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Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

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Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#71

Post by greatgib »

esperent wrote: post #4

I'm one of these people. Although it was a several years long plan for me, which involved learning new software (especially 3DS Max to Blender). I finally decided to bite the bullet around 8 weeks ago. Backed up everything, wiped Windows, installed Ubuntu. I wouldn't says it's been smooth sailing. I've had a ton of technical issues which are not all resolved (I still can't get my laptop to wake from sleep, I have to…

Honestly, nowadays, for new comers I would not advise to use Ubuntu anymore. It is just a shadow of itself, most often than not inconvenient and broken for user in term of ux.

I would suggest to use Linux Mint or Pop_os for example.

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#72

Post by j1elo »

greatgib wrote: post #71
esperent wrote: post #4

I'm one of these people. Although it was a several years long plan for me, which involved learning new software (especially 3DS Max to Blender). I finally decided to bite the bullet around 8 weeks ago. Backed up everything, wiped Windows, installed Ubuntu. I wouldn't says it's been smooth sailing. I've had a ton of technical issues which are not all resolved (I still can't get my laptop to wake from sleep, I have to…

Honestly, nowadays, for new comers I would not advise to use Ubuntu anymore. It is just a shadow of itself, most often than not inconvenient and broken for user in term of ux. I would suggest to use Linux Mint or Pop_os for example.

Some days ago I just mentioned that Linux Mint is a great entrypoint for people and it was quick to get replies about how that's an outdated distro still on X11 instead of Wayland... like if the tech stack behind a product mattered at all to new people. And here we are, replying to someone who had to drop Wayland because it was simply not working for them. Oh, the irony!

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#73

Post by osigurdson »

BSDobelix wrote: post #25
osigurdson wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually they get recycled. I wouldn't stress about it.

Around 22% is "recycled" sometimes in disgusting ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5r4hFY_oh8 Same story with clothes, paper and plastic recycling, it's just talk and green-washing.

The question is, how much guilt-free landfill waste should each person get to create in their lifetime? Don't say zero.

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#74

Post by CaptainOfCoit »

osigurdson wrote: post #69
CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, sounds worse as everything has to be a container then? I'll just continue with the slightly borked Arch-inside-WSL2 setup I have for that instead, as it kind of works, and continue to mostly run Arch bare metal when I can.

No, only containerized things need to be in a container. For everything else you are just using Windows except it feels more Linux like with git bash and has most basic Linux tools. If you need to run a container it is a lot more like it is on Linux podman container run ... right in your Windows shell (git bash in my case). This does things behind the scenes with a podman WSL image but it is mostly seamless. I do act…

> No, only containerized things need to be in a container. For everything else you are just using Windows except it feels more Linux like with git bash and has most basic Linux tools.

But developer focused software is trash on Windows, if I want to remain productive I need a Linux environment so I can just run stuff without having to fuck around to configure it for Windows and what not.

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#75

Post by ludicrousdispla »

esperent wrote: post #4

I'm one of these people. Although it was a several years long plan for me, which involved learning new software (especially 3DS Max to Blender). I finally decided to bite the bullet around 8 weeks ago. Backed up everything, wiped Windows, installed Ubuntu. I wouldn't says it's been smooth sailing. I've had a ton of technical issues which are not all resolved (I still can't get my laptop to wake from sleep, I have to…

to fix the wake from sleep issue you will likely need to change a setting in 'grub', but what that is depends on the ubuntu version and your hardware.

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#76

Post by mardifoufs »

greatgib wrote: post #71
esperent wrote: post #4

I'm one of these people. Although it was a several years long plan for me, which involved learning new software (especially 3DS Max to Blender). I finally decided to bite the bullet around 8 weeks ago. Backed up everything, wiped Windows, installed Ubuntu. I wouldn't says it's been smooth sailing. I've had a ton of technical issues which are not all resolved (I still can't get my laptop to wake from sleep, I have to…

Honestly, nowadays, for new comers I would not advise to use Ubuntu anymore. It is just a shadow of itself, most often than not inconvenient and broken for user in term of ux. I would suggest to use Linux Mint or Pop_os for example.

