Actual Budget is software. It can be run on a home server if desired.

lol I was going to suggest “it just works”

I would not have suggested that before this year but it’s definitely true now, or at least truer than for Windows/Apple.

I loved the constant pop-ups with offers for things I could purchase. If I don’t purchase something frequently enough I get sad so it’s nice to have an OS that cares about my well being.

I like that snap support is included. You can’t easily add it to immutable distros and there is still some software out there only easily available via snaps.

I am not an expert but I don’t think Snap support can be added to an immutable distro after installation, meaning there is going to be some software that simply cannot be easily installed. Snap support is basically a legacy support feature at this point but I think it’s nice to cover their bases if they are trying to make something for widespread adoption.

I wonder what the differences will be!

I think you’re exactly right, honestly I think this has potential to be huge. Whether we like it or not, in order for a lot of mid-level savvy users to feel comfortable switching over they need a “default” option (like joining mastodon.social) to get their feet wet. A distro specifically built for KDE I think could appeal to a lot of people.

EDIT: Also for the people buying laptops in businesses and schools obv

TrueNAS is fine but the dead-simplest I’ve ever seen is CasaOS which has one-click network file sharing.

Exactly. I remember when my favorite teacher said “This is a textbook. Check it out sometime”.

Eh, just because you can’t make a horse drink water is no reason not to lead it there.

Things like what?

I do that too! And fwiw haven’t had to manually configure auto-mount for other drives in a while.

Honestly, for a good distro, the brand is not great. Perhaps this can be viewed good opportunity to go with something more unique!

Balena Etcher is what you want, though AFAIK if you’re making a Windows installer no Linux programs have the convenient options to disable TPM and online account etc that make Rufus so nice.

I’ve come to realize the Linux basics are actually a lot easier to learn compared to Windows and MacOS, the hard part is un-learning the old ways and habits of doing things. Like if one day everyone on earth forgot how to use operating systems, I’d bet Linux would probably be the one that catches on. It’s only because we’re so used to the idiosyncrasies of stuff like Windows that it feels more natural.

If it’s not the OS drive it’s prooobably fine.

I welcome competition in the space even if it is imperfect.

The major advantage of a subscription model is that they don’t need most users, just enough to be financially sustainable.

FWIW I really like Zorin, it’s not dramatically different but it is prettier out of the box.

Well said. Also, “tweakability” is ultimately going to be the same for any distro. Like you said the more beginner-friendly ones like Mint just start with some common tweaks already in place.

OP, do you know about GNOME extensions? It’s not something the Jedi will usually tell you about. But it’s a great start to the rabbit hole for newbies.