If you’re hanging out in a Linux community, then nobody is forcing that ideology on you. If you walk into a church, Christians aren’t forcing their ideology on you. Call me when Linux advocates take over a government and release a national security directive identifying Windows users as enemies of the state.

Door-to-door evangelist: “Good day, Sir! Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior Jesus Christ?”

Arch user: “I’m glad you asked. Come in, there’s something I want to show you…”

Part of the problem with any social media platform is that, proportionally, you see more from chronically online people than well-adjusted people. And those chronically online people are less likely to demonstrate empathy or tact.

And I imagine the Linux community has a higher percentage of those people than others.

On top of all of that, people in the Linux community often focus on solving problems. This can be really great, but it can backfire when someone just wants to vent and isn’t looking for a solution. So when a solution is offered and subsequently rejected, things turn sour.

When I recommend Linux to people, I usually try to explain it from my own experience. “Yeah, I finally got fed up and tested out Linux as my main operating system. It was super easy, and I was able to try it before installing it to see if it worked. So far I’m really happy with it. You should try it!”

Yeah, Lemmy has a disproportionate amount of Linux desktop users, probably because the users who don’t use Windows out of principle likely won’t use Reddit. Plus, if you hang around Linux spaces specifically… yeah, it’s all like-minded users. It makes sense you’d just see memes from that perspective.

In other spaces, I have seen so much complaining about Windows, especially since W11. I personally had to install tools to change behavior or debloat Windows right up until I left. But I think those spaces are harsher on the idea of “switching to Linux” because it gets brought up every time, but doing so would take more effort and learning than complaining does. Also many users can’t or won’t forgo Windows-only apps.

Anyways, I think there’s embellishing on both sides, and a lot of it comes from a vocal minority. I think most Linux users aren’t insufferable about it, and I think most Windows users just haven’t considered it worth it yet to migrate and relearn.

do peeps really do that?.. like - do peeps go outta their way to complain to peeps to use gnu/linux?

yea no, if thatd be my first contact, id also not wana-