It certainly is, because I still don't see GNU/Linux desktops on sale, other than the short lived netbooks movement.
So normal people have stores with other people that they can talk to when they have problems, or just drag their computer into the store.
With Linux it is always the relative that happens to be around, or drive in on purpose, and had to manually install the <insert favourite distro> of the day.
> With Linux it is always the relative that happens to be around
That's certainly true. And it's a chicken-vs-egg problem that's hard to solve. But it doesn't really have anything to do with which system is easier to use. It has much more to do with Microsoft's past unfair business practices (asking shops more for windows licenses if they happened to sell computers with something else than windows on it comes to mind) and the slowness of retail in adapting. Selling computers is way down (most people don't need more than a tablet/phone), selling in physical stores is way down (has moved online). Shops are not going to spend money on training their salespeople in linux. Most of the time they won't even really know windows.
And of course retail GNU/Linux machines that cost 1/4 of a cheap Apple Mac and yet have outsold them by revenue not number of units for nearly a decade now:
Yes this is absolutely happening. This is a real international market with sales in the hundreds of millions of units. This is not some tiny obscure niche that can be skipped over.
You are so eager to reply that you haven't even read the whole comment.
> So normal people have stores with other people that they can talk to when they have problems, or just drag their computer into the store.
Which of those online stores have a physical address for the normal people to do as per my comment?
Linux forums have enough complaints about those fairly prominent Linux-only vendors, even though they are suppose to control the whole stack.
And they also fall into each having their own <favourite distro>, the other part of the comment that you missed as well.
Normal people aren't using SteamDecks for their daily computing activities.
I use Linux in various forms since 1995, and yet I am tired from trying out such alternatives, the only things that makes me consider it again is breaking the dependency on US tech, and even that isn't really happening, given how much from Linux contributions are on the pockets from US Big Tech.
> You are so eager to reply that you haven't even read the whole comment.
Of course I did. I didn't address your objections because I think they don't hold up, that is why.
> Which of those online stores have a physical address for the normal people to do as per my comment?
Leaving out Apple as computers are not its primary product line any more... that leaves Lenovo, the biggest PC vendor in the world, followed by HP, Dell, Asus, Acer.
Only Apple has retail shops worldwide. I do not know of physical stores for any of the others. Maybe some did once, years ago, but that stuff is fading away and dying now. It's all going online.
You can certainly buy Chromebooks in physical stores. Do they fix them? Only warranty repairs, but the point of Chromebooks is that you don't keep your stuff on them, and you don't upgrade them. Rightly or wrongly (that is, mostly wrongly) they are disposable tech.
It is perfectly possible to buy a computer with Linux on it: a choice of Linuxes, from a choice of vendors, in almost any country. No you can't walk into a shop and try it, but you mostly can't from any vendor. Online sales are the default for many things now. No you can't walk into the vendor's shop and get it fixed, but you can't for any of global PC brands either.
If you want that, go to a local small business. If you want Linux, go to a local small business. Same thing.
Sure there are different flavours and distros. That is _not_ a weakness of Linux. Choice is a good thing, even if sometimes it is scary. You can choose your toothpaste and your clothes and your car as well. We manage.
So normal people have stores with other people that they can talk to when they have problems, or just drag their computer into the store.
With Linux it is always the relative that happens to be around, or drive in on purpose, and had to manually install the <insert favourite distro> of the day.