I’m not sure if this is part of the “frequency illusion”, but I’ve noticed a lot more mainstream media talking about Linux as a viable alternative.
I dislike the paradigm that there are "techy people/programmers" and "tech illiterates/non programmers". Anyone can develop the skills to properly use unix interfaces given proper training; and I know that's true because the whole world used to run (mostly) unix on the desktop before corporate took over. Unix doesn't need to be windowsified/macosified to get people to move over; people need to unlearn the interfaces corporate has brainwashed them with for generations. There are so many more interesting user interfaces than just what Windows and MacOS provide; graphical or otherwise.
2007 was YOTLD for me. Yours, dear Windows-using reader, is 2024, if you want it to be.
https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/FSF_30_720p.webm
Wait ... is there a perception (or reality?) that most Linux users are programmers?
I'm an introvert, but all programmers I know use Windows (and badly in the sense they aren't power users).
I feel like Linux would be easier to pick up and use for a non power user starting from scratch like my mother-in-law. It's so much easier to download programs with the package manager and settings are so much easier to navigate
And to use the computer without being bombarded by ads
Helped my SO fix Sims 4 on her W11 laptop recently; lock screen ads, start menu ads, pre-installed bloatware begging for money
I even asked how she deals with all of that and she basically said “I dunno it just does that, if you can make it stop that'd be nice ig but just get Sims to worl for now”
Needless to say I got Sims 4 to work (removing cachedir did the trick) AND uninstalled the bloatware and turned off ad-related settings
I started using Linux prior starting programming..
But knowing some programming languages will not help much maintaining a linux distribution, tho