To a non IT person who hasn't heard of apt, needing to start the update manually, and needing type some magic words in precisely, is the worst it can get.

It's clear why many Windows users won't switch to Linux, when people show them they'd need to use strange IT tools to use it. While, annoying, Windows doesnt need you to be an IT nerd. Linux doesn't either, but to people outside of the Linux bubble, this is how it gets presented. That Windows update sure looks easier than some manual hack.

More than a decade ago I joined github among other systems, in order to report bugs to FOSS projects. Now I quit GitHub as it's too risky being on there. So if a project wants bug reports, go somewhere users data is not put at risk. Or go without bug reports.

It's clear we don't want US spyware.

Me in shop: I want to buy a robot vacuum cleaner. Do you have one of those sweary ones?

I might be an idiot, but I'm not going to use a Mac.

This meme also perpetuates the myth that to use Linux you must be an IT person. I just use it as a user.

Great. Now everyone will be copying Apple's foldable idea.

Managing digital information today is a horrible mess of silos and big business driven incompatibilities. It often drives people to use PDFs, as there is nothing appropriate. Blame the software/businesses, not the victims/users.

Gimp isn't perfect. But neither is Photoshop. In fact Lightroom users grizzle that Photoshop is so much harder to use than Lightroom. It's a different animal.

I use Pinta or Paint.Net when I want a quick edit. But Gimp has the tools for serious editing. More tools, more hard to use.

Some Gimp things, yes! should be improved. And other things are being improved as we speak. And some things can be done on a photo much easier in Inkscape.

I hope the whiners donated to Gimp development? No? Then just please step back, and think for a bit. If thinking is too hard, then just take a deep breath.

Yes. I've been using Ubuntu and now Kubuntu for about 12 years and I don't use the CLI. I don't play computer maintenance guy, so don't need any weird hacks. I just use my applications, which all have GUIs. I don't need the CLI despite people telling me I need to use it. They have never tried GUI only. So they don't know what they are talking about. The next lot, who typically have no idea about usability, tell me I'm missing out on something. But it's always something I've never needed. If I were to use the CLI, I would need to spend ages researching not just some command, but a whole lot of other concepts that I have no clue about, only to forget it all if I ever need that again. So not as fast as people claim. Luckily, Desktop Environment developers know this and put a lot of effort into making them user friendly. They understand usability. And that different users have different needs.

I blame the Linux gatekeepers, keeping people on Windows. By pushing out misinformation to Linux newbies who ask a question online, and scaring them away.

I agree with the OP. But swap the term "newbie" for "casual user" or "non IT user", and more people would agree. Even the nerdiest IT Pro was a newbie whenever they use a distro for the first time. Avoid the term "normie" too, as people have different ideas of what normal is. There are more non IT, power users who have a deep knowledge of their applications, than all Linux users put together.

So this discussion is all around a sloppy choice of terminology.