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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: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @07:51PM (11 children)
0: it's unfamiliar
For a huge segment of the Windows-using population, that's it.
Fire up a contemporary Linux distro running something like MATE or Cinnamon or even xfce and it'll be more similar to what they're accustomed to with Win7 and XP than Metro and the god-awful mess that was Windows 8 and carried over into Win10.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday July 24 2018, @08:11PM
This is the exact reason I'm on Mint XFCE: it's easy to configure a panel or two, and then the DE just stays the hell out of your face. Having to apply theming in two separate places is a bit annoying, but after the first time just write down how you did it.
Which reminds me, a new Mint release just dropped a few weeks ago and I should reinstall one of these weekends. It's been awhile.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by urza9814 on Tuesday July 24 2018, @08:27PM (7 children)
I'd say for the vast majority of Windows users, even that isn't the true reason. Ultimately what it comes down to is:
-1: It's not automatic.
They buy a computer, someone shows them what button to click to open this application or that application, and that's all they do. Switch to Linux? First you've gotta install it...and the vast majority of Windows users wouldn't be capable of installing Windows, let alone Linux. Hell, I've had Windows *software developers* ask me for help reinstalling Windows. The computer is an appliance, the OS is part of that appliance, and it works the way it works. If you're trying to convince them to switch to Linux you might as well be telling them about re-flashing the software on their microwave oven. They don't care, they don't care enough to figure out why they should care, and I would be very, very thankful if anyone has a good method to overcome that...
So you're relying on a Linux evangelist with a bunch of free time on their hands getting together with someone who is willing to let that person do things that they don't know or care about to their PC while losing access to their previous tech support options in the process (because the manufacturer, the ISP, Geek Squad, whoever is pretty much going to give up as soon as they figure out it's not Windows). That's a very tough sell...
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @09:26PM (1 child)
I think with Windows 10 it's fine now, even 7 was ok-ish, but installing Windows used to be hell, all from the install media not including the right drivers, not having the right partitioning options, not way to do a last-chance backup etc.
So I'm not surprised a developer would not want or even manage to do it.
Linux was really hard back in the slackware days (I mean, back when you bought slackware on CDs because nobody had internet). Ever since Ubuntu it has been at least equal to Windows though.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday July 25 2018, @08:36PM
I've always found Windows systems really easy to install and maintain. Mind you, I stopped even trying Windows after XP disappeared.
I just made sure of having a bit of disk storage free to install Linux in a dual boot, and used Linux to make regular backups of the entire Windows system to restore from.
This was especially useful during installation. I would switch in and out of Linux during every forced reboot to make another backup. And no, I didn't overwrite the old backup. As a result I had an easy fallback every time the Windows installer crashed. which was often.
-- hendrik
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Tuesday July 24 2018, @09:52PM
Well put by urza9814, but I was thinking of a car analogy. Suggesting to the average Windows user that they change to Linux is like suggesting to a Volvo owner that they swap out the engine for a Mercedes engine. Of course swapping software is much easier than swapping an engine, but that is how the average Windows user would see it.
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Tuesday July 24 2018, @10:10PM (2 children)
I find your ideas intriguing. While I'm not sure why I would want to reprogram my microwave other than pranking people (make the count down timer count up) an causing magnetrons to fail, it is an interesting concept. Now, reprogramming a toaster oven [instructables.com] as a poor man's solder reflow oven is known good fun. But that's usually a hardware hack as there's not much electronics in a toaster oven.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:52PM (1 child)
Eh, I can think of a few small things I wouldn't mind doing to mine. Generally I never use double-digits of minutes, and I never use smaller increments than 30 seconds. So if each number button instantly started for that many minutes (some microwaves do this; mine doesn't) and if some other button added 30 seconds, I could cook anything I need with at most two buttons, usually just one. Right now I always have to press four.
Which is a stupid thing to complain about, sure, but if I could reprogram it to work exactly how I want then that's what I would do. I'd probably also set it up so that it allows me to choose a power level BEFORE entering the time, instead of after. Doesn't make much sense to me that I have to wait until it starts cooking at full power before I can reduce the power level.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 25 2018, @06:35PM
It sounds like your microwave sucks, or is really really old. Any made in the last decade should have all those features.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @11:35PM
You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Linux is much easier to install than Windows.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @10:11PM (1 child)
1. It does not run THEIR software (QB, MS Office, Adobe, engineering CADs, internal stuff)
That is more important than 0, we know that by the wringing MS did to their customers with Win8 (they rumbled but stayed with the ship.) Customers can learn a few things in the OS, not that they spend much time moving files and mounting fileshares. However customers are not willing to give up their beloved tools - primarily MS Office. I used LibreOffice quite a lot, and while it is functional, it is not as polished as the Office. And, of course, Outlook + Exchange, they are not giving that up. Often there is a good reason for that.
Overall, office crowds are very conservative. It can be understood - a failure of a tool will threaten the workflow. Cost of Windows for them is zero, but they can't care less even if it is a thousand - it's not their money. Linux will win the desktop only when it does important things far better than Windows, otherwise resistance to change will keep Windows in place. But Windows had twenty year head start. Likely, the desktop - which is slowly dying on its own - will stay with Windows for a while. Linux on smartphone, however, had conquered the world, while Windows in the same market pitifully died. Linux and other F/OSS will be prime tools for new hardware, while Windows will remain a legacy tool on desktop hardware.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:52AM
Proprietary thugs try to undermine Free Software at every step of the way, so that's unlikely. But even if it did, what would that accomplish? Nothing. People would still be focused on usability over freedom, so the next time an attractive non-free proprietary user-subjugating program came along, most people would still use it. We need to educate people about the importance of software freedom and preventing computers and software from becoming black boxes, or nothing of substance will change. It's a battle of values, ethics, and principles, not technical usability. This is what "open source" advocates do not understand.