos wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 11:22 amLinux running on Pi is certainly not the same Linux running on your desktop
The driver layer isn't - but with that argument, you could also argue that Win 10 on ARM isn't a real Win 10. That doesn't add up.
Milos wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 12:26 pmAnd don't get me started about XFCE that looks and feels like Win 3.11.
That's the selling point of XFCE.
Give me a break with pathetic Linux win managers. That's one of the main things that keeps ppl away from Linux. Pathetic, oversimplified or totally clobbered, clunky and ridiculously slow win managers.
I don't like XFCE because it's too oldschool for me. Gnome is not configurable and has a bad track record of breaking extensions for nothing. The problem with Gnome is that they try to ape Apple without understanding Apple - removing options may increase usability only if the underlying workflow design supports that. KDE is highly configurable, but the downside is that they don't care much about the OOTB experience (e.g. awful start menu) and dump that on the user. Good choice for tinkerers and power users though.
I like Cinnamon because it strikes a good ground, is nice OOTB without anything weird, and it isn't slow unless there is a compatibility problem and things work in software rendering, i.e. without GPU support. But even with my iGPU (at about GT 1030 level), it's fine.
The only time I did see Cinnamon not being quite snappy was on that Core2Duo from 2009 or so, but that's because the CPU would count as overclocked potato these days, the GPU was some mobo integrated onboard stuff, and things ran from HDD. I have an Intel Atom N450 netbook from the same era, with Intel GMA 3150 graphics and HDD, and while it's no fun with Cinnamon, it sucks even more under Win 7.