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People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

zdnet.com

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Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#101

Post by dagmx »

The articles base premise is tenuous at best. It assumes that “unknown” has a best case attribution to Linux with no backing for that assertion.

Unknown could just as easily be windows, chromeOS or macOS or just automation for that matter. Why would only Linux report as unknown for only a portion of users?

Given that the Unknown line is directly mirroring the ChromeOS line, it’s much more likely that it’s misattribution from ChromeOS. (And yes ChromeOS is Linux under the hood but the distinction matters because of the implication of the article)

What is the methodology of the statistics collection? Is it just user agent strings?

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#102

Post by tmtvl »

pjjpo wrote: post #56
Ciantic wrote: post #30

I switched to Linux in the past month. First, I installed GNOME based Fedora 43, that was a mistake. I got it working "somewhat" like Windows, with Dash to Panel etc. widgets, but stability was not there after all the hacks. Then I figured I try KDE Plasma, and this is so close to Windows that I made the switch permanent. Even little things like double-clicking on top, or bottom resize handle vertically maximizes the…

Made the switch recently too, I only use the windows box for gaming so went with bazzite-kde. Games were up and running in no time, though I am still noodling over getting Japanese IME working in one though haven't given it any effort yet. Other issues were Bluetooth dongle not being compatible though I happened to have one that is. Ironically the old one doesn't seem to have the same temporary connection issues I wa…

Setting up a Japanese IME in a so-called 'immutable' distro is a good way of developing a drinking problem. Tip: you really don't want ibus, you want fcitx5. No offence to the ibus developers, but ibus is garbage, fcitx is way, way better.

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#103

Post by phreack »

Ciantic wrote: post #30

I switched to Linux in the past month. First, I installed GNOME based Fedora 43, that was a mistake. I got it working "somewhat" like Windows, with Dash to Panel etc. widgets, but stability was not there after all the hacks. Then I figured I try KDE Plasma, and this is so close to Windows that I made the switch permanent. Even little things like double-clicking on top, or bottom resize handle vertically maximizes the…

Same here, now running Fedora KDE but with an Nvidia card it is exceedingly buggy. Doing a single system update the normal way made the kernel version unbootable. I also had some (I suspect) OOM related full freezed that forced me to hard shut off the computer. The UX is really that good though when things work.

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#104

Post by BLKNSLVR »

Ciantic wrote: post #30

I switched to Linux in the past month. First, I installed GNOME based Fedora 43, that was a mistake. I got it working "somewhat" like Windows, with Dash to Panel etc. widgets, but stability was not there after all the hacks. Then I figured I try KDE Plasma, and this is so close to Windows that I made the switch permanent. Even little things like double-clicking on top, or bottom resize handle vertically maximizes the…

> kind of like the old Control Panel.

Aaaah, old Control Panel. One of the things that made me realise that I'm now better at administering a Linux system than a Windows one is that the old Control Panel has been replaced by a series of other screens that don't link together by the same concepts that Control Panel used as groupings.

I think the old Control Panel still exists, but they make it hard to find, and if that's the case then it's not going to exist much longer.

It really is one of the things / realisations that properly ended Windows for me.

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#105

Post by phreack »

gerdesj wrote: post #78
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents run a Windows PC as, from what I can tell, a home for stray botnets. The main uses are checking email and working on Word documents. (They have a laptop and iPad, respectively, which does most of their work, so it's an infrequently consulted machine.) What Linux build would you recommend that I can fire and forget, that would be compatible with the Windows 10 machine they have running and will likely never…

Kubuntu. KDE is generally considered close to a Windows experience, although, I'm afraid the "start" menu is still affixed to the left hand side and not in the middle of the taskbar (which is weird). It also doesn't bother with too much telemetry and all that stuff. Kubuntu is Ubuntu but with the KDE front end, instead of the Gnome one or whatever it is. Being Ubuntu it supports Secure Boot which ticks a box. It is j…

Win <= 10 had left side taskbars so that should actually be a plus. I didn't quickly update to Win 11 because of it being in the middle really, then because of the ads, then swore off it because of the AI stuff so in the end it kind of helped that they messed up the UI.

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#106

Post by Katharsas »

nickjj wrote: post #81

I still want to switch, have been trying for like 8 years. Not yet unfortunately. Video editing is still pretty sub-par on Linux compared to Windows. DaVinci Resolve technically works on Linux and it's an amazing piece of software that I'd love to use but on Linux there's no h264 support unless you pay $300. Ok no problem, I'd do that except the studio version doesn't support AAC for audio on Linux. If you want to re…

I highly recommend you give Shotcut a chance. I am a total beginner with video editing but unlike kdenlive (sorry, still a cool project) it gave me much bigger "professional product" vibes.

IMO it is more polished, built-in effects are better, runs stable on Windows for me (so you can try it anytime before switching to Linux) and it looks nice.

I was editing video gameplay footage with kdenlive some time ago (on Windows) and it was indeed very hard (and also crashed a bunch). In fact i think i switched when i also wanted to overlay text in a certain way (a timer in my case) which seemed to be impossible to make look halfway decent.

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#107

Post by _carbyau_ »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #8

“Microsoft president Pavan Davulur tweeted on Nov. 10 that ‘Windows is evolving into an agentic OS, connecting devices, cloud, and AI to unlock intelligent productivity and secure work anywhere” Apple could probably run a Mac vs PC billboard on this tweet alone.

Resurrect the "Think different." campaign with an AI twist?

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#108

Post by BLKNSLVR »

talys_cat wrote: post #49
le-mark wrote: post #18

Consumer grade windows machines have been barely useable, for a decade plus, due to pre installed crap ware. I stopped helping family members long ago. I tell them install Linux and I’ll help you. A few have and have been very happy!

*torture screaming at the background ARE YOU ENJOY MY LINUX? IT'S FULL OF JOY, RIGHT? YOU ARE HAPPY!!! YOU ALL WILL BE HAPPY!!! ___ seriously though, I do enjoy my arch, but I would never force someone to use linux by not providing help. It's basically same vibe, as with Microhard forcing it's AI vision of OS. Don't be that toxic, your relatives needed your help, and not your narcissism. If you really think, they nee…

(not OP)

I'm the computer support person for a few family members, and my familiarity with Windows these days is getting so minimal that the only way I may be able to continue to offer support is if they switch to Linux anyway.

So, rather than an ultimatum, it's more just practicality.

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#109

Post by marcus_holmes »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #86
AndrewDucker wrote: post #12

What I want is some hardware that, if Linux stops working on it, it's someone's job to fix that. Which is why I'm strongly considering a Steam Cube.

Even if you run fully Valve hardware you are still going to be subject to the usual finicky-ness when connecting external devices (e.g. if you use multiple monitors, issues with the open source AMD GPU drivers; etc.).

This hasn't been my experience with the Steam Deck. I've plugged it into all sorts of shit and it's worked with almost all of it.

Re: People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows

#110

Post by iwontberude »

lnenad wrote: post #34
Angostura wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There a single toggle setting for Apple Intelligence in MacOS (currently toggled as 'off' on my machine)

> Apple Intelligence > currently toggled as 'off' There's a good joke in there somewhere

Too bad you won’t be able to find it in that mess
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