The average user is not the average HN user; the latter can solve the minor issues they stumble upon, but not the former.
Would you buy a car where "most things work", if you had no mechanical skills?
I'm a hardcore Linux user, but even with that, I don't advocate it unless I know exactly the platform a given user is going to work on.
There are surely issues on any system, but in Windows/Mac there is the expectation of everything working out of the box, since there is more of a "package" ("box") culture.
In this sense, projects like the Dell XPS are certainly big steps forward (and even the XPS has at least one significant issue out of the box).
You are basically right but for me this is a bit different.
My family and friends like to come to me with their IT problems and it's easier for me to solve them if they use Linux.
The big problems with Mac/Windows can in many cases also not be solved by me, easily (e.g. Driver for XYZ doesn't work - on Windows this means searching another EXE that could work but if it doesn't you can exchange the device in question because my Latin is exhausted at that point).
Sure there is problems with every system - it just depends on what you do and how you use computers what problems are the most concerning ones I think.
Would you buy a car where "most things work", if you had no mechanical skills?
I'm a hardcore Linux user, but even with that, I don't advocate it unless I know exactly the platform a given user is going to work on.
There are surely issues on any system, but in Windows/Mac there is the expectation of everything working out of the box, since there is more of a "package" ("box") culture.
In this sense, projects like the Dell XPS are certainly big steps forward (and even the XPS has at least one significant issue out of the box).