I'm done with Windows and YouTube videos that should have been a written post.
Amen! Can we please have more written posts on the internet again? It’s much easier to search and follow along.
I feel like a I'm an old dinosaur yelling at the clouds because I can't stand most video content. There's a time and place for it but an 8 paragraph op-ed would suffice for content like this.
I mean yes, but there's way better exposure from online videos. Things like this 100% should have an accompanying post though.
For me it’s the bloody “video essay” format. Hyper narrated, spoken straight to the camera. Waste of traffic, waste of storage, waste of attention. People think the argument carries more weight, or is just more persuasive, when someone is speaking at you with some vaguely related visual in the background. But really a written piece could be pulled apart so much more quickly.
Unfortunately OpenAI’s Whisper doesn’t do written transcriptions fast enough on my workstation yet for me to use it full time.
I just jumped ship completely (last was dealing with scanner & printer) with windows, where can I find replacements for the 5 people I "follow" on youtube (ukraine war reports & beginner chess)? I mean is there even an alternative?
Mastodon for non-traditional journalism and traditional journalism supplemented with blogs and newsletters is what I go with.
Isn't this like posting "I'm done with meat, are you?" in /c/vegan?
I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough. It instantly reminded me of r/atheism titles going "dae religion bad ?😤" 80,000 up votes
I mean, kind of ... I have file servers, download servers, documentation servers, syncthing servers, backup servers, vaultwarden servers, etc... that are all linux VMs/containers and my main machine is a Macbook, but I do still have a Windows machine in the living room for gaming (yeah, Steam has pushed us far in this regard, but, when I get time to play a game, I just want to play it, I want the best chance it's going to work the first time and that's still, sadly, Windows). I have another windows machine running Blue Iris as my NVR because I didn't have a good experience with Frigate, Shinobi or a few others. I've got a few other systems floating around that do various things and some of them are linux based and some are windows based depending on what's easier/possible.
Honestly, being unbeholden to any OS or distro is my eventual goal. Eventually on mobile as well as desktop.
Similiar for me. Though i'm at an age where i'm here for building and the story, not the grind and challenge, thus mods are a necessity. Which still doesn't work as well as on Windows.
Do you have to have the / before the c in /c/community, or is just c/community fine? I saw some people do !community
I think !community is better because if you fully qualify it (e.g. [email protected]) some clients might auto-hyperlink it, so keeping the same markup even when you omit the domain is more consistent.
Ugh, I hate all those people making some compromises to live a healthier lifestyle and are talking about their changes so maybe someone can do it too making the group larger and easier to live for everyone. The worst ones.
The point isn't whether it's good or bad as a choice. It's just generally an irrelevant question in this particular community, since it's a self-selected community of people who are here specifically because we generally agree with the statement, at least in principle, to one degree or another.
I stopped caring. When my GF bought a laptop I just installed Linux there and she has no issues using it. Linux is where I always wanted it to be. Now when I see someone using Windows I just think "you poor soul" to myself and move on.
There are way way too many testimonials here lately about switching to Linux or installing Arch, etc. These aren't interesting.
I'd be more interested in knowing how many people are sticking with Linux.
What issues besides insert windows program doesn't work.
Places where the average switcher has problems that aren't just user error or misunderstanding some fundamental difference, but good places that the community can investigate and improve on.
Most people will probably give up after a few days. Not because Linux is bad, but because most people don't wan't to spend hours to fix an issue they never heard off and never encountered on Windows/Mac
Windows/Mac are spoon feeding their customers and people tend to forget how important it is to have problem solving skills ! How to search the web, get out of their confort zone and learn new things...
The tiktok, meta, shorts generation will probably never touch any linux distro, except if during their live time they have some sort of "revelation" on how bad it actually is...
And some just don't have time... Job, baby, wife, friends...
Linux is a full time and never ending experience, the rabbit hole you want/will dig deeper in hope to find a white rabbit !
Depends on the context.
Me - Yes. I use Debian 12. No intention any time to go back because of how much I love using Debian. May fire up a VM of Arch so I can run some specific AUR packages I am curious to try out, but we'll see. I am cautious to go on another distor hopping bender between Debian and Arch as they are my 2 favorite distros and I am easily led to do that.
