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Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

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Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#221

Post by Zhyl »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #186

Disclosure: I'm a developer advocate at Microsoft with a focus on Linux, I am typing this on a laptop running Windows 11 (it also has another SSD that runs Linux), and I'm a diehard Mac user. I hate this sort of SEO-driven clickbait that is trying to inflame wars that frankly, were settled two decades ago. Use Linux. Use Windows. Use macOS. Use Chrome OS. Use OpenBSD. Use Haiku. If you're a complete masochist, use GN…

I feel like with the uptick in Linux gaming, Valve's investment in Proton, the Steam Deck, EAC/Battleye compatibility with Proton, modern desktops catching up to Windows look and feel, it's closer to being 'the year of the Linux desktop' than ever before.

Sure, 'the year of the Linux desktop' is a loosely defined term that doesn't necessarily have any key metrics that you'd agree with, and it's not like any of the world's governments or corporations are suddenly going to overhaul their entire desktop IT inventory in 12 months, but for the first time ever I have seen people say '2022 is the year of the Linux desktop' and I think that there is actual substance to it rather than just blind naïve optimism.

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#222

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #186

Disclosure: I'm a developer advocate at Microsoft with a focus on Linux, I am typing this on a laptop running Windows 11 (it also has another SSD that runs Linux), and I'm a diehard Mac user. I hate this sort of SEO-driven clickbait that is trying to inflame wars that frankly, were settled two decades ago. Use Linux. Use Windows. Use macOS. Use Chrome OS. Use OpenBSD. Use Haiku. If you're a complete masochist, use GN…

It is because of our frustration with Windows. There was a time when it was a private system. Sure, the first couple of versions weren't particularly stable or secure, but for some reason you trusted the vendor of your operating system that they won't spy on you.

Unfortunately, things went in the same direction as other greedy companies that pay lip service to valuing their users while exploiting their privacy in all possible ways. Microsoft went a step further, being actively user-hostile, for example changing telemetry settings so that your previous choices wouldn't work and enforcing remote accounts. Name a dark pattern, and Microsoft used it somewhere.

So how couldn't we be frustrated? We receive a box full of adware with little control of how it's updated and what is going to run on it tomorrow. Sure, there are nice things like WSL, but they don't somehow cancel your shady doings. Fortunately the future is more and more web-oriented so it's getting easier to switch from Windows now than it was a decade or two ago.

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#223

Post by mkl95 »

lostgame wrote: post #204
mkl95 wrote: post #71

I have been dual booting for a while with no issues whatsoever. I develop software on Ubuntu because the tools I use work out of the box. I play games on Windows because the games I play work out of the box.

I'm a MacOS person (iOS dev for a living, no choice), but how is WSL; from a development perspective?

I've heard good things about WSL from other developers. My current setup (two OS, two SSD) predates modern WSL though.

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#224

Post by ekianjo »

pjmlp wrote: post #75

Yet another one of thoses guides. When XP came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to Toy'R us interface. When Vista came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to DX 10 drivers and hardware requirements. When 8.x came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to tablet UI. When 10 came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to telemetry. Now Windows 11 came out, naturally everyone is going to go…

I agree with the sentiment, but... reasons to use Linux do pile up over time, and Linux desktop is getting a bit better every year too. I don't expect any kind of mainstream adoption, but there's a momentum.

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#225

Post by kevinventullo »

Just bought a new computer, and I recently got a warning notification from Windows Defender. Clicking through, I discovered that the urgent message was that I should really consider backing up my files on OneDrive.

So I go to ignore the message, but the “dismiss” button was bugged; I couldn’t make the notification go away. After Googling around, I found the fix was to uninstall OneDrive, which had been preloaded, and restart the machine.

This is the type of thing that will get me to switch or simply stop using desktop computers outside of work at all.

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#226

Post by Zhyl »

pjmlp wrote: post #75

Yet another one of thoses guides. When XP came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to Toy'R us interface. When Vista came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to DX 10 drivers and hardware requirements. When 8.x came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to tablet UI. When 10 came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to telemetry. Now Windows 11 came out, naturally everyone is going to go…

It's worth noting that desktop Linux has improved remarkably in the last 5 years.

I know that this is always said, but compared to, say, 2012 when Windows 8 was announced we have:

* Youtube, Netflix and other services that Windows 7 users would have taken for granted that weren't available by default on Linux

* Stable drivers for infamous Wifi problems

* Thousands of games working since Proton was released in 2018 [0]

* Anti-cheat support announced by EAC and Battleye earlier this year [1]

* Easier install processes

I think the knee-jerk HN backlash against Linux in comments like these is getting less and less justified. There's certainly still reasons that you could be flippant and sarcastic about Linux. It still is at only 1-3% of the marketshare after all, but I don't think you can compare it to previous versions of Windows in the same way anymore.

