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I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

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Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#521

Post by microtonal »

graemep wrote: post #475
microtonal wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I think it is naive of the grandparent to believe that iPhones, Android phones with Google Play Services, a lot of cloud services can be replaced overnight. That said, it might not happen overnight, but it will surely happen. I feel like we are close to a tipping point where governments and companies will move off US services en masse as fast as they reasonably can. I think this movement already started. E.g. o…

Its going to be a very long time before it changes enough to do without US tech. How many European governments are encouraging the use of apps that only run on iOS and Android? How many critically important businesses like banks require customers run unrooted Android or IOS? HSBC's app will not even work if you install apps from F-Droid! A few governments are trying to do something about reliance on the US, but they…

Its going to be a very long time before it changes enough to do without US tech. How many European governments are encouraging the use of apps that only run on iOS and Android? How many critically important businesses like banks require customers run unrooted Android or IOS? HSBC's app will not even work if you install apps from F-Droid!

Step by step. For example, most Dutch banking apps work fine on GrapheneOS. Yes, still with Google Play Services, but at least they are sandboxed. It shows that there is a path to removing dependence incrementally. There are also a bunch of European phone brands (yes, most manufactured in China), like Nothing, Fairphone, Gigaset, HMD, etc. and at least one of them already supports alternative Android versions. Yes, I know they have issues, but you need to start somewhere.

Its good your university is trying, but that sounds like a limited response. Do they use Windows? MS Teams? Google Drive?

Yes, but they also have an official Linux workplace, last time I was there, you could choose to re-image a machine to run Linux on every machine. They are also trialing ownCloud.

The migration won't happen overnight, but it's good that they are setting up the alternatives, trialing them with small user groups, etc. It's the best way to prepare yourself.

I know of no government making serious attempts to get the private sector of US dependence. Just check how many things you use regularly run on AWS. Desktop Linux is great but is any government actually making consistent attempts to persuade businesses to switch to it?

I agree, not enough persuasion is done. But being gloomy is not going to help. Best is to trust in our own strength (we can do it), accept that the solutions are going to be worse (at least initially), make people aware of the risks and alternatives.

The whole situation sucks, but big changes also give rise to big opportunities and it is an opportunity to change to a more open, more privacy-friendly, more user-oriented, etc. ecosystem.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#522

Post by ipjrms »

WheatMillington wrote: post #491
voxleone wrote: post #299

It’s worth acknowledging the real challenges raised in this thread: desktop Linux still has rough edges for some use cases, hardware support isn’t always perfect, and niche professional software may lack native support or require workarounds. But these obstacles are not intrinsic technical limitations so much as ecosystem and investment gaps, areas where community projects, standards efforts, and wider adoption could…

>niche professional software may lack native support Microsoft Office is not "niche professional software"

What is Microsoft Office? Do you mean Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#523

Post by jraph »

WheatMillington wrote: post #491
voxleone wrote: post #299

It’s worth acknowledging the real challenges raised in this thread: desktop Linux still has rough edges for some use cases, hardware support isn’t always perfect, and niche professional software may lack native support or require workarounds. But these obstacles are not intrinsic technical limitations so much as ecosystem and investment gaps, areas where community projects, standards efforts, and wider adoption could…

>niche professional software may lack native support Microsoft Office is not "niche professional software"

I suspect the person you are responding to wasn't including everything that doesn't work on Linux, in particular Microsoft Office, in this phrase, but domain specific / specialized business software.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#524

Post by mixmastamyk »

osigurdson wrote: post #428
JodieBenitez wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My colleagues run linux laptops and they don't struggle with this issue either. They just completely turn off their laptops anytime they want to move somewhere. That's how they trust their OS.

>> They just completely turn off their laptops anytime they want to move somewhere Fine but that attitude isn't going to increase Linux adoption. Arch does work in this regard today but it does require some BIOS tweaks to get it to work flawlessly. Compare this to a MacBook where closing the lid always does the right thing and seems to use basically no power at all in this state. For me, I'll accept the trade-off as…

This point is now moot since x86 broke sleep for everyone.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#525

Post by spooneybarger »

ipjrms wrote: post #522
WheatMillington wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>niche professional software may lack native support Microsoft Office is not "niche professional software"

What is Microsoft Office? Do you mean Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Well played sir. Well played

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#526

Post by glitchcrab »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #505
Chance-Device wrote: post #497

Everyone is talking about moving to Linux lately, it’s a bit of a trend. I wish they’d stop, for one simple reason: I’ve been using Linux exclusively (when I’m not forced to use macOS by work) for several years now, and I rather enjoy the lack of malware, spyware and other bullshit on the platform. If the general public comes over this situation might end. Desktop linux isn’t a target right now because its niche, I’d…

While I sympathize with this angle, there's another side to this coin: if more people do the switch, maybe some applications will finally get linux versions. I'm a Sunday photographer and quite like Lightroom and Photoshop (I know about the drama, but to me, I get enough value from them compared to Darktable and the GIMP to not switch just yet). It's the only reason I still have a windows pc hanging around the house.

