Good point. Startup effort is not the same as effort once you are comfortable with your system.

I had my turning point early on when I first learned to update all my packages from the terminal. For me, this changed the game compared to how Windows programs handled updates at the time and Linux became officially easier than Windows… for me.

I could see how this “point of equal ease”, could come later for some users, especially those who want to run Windows software or do something advanced.

Bonus points, once you feel comfortable with the software manager learn how to update Mint with the “apt” commands in the terminal. This will make you feel like an elite hacker while simultaneously teaching you a fast way to do a routine task, updating all your software. Make sure to reflect on how long this would have taken on Windows. :D

Yes, I’m several years into my de-googling process and a solid email client is not something I’m worried about. K9 is great and, as Thunderbird, we can only hope that it gets better.

I bought my first handheld anything, the Palm Zire 31 in high school. Everyone thought I was weird, but I was also organized. :P

I think this is mostly because people who know about it have a mental block that it’s only for nerds. Millions have been using Android on their phones for years, though we’ll limit ourselves to desktop GNU/Linux type distributions for this discussion.

Actual usage of Linux has gotten much easier since 2006ish when I first tried it out. With all the popups and ads in Windows nowadays, its rapidly becoming harder to use than Linux, something I did not expect. I don’t see a combined Linux User Group/ Bingo Club/ Bridge Group forming anytime soon, but Linux Mint isn’t any harder to use than Windows, even for normies with an average level of tech skills.

With MS enshitifying Windows at an ever increasing pace and the hard work of open source developers, volunteers, advocates, to make Linux better and more approachable, I won’t be surprised at all to see that percentage move up.

“You mean its free and doesn’t try to sell me other products the whole time I’m using it?”