Where did I say 20 years? The last time I was using Linux (Debian mostly, Ubuntu, Mint, Crunch and) full time was back in 2016. Occasionally I've had to interact with them and their respective DEs over the years since, but I've been using macOS full time to this day. So 20 years? Not really, actually. More like 6 or 7.

> Even the perpetual "beta"-system Debian Testing is much more robust in day to day use than things like macOS or Windows (and that holds even while installing whatever daily Debian updates come along without thinking)..

I don't care how "robust" Linux is. Can a distro do everything I want without some caveat like horizontal tearing, weird audio incompatibilities, weird graphics driver issues, booting to black after updates, difficulty reconciling managed packages, files mysteriously being deleted from common file systems, or basic features disappearing from foundational apps like the file manager? If such a distro exists, I'd like to see it, because I've never installed any variety of Linux that didn't have annoyances not present on commercial operating systems. And yes, that includes any version of Debian.

Sorry Linux desktops, time is up. I spent ~13 years trying to love you, but you always have baggage. Maybe you don't anymore (I highly doubt that), but it's too late. And I'm not an outlier; your countless ex boyfriends and girlfriends agree with me.

> On a (semi-stable) Linux (like Testing) there are never "conflicts between packages", btw. This can only happen if you make a mess and mix up different distros…

Yeah right... no one ever has to install a version of software that's newer than what's in the distros respective repos. Those people all go through the trouble to guess what dependencies some source code relies and compiles everything by hand just to avoid pissing off Aptitude. /s

The real world doesn't work like that. Having package management be locked to the repo for the particular distro version is great for Linux as a server. It sucks ass if you're an everyday person just trying to do things other than fiddle with their OS. Ideally, the user should be hardly aware of their OS.

Sure, there's also this "Snaps" thing now, which I don't have experience with, but apparently there's something about it that pisses off a large amount of the Linux crowd.

And are you telling me you've never done anything custom to your Linux installations? Because that's one of the key features these distros sell themselves on. You can make Linux "your own." That sounds great, but what that means is even so much as changing which file manager you use can lead to disaster when you perform an update, even after doing all the allegedly right things.

Regardless, the way that distros manage packages can only serve to get in the way of users who aren't OS nerds. Any gain in stability comes at the potential cost of time wasted which does not exist nearly to the same extent on commercial operating systems.

The Linux crowd reminds me a lot of the amateur radio crowd. Just as Linux people say that their distros are now very stable and easy to use, the Hams think that it's worth the time of casually interested people to get a fully featured Ham radio setup with all the bells and whistles and to take the "easy" FCC license exam. Anyone who thinks radio is cool but isn't interested in studying and spending lots of time with electronics in their basement "doesn't know what they are talking about." In reality, a GMRS radio is probably better for most people in almost every case, just as most people should avoid Linux and use macOS or Windows instead. Linux DEs will never be popular with non-nerds unless their community stops acting like Hams, but that probably won't happen because Linux had been like Ham since I started using it. The community was saying exactly what you are saying today back in 2005.

> Please don't spread FUD in the future if you don't know what you're talking about.

That is a terrific piece of advice that anyone making an argument should take.