[0] https://protondb.com

[1] https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/valve-making-linux-anti-c...

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#227

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #210
msla wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are plenty of Linux distributions with tons of telemetry and spyware (Deepin Linux is literally run by the Chinese government) Trying to "Both Sides" telemetry and spyware fails because you can use Linux without either, whereas macOS and Windows are inherently married to it and you can't use them without submitting to their respective surveillance regimes. Oddities like Deepin barely matter and can't be used…

I actually disagree. Ubuntu has a lot of telemetry on by default (unlike Deepin, they disclose this, but I'm pointing this out) and for many years, Canonical really tried to push the whole account login thing (RIP Ubuntu One). Not to mention the time Ubuntu inserted Amazon affiliate links into the search app (which to their credit, they eventually removed -- tho the Amazon app that was just an affiliate launcher didn…

> I actually disagree.

Of course you disagree because it's your job. Satya Nadella himself makes sure you try to sway the opinion here in favor of your company [0]:

"In fact, this morning, I was reading a news article in Hacker News, which is a community where we have been working hard to make sure that Azure is growing in popularity and I was pleasantly surprised to see that we have made a lot of progress..."

Hint: criticizing Linux in such a heavy-handed way won't work that well.

[0 ]https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/events/FY-2019/earn...

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#228

Post by filmgirlcw »

goohle wrote: post #213
filmgirlcw wrote: post #186

Disclosure: I'm a developer advocate at Microsoft with a focus on Linux, I am typing this on a laptop running Windows 11 (it also has another SSD that runs Linux), and I'm a diehard Mac user. I hate this sort of SEO-driven clickbait that is trying to inflame wars that frankly, were settled two decades ago. Use Linux. Use Windows. Use macOS. Use Chrome OS. Use OpenBSD. Use Haiku. If you're a complete masochist, use GN…

> It will never be the year of the Linux desktop (and that's totally OK!) Android(Linux) is used by majority of users (40%), while Windows holds just 32.3%: https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share .

Obviously, mobile devices far outnumber desktops and laptops now (servers too), but I think conflating Android with both Linux and the Linux desktop is wrong.

The whole meme of the Linux desktop wasn't meant to say, "uses a highly modified version of the Linux kernel with a custom userland, proprietary interface, proprietary services, custom drivers, etc. The idea was not to replace one proprietary system with another mostly proprietary system that happens to have a modified version of the Linux kernel and that puts some of the software in a git repo. I do think it is telling that the most successful user-facing implementations of both Unix and Linux have had to create largely proprietary wrappers over them both.

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#229

Post by makeitdouble »

pjmlp wrote: post #216
wayneftw wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet another one of these comments. When XP came out, people were switching to Linux. When Vista came out, people were switching to Linux. When 8.x came out, people were switching to Linux. When 10 came out, people were switching to Linux. Now Windows 11 came out, naturally people are still switching to Linux. Guess what? People are going to continue switching platforms and talking about it. Oh and 25% of developers a…

Still good enough to power about 85% of desktop computers worldwide, one games console and game streaming service, all of which also need developers.

It's closer to 75%: https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide...

Re: Reasons to switch from Windows to Linux

#230

Post by md8z »

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #227
filmgirlcw wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually disagree. Ubuntu has a lot of telemetry on by default (unlike Deepin, they disclose this, but I'm pointing this out) and for many years, Canonical really tried to push the whole account login thing (RIP Ubuntu One). Not to mention the time Ubuntu inserted Amazon affiliate links into the search app (which to their credit, they eventually removed -- tho the Amazon app that was just an affiliate launcher didn…

> I actually disagree. Of course you disagree because it's your job. Satya Nadella himself makes sure you try to sway the opinion here in favor of your company [0]: "In fact, this morning, I was reading a news article in Hacker News, which is a community where we have been working hard to make sure that Azure is growing in popularity and I was pleasantly surprised to see that we have made a lot of progress..." Hint:…

Please don't be so cynical. I don't work for Microsoft, I've been using Linux for about 20 years and I haven't used Windows seriously in about that long, and I agree entirely with her comment. Once you go adding all the things to Linux that Windows users want, it starts to look a lot like Windows in more than one way...
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