Indeed, I think it's just two philosophies that don't necessarily need to be at odds. Permissive licenses help speed the adoption of languages and libraries, which ultimately feeds into the slowly building momentum of the copyleft projects that use them.
I think the rub here is that most developers aren't developing/publishing their own software, but honing their skills on writing proprietary code while also putting food on the table. To that end, a permissively licensed library is better because the company will actually use it and the developer will gain experience with it that they can then use outside of the proprietary environment to contribute to FOSS projects (some of which may well use GPL). If a GPL end user product gets popular enough, it will eventually be able to use all of that gained experience to compete with the propriety alternatives, so I do think the two can work in tandem.
I know this is just adding to your problem, but I wanna add to the majority and say go with Mint. It's based on Ubuntu, which in turn is based on Debian, so most anything you can do on Debian, you can do on Mint. This is handy to know whenever you see a ".deb" file.
One of the things that makes it an easier transition from windows is that it's a lot less strict about including proprietary drivers and codecs (though apparently Debian now includes a few by default). It also includes a few more GUI tools by default, like the package update manager.
I also have found Mint's Cinnamon desktop environment to be the easiest transition from a Windows environment. KDE is also a good choice in that regard and it's what I use now, but its plethora of options can be overwhelming for new users.
The distro wars can be pretty overwhelming, but I'd say pick whatever appeals most and go with it. If you get to a point where you can't do something that you want to do, you can always come back and ask for advice and maybe switch up a different OS.
The problem is that a lot of users aren't building a new machine for Linux, but converting an existing Windows laptop or desktop. In my case, I'd already bought an Nvidia card about a year before I decided to switch to Linux for gaming. Not ideal, of course, but it work a good 95% of the time and I can't really afford to get a different card right now. I'll definitely keep it in mind for my next pc upgrade, though.
I mean, there's something to be said about adhering to an industry standard. Of course no project has to do so if they don't want to, but people trying to get on with their work don't want to spend a bunch of time relearning everything. I think Blender really thrived when they loosened up a little on their ideas of what a workflow should be and gave people industry standard options out of the gate.
Whether we like it or not, GIMP isn't going to be most people's first experience with image manipulation. Whether they had a free PS license through school/work, had a subscription at some point, or once got it through ahem alternative means, people will be coming into GIMP with certain expectation of what the workflow should look like and will get frustrated pretty quickly.
Honestly I still struggle a lot with this. I can click around a UI and feel what might confuse a user, but building a UI from scratch feels like such a shot in the dark.
I like vacations where I just go exist somewhere else. Plan a few outings, sure, go to some nice restaurants, but otherwise I just want to relax with no itinerary. The best vacations are ones where I don't have to look at the clock.
The "famous for leaving the Midwest" thing is so real. I lived in a town that billed itself as the hometown of a famous country singer, themed museum and all. Looked it up one time, the dude lived there for like a year when he was three.
The truth is that most people don't really care. A lot of them don't even know what an OS is, they just need a machine that lets them browse the internet, write documents, and maybe play some games. An ad is maybe an annoyance to them, but not one that's going to make them install a new OS. It's not because they're dumb or ignorant, it just doesn't rank that high on their list of priorities (even if we think it should). I think being in these communities kind of makes us forget that a lot of people don't think that much about tech.
I do think that easy to install/use Linux distros could one day start changing some minds, but that distro won't be one that's popular with current Linux users. You'd basically need something that very rarely requires you to touch a terminal, even for troubleshooting, because that's where people will nope right out.
On the other hand, this is why stuff like that "look at all the data Google has on you" video are important. For us it's a yeah duh moment, but the average Chromebook user probably has no idea and is rightly surprised about it. Reach people in terms they can understand.
With GPL, you're programming Freedom. With MIT, you're programming for free. ( lemmy.world ) Englisch
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Toxic linux communities moment:
Original Comic: https://thejenkinscomic.wordpress.com/
toxic help forum ( lemmy.world ) Englisch
New season! ( lemmings.world )
Please be satire ( sh.itjust.works )
The "Driving across the Midwest" Starter Pack ( poptalk.scrubbles.tech ) Englisch
Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our unshittified experience ( sh.itjust.works )
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