Why? The only complaint I hear about and sort of agree with is that they use snaps, and that's not always a good idea for some packages. But otherwise, for regular users, I'd say Ubuntu has much less foot guns than even Mint. Everything just works, and it's easier to find support and help online whenever something doesn't. I

Pop_os is in a weird state right now too, with the upcoming migration to their new GUI framework

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#77

Post by mrsmrtss »

CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #14
daveoc64 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the Stack Overflow developer survey shows, a majority of developers use Windows: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2025/technology#1-computer-o... HN is atypical of the world, particularly anything outside of the USA.

I agree that HN is atypical of the world, but so is any surveys by Stack Overflow too, it's really heavily Windows and C# biased across the board, so take whatever results they get with a grain of salt.

Why do you think that? Is it really biased, considering the majority of the world uses Windows? Or is it just that you don't like it?

By the way, I'm not using Windows (but love .NET) and prefer Linux, but I'm not fooling myself that it's a popular choice on the desktop by any metric.

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#78

Post by wltr »

osigurdson wrote: post #67
misiek08 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is this dream-land? They got dumped along other mixed trash and lay for decades. Same with old, perfectly fine iPads with retina displays.

Still, I wouldn't stress about throwing things out. Stress about initial purchases instead.

So, if you have money, you can throw away as much as you can, right? I have bought loads of Apple tech during 2010s and all of it is trash. Every iPhone (e.g. models from 4 to 7) costs tens of dollars today, down from a thousand. Not only that, they’re basically useless. I have a few iPads 3 (the first one with Retina display), and it’s perfectly fine display, but VLC is the only app that works with it. Also, you can watch YouTube via browser, yet it’s not a pleasant experience. At least my MacBook Pro (pre-retina) works great with Linux, and possibly I’d keep it around as a Linux server, till it breaks. I cannot do anything like that with any of iOS devices that I have. Why?

When I purchased them, I had no idea that would be the case. My perfectly good iPhone 12 mini is already at its last legs (I bet a couple of years), thanks to iOS 26 and the liquid ass. Why is it so? Why should I stress about initial purchases? I’m not that poor and young, sorry, I’m worried about the footprint. And I hope you would one day too.

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#79

Post by wltr »

tannhaeuser wrote: post #40

Unfortunately the Linux desktop is in its worst state it has been since two decades with containerized apps/frameworks/browsers updating when they feel like it all the time and the related unsolvable permission and layering problems on top of the usual WLAN, touchpad, and power management issues unsolved for nearly 30 years as a growing number of second system effect frameworks bring new issues with ungooglable solut…

Well, my first Ubuntu (circa 2006…07) wasn’t working well on me (with wired internet, no Bluetooth and an average Intel PC. These days, only one obsolete GPU wasn’t working for me. Basically, a default Fedora installation works well with everything I throw at it. In my view, the situation improved tremendously.

Re: Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch"

#80

Post by CaptainOfCoit »

mrsmrtss wrote: post #77
CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that HN is atypical of the world, but so is any surveys by Stack Overflow too, it's really heavily Windows and C# biased across the board, so take whatever results they get with a grain of salt.

Why do you think that? Is it really biased, considering the majority of the world uses Windows? Or is it just that you don't like it? By the way, I'm not using Windows (but love .NET) and prefer Linux, but I'm not fooling myself that it's a popular choice on the desktop by any metric.

I think there are many reasons. Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood were both hugely into .NET/C# and Windows Tech (one of them worked at Microsoft even maybe?). Then the entire startup was built with Microsoft tech, because they knew that best, so when they talk about their architecture they obviously draw a particular crowd among others. It felt like a lot of the early community came from the founders blogs and Microsoft circles, and I was also asking mostly C# questions on SO too in the beginning.

Probably someone remembers the history better than me and have more clarity and/or corrections.

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