I occasionally need to do some development work in a Debian VM. I can't even remember the name of the window manager it came with; but I just can't figure it out. The equivalent of the dock / taskbar just isn't useful. I had to jump through hoops and hoops just to get Visual Studio Code to work, in part because it took awhile to figure out how to have root access to my own VM.
Now, I obviously could use a different window manager; but that leads to the real problem: It's just too much work for me to figure out how to use Linux, and find a setup that I like. And, after I do that, it's quite a bit of work to "keep up" with the Linux community and the changes. And, then it's quite a bit of work to ensure that I can find good, compatible hardware.
Finally: I'm very happy with Mac, and Windows 11 is "good enough" for me. I'd consider purchasing a laptop with a Linux-based distro pre-installed; but even then, that's a huge financial risk if I end up not liking it, or I hit compatibility issues. At least the Microsoft Surface has a 60-day return policy.
Which leads to my final point: I use a computer as a tool. Linux on the desktop isn't a tool, it's a hobby. I could see myself using Linux if I wanted to develop an alternate shell / UI as a hobby, or using Linux on the desktop if it was common in my profession.
Out of the box, KDE is very close to Windows - a start menu, a dock, and a task tray. I don't use Gnome, but I don't expect it's that dissimilar either.
No idea why VSCode doesn't work "out of the box" for you. Again, I can only assume you've picked some odd window manager, possibly a tiling one or something like that? Gnome and KDE "just work".
> Linux on the desktop isn't a tool, it's a hobby.
That's fine. My opinion, is the opposite to yours. My vanilla KDE install has been fine and I use my linux desktop as my day-to-day tool for writing production, revenue earning, code. I've been running KDE full time for over 4 years now with no problems (or rather fewer problems than I had with Windows and Apple, but YMMV).
"It's just too much work for me to figure out how to use Linux"
This is the crux, really. I'm adept at server administration, and have used Linux there for decades, but on the desktop it is, from my POV, pretty much a dumpster fire of bad usability.
Had Apple not gone to OS X 20 years ago, I suspect desktop Linux would be materially further along, but with a well-designed and well-supported commercial *nix OS in the market that ships married to bespoke hardware, there's materially less motivation to make desktop Linux better for people who won't want to have to tinker to make things work.
> Had Apple not gone to OS X 20 years ago, I suspect desktop Linux would be materially further along, but with a well-designed and well-supported commercial *nix OS in the market that ships married to bespoke hardware, there's materially less motivation to make desktop Linux better for people who won't want to have to tinker to make things work.
Android is, but nobody's running Android on the desktop.
ChromeOS is, I guess, but how much of a true desktop OS is it vs. a front-end for Google? (Not trolling; I honestly don't know because I don't use any Google products, so it's never been on my radar.)
The very first Chromebook was just a laptop that ran the Chrome browser. An update made it more Windows-like, but by that time I gave it away to the Digibarn.
I occasionally need to do some development work in a Debian VM. I can't even remember the name of the window manager it came with; but I just can't figure it out. The equivalent of the dock / taskbar just isn't useful. I had to jump through hoops and hoops just to get Visual Studio Code to work, in part because it took awhile to figure out how to have root access to my own VM.
Now, I obviously could use a different window manager; but that leads to the real problem: It's just too much work for me to figure out how to use Linux, and find a setup that I like. And, after I do that, it's quite a bit of work to "keep up" with the Linux community and the changes. And, then it's quite a bit of work to ensure that I can find good, compatible hardware.
Finally: I'm very happy with Mac, and Windows 11 is "good enough" for me. I'd consider purchasing a laptop with a Linux-based distro pre-installed; but even then, that's a huge financial risk if I end up not liking it, or I hit compatibility issues. At least the Microsoft Surface has a 60-day return policy.
Which leads to my final point: I use a computer as a tool. Linux on the desktop isn't a tool, it's a hobby. I could see myself using Linux if I wanted to develop an alternate shell / UI as a hobby, or using Linux on the desktop if it was common in my profession.