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Forbes.com has published a piece by contributor Jason Evangelho entitled "5 Reasons You Should Switch From Windows To Linux Right Now".
When I published the highlights of my journey switching from Windows to Linux on my everyday laptop... it became one of my most viewed pieces this year. From where I'm sitting, that tells me a ton of people are interested -- are at least actively curious -- about ditching Windows and making the jump to Linux.
With that in mind, I wanted to present five reasons that may lead you to consider switching. Know that these are subjective, and they're targeted at the average Windows user and not folks who rely on Windows-exclusive applications for a paycheck.
One thing to know right up front: the modern Linux desktop OS is no longer the obtuse, bewildering and command line driven thing it used to be. Not remotely.
It's nice to see a free operating system getting some love in the mainstream press. Forbes running this article is more the story here than desktop Linux having advantages over Windows.
Be sure to read TFA to find out what the five reasons are. (Or see spoiler, below.)
1: Linux Gets Out Of Your Way
2: You're Not A Slave To The Terminal
3: Installing Software Is Even Easier
4: Updates aren't a headache. They're glorious
5: The Linux Community
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday July 24 2018, @09:26PM (3 children)
1. It's been around long enough to establish the base users (really, business people who then go home and 1. want something familiar and 2. see 2 below)
2. When you go to buy a computer, what do you see? Macs and Windows boxes. Do you get to see a computer without an OS like you did at one time? Do you get to see a computer with Linux running and a Geek Squad person who would actually not steer you back to the Win box?
No.
My guess is that on an equal footing, Linux would have more and better software written for it.
But there is no equal footing and it's kind of surprising that linux has made the gains it has mostly just through community actions (word of mouth, etc).
But on equal footing, Windows sucks: security wise, support wise, and implementation wise. Just on fecking installation, people would choose linux over windows (install driver, reboot, install driver, reboot, install driver, reboot, install driver, reboot, install driver, reboot, install driver, reboot.... til the average user would puke.
Want to install steam?
Software repository,
or
search online, hope the average user doesn't pick the wrong place to install it from, download it, click install, click through EULA, type in the 15 digit code, click click....then have it install some RAM using piece of shit thing that doesn't actually do anything for the user, just for the company......
EQUAL FOOTING? Linux wins.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @10:36PM (1 child)
A bunch of computer components to be put together, that's what I see.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 25 2018, @12:22AM
Ah, i see you've played geek/not the average user before!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2, Informative) by loki on Wednesday July 25 2018, @12:54AM
I installed Linux Mint on my wife's laptop many years ago. It looked very similar to XP which is what she was using at work at the time. But after a while she said "Linux just works. At my work, the machines are always updating or crashing or there's some technical hitch, but at home... it just works."
For her, Linux has everything she needs. Firefox for web, LibreOffice for documents, inbuilt image viewer, movie viewer, PDF viewer, ... the only fiddly thing was the printer, but when we got a new printer it just worked without any trouble at all.
Now my kids have laptops of their own, and I wiped Windows off them as soon as we bought them, and put newer Linux Mint installations on. They are not just digital natives, they are Linux natives. One kid who is eleven is drawing comics with Inkscape and Gimp, no trouble at all, and ripping music onto a phone. It just works. The other, who is ten, put together a music video clip in day. That's probably less than three hours to learn a nonlinear video editing software package, record footage on a tablet, move it over, edit together, stick on a music track, done. Pretty much without help.
It just works. And the software was effectively all free, only the hardware cost anything.
Linux is enormously productive. Compared to Windows, with all its nagging which distracts, and its updating which interrupts my workflow, and its entirely philosophy that I'm a consumer... Linux treats me like a creative individual and gets out of my way and lets me get on with my work. It boots fast, it doesn't nag or crash, it runs only the programs I want to run. It doesn't drain the laptop battery with spayware you can't switch off - we have control. It feels clean and simple and efficient.
Linux is the only sane choice for me and my family.