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Users are also happy with clunkiness if it gives them other things they value. Ask any Windows user. Also, video game modding.

My general experience is that clunky software is what made people tech literate, and now that everything has safety barriers and protects the user from everything tech literacy has fallen.


Windows is also just convenience. Most use it because it comes with the computer
Or because don't know (or care) that they have a choice. Same with browsers. Most users will click the 'internet button' to get online
The main reason is the better alternative costs twice as much.
Wow. I didn’t know Linux cost that much! /s
Cost isn't only money. In the case of linux it is time to learn to use it (which is a sunk cost on windows: already paid it). Then you need to download and install it - again windows comes by default so a sunk cost.
> In the case of linux it is time to learn to use it

How much time do you need to take to learn "click on the swirly orange thing for Internet"? It looks just the same as it does in every other OS.

> (which is a sunk cost on windows: already paid it)

This is actually something I'm coping with at the moment, because I have to learn how to use Windows and it's the most backwards thing ever to use.

Windows user here. It goes vastly further than that. I've been using Windows since version 3.0. I'm used to it to the point where it's second nature. Linux is foreign and difficult to comprehend, not least because it explicitly avoids being anything like Windows or accommodating habits people acquired from Windows. I don't like the direction Windows is going any more than anyone, and I'm avoiding Windows 11 for the time being, but as long as Linux people continue to believe that the only reason Windows users don't switch is because they don't know Linux exists, Linux will not be able to attract Windows users even as Windows goes full capitalist enshittification.
You know the Firefox icon in Windows?

It's the exact same in Linux. Click on it, get Internet.

You do everything in a browser anyway.

I don't remember the last time I've clicked on a Firefox icon. I've pinned it to the taskbar and I press Win+1 to use it, which is 100 times faster. I've been doing that for >10 years now.
This is acceptable. We now understand that privacy-focused solutions are not appropriate for individuals with average technological literacy, and we cannot depend on companies to self-regulate.

At present, the emphasis is on the potential of large language models (LLMs) and the related ethical considerations. However, I would prefer to address the necessity for governments or commissions to assume responsibility for their citizens concerning "social" media, as this presents a significantly greater risk than any emerging technology.

> Users are also happy with clunkiness if it gives them other things they value. Ask any Windows user.

In that case, the alternatives are also clunky. I use Windows, MacOS and Linux regularly, and all of them got serious UX problems.

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