I am in a similar boat; my media editing machine ruined windows 10 so that I can use Lightroom. But I would dearly love to ditch windows so I'm currently looking to try out running Lightroom under Winapps to see if it is usable. There's no way of passing the GPU through without something like SR-IOV so I'll have to see how it goes.

https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#527

Post by graemep »

hamilyon2 wrote: post #313

>Dolphin held a pleasant surprise: it could detect my iPhone when it was plugged in. This made it a snap to transfer files to and from my phone as the file manager granted full file access to the iPhone Wait, what? Is this true? Since when?

Do iphones show the file system as a USB storage or MTP device when plugged into a computer? If so, that has worked for many years.

You can also access the file system over the local network from Dolphin using KDE connect. I know that with Android the phone just appears as a drive and I think its the same with Apple devices.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#528

Post by dlcarrier »

Chance-Device wrote: post #497

Everyone is talking about moving to Linux lately, it’s a bit of a trend. I wish they’d stop, for one simple reason: I’ve been using Linux exclusively (when I’m not forced to use macOS by work) for several years now, and I rather enjoy the lack of malware, spyware and other bullshit on the platform. If the general public comes over this situation might end. Desktop linux isn’t a target right now because its niche, I’d…

There's a lot of servers running Linux that are regularly targeted by malware.

There is a big difference in what software a desktop user runs versus what runs on a server, but the great thing about Linux is that you can keep just as much variation between your install and the average desktop user.

Your best bet for security is probably running OpenBSD, but within Linux, if you avoid common optional applications and services like Gnome, KDE, pulseaudio, systemd, etc., you'll have a significantly different attack vector. Avoiding Python and Node package managers and sticking to your distribution's package manager would be great, too.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#529

Post by saubeidl »

rdm_blackhole wrote: post #240
Eupolemos wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Target audience is probably especially anyone not in the US? It is beginning to look a lot like war is brewing between Europe and the US over Greenland. US media working super hard to make an "acquisition" sound reasonable and "FreedomTM".

I don't believe a "war" is brewing. If and that is a big if, Trump were to get Greenland, there is not much that Europe can do in any case. Maybe a few politicians will go on X/twitter and complain but every country in the EU knows that they are no match for the US military and I am saying that as someone who lives in the EU. I suppose the EU could go after big US tech companies but since most of Europe's needs are c…

France has nukes and the only shoot first, ask questions later nuclear stance in the world.

I would advise Americans not to do anything stupid.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#530

Post by ahf8Aithaex7Nai »

My last Windows was Windows 95 (or 98?). I've been exclusively using Linux for ~25 years. I use Ubuntu because I've been using it for ~20 years and have better things to do than try out different distros. My mother, my grandmother, and many of my non-computer-savvy friends also use Ubuntu. I know a Germanist who uses Debian.

It's a bit like with cars. If you know someone who really knows about cars, they'll be able to recommend a solid, simple, super cheap, practical car that will just work and give you no problems. It'll probably be something like a 2010 Toyota Aygo, which you can pick up for next to nothing on the used car market (here in Germany) and which you would never have thought of buying yourself. This is a Linux laptop. Other people who never got this insider tip that driving can be cheap and hassle-free might instead buy a new car from a German manufacturer on credit for half a gross annual salary (or even a whole one). Two years later, the car may already be in the repair shop because the engine is losing oil or because the Nanoslide/Nikasil cylinder liner coating is damaged.

With the Aygo, you can drive from A to B just as well as with any other car, and you might even have a little more fun doing so. But if you need CarPlay and heated seats, distrust things that are cheap, and love that je ne sais quoi that comes with things you've just bought for a lot of money, then this simple 2010 Aygo is not for you.

This weekend, I wrote code for a non-trivial compiler on my old everyday laptop. I didn't even buy it; I got it for free because the previous owner considered the device obsolete and unusable. Slowly, the thing is getting too old for me too, but Linux (Ubuntu) has gotten another couple of years of use out of it. Meanwhile, a friend of mine just bought a used Macbook that still cost more than I would ever spend on a new laptop because she has to write papers for her studies and thinks she needs a “good” computer for that.

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