this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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I think Ubuntu was and probably continues to be the real “spiritual successor” just because it is still widely used and is still very polished and user friendly as long as you want to keep with their experience. However, to really compare the “ease of use” (hand holding?) vs contemporaries of Mandrake, Elementary or Zorin might fit the role. They are simplified compared to even Ubuntu, Mint, or Pop OS.
All of the distros have gotten so much easier than they were at the time though. When X got autoconfiguration rather than a distro installer trying to guess and generate a config it was a huge game changer from the way it was before (the days when Debian warned about destroying your monitor). In some ways I think this was one of the largest ease of use changes we’ve had. The other stuff just got better.
I think they are mostly compelling to people who like the nostalgia and were fans of Mandrake. Mandrake was hugely popular in its time. I somewhat doubt they are getting a ton of new converts, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I think you right. Especially when PCLinuxOS is the “The Boomer Distribution“ according to the website. Obviously the community and user friendliness ( like the control center) you mentioned was the main reason. Lastly, destroying your CRT monitor by a wrong X config was part of the learning process.