Axios But at this point I dont think linux has matured to the point where one can depend on it.
Wanted a linux distro that is dependable but I havent seen it.
My path to Linux is different from the path traveled by most Linux users. I have been working with computers since the 1960's, and have used, over that time, at least a dozen operating systems, in particular Unix as the computing market expanded into midrange computing. I began using a personal computer (an IBM PC dual-floppy 8088 running PC- DOS) in the 1980's, and migrated to MS-DOS/Windows as the personal computer market developed.
I didn't use Linux at all until 2006, when a friend asked me to help him when he ran (more or less constantly) into trouble. His son was a Linux true-believer and talked him into a home-built running Ubuntu. I thought, I know Unix cold, so I can probably help, and installed Ubuntu on a Dell desktop I had replaced.
I got interested in Linux as a result, and have run in parallel since then, Windows and Linux on separate computers, side-by-side. I used Ubuntu until 2017, when I saw Budgie and moved over to Solus. I've been exploring Ubuntu Budgie 22.04 LTS as a migration distro for later this year, because it is becoming clear to me that Microsoft is not likely to create a Snap or Flatpak for use on distros that that do not support .rpm or .deb natively.
I think of operating systems as tools, a means to an end. I generally run operating systems out-of-the-box, changing settings to suit me but with little or no tinkering. I use industry-standard, cross-platform apps (e.g. LibreOffice) on both Windows and Linux computers to the extent reasonably possible.
I've been giving a lot of thought to the issues you raise, and I've come to the conclusion that Linux is not yet developed to the point that I could recommend Linux to my friends (all experienced but casual computer users who "just want it to work") as replacement OS for Windows 10. When asked, I tell them to stick with Windows 10 for the next few years, and then take another look.
I suppose things could change over the next 3-4 years, but my guess is that the Linux desktop environment will be more or less the same in 2025 as it is today -- fragmented, unfocused, indifferently supported by manufacturers, and requiring a relatively high level of support, support which is not commercially available and which most users aren't skilled enough to self-supply.
I don't see that changing.
The major players treat the desktop as an afterthought, a necessary element for enterprise computing platforms, but don't seem to have any interest in developing Linux as a desktop for ordinary, run-of-the-mill computer users. The Linux desktop works fine when professional IT support is setting up the builds, maintaining the builds, and supporting users in an enterprise-level computing environment, but it is marginal for ordinary home users. I don't see any evidence that the Canonical, SUSE and other major entierprise-level players have any interest in changing the current situation.
I don't think that current Linux desktop users (professionals, developers and tinkerers for the most part) are going to be change agents, either. I have probably read a two or three dozen "disto look-and-see" threads in this forum and others over the last six months. I've seen users report that installation failed, this or that doesn't work, my hardware isn't working properly, and so on, with such regularity that it has become normal. I have read other threads in the forums (even the Zorin forum, for goodness sake) that assume that a user has to use CLI as a standard interface, with the implication that GUI is for morons. What I haven't seen is any expectation that things should be different. In short, current Linux desktop users don't seem to have any interest in acting as change agents.
Linux has significantly improved since I started using Linux 15 years ago, but so have Windows and MacOS. Linux has not reached the level of usability that both Windows and MacOS now enjoy, a level of usability that allows users to run out-of-the-box with the expectation that everything will "just work". That's why I don't recommend that my friends using Windows 10 migrate at this point.
That bleak assessment aside, I think that Solus Budgie is a near-perfect Linux desktop environment for me. Few distros come close in terms of design, usability or stability. If I do end up migrating to UB 22.04 LTS at the end of the year, I'm going to be making a lateral move at best.
