Linux

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux is in fact KDE/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, KDE plus Linux.

KDE neon is what they're selling

I found since people are used to app stores, I've had a much easier time convincing people to try out Linux. My mom even said that she always wished her windows PC had a proper app store.

With app images it's easier than installing. Although the chmod step will deter the typical windows user

But can it run proprietary software used in the industry? From Excel to Photoshop, if you are in a collaborative professional environment, you can't run away from those, and don't tell me you can use the alternatives in Linux, because no, you can't. This is not linux fault, but it's still an issue you can't handwave.

I love linux, but you can't expect people to adopt it just because it's objectively better than windows.

Not to mention free as in freedom.

This is kinda how I feel about Windows these days. It's interface, directory structure, shudder the registry, user specific apps (from MS Store or Winget), buttons being inserted into the menu bars on some apps, but not others, button sizes being different sizes, some parts still using the Metro interface. The whole thing either needs a re-write, or should be dropped and something new to replace it. Don't even get me started on things like the eventvwr hanging for 20 seconds after it opens, event tracer API, their in-house abandonment of powershell modules once powershell was open sourced, Windows containers being a disaster, etc.

I've been a Linux user for a decade and a half now, but still use Windows on my corporate laptops. Honestly, it's baffling how Microsoft seem to consistently manage to miss the mark with the UI design. There's lots to be said about the underlying internals of Windows vs Linux, performance, kernel design etc., but even at the shallow, end user, "is this thing pleasant to use" stakes, they just never manage to get it right.

Windows 7 was...fine. It was largely inoffensive from a shell point of view, although things about how config and settings were handled were still pretty screwy. But Windows 8 was an absolutely insane approach to UI design, Windows 10 spent an awful lot of energy just trying to de-awful it without throwing the whole thing out, and Windows 11 is missing basic UI features that even Windows 7 had.

When you look at their main commercial competition (Mac and Chromebook) or the big names in Linux (GNOME, KDE, plenty of others besides), they stand out as a company that simply can't get it right, despite having more resources to throw at it than the rest of them put together.

Plasma 6 is approaching fast

It is a desktop environment system.

Does clicking on it open the mixer, or still the useless menu which should be accessible with a right click instead?

KDE had that pretty much since the invention of the mouse wheel.