Personally, I’m not brand loyal to any particular OS. There are good things about a lot of different operating systems, and I even have good things to say about ChromeOS. It just depends on what a user needs from an operating system.
Most Windows-only users I am acquainted with seem to want a device that mostly “just works” out of the box, whereas Linux requires a nonzero amount of tinkering for most distributions. I’ve never encountered a machine for sale with Linux pre-installed outside of niche small businesses selling pre-built PCs.
Windows users seem to want to just buy, have, and use a computer, whereas Linux users seem to enjoy problem solving and tinkering for fun. These two groups of people seem as if they’re very fundamentally different in what they want from a machine, so a user who solely uses Windows moving over to Linux never made much sense to me.
Why did you switch, and what was your process like? What made you choose Linux for your primary computing device, rather than macOS for example?
I’m 70% there. Game is 100% since i use just the Deck. Browsing and casual also 100%. As a graphic designer i still have to keep Adobe around for now, but i’m also testing out alternative as Gimp, Krita, Kdenlive, Da Vinci and more. I’ll soon upgrade my ssd and use the extra room for a dual boot on my desk. On my portable i already use Mint.
I had an overwhelming feeling of corporations telling me what they are selling and that I just have to deal with it. Apple, microsoft, adobe, all subscriptions that lock you in and hold you hostage.
Maybe I am just being over the top, but I miss feeling like I OWNED something. With linux? I own my laptop again.
Originally I switched just because I didn’t have a Windows install available and Linux was convenient enough to just download and stick on there. But then once I got used to using it I massively preferred it. I’m the opposite of what you’re describing, I don’t want “problem solving and tinkering”, I like Linux because it basically just does what I want it to do. Windows does what Microsoft wants it to do lol.
I got tired of having an OS that is working against me. That is not a healthy relationship. With Linux you can really see there is a shift in the mindset. User experience is prioritized and you are allowed to do what you want wherever you want to. This means for example things like running a live iso, installing the OS and surfing the web at the same time is possible. I can remap the super key, and other keys. Oh, tiling Window manager exist like hyperland. Omarchy. And how about tabs in the file explorer. Why did not Microsoft implement it 20 years ago like when it came to Linux.
The last Windows OS I used was XP, around 2004-ish. Even back then, it was obvious to me that, because it was closed source, that they could one day start acting against my interests, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I saw open source as an insurance policy - it prevents vendors from acting maliciously against their users. In that very quaint, old time, nobody believed that MS would ever do something like that, but it didn’t matter - the fact was that they could, so inevitably, they would.
I’m quite proud of how prescient I was when I look at what they’re doing today. No evil is too great to stop a greedy businessman.
Anyway, I decided to just be brave and create a partition on my main drive and install Ubuntu on it. All I needed to get my work done was OpenOffice, LaTeX, a browser, a compiler, Python… Everything worked better in Linux than Windows so even though I was dual-booting, I practically never used Windows again after a couple weeks. Later on, I switched to Debian, and the next laptop that I bought, I just wiped the hard disk and used Linux for the whole thing. I kept the recovery partition because I was paranoid but obviously never needed it.
Today, there’s no doubt in my mind that Linux is the best OS. Sure, Macs have better batteries, but if I’m doing productive work, then I don’t really need more than an hour away from my charger. I could maybe agree that the BSDs are better, but I’ve never tried them.
It’s interesting how nobody is saying “because it’s free software,” which is kind of the entire point of Linux.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t switch for that reason either. But it’s telling how conditioned we’ve been to not even recognize a free culture exists.
No, some people said “poverty” as a reason. That’s fair. To be honest Windows is ok, it just kind of sucks. If I’m only paying like $150 for a machine, I am ok with them having Windows on it, but I would probably install Mint, but you know what maybe not, the computer is going to kind of suck a bit, maybe its going to be ok.
Avoiding studying for exams in 2007.
😂🤣😂🤣😂
I enjoyed your reason.
linux just feels better, quicker, more powerful from a user standpoint. also it doesnt spy on everything you do and use it to create a profile of you that will be used for god knows what, now, or in the future.
I didn’t appreciate MS’s anti-consumer practices (subscription fee for an OS, invasive telemetry and tracking, fucking ads in the goddamn Start menu), etc.). I installed Mint a couple years back and have almost zero regrets.
Yeah Apple is greedy but Microsoft hates their customers… it’s like it’s run entirely by fast food employees who don’t want to see you walk in the door…
I’m tired of shit randomly not working, mainly audio. Most of the stuff I need to do is Linux okay now so I’m moving my laptop to something with kde, probs nobara. Or debian with kde. My desktop will probably dualboot kubuntu (bc unfortunately rocm is the least annoying on that) and windows 11 because I unfortunately like playing r6 siege with my friends.
My backup laptop runs Bunsenlabs os bc windows dies of death.
Edit: 50/50 on kde or openbox. Want to try kde, I’ve been using openbox for ages though.
To flex on strangers online and post to unixporn fora
I moved from FreeBSD to Linux, for GPU rendering in Blender. If it wasn’t for GPU drivers, I’d still be on FreeBSD.
Not all the way there yet but working on it because the problems I’m having with Windows are reaching a tipping point where they outweigh the problems I’d have with Linux. I would never buy an Apple product. Their bullshit walled garden ecosystem disgusts me and they are leading the charge that’s showing all the other tech companies just how much the average consumer will let them get away with.
Privacy and freedom. Some developer tools are already installed or if not are easy to install. Also I don’t like bloatware, the price is nice and the performance is great.
I tried to break from Windows back in college after Windows 8 was such a disaster. Set up an Arch dual boot over a weekend and tried to use it whenever I could. Unfortunately found myself using the Windows partition far more often mostly because of gaming compatibility. Shelved it and suffered through MS’s bullshit ever since.
10 years later on the dot, I went on a huge degoogling/de-MS push this past winter/spring. Set up GrapheneOS on my phone, moved away from as many big tech services and tools as I could, changed my email, and eventually said fuck it and installed CachyOS on my brand new desktop to give it a go. It’s been my daily driver ever since. The whole degoogling push also got me to set up a home server and go down the entire selfhosting rabbit hole but that’s a discussion for another day.
The Steam Deck is what really reintroduced me to it and showed me how insane Proton is for compatibility, and with all the garbage big tech and fascists want to throw at us, this year was definitely time to make the switch.
Which reminds me, I should probably wipe that Windows partition that still gathers dust.
