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.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Windows is where it is because of Microsoft's aggression. There's no essence inside Windows that makes it widespread ex nihilo.

Linux isn't as widespread as it could be because many people don't realise it's a viable alternative to Windows or Mac. It has nothing to do with how many distros there are. Also, newbies are usually recommended Ubuntu or Linux Mint, so it's not even "so many choices" to begin with.

Also, you do realise you can interact with instances other than yours, right? I use lemm.ee btw.

[–] mathlad 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It maybe better to not refer new users as newbies. People know the unix system under the very successful product that is MacOS. Why is MacOS successful? Because it is easy to use and is a complete products with few bugs. I used to use Ubuntu, and before that kde btw.

[–] Dnn 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

People know the unix system under the very successful product that is MacOS.

What? Only techies know that, 99% users don't and wouldn't care.

I used to use Ubuntu, and before that kde btw.

I'm starting to doubt you actually did since KDE isn't a distro.

[–] mathlad 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are we being overly anal about semantics here? I never said kde is a distro. I just said I used Ubuntu, as in the pure Ubuntu from Canonical, and before that Kubuntu, or Ubuntu with the Plasma Desktop environment KDE. There, it has been a long time since I last used them so I did not remember the name Kubuntu.

Also MacOS is popular because its users don't have to care that it is a Unix system. You basically just repeated my point. I have never been an Apple fan (my phones were all Android phones), but, well, "it just works" anyone?

[–] Dnn 6 points 1 year ago

Are we being overly anal about semantics here?

Usually not but your whole activity in this thread reads like you're just hating on Linux for some reason: "too diverse!" "it destroyed my ssd!" (which I doubt). In that context your claim to have been a user just looks like a half-truth to give yourself some credibility.

Anyway, back to the actual topic: I don't care about mass-adoption. Everything turns to shit when the masses pour over it. In my opinion, Lemmy has reached the critical amount of contributors to get it going, except more actual scientists maybe.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Newbies are new users. Also the average Joe doesn't know or even want to know that MacOS is a BSD. MacOS is mostly so successful because of marketing, walled gardening and a pretty good eco system. It has its fair share of bugs. And not just software side but also on the hardware side.