Work - No and that is fine me. I have no control over that and I'm still productive with Windows/Microsoft products.
Family - I am the tech support person of the household. I prefer for people to use what they are comfortable with because that's less on me to maintain.
Not yet. I'm not upgrading windows again so the day draws near.
That was me about 22 years ago already. I've had a Linux desktop for 22 years and anytime I see a windows desktop I'm just wondering why anyone would accept such trash...
No, because I don't live in a binary world where I have to pick one over the other.
You are lucky. Last night both Linus Torvalds and Bill Gates broke in my house and held me at gunpoint until I made my choice. (Tim Cook would have been there too, but apparently he was guided down the wrong street.)
Lmfao Timmy Apples shoulda used waze.
Somehow unrelated to what this video proposes, Linux has taught and gave me so many possibilities that I would never, ever be able to if I (still) were using Windows to this very day. In other words... thanks to Linux, I can now operate and have fun in a under 3W device.
I have learned much how the networking works, how programs are made and how computers do stuff. And not because I had to with Linux, but it was actually fun to learn without the roadblocks.
A long time ago I decided that since Windows required a reinstall due to a driver snafu I would install Linux on my desktop instead (which I had used before in school and for projects). I stuck with Linux as my daily driver for about a week before it got too annoying to handle, then I went back to Windows.
I repeated this cycle for a couple of years. Each time Windows required a reinstall, I switched to Linux. Each time Linux got insufferable, I switched to Windows.
One day I realized I had been in Linux for six months without encountering a compelling reason to switch back. That was ~15 years ago.
I'm forced to use windows in my career life.... But I moved to Linux entirely at home back in 05-06.
In the cold and desolation; the mad wizard had been eeking out his existence letting the wild know about the horrors that awaited them in Redmondland.
But few listened
Then slowly the kings of Redmondland began to become more crazed in their power; wanting more and more from their subjects. Until a few, a small band of subjects took off their blinders and released the kingdom had spread so far that the mad wizard Linus was in their midst.
They stopped and listened to him
They grew tired of telling the king about everything they did and needing his permission to do anything in their own lives.
The mad wizard wasn’t crazy… he was just upset; it was the king who’d gone mad wanting to control his kingdom…
I just installed kubuntu on my daily driver. That didn't go super well so I tried endeavor, also didn't go well. It could be kde plasma, but it did not feel like Linux is ready to compete for something that is ready out the box.
That said, I run endeavor on my little netbook tablet and it works a wonder, so no idea. I couldn't even get steam to load on my desktop for some reason. I tried Linux on my desktop for half a day, then decided to run back to Win11 with my tail between my legs. It just wasn't with the hassle. Steam didn't work, permissions for my second hard drive for Plex were messed up. I just didn't want to have to figure it out. I'm back comfy with windows, and just experimenting with my netbook for the time being.
I really wanted Linux to stick this time... Oddly, I was using Ubuntu on my daily driver back in 2012 without a problem.
Its crazy how polarizing the Linux experience can be. Was it a desktop or laptop? For me it was just a few clicks (Manjaro then Endeavour) on the first try and be done with it on my desktop PC. Also with dual booting.
Hopefully next time you will have more luck! "Sadly" I cannot go back to windows now, I got Linux-pilled. Linux just treats my right without any Microsoft ads.
Yes, I'm keeping kubuntu on my laptop because it works great. My desktop is going to have to be Windows for now
Try Pop!_OS, it's a great operating system and perfect for gaming.
So done, except when my employer uses windows 😹
I'm not done with it until it is eradicated from all the computers and tablets of this world.
I'm Windows-free for about 18 years.
Windows is a last resort. If some proprietary apps don't work under Linux (mainly at a work).
It's funny how conservative Windows is, it still has components from the NT.
It’s funny how conservative Windows is, it still has components from the NT.
That calling: ensuring things are compatible with old software and not fucking your users over. Just for fun I tried to install Photoshop 6 from 2000 on Windows 11 and it works just fine. Same goes for MS Office 2003.
I'm Windows-free for about 18 years.
