Does the popularity of Windows make its community much more user-friendly than community of operating systems that are considered 'free', or does a user-friendly UI make Windows users much more friendly to each other?

[u/NegativelyNegating]

While browsing other communities dedicated to different operating systems than Windows I couldn't help but notice that Windows users as well as users of other commercial operating systems are much more likely to help and suggest solutions than users of operating systems that are called 'free'.

[u/PriorityNo6268]

Think some people using alternatives are a bit more passionate about the choice they have made. If you report problem it seems that some of them take it really personal.

[u/Jaegermeiste → u/PriorityNo6268]

For many of them, passionate == a chip on their shoulder the size of Eurasia.

[u/spectralblade352 → u/PriorityNo6268]

This

[u/snajk138 → u/PriorityNo6268]

Yes, but that also means you usually eventually find someone who actually knows what they're talking about. I have "gotten helped" many times from certified professionals and whatever titles and badges they give out at Microsoft forums, and they are completely clueless and like keep recommending what I have already described doesn't work over and over again, or just extremely basic troubleshooting. Actual Windows professional help is great, but it also costs more than a Windows license for just one issue.

[u/salazka → u/PriorityNo6268]

They are not passionate, they are jerks. Many of them antisocial, spiteful people who think they are special because they are not using what most people use.

Think of extremist toxic hipsters. :)

[u/Mindless_Welcome8177]

Windows users are basically an unofficial community. They're well aware of Windows' flaws and how terrible Microsoft can be, but they're still out there helping each other because they understand that most people just want a quick fix so they can get back to work.

Linux users, on the other hand, proudly call themselves a community, yet so many of them keep solutions to themselves and tell others to figure things out on their own, just because they had to put in a ton of effort to find the solution themselves. Other times, they simply don't know how to fix the problem and don't have the patience to explain the same solutions over and over again.

And they almost never admit that Linux isn't perfect either.

[u/LanDest021 → u/Mindless_Welcome8177]

I wouldn't even say that Windows is more user friendly, but its what almost everyone has been using their entire computing career. Even if you're a lifetime Mac user, you still probably had to use Windows in your school computer lab, or at your job.

The only exception to this would be younger kids, as they just use Chromebooks, so all they know how to use on Windows is Chrome.

[u/wiseman121]

Compatibility, reliability (fixability) and usability.

Windows offers all that, macOS offers that. Linux desktop unfortunately doesn't, I use and love Linux personally but I know if my mum b Was to use it she would have difficulty if problems occured and the apps she uses won't be there.

Linux has got much better too in the last few years and everything moving to web apps help.

[u/Ready_Independent_55 → u/wiseman121]

MacOS is questionable.

[u/wiseman121 → u/Ready_Independent_55]

I'm using a Mac for the last 3yrs. I've realised I really don't like it lol, mainly due to apple specific weirdness because it's apple. But I don't deny it meets the basics requirements to be a functional consumer OS.

[u/Ready_Independent_55 → u/wiseman121]

I'd use anything for basic tasks, not a big deal. It's just an OS

[u/wiseman121 → u/Ready_Independent_55]

Agreed which is why I still use it.

Just saying I don't really like it, I'd rather windows or Linux

[u/SeriousPlankton2000 → u/wiseman121]

I use Linux because it's more compatible, more reliable and more usable.

[u/wiseman121 → u/SeriousPlankton2000]

So do I.

But for my mom it wouldn't be so usable.

[u/jiggitywootwoot → u/wiseman121]

Linux has a lot of reliability in a lot of cases. TrueNAS has been rock solid for me, though it's not a desktop distro. Also, not all distro are the same. Fedora Atomic editions are built with reliability in mind, and has never fucked up on me. Stuff like Arch puts all that responsibility on the user.

Disclaimer : I use windows too (won't touch 11 till I have to)

[u/wiseman121 → u/jiggitywootwoot]

My gaming desktop is windows and my main laptop is Linux. Just actually moved to win11 2 months ago and ...it's totally fine. The layout is annoying to get used to but it's just windows 🤷🏻.

I love Linux and it's been reliable for me mostly. In the last 8yrs I've only had one major issue after an upgrade caused a major kernel error that refused to boot. (I was able to extract my full user directory via safe boot and reinstalled everything) .

But I do know many of the smaller issues I've dealt with would not be solvable by many.

[u/KittyKittens1800]

User friendliness ≠ User Knowledge

You can make a very accessible UI and still make it quite difficult for some people, as they probably don't know how to use the software, or you can also make the most “convoluted” UI and still make it quite easy or difficult for some people; it is more of “how much can you shorten the learning curve of the software for the end-user”.

By percentage there's a chance you’ll find friendly users in greater amounts on most popular software, but it’ll also depend on where you look.

