The ability to stream media from legit paid sources. (Netflix, Comcast, max, disneyplus, prime, I don’t know where the list is currently, but anything that bitches about user agent.)
TPM.
The ability to play multiplayer games that rely on anti-cheat ( seriously, make Linux a hit with the fortnite crowd and the upcoming generation will think of windows as boomerware )
The ability to use an HDMI cable at full speed. (It’s the leading A/V cable standard and the only one some people understand. )
Then there’s the stuff I’m unsure of the current status of but that I know was a problem once upon a time: Online banking, online doctor stuff, encrypted emails from mainstream providers, you know, anything that could qualify as “every day stuff” that works out of the box on windows and yet sometimes requires complicated (for grandma) setup on Linux.
The ability to stream media from legit paid sources. (Netflix, Comcast, max, disneyplus, prime, I don’t know where the list is currently, but anything that bitches about user agent.)
Agreed, that’s critical. That said, I periodically subscribe to all of those, and all of the ones I’ve tried in the last year on Firefox on Debian, have worked perfectly. If there’s any left that still don’t, I haven’t tried/encountered them.
Agreed, that’s critical. That said, I periodically subscribe to all of those, and all of the ones I’ve tried in the last year on Firefox on Debian, have worked perfectly. If there’s any left that still don’t, I haven’t tried/encountered them.
Yeah. It honestly blew me away. I switched my personal laptop to Linux, as one often does, primarily to revive some old hardware.
I thought I was giving up streaming from it, but it’s been great.
I tend to run my TVs on non-stadard media devices due to privacy bullshit by vendors, and previously that has meant a lot of Android variant devices.
Looking forward, I’m really looking forward to running my living room TV off of a modified SteamDeck or a Linux media server build that is as close as I can get to one, thanks to the surprisingly good media experience of Firefox on Linux, lately.
The ability to stream media from legit paid sources. (Netflix, Comcast, max, disneyplus, prime, I don’t know where the list is currently, but anything that bitches about user agent.)
I thought all you needed was browser DRM to run those? Idk, I don’t use streaming services 🏴☠️
And Isn’t TPM supported on Linux? It’s been in the kernel since 3.20, no?
As for anti cheat, it’s a bitch to deal with, I agree. Same with HDMI,I think DP is superior but people should have freedom to make their one choices.
And the rest? Idk. I use a web browser for all online things, from mail, to banking; so it doesn’t matter whether I’m on Linux or not.
You raise some great points though. The average user isn’t going to use workarounds or alternatives, so we should focus on actually solving the problem instead of saying use this instead.
You raise some great points though. The average user isn’t going to use workarounds or alternatives, so we should focus on actually solving the problem instead of saying use this instead.
These kinds of things are the first things that come to mind when people start going all “Linux is ready for $blah” because while I can figure out how to deal with these issues, they’re invariably the first things I get phone calls from my non-IT-career friends about when they switch to Linux.
Windows changes insane amounts of interface whatnot on the regular, users can usually figure THAT out, finally, no matter what OS they’re using.
It’s the stuff that just works out of the box on windows or Mac but doesn’t on Linux that’s at issue, and it’s what will continue to halt widespread adoption at the casual user level, unfortunately.
The ability to stream media from legit paid sources. (Netflix, Comcast, max, disneyplus, prime, I don’t know where the list is currently, but anything that bitches about user agent.)
TPM.
The ability to play multiplayer games that rely on anti-cheat ( seriously, make Linux a hit with the fortnite crowd and the upcoming generation will think of windows as boomerware )
The ability to use an HDMI cable at full speed. (It’s the leading A/V cable standard and the only one some people understand. )
Then there’s the stuff I’m unsure of the current status of but that I know was a problem once upon a time: Online banking, online doctor stuff, encrypted emails from mainstream providers, you know, anything that could qualify as “every day stuff” that works out of the box on windows and yet sometimes requires complicated (for grandma) setup on Linux.
Agreed, that’s critical. That said, I periodically subscribe to all of those, and all of the ones I’ve tried in the last year on Firefox on Debian, have worked perfectly. If there’s any left that still don’t, I haven’t tried/encountered them.
That’s great news and it gives me a lot of hope.
Yeah. It honestly blew me away. I switched my personal laptop to Linux, as one often does, primarily to revive some old hardware.
I thought I was giving up streaming from it, but it’s been great.
I tend to run my TVs on non-stadard media devices due to privacy bullshit by vendors, and previously that has meant a lot of Android variant devices.
Looking forward, I’m really looking forward to running my living room TV off of a modified SteamDeck or a Linux media server build that is as close as I can get to one, thanks to the surprisingly good media experience of Firefox on Linux, lately.
I thought all you needed was browser DRM to run those? Idk, I don’t use streaming services 🏴☠️
And Isn’t TPM supported on Linux? It’s been in the kernel since 3.20, no?
As for anti cheat, it’s a bitch to deal with, I agree. Same with HDMI,I think DP is superior but people should have freedom to make their one choices.
And the rest? Idk. I use a web browser for all online things, from mail, to banking; so it doesn’t matter whether I’m on Linux or not.
You raise some great points though. The average user isn’t going to use workarounds or alternatives, so we should focus on actually solving the problem instead of saying use this instead.
These kinds of things are the first things that come to mind when people start going all “Linux is ready for $blah” because while I can figure out how to deal with these issues, they’re invariably the first things I get phone calls from my non-IT-career friends about when they switch to Linux.
Windows changes insane amounts of interface whatnot on the regular, users can usually figure THAT out, finally, no matter what OS they’re using.
It’s the stuff that just works out of the box on windows or Mac but doesn’t on Linux that’s at issue, and it’s what will continue to halt widespread adoption at the casual user level, unfortunately.