It's basically the same time I started using Linux somewhat more. I didn't go Windows-free until 2007 though and then returned to Windows because I needed it for something with my Master's thesis. I kind of shudder at the thought how my old setups looked under the hood. You learn a lot in 18 years... Probably copy-pasted a lot of shell commands back then. But UT2k4 in its OpenGL glory was worth it
Yep. Windows XP was my last Windows and when it became obsolete I permanently switched to Linux Mint (without dual-booting). Everything that I use has worked very well. I've never even thought about switching back to Windows.
I wish. Unfortunately I'm to locked into Ableton to switch. Wish they'd make it compatible with Linux :/
I have a work Windows laptop that I refer to as my time machine. If not for having to use it for time sheets, email, word, and PowerPoint fun I'd kick the habit all together.
As soon as gaming is mostly flawless and similar or better performance than windows, I'll be 100% over. Gaming has come so far, all the way into the 2010s the only games on Linux were like Portal, HL, minecraft, and KSP. But it's still got a little ways to go.
If that’s the only barrier, you should try again. It’s further along than you think. Thanks in large part to the Steam Deck, compatibility is miles better. I have run into 2 games since I switched 1.5 years ago that won’t run - both are EA titles (shocked Pikachu face). That was my reason not to switch too.
I'm well aware of how far out has come, I was a second batch pre-order for the steamdeck. And yes, just in the time it's been out, Linux gaming has come sooo far. For me, all of my games don't run seamlessly and as well, some do still just shit themselves, so I still keep a win10 boot drive for gaming. Once major support for win10 ends I think Linux gaming will be even better and my gaming will finally be all Linux.
You don't play many competitive multiplayer titles then. Anticheat us always a pain.
Battleye and Easy Anti Cheat are Linux native, but just cause that's the case doesn't mean they will work. Half of the games using them either never had an official linux version or are currently broken again.
A few games using Xigncode and nProtect work too, but there the number is even lower.
Punkbuster worked on wine for 5 years but often needs to be installed manually.
As for the more aggressive ones like Riccochet and Vanguard, you can't even run them in a VM environment.
It's always worth remembering that Linux is not a product, it is free software. So if you are switching you can't go into it with the mindset of "somebody better fix this or I'm leaving" because there is nobody that will feel that pressure or care. You have to use Linux because it's something you want to do.
If you are on amd, that already is the case. On nvidia however things are a lil different, not bad though.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
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Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
After many weeks spend on downloading and installing various things for linux, he complains that he needs to download drivers for windows, a process that will take one afternoon or less. Makes sense. I understand that Linux is a tech toy for a techy, but pretend that somehow it is easier installation and setup than windows for average person is just dishonest. Even which flavor of linux one should install creates a stupor for non-tech person (or a person who never used linux).
The thing is, most people don't consider installing an OS. Odds are the computer came with one.
Otherwise (aside from the paralysis of choice) neither Linux nor Windows present more or less of a challenge to install.
The people who find the most difficulty seem to be the ones who think they know better or have become used to the windows way of doing things.
As an aside, Last windows install I did required setting two registry keys during the install process. It was far more annoying than a typical Linux install.
The last Linux Mint installs went totally smooth. On think centres /thinkpads though. Usualy never had problems installing windows except back in the day and you needed to prime and cut up your hard drives.
I’m with you with (distribution) choice (that’s definitely stressful, especially when you aren’t used to actually having to choose what kind of computing experience you want) but driver/program distribution on Linux is less painful/easier than on Windows on average. If your hardware happens to be supported, everything should work out of the box without the need to install drivers; the biggest problem for more or less average users would be having to install Nvidia drivers if they have a Nvidia GPU. Installing software is generally as easy as opening your distribution’s software store, searching what you need and hitting the install button.
The install Linux is vague because each distro (not themed or flavoures) is effevtively a unique OS, and user onboarding is a different experience per disro. However if you have ever installed Windows to an unformated drive compared to something like Zorin install. Windows is the harder install for nontech people
Ive had great luck with Elementary OS with pantheon tweaks to enable the minimize button. Now my family members are all asking my to swap out their windows.
Yup! Since 1993... Started Linux on my desktop and haven't looked back.
As of 3 years ago.
