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Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

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Re: Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

#11

Post by notabotiswear »

wild_egg wrote: post #6
anta40 wrote: post #5

Why choose one if you can use all of them? Windows: gaming, running proprietary Windows-only apps (like engineering stuffs) Linux: back end development, kernel hacking macOS: mobile app development Well nowadays I'm stick with macOS not because it's pretty, but because a necessary to do my work as a mobile app dev.

Unless your games require kernel anticheat, there's a decent chance they actually run better on Linux than Windows these days.

But 50% of the time you are going to have to apply some hack or workaround.

Gaming on linux is feasible, but it’s not hassle-free and we shouldn’t skip the fact that it still requires some effort. A cheap cost to free oneself from Microslop, but a cost nonetheless.

Re: Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

#13

Post by notabotiswear »

helloworlddd wrote: post #12

I have to use a windows computer at work, so I just use windows for everything to avoid fumbling shortcuts, finding settings, etc.

Pressing super/Windows button then typing the name what you want to run is a pretty much universal way to access applications, and settings are generally centralised and they aren’t changed that frequently. Keyboard shortcuts are also similar, and those that aren’t can be made the same (God! I hated Mint’s handling of Super+L).

I can understand if we were talking about helpdesk or something of the sort, but most computer use is via applications. It’s a deal breaker if one is exclusive to some OS, but if they aren’t, experience should be largely the same, no?

Re: Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

#14

Post by xigoi »

notabotiswear wrote: post #11
wild_egg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless your games require kernel anticheat, there's a decent chance they actually run better on Linux than Windows these days.

But 50% of the time you are going to have to apply some hack or workaround. Gaming on linux is feasible, but it’s not hassle-free and we shouldn’t skip the fact that it still requires some effort. A cheap cost to free oneself from Microslop, but a cost nonetheless.

I’ve never had a problem with running a Steam game on Linux.

Re: Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

#15

Post by brukidm »

notabotiswear wrote: post #11
wild_egg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless your games require kernel anticheat, there's a decent chance they actually run better on Linux than Windows these days.

But 50% of the time you are going to have to apply some hack or workaround. Gaming on linux is feasible, but it’s not hassle-free and we shouldn’t skip the fact that it still requires some effort. A cheap cost to free oneself from Microslop, but a cost nonetheless.

Have you checked your calendar? It's 2026.

Re: Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

#16

Post by kemotep »

notabotiswear wrote: post #11
wild_egg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless your games require kernel anticheat, there's a decent chance they actually run better on Linux than Windows these days.

But 50% of the time you are going to have to apply some hack or workaround. Gaming on linux is feasible, but it’s not hassle-free and we shouldn’t skip the fact that it still requires some effort. A cheap cost to free oneself from Microslop, but a cost nonetheless.

I remember having to spend 3 days to get games to work on Linux and then something like sound or a texture would be completely broken still. In many cases performance would be worse. But these days?

For me at least, Elden Ring on launch day worked flawlessly, anti-cheat and all, on Linux without having to do anything other than adjust settings in the game (which I needed to do on Windows too) and it ran better to boot!

Re: Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

#17

Post by cassianoleal »

helterskelter wrote: post #8

At this point I just point people to Silverblue or a variant. It's got SELinux, flatpaks, atomic updates and corporate sponsorship. I'm not so wild about Redhat these days, but Silverblue is honestly probably the best from the standpoint of being secure, stable, robust, generally well put-together out of the box, and very difficult for a noob to screw up. I don't love saying this, but it's true.

> and corporate sponsorship

That may be a good reason. Corporate oversight is one of the main reasons the other OSs are so terrible at prioritising the user.

Re: Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

#18

Post by notabotiswear »

kemotep wrote: post #16
notabotiswear wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But 50% of the time you are going to have to apply some hack or workaround. Gaming on linux is feasible, but it’s not hassle-free and we shouldn’t skip the fact that it still requires some effort. A cheap cost to free oneself from Microslop, but a cost nonetheless.

I remember having to spend 3 days to get games to work on Linux and then something like sound or a texture would be completely broken still. In many cases performance would be worse. But these days? For me at least, Elden Ring on launch day worked flawlessly, anti-cheat and all, on Linux without having to do anything other than adjust settings in the game (which I needed to do on Windows too) and it ran better to boo…

Things are definitely miles better! I myself have switched fully to Linux as far as games go. But it’s still not the “Install and Play” experience one would expect on Windows.

Just check ProtonDB’s aggregates. Of all the Steam games with reports in the DB (~10% of the entire Steam catalogue), 30~60% (tier 1/platinum) are likely zero effort setups, 30~40% likely require some work (tier 2/gold), and the remainder will most probably do or not run at all.

Things have improved, are improving, and hopefully they’ll keep doing so. But we need to practice some degree of expectation management, especially given influx of new converts these days…

https://www.protondb.com/dashboard

Re: Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?

#19

Post by wild_egg »

notabotiswear wrote: post #11
wild_egg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless your games require kernel anticheat, there's a decent chance they actually run better on Linux than Windows these days.

But 50% of the time you are going to have to apply some hack or workaround. Gaming on linux is feasible, but it’s not hassle-free and we shouldn’t skip the fact that it still requires some effort. A cheap cost to free oneself from Microslop, but a cost nonetheless.

Definitely not 50%. Aside from the aforementioned anticheat titles, my entire Steam library works flawlessly and has for several years now.

I'm sure there's some long tail of titles with poor support, but how many people are actually playing those?

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