2024 is the Year of Linux on the Desktop, at least for my boyfriend. He's running Windows 7 right now, so I'll be switching him to Ubuntu in a few days. Ubuntu was chosen because Proton is officially supported in Ubuntu.
I used Windows 7 in 2023. It's the best windows that still ran stuff but obviously that's changing. I made the switch in April and have been dumbfounded by just how great proton is at running all my games.
Perhaps because this is such a typical Linux-bro meme?
By no means is it more user friendly. I drive it daily, my grandmother most definitely could not, they're way too many times when something stops working or goes wrong with DEs.
I also find those constant Linux comments annoying but one should really avoid using Windows 7. Win 7 has been out of support for a long time, either update to Win 10 (if possible), air gap it, install some other OS like Linux, or consider replacing the computer.
It depends on what you mean. For me, it's pretty user friendly, but I'm also fairly comfortable using a terminal and am very technologically literate. The fact it handles tedious tasks automatically (or can be made to trivially) is so much nicer than Windows. You can easily update all applications and your system in a matter of seconds. Compared to Windows where the application itself has to check for updates when it launches, sends you to download the installer, you have to run that and close the previous version, relaunch, and then you're finally updated for that single application. Let's not talk about system updates. Linux is more friendly. It requires a certain level of competence that Windows doesn't, but if you're above that level it's generally better.
Sure, things can go wrong with DEs and other stuff, but it's often easier than when things go wrong in Windows. Have you ever had the desktop or Explorer crash in Windows? It's a bad time. Windows is not user friendly. People are just used to it.
They both do things that are more user-friendly than the other. The fact you think it isn't user-friendly is really showing who doesn't understand the term. I listed a few things Linux handles better than Windows, and there are many more. Windows fails at many steps, but people accept they understand Windows and deal with it. Windows also doesn't have any options for customization, so it's the same bad for everyone, which does help people solve issues, though they maybe shouldn't have had them in the first place.
That's my experience as well. I've been a Mint user for around 6 years (2012 to 2018 or 2019), with different DEs (Gnome, Cinnamon and Mate) and installations and there was always something that stopped working all of a sudden, or something wrong with Mint altogether that made the experience bittersweet. I even tried LMDE for a bit and didn't last a week using it.
I ended up hopping to Antergos (RIP) and have been with it ever since.
Windows has more minor problems that are superficial and easy to fix, Linux has less problems but when it does they're more significant and detrimental.
Yeah I'm a Linux and Windows sysadmin for almost 15 years and don't really care what it is in practice, just disagree with Microsoft on many things. People have actually argued to me here why I shouldn't use Windows Server in an enterprise setting, as if a sysadmin who doesn't prefer Windows would have any bearing on such things. It's also funny how people seem to think managing Windows is very different than managing Linux, you're basically doing the same things, I really only interact with Windows in the same manner I interact with Linux it's just remote powershell instead of ssh. Building Windows server is just running a powershell script, building Linux server is just running the playbook.
Also I disable mostly everything through group policy on Windows and remove all the dumb stuff with remove-appxpackage. Use both for workstations too.
I'd love if Linux could do everything but I still keep a Windows laptop. Mostly because I don't want to go forum diving to update the firmware on my synthesizers or exert effort into something that should be thoughtless and trivial.
I do, in VirtualBox. I have a 20 year old printer, and the drivers don't work in newer Windows versions. I mean, at all. The installer crashes, and automatic driver installer only gets the scanner working.
Anyway, I don't use Windows. It works on Linux. Kinda. In Linux Mint, I just can't use high DPI, but I can scan, print, and see "remaining ink" just fine.
Manjaro is another story. Only "Normal Grayscale" works, hp-toolbox doesn't even show the color cartridge. So I just use Windows 7 with the drivers as the heaviest printer driver ever.
But when I have to use Windows (e.g.: at school), I prefer Windows 7. Windows 10/11 have really weird control, and they are SLOW. Also, when installing Windows 10 onto school computers, nobody bothered to install drivers.
I like the ThinkPad T440s laptops that are in one class. But after upgrade to Windows 10 they have some battery charging issues, and some of them just fail to boot from time-to-time. I use the last one with Windows 7 because it just works.
You really should not be using Windows 7. If you need to for old software make sure it is isolated and doesn't have network access. It is very insecure at this point.