Hell yeah I am. I've been using linux since 2019. I bought a dell laptop and installed manjaro.
I recently discovered GNU Guix and decided to install it onto an old desktop (built in 2009) I had laying around. I used a system crafters custom installer and the accompanying video to do a non-libre kernel install. I've been liking Guix and I think I'm going to install it onto my laptop and make it my daily driver.
The sheer amount of tech lingo in your post is exactly why most people won't switch. We just want to use the damn thing, not tinker with it all night.
Oh sorry about that, didn't mean to be intimidating. Guix isn't yet beginner friendly so there some tinkering required.
There are more beginner friendly linux distros out there though that you could try out: https://itsfoss.com/best-linux-beginners/
Try different linux distros online: https://distrosea.com/
https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-test-any-linux-distro-without-installing-with-distrotest/
Other people might say "I installed Linux Mint, works fine.".
No tinkering involved and a great step to get rid of Microsoft.
I am looking at offloading asuch power draw from my physical residence as possible. I have an older windows desktop that I use strictly for gaming. However, I have mostly moved my higher end gaming to GeForce now. The service is often and my dream is to be able to run a lower powered laptop, and use GeForce now for high end gaming, but Nvidia is doing everything in their power to prevent Linux users from getting their full benefit of GeForce now. This means that I have to either keep an old macbook around or use windows to get my 1440p 120hz feature in geforce now.
As soon as there is a reliable way for linux to do this, I am completely off of windows. (with the exception of work)
Done with it since I graduated, from then 4 years with Linux and still go on
One of my goals after moving is to get another HDD and dual-boot as I transition away. I mostly have to figure out gaming and video editing stuff. I will also probably run WINE just for notepad++ because I can't quit it with the textfx tools (so far as I know, the linux clone was abandoned, sadly).
As a previous avid Notepad++ user, I switched to Kate and have been very happy with it.
I'll check it out. Thanks!
I actually got board, got a new HDD, and got linux mint on it. It doesn't seem to have a bootloader installed and trying to install grub2 hasn't changed anything. I'm also pretty disappointed in game support. Maybe I'm missing something, but Steam knows it's on linux and a huge number of games in my library just say they run on windows or windows and mac.
N++ FTW!
Switching to Linux: "I don't know how to do something"
Years after, being forced to use Windows: "I cannot do something"
(Then someone join the conversation with Adobe or MS Office argument, but I am talking about OS vs OS)
Nope. I have to know how fix everyone else's computer.
You're a nicer person than I am. Being able to (lie and) say "no clue how that works on windows, I use linux" is a freaking blessing
I just tell everyone, that i can only help with Linux.
I'm done both with windows and people that develope software that's only compatible with windows. Kind of c# shitters.
Why bother with Windows? Mostly the same reasons moving from Windows to a Mac can be a pain, however on macOS you get better professional software support and less reasons to virtualize Windows from time to time. To be fair, what's the point of using X operating system if some of the tools you need require a virtual machine or you've to use alternatives that are sub-par, will make you waste time and have a worse experience. Again even under macOS with Microsoft's own MS Office for Mac things sometimes aren't as compatible as they should be.
Linux desktop is great, I love it but I don’t sugar coat it nor I’m delusional like most posting about it. Here is a list of cases that aren't easy to deal in Linux:
- People who need the real MS Office because once you have to collaborate with others Open/Libre/OnlyOffice won’t cut it;
- Designers who use Adobe apps that won’t run properly without having a dedicated GPU, passthrough and a some hacky way to get the image back into your main system that will cause noticeable delays;
- People that run old software / games because not even those will run properly on Wine;
- Electrical engineers: Circuit Design Suite (Multisim and Ultiboard) are primarily designed for Windows. Alternatives such as KiCad and EasyEDA may work in some cases but they aren’t great if you’ve to collaborate with others who use Circuit Design Suite;
- Labs that require data acquisition from specialized hardware because companies making that hardware won’t make drivers and software for Linux;
- Architects: AutoCAD isn’t available (not even the limited web version works) and Libre/FreeCAD don’t cut it if you’ve to collaborate with AutoCAD users;
- Developers and sysadmins, because not everyone is using Docker and Github actions to deploy applications to some proprietary cloud solution. Finding a properly working FTP/SFTP/FTPS desktop client (similar WinSCP or Cyberduck) is an impossible task as the ones that exist fail even at basic tasks like dragging and dropping a file.
