Like it was a complete non-event, I installed Mint, gave it to them, they had a quick look at the first-run thing, set up light or dark mode, chose favourite colour, did some updates, and then the very first Actual Using Computer thing they did was look to see how to install Firefox and well firefox was already installed, it came with it, so... done?

They said they'd sometimes have to use Apple computers and Mint was way more familiar than a Mac

and that was kinda... It. They just carried on with their normal computer tasks and everything was normal.

I see quite a few posts about people moving to Mint specifically who say it was kind of anticlimactic, like they were expecting some kinda Issue or they'd have to do some l33t haxxing and they ended up... not disappointed, exactly, but feeling somehow let down that Nothing Happened, the computer kinda became transparent

And I know my mate isn't gonna fall in love with Linux, and that's fine, you shouldn't fall in love with machines anyway it's not healthy

but

I think for months this is just gonna feel like Normal Computering, UNTIL this friend of mine has some cause to use a windows machine again, with all its nags and pokes and ads and trying to pester or force you into doing stuff that you don't want to do, and THAT will be The Moment

Because you forget, so easily, how normal you thought it was. Because it WAS normal, to you. You don't remember normal, normal isn't memorable even when it's a horrible sort of normal. You need to have the bad normal taken away for a while in order to see through it and notice how abnormal the normal got

When I started on linux it was Windows XP days and windows was unreliable and slow but Basically Alright, now windows is so so different, so much more malicious and creepy. Fifteen years ago linux felt like Freedom To stuff, now it feels more like Freedom From, y'know

except maybe it actually is important, that people not have a lesson of "Consent means ask again in three days" reinforced every three days

like I really don't think that's good for us, as a species. I worry what that's doing to people's heads tbqh

the way I, a massive nerd, use a computer, should never be considered a default

THAT'S where the terminal should be

I say twenty years because it's been a good ten years since the average person has needed to use a terminal but folk who've never used Linux still say it's all typing things into a black and green box, it's gonna take a LONG time for Linux to shake that off

Back in the bad old days that felt Normal, like "Of COURSE this is gonna fuck up and you're gonna need to go back to DOSbollocking days to fix it," it was Expected that you'd be in the terminal

Now it feels like... why is this here

Like, tuck it away somewhere under Accessories or something

Have some confidence

I dare you

Like imagine drinking wine out of a glass full of sawdust, the wine guy keeps giving you new straws so you can work around the sawdust and you're actually glad of the straws, you thank him for them, you're glad there's less sawdust in your wine

And then when it's like 10% sawdust you go "Why the hell does this wine have sawdust in it" and that's where Linux is at now

It's finally good enough to be bad