[u/r4wm3]

No one really loves Windows. They use it as a tool to get things done. So, no emotional attachments. But it's the opposite for the other two. They are passionate and take things very personally.

[u/PlaneSheepherder1206]

Because they are used to windows so they call it "user-friendly" (I recently dualbooted with fedora workstation and gnome is more straight forward than windows (not trying to start a gnome vs kde war))

[u/GarrettB117]

As someone who regularly uses pretty much all of these, I’d say it’s got more to do with the kind of people that are attracted to operating systems like Linux.

People that like Linux generally are into it as more of a hobby than just a choice of operating system. That’s fine of course, that completely describes me tbh. I love to tinker no matter if I’m using Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc! But a lot of people treat Linux as a personality trait and look down on people who use Windows or MacOS. These people are just assholes and no one should pay any attention to them. There are plenty of nice and helpful people that use Linux that are more than happy to answer questions and help newcomers.

[u/cradet]

I kinda get when communities on free OSs are kinda jerks with newbies, because they said it was hard to them to get on it on their first time, that doesn't mean i'm justifying that attitude, i really hate how awful someone can be just because a newbie asks a simple question

[u/giquo]

Pride and elitism.

That's my conclusion after being a Windows user for years and leaving Windows the past year. What I've seen is that people trend to feel "better than you" because you're asking for help on something they learned by themselves, so they lack the pedagogical skills to understand that a lot of new users comes with a different workflow, needs, and most importantly: "learn differently than others".

Also, the "I'm red team, blue team bad", that's a very common pattern as well

[u/olapamu]

I love Linux but I hate the fact that many of its users constantly make fun of you if you use Windows, or call themselves superior if they use Linux.

I use Linux almost every day for several tasks, but my main PC uses Windows because all of my software integrates really well on it. What I want the most from my computer is to be able to get work done, and I have an easier time getting work done on Windows.

[u/Green_Ad5186]

not really. if we count pcmr they are not that helpful to windows issues.

i don't think a actual windows community exists. as windows is a finished product not "almost ready" forever like linux. so people just use windows they don't have a hobby about it.

[u/f0rgotten_]

So Im a huge Linux fan, finally made the switch back in December and haven't regretted it. One thing I've noticed is the Linux community has a tendency to get a bit elitist and controlling also telling people to Read the manual instead of helping, which makes it harder when some FOSS lack modern guides on places like YouTube.

[u/salazka]

In fact, the most toxic people in the Windows community are Windows/Microsoft haters who come to promote their own shit. Often, they are bots from grassroots campaigns of competitors.

[u/Inevitable-Debt4312]

Windows people help each other because, historically, they had to - Windows wasn’t that good - and there’s a lot of stuff you can do with Windows, so people swap ideas.

[u/Global-Eye-7326]

Windows users are not a monolith.

[u/RunoChan]

i use Arch and Gentoo as my main Operating Systems, and i pretty much do not care about which system do you use, everyone prefer that system, that's they want. i know enough in Linux, and know enough in Windows, to help in those ones. suddenly i haven't experienced MacOS, so i can't really help with it.

[u/Mundane_Fault_6345]

I didn't even knew "Windows popularity" existed.

Aren't user helpful because of a kind of a shared doom ? A kind of "victim solidarity" ? 😇

/s

[u/TheFXartProject]

[u/Ready_Independent_55]

I don't think Windows community is any better than the others.

[u/rareblackdog]

To answer your question - neither.

But yes, I gave up on Linux around 15 years ago- due to the condescending arrogant chastising community base- keeps Linux in the dark ages, it will never become mainstream because of its terrible community.

[u/Consistent-Gur9320 → u/rareblackdog]

Aye. Small talk with toxic community bout some design/technical choices kde is supposed to be perfect rival for the windows. But I didn't like the system icon arrangement on the task bar so community just said do it by yourself. Like dude you are suffering the same problem. Don't act high and mighty you are just a goblin with streoids

[u/rareblackdog → u/Consistent-Gur9320]

Thing is I liked Linux, used it for 4/5 years but the user base changed somehow. So fuckin toxic

[u/sansmorixz → u/rareblackdog]

Are we talking about the same community? I had soo many assumptions about cachyos when I first tried it out but damn the community was soo very helpful, even stupid question like changing my volume osd position. Meanwhile most of my posts in this sub got deleted labelled duplicate or some shit.

[u/Personal_Money3883 → u/rareblackdog]

Linux has one trick up its sleeve technically free completely open source a confusing nightmare Labyrinth

[u/giovannimyles]

Its numbers. If you go on the internet looking for something only 5000 people know about what are the odds of finding something? Now look for something tens of millions of people know about. That’s the difference. Linux has a huge community as a whole. Each distribution has less so depending on its use and install base.