If one lives in a bubble and doesn’t to collaborate with others then native Linux apps might work and might even deliver a decent workflow. Once collaboration with Windows/Mac users is required then it’s game over – the “alternatives” aren’t just up to it.
Windows licenses are cheap and things work out of the box. Software runs fine, all vendors support whatever you’re trying to do and you’re productive from day zero. Sure, there are annoyances from time to time, but they’re way fewer and simpler to deal with than the hoops you’ve to go through to get a minimal and viable/productive Linux desktop experience. It all comes down to a question of how much time (days? months?) you want to spend fixing things on Linux that simply work out of the box under Windows for a minimal fee. Buy a Windows license and spend the time you would’ve spent dealing with Linux issues doing your actual job and you’ll, most likely, get a better ROI.
Also, the guys take on "what you go for it's entirely your choice" when it comes to DE is total BS. What usually happens is that you'll eventually find out while you can use any DE in fact GNOME will provide a better experience because most applications on Linux are design / depend on its components and installing them on KDE will simply give you small issues here and there, windows that don't pick on your theme or simply create a frankenstein of a system composed by KDE + a bunch of GTK components.
Aaaand as always the problem is proprietary corpo software :). People locked to this exists and there are not a few, but how is the OS to blame?
Half of the success of Windows and macOS is the fact that they provide solid and stable APIs and development tools that "makes it easy" to develop to those platforms. Linux is very bad at that. If major pieces of an OS are constantly changing and it requires large re-works of the applications then developers are less likely to support it. To be fair the Linux situation might be even harder than that - there are no distribution "sponsored" IDE (like Visual Studio or Xcode) and userland API documentation, frameworks etc.
Im curious about your WINE comment, because you can go into the dialog that selects which version of Windows it "emulates". The drop down has what looks like every release of windows back to DOS.
As for can't collaborate, that depends on the industry. Teamcenter PLM and Siemens NX CAD work on both RHEL and SUSE desktop. When W10 came out it made those programs less performant so I switched to OpenSUSE and installed the NX CAD to get performance back.
WINE comment, because you can go into the dialog that selects which version of Windows it “emulates”.
Until the emulation fails at some basic Window API feature like window tabs with multiple rows that any Windows version from 95 does just fine. Or... until you try to get MS Office 2016 working and it requires dozens of hacks to end up with something very slow to startup and have graphical glitches... or 2019 also not working, or not being able to install 2021. Or... until you find out that Wine is still unable to just tell applications the screen size fucking up everything that depends on it. Wine is far from perfect and it isn't that good.
As for can’t collaborate, that depends on the industry
Yes, you are lucky you got NX CAD for Linux, because for most people that's not the case. Adobe products are a no go, AutoCAD is a no go, same goes for Multisim / Ultiboard.
I work primarily on Linux machines, have four Linux servers in my closet running a bunch of services, and do tech support on Linux for sysadmins.
But my daily driver is a Mac for the reasons you mention.
But my daily driver is a Mac for the reasons you mention.
That was my position until Microsoft decided to create Windows Terminal, powershell, WSL and whatnot. At that point why pay more for hardware to end up virtualizing stuff when I could just simplify my life and use Windows? After all I don't even used their ecosystem as I don't trust cloud services and big providers handling my data. Less reasons to keep using Apple.
Opposite.
Fedora with KDE is a Pain, and GNOME is simply underpowered a lot.
Installing GrapheneOS or programming a microcontroller just didnt work. I have no idea of udev rules and these things should work better. (Tbh I will try to fix the packages)
Also processes crashing just often freeze my entire everything. No seperation, no ctrl+alt+del task manager which nearly always works. The task manager is a normal app, and it just doesnt start if the desktop is down.
Virt-manager has not enough RAM? Yeah, Plasma crashes and I need a hard reboot. Yay.
Meanwhile Windows sucks, but it works. Also it is better for
- collaborative normie documents
- office: easy presentations (again, collaboration), excel: easy graphs with a UI that makes sense
- arcgis: qgis is better on surface, but all the underground transformation tools are so messed up.
