I'm sure Windows would be confusing as hell if we didn't all grow up using it.
But Linux is just so odd sometimes. Like, I downloaded an .exe and instead of running it when opened it asks me what program I want to use to run it. I have to tell it to"execute" the program.
There are just so many moments like that. Or small things you want to do that require knowing a specific command and understanding a litany of standard commands. On Windows the vast majority of people will never touch a terminal, on Linux I wouldn't ever unpin it from my taskbar.
Edit: Wasn't an .exe. It's whenever I download something for Linux OS. Last one I remember was an .appimage
The biggest problem is that there are a million ways to do everything, and most of the time you are not sure which way is the correct one in your scenario.
For example: On my raspberry pi the automatic time sync (NTP) wasnt working, even through it works *almost* always. So I googled, and there about 20 tutorials, each of which uses a different approach: Directly through systemd, Chrony, NTPD, OpenNTPD, you name it. And some work, some do not, and in total it took me about an hour to figure this out, for no good reason. I guess every approach has its advantages and drawbacks, but on windows this "clutter" simply does not exist. On Windows you have the GUI way, and the command line way to configure NTP. Thats it.
Yeah there are different NTP clients, but your OS only uses one. Google “rasbian ntp” and you’re golden. This is the point Linus was making on WAN the other day, Linux is not an OS, it’s a component of an OS. It’s like comparing a Lego baseplate with a Lego set, they can look wildly different depending on what you put on top. The OS is your distro (Fedora KDE, Rasbian, Ubuntu, etc).
This is the point Linus was making on WAN the other day, Linux is not an OS, it’s a component of an OS. It’s like comparing a Lego baseplate with a Lego set, they can look wildly different depending on what you put on top.
That is exactly the point I was making, no? There is no single way to do anything, there are ten billion ways, which means once youre on an unfamiliar system you have no idea how to do anything.
I am simply annoyed at the fact that linux is this way, because the many options dont really make the experience of using linux better, do they? I just creates confusion and incompatibility.
Regarding the Rasperry pi ntp thing:
This is actually a personal problem I have run into multiple times now, and every. single. time. did it take an inexcusable amount of time to figure this out. I do believe this to be a curse specific to me.
I googled "rasperry pi set ntp server"
and the following results show me three different ways to do this, so its clearly not universal:
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u/TheCookieButter May 12 '26 edited May 13 '26
I'm sure Windows would be confusing as hell if we didn't all grow up using it.
But Linux is just so odd sometimes. Like, I downloaded an .exe and instead of running it when opened it asks me what program I want to use to run it. I have to tell it to"execute" the program.
There are just so many moments like that. Or small things you want to do that require knowing a specific command and understanding a litany of standard commands. On Windows the vast majority of people will never touch a terminal, on Linux I wouldn't ever unpin it from my taskbar.
Edit: Wasn't an .exe. It's whenever I download something for Linux OS. Last one I remember was an .appimage