the confounding tribalism behind its modularity. options are great, but they also bring out the absolute worst in many of us.

it's not much of a problem until those options actually manage to fragment the desktop and server ecosystems, but the attitudes at play surely drive prospective newcomers away a bit.

Suspend , hibernation and resume

yes laptops may seem like they suspend and hibernate and resume properly on Linux. But they do not work reliably. Back in 2010, you could have laptop running hot inside your backpack just because it failed to suspend on lid close. Fast forwars to 2026, the lid close action works but for me, there are still small chances that it doesnt suspend properly or slow to suspend. I blame Intel and Micro$oft for the new standby mode.

As much as I hate Macs, those fucking money grabbers suspend 200% well. I dont care if you're alert or drunk or 30,000 ft in the air, if you close on the lids on these laptops, they suspend quickly.

I can't really help my Windows friends anymore when they need troubleshooting for things like: why their audio channels aren't working in OBS, or why their config is suddenly corrupted. I used to be able to when I was on Windows, but now I just have to watch helplessly while they struggle to make things work.

Employers some don't like you using non MicroSlop.

Freedom is overwhelming.

You can change everything and anything... so that means a LOT of choices.

People assume it's all terminal all the time. I haven't needed to open the terminal for months. It starts up. With the GUI I open the browser. Maybe steam, too. Do stuff. Shut down.

Does not bake delicious lasagna

It needs more pre installed machines on the market.

For me its the nuance of things.

Like quality of life settings. Turn Bluetooth on automatically at boot. Yeah, you can do it, but not by looking at settings and turning that option on. No, you need to recognize that's a problem then search for an answer, determine which of the 2 or 3 answers you find are right, then do it. Is it a deal breaker? Absolutely not. But I don't want to "solve problems" for every thing I want to do.

My other gripes would be lack of software support. As great as some apps are, others there are no support for Linux.

This is more about open source in general than Linux specifically, but anyway.

Minor details.

I get the impression that often the developers are passionate about getting things working, but once it works it's hard to keep going to fix 'papercuts': minor UI issues, documentation, small usability improvements, consistency, etc. They want to move on to the next big feature.

Of course commercial products can suffer from the same, but if large enough they may have a program manager who assigns people to specific areas like that which get less coverage when it's based on the devs' desire to work on them.

Hardware support is either non existent>generic driver>manufacturer driver that never gets updates

This sucks because on windows you'd be getting manufacturer driver support with updates and software tool support for additional configuration.

All the other "problems" are double edged because yes they are a problem for some but for others its a huge positive. For instance having all the files like .bashrc .compose .desktop as a way of configuring things is cool when you know an arcane when you dont. It should be in the settings gui.

It deprives Apple and Microsoft of revenue. /s

It doesn't have a simple "paint" or "paint.net"

Installing drivers can be an ordeal.

When something doesn't work, it's always on you to identify exactly why it's not working so that you can find the specific instance where someone else has dealt with that specific issue and solved it for your specific hardware and specific install of Linux.

The layout is different from Windows and MacOS in most instances, so it can cause some disconnect for your computer muscle memory when you are switching from one of those to Linux.

Simple things like telling Bluetooth to always start as active for your Bluetooth peripherals is not immediately obvious and causes onboarding hiccups.

Some things simply do not work.

All of that being said, I have Linux certifications. I use Linux as servers in my home lab. I use Linux as my daily driver on all of my personal computers. I'm willing to put up with those to not have to deal with microslop.

Linux is not as raw as it used to be. It is much more of a refined thing, and if you're willing to put in three to six weeks to get used to the differences, then you're going to have a fun and wonderful time using Linux as your daily driver.

It's a different way of using your computer. Kind of like using a manual transmission vehicle versus an automatic.

My main issue often boils down to the amount of people still on Windows. The huge market there pulls developer attention that way so much that often my choice in software is narrowed down to "the one that has a Linux build". And sometimes that isn't even the case and now I need to find a way to simulate Windows for this piece of Software to work in some capacity.

Now, that's not all that often that this is true, but when it is, it's annoying.

optics. people don't realize how much its grown up. its kinda like when mac went to osx. people did not realize how much better it was and it took awhile for people to switch from windows but the apple store helped a lot with that stuff.

Last time I tried (Mint) the dealbreaker for me was battery management. I tried various utils and settings but I couldn't get as much juice of of the same charge using Mint and still have good performance. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be grateful!

Software compatibility is probably the biggest issue. If someone relies on a piece of software that is Windows or MacOS exclusive, that can be enough of a deal breaker. Open source alternatives may exist, but they do not always have the same features or behave as expected compared to what they are replacing.

I think the main problem lies in the community.

Not everyone, but a few vocal rotten apples are hostile to new users who either:

1. Don't already know the answer to their own question

2. Are not using their distro

3. Didn't immediately read the wiki entry for their exact problem

This kind of gatekeeping is why some people are put off of Linux and the community as a whole. Just because someone asks a question you think is obvious, doesn't mean it's obvious to them.

Being so impossibly sexy and yet still intimidating for no reason.

Also Wifi support for certain chip sets.

Small thing: There doesn't (to my knowledge) seem to be an easy way to manage mountpoints/fstab with an easy gui interface.

BLUETOOTH

In Linux, you can configure everything. And you're will be forced to do it.

Honest answer from someone who's used Linux as a daily driver for years:

Actually annoying:

• Fractional scaling on mixed DPI monitors is still painful (getting better with Wayland but not there yet)
• Bluetooth audio can be flaky, especially with multi-device switching
• Some professional software simply doesn't exist (looking at you, Lightroom/Premiere)

Annoying but solvable:

• Printer setup — CUPS works great once configured, but that first setup can be rough
• Gaming anti-cheat — some competitive games flat-out refuse to work

Not actually problems, just different:

• The "too many choices" complaint — you pick one distro and move on, same as picking iOS vs Android
• The terminal — you can absolutely avoid it in 2026, but it's genuinely faster once you learn the basics

Audio.

And software availability.

The driver support can be spotty depending on the manufacturer (looking at you ASUS)

Im not a fan of the severe security issues and just how broken sandboxing is