Many things in Uni make me get insane on Linux. Being the only one literally learning another program, while learning a bit of that proprietary license garbage too, is burnout and I will probably fail in the "recognize this button in arcGis and explain how to do x" exam.
used to do collaborative works on Linux, never had any issues
No, I still need it for non-linux programs with no suitable alternative.
No, I’m not listing those for anyone to suggest inferior replacements. It’s a fact, not a debate.
No i can't. There is no powerful processor for word and spreadsheet on Linux libre office is just a shadow of what MS office native software can do..
No I can't finding an executable and adding it to startup is HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY easy than to use which , where , locate , find commands
No I can't cause ripping entire dvd with one go is easy as click and done . I don't have to "remux" or encode or whatever I just want a dvd to be copied in folder and that's it.
No I can't cause Linux is HARD for simpleton like me . It's not useful for simple tasks listed above without touching command line
No i can’t. There is no powerful processor for word and spreadsheet on Linux libre office is just a shadow of what MS office native software can do…
Libreoffice is way easier to use than the 40 year baggage ridden MS office with its convoluted menus that get worse with each update. I finished university with libreoffice and there were nothing it couldn't do.
No I can’t finding an executable and adding it to startup is HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY easy than to use which , where , locate , find commands
no clue what were you trying to say here
No I can’t cause ripping entire dvd with one go is easy as click and done . I don’t have to “remux” or encode or whatever I just want a dvd to be copied in folder and that’s it.
You literally are able to and you can even use the same windows software that is considered the best for disc ripping - makeMKV. It has native Linux version and does one click ripping.
No I can’t cause Linux is HARD for simpleton like me . It’s not useful for simple tasks listed above without touching command line
It's not any harder or simpler, it's just you already are familiar with Windows.
Not one word of this is accurate, FYI. It sounds like you're very convinced it is though
I like the idea of ditching Windows because of all the telemetry but I just need a machine that’s going to do what I need it to do without a fucking battle. Everything on Linux is just so difficult, it’s like every time I give it a go I wind up spending hours trying to figure out how to do something that would take ten seconds on Windows. I wanted to make a desktop shortcut that would run a script with root privileges. On Windows that’s right click, drag, and select the option to make a shortcut. Takes a few seconds. Took me ages to figure it out in Ubuntu, mostly because it wasn’t working as it should. Yesterday I did an apt upgrade on another machine and it wiped out the WiFi. I’m still working on fixing that and now I’m looking into compiling my own drivers.
a fucking battle
Interesting, I feel like this describes what windows itself does to a pc
It's definitely not normal to lose wifi working drivers with an update. I would say it's very rare in fact. As far as what you're saying takes ten seconds on windows, no it doesn't. You would still need to run as administrator and (I think) type your password, which probably takes longer than opening a terminal and typing sudo
I felt the same when I started using Linux.
My whole computing experience was on Windows, and when I switched, I expected Linux to be working the same and being a 1:1 replacement.Just don't expect it to be the same.
Even if it sometimes looks like it (e.g. Mint oder KDE-based distros) it absolutely isn't similar.People don't have the same expectations on MacOS, so why should we on Linux?
And if you really don't like it at all, then stay on Windows. No shame at all. Use the right tool for the right task.
Funny, for me it's windows that I'm constantly battling.
Be it having to constantly restart and do updates that take forever.
Searching online and downloading then clicking through installers for software I want, rather than just going into an app store.
Having to manually remove ads from my start menu
Remove as much telemetry as I can (that of course accidentally gets reset by some updates)
I have dark mode set, yet so many programs (even first party MS stuff that's part of the OS!) doesn't respect it, so I get randomly blinded at night
Each individual app running their own updater services in the background
Having to remember to run disk cleanup every once in a while because temporary files and old update files hang around for ages, eventually slowing my system down and taking dozens of GB of space
There are some good things - Win11's window tiling is genuinely excellent, for example. But man, overall, Windows is just difficult and tedious to use. The only reason people use it is because it's the default. Not because it's good or it's easy.
On linux you also have to just click drag and choose "make a link".
