this is a topic i’ve been heavily involved with because i still consider myself to be someone who prefers using technology at a very beginner friendly level, plus it’s very good when a linux operating system makes you feel right at home when it has a modern desktop environment. this is why i really like gnome, its simplicity and usability is something available for everyone, for beginners and for a lot of other people, but if you had to, say, rearrange xfce or kde for someone who was an elderly person or an absolute beginner so that they wouldn’t have any trouble using linux, how would you do it? (screenshot is my current linux mint desktop, very simple and extremely user friendly!!!)

  • mtchristo@lemm.ee
    17·
    18 hours ago

    Adopt windows file system with letterer partitions as the root. Plus most people who use computers are used to this paradigm already. Who ever came up with Linux’s file system has poor organization skills

    • A Phlaming Phoenix@lemm.ee
      1·
      8 hours ago

      This would fundamentally break the Unix/Posix functionality of layering file systems. All containerization would break. You would lose the ability to map in one filesystem’s content within another’s. I don’t think the right way to get people used to Linux is to fundamentally break it.

      File managers - even the dogshit one you get with Gnome - already register external storage devices in a list that’s shown no matter where in the file system you are. Assigning a drive letter doesn’t clarify anything. What beginner/grandpa is even looking at the contents of the FS root?

    • Scrollone@feddit.it
      32·
      17 hours ago

      I don’t agree. It’s just because you’re used to drive letters.

      I think Linux filesystem is better organised. Everything is (almost) well organised in the right folder.

      • bluesheep@lemm.ee
        10·
        15 hours ago

        It might be nicely organized but coming from windows the abbreviations can be downright confusing. For example:

        • /bin; recycle bin?
        • /etc; other files (etcetera)?
        • /home; okay, this is where I can find my own files
        • /media; music and pictures? USB drives and CD’s?
        • /mnt; no idea but also USBs apparently?
        • /root; wait system admin has his own files?
        • /sbin; super recycle bin?
        • /usr; wait, also where I can find my own files?

        Sure, this might be hyperbole and Windows has its own problems, the two different program files folders coming to mind first. But when you come from an OS where system folders are words instead of abbreviations Linux can be really confusing, especially if you are not that tech-savy.

        • melocotonhelado@lemm.ee
          1·
          5 hours ago

          I agree with you and the confusion which may arise with linux file system’s nomenclature if one isn’t used to it. However how many non tech-savy people would venture outside of /home? In my experience, a lot of people I know have no idea of what C: is and usually browse trough the usual documents, music, downloads and so on; in this case a user’s home folder would virtually give them the same experience. If someone wants to go a little bit deeper, at one point has to understand that we are talking about different OSes and cannot expect everything to be 100% the same and should start learning what those differences are.