5 reasons you should ditch Windows for Linux today
5 reasons you should ditch Windows for Linux today
www.zdnet.com
5 reasons you should ditch Windows for Linux today
Comments
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With Linux, I can change just about everything. If I want a real-time kernel, I can switch. If I want a different desktop environment, change. If I want more control from my keyboard, Linux has my back.
As much as I agree with the sentiment of the article, this is a terrible reason and more likely to scare people away from Linux rather than get them to install it.
If you know what a "real-time kernel" is, you're probably already using Linux and you are a highly technically literate user. Any "normal person" user is going to look at that and think "Oh, I guess I need to understand technobabble in order to use Linux". Normal users care about easy, preset defaults, not customization.
Once again, Linux adoption is kneecapped by its own users, who forget what normal people really care about.
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Linux adoption is kneecapped by its own users, who forget what normal people really care about.
Yep. My primary goal has always been: 'It just works'. I'm fairly techy, but I don't want to fix shit constantly.
What finally got me to switch was Windows no longer 'just working'. Every update was another assault that required active effort on my part. PiHole, debloating, O&O Shutup, etc, etc. This coupled with Steam bringing Linux gaming into the prime-time, means the OS that most resembles 'is just works' is no longer Windows.
For most users, Linux just works. That is the angle that should be pushed. Particularly right now there is a massive opportunity to swap your family members over. No reason for Gran to throw away her facebook machine just because it doesn't like Windows 11. Throw Mint on there, point her to the Firefox icon, and she is good to go!
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Security: Linux doesn't need antivirus, just don't install infected software. Riiiight? Sorry, but this is silly.
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Centrally managed repositories help a lot, here. Linux users tend not to download random software off of sketchy websites; it's all installed and kept up to date via the package manager.
Yes, Linux malware and viruses exist, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise. The usual reason for installing Linux virus scanners is because you're hosting a file/email server, and you want to keep infected files away from Windows users, tho.
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Linux users tend not to download random software off of sketchy websites;
Search for "sudo curl ...... | sh" and let me know how many hits you get.
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Even package managers are vulnerable to many security problems - can they guarantee that apps are not infected either directly or indirectly (through a library)? There is also flathub. Windows have also an option to verify apps through certificates which isn't the case with Linux AFAIK. If you want to stay safe on Windows to some degree you can, but the real problem IMO is that Windows is hugely more used and run by less technical persons. 🤷♂️
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Linux users tend not to download random software off of sketchy websites; it's all installed and kept up to date via the package manager.
No experienced/power users do that. Those are who just so happen to install Linux.
If you want Linux for everyone then you will get the users who will install anything, and you need a way to keep them reasonably safe.
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Linux does have some issues with social engineering since any file with the executable bit will run when clicked
Outside of that, you are right
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Antivirus software is a joke
MAC (SElinux) is a much better solution
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SELinux doesn't help much when it comes to desktop apps. AFAIK it's more geared towards server apps and its configuration is complicated. At least that's my impression.
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The first paragraph alone filled me with so much emotion because my very first computer was a Pentium 75 too! If I hadn't switched over to Linux earlier this year I would do it again in a heartbeat 💓 best decision I've ever taken!
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I've said this many times here, but I was a Windows fanboy for close to 30 years. I hate that Windows got so bad, but I'm happy that I switched. Linux is great.
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The only thing holding me back at this point is a thin thread called my favorite game only supports and requires anti-cheat on Windows. :(
And money but hopefully that'll solve itself soon.
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1 reason:
Microsoft
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Any Tipps on how to do that in a business environment? Preferably from people who are actually using Linux in a professional environment? I'm using Linux at home for more than a decade now, and I don't miss Windows at all, but transforming a smallish company to use Linux in a way that is remotely as comfortable as the Windows stuff seems impossible for now. I need to find solutions that don't make it harder for our staff to get their work done, because they are busy enough with actual work.
Simply replacing MS Office with LibreOffice and Nextcloud for example does not cut it. The tight integration of MS Teams, Office and Cloud functionality is seen as a huge benefit there and I can't just take that away from them unless I find a combination of tools that work in a similar fashion. Using Google products instead is obviously not a viable alternative. Every cloud based solution I have found so far is underwhelming at best and lacks a good integration.
Serious answers appreciated.
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Any Tipps on how to do that in a business environment?
Simply replacing MS Office with LibreOffice and Nextcloud for example does not cut it. The tight integration of MS Teams, Office and Cloud functionality is seen as a huge benefit there and I can't just take that away from them unless I find a combination of tools that work in a similar fashion.
You just answered your own question; you can’t. Add in Group Policy Management and Active Directory and there is no windows replacement in any other OS.
Now mix in O365 and it just got more complicated.
If anyone knows of a 1:1 Linux equivalent for AD, GP, and DFS (both replication and namespace) I’d love to learn about it.
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Only answering your last paragraph. You will not, ever, find a 1:1 equivalent for a few reasons, but mostly because:
- Windows quircks do not have to be accomodated in Linux distros
- Microsoft has very much encouraged massive software where everything is done in a single application, whereas in UNIX world the philosophy is to do one thing and do it well.
- Not sure how DFS works, but with the myriad of networked filesystems available I'm sure there's an exact requirement match.
