timppu: What is harder in Linux for the average user?
Magnitus: It's harder because it's not Windows.
Maybe so. I'm just trying to understand the "Linux is harder for the average user" argument. Some things I recall being said:
1. "Linux is hard(er) to install." I have had exactly the opposite experience. When I e.g. tried to reinstall Windows 8 and Windows 7 on two PCs (their installations had become corrupted), it was quite hard to figure out how to reinstall the system, where to get the correct installation media, what version of Windows you are eligible, where is the CD key etc. (No, system refresh ddn't work in those cases, I needed to reinstall both from a clean table.)
I had quite a lot of problems especially with the Windows 7 re-installation as Microsoft didn't allow me to download the Win7 installation media from their servers (saying that it wasn't meant for PCs which came preloaded with Windows, I should get the installation media from the PC vendor instead (who would charge extra for it, or maybe the vendor doesn't even exist anymore)). In the end I was able to find the installation media from an unofficial source and install&authenticate it with the legit product key, but then the problem arise that I could find the installation media only for the English language version (not Finnish), and since the produch key was for the Home version, Microsoft didn't allow me to change the system language. After lots of googling, I found a complicated third-party solution to change the system language to Finnish.
Compared to that, installing Linux has been much much easier and straightforward. Download the ISO, either burn it to a DVD or put to an USB drive, and install. You don't have to care what version of Linux you are "eligible" (Home, Pro, Single Language, whatever), you don't have to care about authenticating it online or find your "CD key" hidden in the system, you don't receive "Ooops! Seems your copy of Windows was preloaded to your PC, so you are not allowed to download the installation media from Microsoft, please contact your PC vendor instead." type of messages, your version is not gimped (like for changing the system language!) just because you have a "Home" and not a "Pro" version of it, etc. etc. etc.
Really, I can't understand how anyone could claim installing Windows on a PC is easier than Linux.
2. "It is confusing that there are several desktop environments to choose from (Gnome, KDE, XFCE etc...)." First of all, most of them are quite similar. Sure the "start menu" may be differently grouped in e.g. Mint Cinnamon than Mint XFCE, but it doesn't take that long to figure out where is what, even if you use a different desktop environment. The only exception to that rule was that Ubuntu "touch-friendly" UI, the very reason I switched from Ubuntu to Mint.
Secondly, come on, on the Windows world the user-interface changes are far far more drastic! Remember how lost people were trying to figure out the Windows 8 Metro interface, after Windows 7? It was completely different, you had to re-learn your Windows completely, from the ground up. They also changed how e.g. menu items are grouped (which caused lots of problems to e.g. many GOG games, when you had a long list of game manual shortcuts, with no idea to which game they belonged, just because Windows 8/8.1/10 removed the ability to put subfolders into the menus).
It has changed further from Windows 8.1 to 10, in my opinion for the better though. The desktop environment changes from XP to Vista/7 were also quite big. Considering how much you have to re-learn using of Windows with new versions of Windows, I find it funny Windows users would complain about the minor differences between different Linux desktop environments. Get a grip, people. With Windows you have had to re-learn the UI all over again lots of times already.
3. Generally speaking, what does a common user do with their PC? Use the browser to use online services, run some word processors or email clients etc.? None of that is harder on Linux, Firefox or Thunderbird works the very same on Linux as it does in Windows. My wife can do her online banking just as easily on Linux Mint, as she can on Windows 7. She logs into the computer, double-clicks on the Firefox icon, and heads to the online bank. Similarly when I want to check my emails (I have several different email accounts, e.g. some are for more professional use and others more like throwaway accounts for registration for web pages etc.), I don't see any difference when using Thunderbird for that in Windows or Linux.
The only thing is if you need some specific Windows application, of course. For instance, since we use Microsoft Office at our work for everyhing, yeah it is a valid reason for me to use Windows on my work laptop, just so that i can use MS Office products and not care about possible incompatibilities when trying to use Libre Office for the same documents. (Unless there is MS Office for Linux?)
Also, if I e.g. told my wife to find and install some application like Firefox, I am sure it is much easier for her in Linux than in e.g. Windows 7. In Windows she needs to find her way to the Firefox homepages, download the correct installer there and install it... while on Linux she simply goes to the central software manager, searches for "firefox" and clicks on the install button. (Maybe this is as easy in Windows 10, in case Firefox can be found directly in Windows Store? Or is Windows Store restricted only to "modern UI" applications, not legacy desktop applications?)
4.
"Lack of driver support." Now this is most probably a valid reason I can agree with, at least with new hardware. Then again, if I think of e.g. my wife as a "common user", she would be just as lost trying to figure out drivers for Windows as for Linux. She expects me to take care of it, and have a working system for use.
Also to me it appears that quite often support for older hardware is better in Linux. See e.g. the recent discussion in this forum about trying to find a printer with good Windows 10 driver support. When I've tried to install a new Windows on some very old PC, I quite often lack drivers for many pieces of hardware, sometimes even sound cards etc., while Linux quite often supports them natively even in the latest Linux versions. So I might even go as far as claim that for older hardware, driver support is many times better in Linux, than in Windows. (And for new hardware it is vice versa.)
Disclaimer: 90% of the time I use Windows, so for me "defending" Linux is not about not using, or wanting to use, Windows. I just feel many of the complaints from the "I tried Linux once in the 90s" crowd about how hard Linux is supposed to be for the common user are just exaggerated or plain wrong,