flatbield

Library versioning is supported in Linux. Has been for decades. Linux and Unix too is kind of based on building from source. So am not all clear how binary builds interact with library versioning for example.

Actually I both do and do not understand why they exist. I use Debian based distros and do not use either well except when I am using Ubuntu which is forcing more and more snaps.

I do actually use exactly one appimage. I use to use the snap but found it was not that stable. One also generally has to have relatively new distro releases too as both flatpack and snap need to be fairly current which can be problem for near EOL Debian stable. Hence neither flatpack nor snap is that portable.

Where flatpacks and snaps look a lot better is smaller distros with smaller repos. Hence, not that interesting for Debian based distros.

By the way, in my view, Ubuntu using Snaps rather then native packages is a negative.

Yes I would disagree regarding immutable. Such a distribution cannot be secure for any lenght of time. Security updates are required. As soon as it customize in any way it is not immutable including adding flatpacks. So I do not see the attraction.

Keep in mind you choose basically uncommon niche distributions. Go to distrowatch and choose one of the top 5 or so and use the distro repos and security updates. No flatpack is not needed for a well supported distro. That is especially true for one of the common Debian based distros.

Just saying, not my experience. I have used linux for over 25 years and nontechnical users in my family have also for almost 20 years. By in large it has worked just fine.

The big issue is Linux is not the OS that is supplied when people go to the store and buy something (well except for Android and Chromebooks which are Linux and are popular). It is also not the system or have the apps their friends use. It also does not have the huge supply, support, and word of mouth ecosystem. Buying hardware especially addons is confusing. Getting support is hard unless you have friends that use. Buying Linux preinstalled often costs more. Change too is hard and there has to be some driver and for most people there is not.

Using LVM is advanced. No nontechnical user should consider.

Doing dual install is advanced. No nontechnical user should consider it.

This is the big issue. It breaks a lot of X11 features. Remote desktop via VNC or RDP should still be possible. Another is ssh and sftp. Edit the file on the client. Another go all in with command line. Nano is easy. Emacs or VIM more powerful but harder. Screen is a useful command line tool too.

Interested in what others suggest.

MS supplied LO translator in MS Office is not very good. That is their issue. MS is not even that compatible betwen versions of their own software.

Ribbon bar shit, personally I hate the MS ribbon bar. So for me the LO interface is way better. Just depends on what you like and what you learned and know well.

Except for MS format compatiblity, not my experience, Not sure where MS format compatibility stands now, but that has histically been the biggest issue.

Keep on mind that MS supplied LibreOffice translator is not great either so they have issues too. MS really does not plan on being compatible even between versions of their own software.

I do not see the point, just do not talk to them.

Every June is really bad now in MN. Use to be my biking month. Now who knows.

The need to do it plus the realization that you can script anything based on it.

Drivers. Using recovery mode. Administration. Wanting to describe what to do rather then manually do it. Wild cards are really powerful and so is find and xargs. The text processing commands are useful too.

The other thing is having started computing in the 1970s. Everything was command line back then. GUI systems only become universal in about 1995.