c/linux · by Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com · 27d

stillOS offers one of the best Linux onboarding experiences I've ever seen

https://www.zdnet.com/article/stillos-best-onboarding-experience-linux-distro/

Any thoughts about stillOS? This is the first I've heard about it

2 points · 10 comments · view on lemmy.world

10 Comments

A lot of the article is fluff, but this part describes the onboarding process the author liked:

After installation, you'll experience several pieces of the puzzle that contribute to stillOS's claim. First, you're informed that an update is happening in the background, and you can continue without interruption. That should help give users a sense of reliability.

There's nothing to see here; just an atomic update.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

Next comes the ability to select which applications to install. This goes beyond the typical web browser and office suite. With stillOS onboarding, you can select apps to install from several categories, such as web browsers, productivity, music listening, gaming, creative work, utilities, and LLMs. Expand each category and select any/all apps you want to install. You're not limited to a single app in each category. For example, you can select as many web browsers as you want, or as many office suites.

You can install apps from all of these categories.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET

Take, for instance, the productivity section, which allows you to install things like OnlyOffice, LibreOffice, Planify, Todoist, Trello, monday.com, ClickUp, and HubSpot.

You want productivity, you got it.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET

After you complete that process, you can choose to open the First Steps app immediately.

stillOS is easily customizable

Another thing that makes stillOS consumer-ready is the First Steps app, which is similar to what some other distros might call a Welcome app, only it includes quite a bit more. With First Steps, you can:

Install apps

Configure displays

Customize the layout and extensions

Manage online accounts

Add Bluetooth devices

Configure printers

Sign up for the stillHQ forums

For instance, click Launch for "Customize the layouts and extensions," and you can select from several pre-configured layouts, including ones that resemble different Windows releases, a MacOS option, a GNOME layout, one that resembles elementaryOS, a layout that looks like ChromeOS, and more.

After this, he describes some annoying bugs, and recommends that the distribution work on its polish before it can be ready for the masses.

the_q@piefed.social · 8 pts · 27d (3 replies)

What's with the downvotes? What's the controversy with this one?

one_old_coder@piefed.social · 18 pts · 27d

I would say:

An obscure Linux distribution with an incredible title "the best Linux onboarding experience," when we have had Ubuntu, Mint, or a lot other distributions for the past 20 years.
"updates and applications," wow!
Well, there is nothing else. The article is either empty or it's an advertisement.

Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com · 3 pts · 27d

I was hoping someone would explain why this distro is bad lol

brucethemoose@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 27d

Im not downvoting, I think its interesting.

...But iI suspect some are tired of the Linux community's fragmentation? As there are a lot of distros that try to mimic Windows as effortlessly as possible.

This looks like a very clean, sleek attempt to me, IMO.

Sims@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 27d (2 replies)

"stillOS takes the GNOME desktop and configures it like Windows out of the box."

Seem to be the only thing that makes it 'special' ? Not sure that is unique really, but if it makes some users happy..

iknownothing@gehirneimer.de · 2 pts · 27d

In my experience from stillOS, it is not special when it comes to GNOME or the base system.

What make it special is that much of the functionality is streamlined for the user, so it is easier to configure and use the os on a daily basis.

For missing apps, they have a nice solution to use web apps, so they look like nomal apps and run well. (They are still web apps, but still)

I like the idea and design of stillOS and will keep using it.

ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 27d

Good god, that's the worst of both worlds.

iknownothing@gehirneimer.de · 2 pts · 27d

I like how it uses web apps in StillOS

kibblebits@quokk.au · 2 pts · 27d

We don’t need more distros.