Would it be possible to lower barrier to entry that low?
To the point where installing some Linux distro would be as easy as installing a game on Steam or installing an application on a phone?
There is existing software for installing Linux from Windows.
For example, old WUBI for installing Ubuntu, and linixify-gui (fork of abandoned tunic) apparently does this as well.
So question is, should there be some effort put into making a modern installer of this kind? Something that even the person with the smoothest brain can use to get Linux on their PC?
Are there any existing projects that try to make this happen?
I feel like this may backfire, because people may accidentally replace their OS, get really pissed off, and start talking about how installing Linux is really dangerous and might wipe all your data, etc.
Nope. The installation menu is more complicated. We used to do it from Windows back in the day no problem.
Yes, this is something that should be taken into account when designing this software.
Set dual-boot as a default / design UI in a way that offers dual-boot as a preferred option.
And many other technical issues will probably appear that will have to be figured out.
But I think that at least even thinking about this is a good start.
Also, this reminds me of 2013, when people accidentally nuked their Windows installs with Linux because they wanted to get the Tux in Team Fortress 2 (Valve gave it to people who played Linux version of TF2).Hmmm yeah I wasn't thinking about a dual boot default. That could maybe work 🤔
This used to exist. Anyone remember WUBI? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wubi
This is how we did it before MS enshittified the boot loaders.
I don't think it matters so much. It's possible to test Linux literally in seconds with nothing to install thanks to virtual machines on the Web. It's risk free.
What prevents people from migrating isn't technical, it's mostly FUD and marketing (not to say lies) from MicroSlop.
we had it back in the day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZipSlack
I have seen distros that offer methods for installing Linux directly from Windows but I wouldn't use them. Live CDs are a good way to test if that distro, or even Linux in general, will work properly on that computer. For example, if you installed Linux on a computer with a WiFi adapter that Linux doesn't currently support, you wouldn't have known this if you just installed Linux directly from Windows without testing it first and there is no simple solution to this problem.
Now, if you could install Linux onto an external hard drive from Windows, then this might be fine because you'd have a dual boot between the two OSs and can easily fallback to Windows if Linux doesn't work properly. However, as far as I'm aware, you'd still need to boot into the bios and change the boot loader so that Linux can actually boot.
I mean, Microsoft could supply an option to safely install Linux as a dual boot, alongside Windows, done by Windows, itself.
That is the only way I would trust such a tool, and even then, I might not.
There's so much closed source code involved in doing it that way - it feels like only Microsoft staff could have any hope to verify compatibility of all the necessary components.
Booting to a Live USB Linux first provides a clean-room - a known, publicly verified open source platform - to perform the installation from.
Such a clean room can be avhieved within Windows, but only by Microsoft engineers with full access to the entirety of Microsoft's source code.
There's nothing easier than booting from a thumb drive and clicking "install", IMO. Having to load Windows first is just adding an extra step.
Not for those who are not sure about Linux. Installing an app and launching it, is a familiar task and quick to do, to take a look. No need get a usb stick and do unfamiliar steps right just then.
Then if Linux looks good, and you want to keep it, now you have the motivation to sort out how to install it. It's a different task.
Many people don't do that, because they dont know what Linux looks and feels like. So they won't install it.
WUBI did a good job of that.
The topic is specifically about installing Linux, so that's what I was considering. If a person just wants to see what it's like, then booting into a live image still seems easier than booting into Windows first and then running Linux in a vm or some other type of software that can run one OS inside another.
Many will already have a running Windows system. And running an app is an every day task for people not experienced in IT matters. Setting up and booting into a live image involves several steps completely foreign to many people. Maybe not to you. But there is a massive difference. These things matter if you've never done it before. Barriers like that are putting people off installing Linux.
