Use whatever works for you. Linux can be a pain in the ass sometimes. If your moral fiber isn't strong enough to override your need for sanity, sometimes you just need to use what has the path of least resistance.
If you're using it mostly for gaming, Windows is going to be the superior choice. Microsoft has just simply ensured that lock-in. Things are certainly changing, thanks to Valve; but don't feel afraid to try Linux out without dumping your whole life into it. Get a SBC (Single board computer) and run some Linux services on it - IRC bouncers, mail servers, buy a domain name and practice reverse proxies, virtual machines, etc.
There is room for both...until you've decided that Microsoft has stepped over that line you've drawn in the sand; then you can convince yourself to dive headlong into Linux full-time.
Regardless, Linux has already won. It runs the internet. It runs near every network device you own. You probably even have Linux running on something you had no idea was running it; Cameras, lower levels of consumer devices, etc. If the only bastion that Windows still has is Gaming...I think we're doing pretty good.
The problem is that recall means using Windows is not a problem for Windows users anymore, it's a problem for everyone that needs to communicate with Windows users.
I still have a computer with windows but it feels so fake. Like I'm pretending to run windows but all the time I'm using tweaks and tricks to get away from windows.
Most people are simple users, they have little interest in setting up mail servers or websites. They just want to use a computer, not work a computer. And those are the people you need to convince into giving a Linux distro or three a try - Mom and Dad, your little Brother, Auntie Sue, and Grandpa and Grandma.
Fortunately, you can easily get a mini desktop computer from Amazon on the cheap, I picked one up for $90US last summer purely for distro hopping, and then install a distro to see if you like it or not. It's cheap and easy. Toss in a $20US wireless keyboard and mouse combo set, and an old unused monitor, and for less than a Saturday night out, you got a rig to surf Linux distros to your heart's content to see the power of the Linux desktop.
In fact it's my belief it's these dirt cheap modestly spec'ed mini computers that should come with a Linux distro pre-installed. And not the $1000US+ laptops that Linux is currently available on from the factory. Much like Chromebooks, these cheap little computers could and should be the gateway to increased adoption of Linux for the home users.
If you're using it mostly for gaming, Windows is going to be the superior choice.
From a benchmark perspective this has shown to be false in some or many areas. And outside of kernel-level cheat protection, games are continually hitting Gold on ProtonDB, which means that the list of games only working on Windows is dwindling every day.
And now with umu-launcher, which is now baked into Lutris, the games don’t even have to run via Steam in order to make use of Proton, and especially proton-ge. Thank the Glorious Eggroll! (And thank all others who have had a hand in this Linux gaming renaissance)
So I assert that Windows is not at all the superior choice anymore. And with Recall and other nonsense Microsoft has done, they deserve to lose all the marketshare possible — thus, I am advocating for people to switch to Linux as fast as they can. It’s a tough sell to some, for sure, but if I can get my mother to run Linux, I have a good chance to get anyone on board.
Run whatever OS environment you need, in its own instance. Run a virtual networking stack. Crosslink your environments as needed. Segregate your environments as needed. Create new environments as needed. Destroy them as needed. Expand your virtual infrastructure.
Experiment with BSD and then realize that TrueNAS Scale is the last NAS environment you'll ever need, and you didn't really want to spend time on BSD anyway. Expand your server and network infrastructure.
Run every environment. Realize that you actually have a lot to learn about Windows, especially server and AD forests, and all the stuff you've complained about is actually kind of petty next to the monolith of professional computing environment that Microsoft has built (and also keeps making unnecessary self-harming changes to, and wtf is with user CALs anyway?). Learn to do user and domain management for real. Then learn what the real problems with Microsoft are.
Experiment with Redox, then give up and do something more useful with your time.
Install Xen Orchestra on some cheap secondhand Dell server you bought off eBay. Run a proper VM cloud environment. Run everything on top of it. Create your own VM golden images for the environments you use most often. Your personal computer doesn't even have a local OS installed anymore, it's just a terminal that runs whichever VM you need from your Xen server at the moment. Reject limitations.
OS elitism is for the weak and the simple. Enlightenment is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each platform, and getting the best from all of them.
The hate is real.
Especially when some new feature comes out or is announced on Windows. Then Linux community is outraged for some reason. Windows community doesn't care. Well, there really isn't any windows community. Windows users just kind of live with a bit of self loathing, but that's a great bargain we don't have to think about our os or put effort into running it.
To be fair, the conversations I have seen usually start with people complaining about whatever the latest Windows shitfuckery is. Some well intendend, but clearly naive, linux user suggests to just switch to linux. After all, the OPs usually complain in a linux community, what else do they expect?
Then they, or sometimes a different user than the first one, say something like "but switching to linux is work and I have to learn a new thing" like a dumbass. After that it's almost impossible, IMO, to have a constructive conversation. Other people from the community get so mad that the conversation becomes a religious argument hahaha. After all, how do you help people that want to fix their problems while at the same time they refuse to change or learn anything? And on top of that they get so self rigtheous when people dare to suggest literally anything. The only solution they want is for Microsoft to magically stop being Microsoft and fix Windows hahaha, I hope they get comfortable while they wait hahaha.
Honestly I don't even try. Yes, Microsoft is the one fucking people over. But people are proud of their lack of knowledge when it comes to computers and refuse to even learn the little bit that will actually fix their problems. And that's on people, not on Microsoft. I just let them enjoy Windows, they deserve it.
It's like cars. A lot of people drive them every day. Not as many people know how they work or how to fix them.
If someone spends their entire life studying medicine or law or art, etc., or any other trade that has nothing to do with their computer OS, I don't blame them for simply not having any remaining brain space to support an entire new set of skills just to maintain their computer when they are used to Windows or MacOS doing everything for them.
I use Windows. It does what it needs to do, and while I haven't upgraded past 10, it's not complained about much.
At home I switch between Fedora and Windows, but at work I use OSX because using Linux at work gets you a shitty laptop instead of a MBP. I work for a big tech company, with the Windows and Mac user communities being pretty much the same size. What I've noticed is that Windows is fairly tolerable, and often has few issues that don't need IT intervention. The MacOS community, while often being more technical because it's used by tech workers, has a lot more issues than any other. Major OS updates are events that take months of planning because it's guaranteed that thousands of people will essentially brick their laptops trying to just do a standard upgrade. Everything seems to break all the time, which is mad when you consider that Apple is a trillion dollar company with one hardware line. Windows and Linux support many hardware lines.
Ultimately, you know what you're getting with each choice. All I care about is that my OS does what it intends to do.
I have to, for work - which is why I am happy whenever they do stuff right. That said, there is also a lot of schadenfreude whenever they think something along the lines of "let's tell people we will screenshot everything".
Some days ago I found a Windows user Youtube channel and he was so hateful towards Linux, it was sad to se this behaviour. It just seems that hateful people attract the same kind of people.... Limux, Windows or otherwise
The people that have problems with Windows and have to ask for help, shouldn't be using Linux because it'll confuse the poor souls even further.
My mother got so fed up with her windows problems that she asked me to put Linux on her computer. While she still had problems after that, she found them manageable and was happy with it ever since.
The people that know exactly how to configure and use Windows with zero problems have no need to use Linux
Nobody has zero problems with either os. The difference is whether you want to deal with problems that are just technical, or due to incompetence and profit motive.
Let me try. Windows is the superior operating system, by a large margin. Linux is the equivalent of old bread that has mould so faint that you can’t know for sure if it’s there or not so you’ll risk it if you really want that grilled cheese.