Users can be centrally managed in a myriad of ways, but the most used software seems to be following the same X.500 standard - OpenLDAP, FreeIPA, etc.
Machines can be centrally managed via Puppet, Chef, etc.
Company software is managed by having your own repo.
SELinux can be used for incredibly granular access controls, but I can't see most companies actually needing that.
To sum it up - you'll always have trouble if you're solving a windows problem in linux and vice versa. Just for a moment, try imagining a situation where you want to switch a 100% linux company to windows.
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Friends don't let friends use DFS
Seriously though it is prone to combustion
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As it stands Linux isn't really viable in a business environment. You can make it work but it will involve lots of pain and suffering along with toms of custom scripts and configurations.
It is great for servers but Linux desktops are hard to manage and are unfamiliar to most folks.
With that being said, supposedly fleetdm can manage Linux devices
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The computer savvy folks don’t need to be reminded. The non savvy folks who don’t have time to learn Linux are stuck with windows/apple.
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Many tech-savvy people just haven’t made the switch to Linux - often out of convenience rather than capability. Focusing on broader adoption first could make it easier to introduce Linux to less technical users later.
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Yeah, I haven't switched cause I just haven't felt like I've had the time
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still have game holdouts that need windows, waiting until they are dropped by the friend group
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Yeah I've only switched two of the 20 I need to do. It'll probably be months after Win10 loses support before I get it all done.
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Zorin OS is much more straight forward than Windows 11.
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Why are people promoting this, all of a sudden?
Edit: I went to the website and saw the "Pro" paid option. It's starting to make sense now.
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Why are people promoting this, all of a sudden?
They just released a new version a few days ago that's really solid and aims to be a drop-in replacement for Windows. It's probably the most beginner friendly distro out there and has stuff like Onedrive/MS 365 integration for people using that stuff.
The paid version is useless unless you need support.
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"Why are people promoting beginner friendly distros on a post about reasons to switch?"
U are right, lets promote Nix and Gentoo here
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Yeah it's like, Zorin was the Trendy Distro Of The Month a few years ago. Cachy, Bazzite, at least two others ago. Like Zorin was right after Pop!_OS got a lot of praise for having the Nvidia version of the ISO.
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For me, these are 5 reasons to stay on Linux. :-)
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Real-time Kernel?
Like my popcorn?
Desktop environment
Jimmy I work in an office. What are you talking about?
- Your average Windows user... Probably.
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One of the biggest things keeping me from jumping into Linux as my primary OS is because of nvidia's performance issues, particularly with DX12 games on Linux. I'd be taking like a 10%-30% performance hit. I know the games will "run" but I want them to run well, that's why I spend so much money on my GPU.
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To me, that's the same as "Five reasons not to invite a renowned scammer and con artist into your home". Unfortunately, my work colleagues think its normal and what else can they do but shrug.
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i worked in a specific financial subindustry and the three software packages that were the best in the industry were not supported on linux (i did not test with WINE). the only software package that had linux support was absolutely awful. interface designed by business majors, not industry specialists.
i wish it were easy to work on linux, but hoping doesn't get them to change.
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I am in a similar situation but in healthcare. Nothing save as the web-front ends are any use in linux. Some information systems are built on linux, but we need a Windows machine to use them, Hopefully the slow European gentle tilt to FOSS might help.
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How is the support for linux on M-based Macs these days?
Is it viable ?
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Asahi has made some good strides. Might be worth checking out.
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Maybe on M1,but after some heavy dispute, Asahi Lina, main dev of the graphics driver, stopped working on it and does not feel safe coming back. Also, it was in rust
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Stupid insta360 software >:(
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Oh boy my time to shine. Took me a while but I finally got Insta360 Studio working smoothly in Bottles on Linux with GPU acceleration. All credit goes to this github repo https://github.com/SveSop/nvidia-libs.
- download
nvidia-libs-0.8.1.tar.xzfrom https://github.com/SveSop/nvidia-libs - unzip it
- the zip includes a
bottles_setup.shscript, you can try it and see if it works, but it didn't work for me so I had to use the manual method detailed as follows
- the zip includes a
- copy the extracted
nvidia-libs-0.8.1folder to$HOME/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/- this is just copying it to a location inside the Bottles flatpak sandbox, so we can access it inside the Flatpak command shell that we use later
- go to Bottles > Preferences > Runners
- install
kron4ek-wine...runner (not the proton one) - create a new Bottle:
- Name: Insta360
- Environment: Gaming
- Runner: soda
- after creation, go to Insta360 bottle > Settings:
- DXVK: Disabled
- VKD3D: Disabled
- Discrete Graphics: Enabled
- (optional) at this point feel free to close Bottles and disable internet for Bottles if you are really paranoid about privacy and don't want the Insta360 Studio sending telemetry. You can disable internet for Bottles entirely using Flatseal, or use the experimental option inside Bottles to disable internet specifically for the Insta360 bottle
- then in terminal, enter a shell inside the Bottles flatpak sandbox:
flatpak run --command=bash com.usebottles.bottles - enter the folder you copied from step 3:
cd $XDG_DATA_HOME/bottles/nvidia-libs-0.8.1 - set variable pointing to the folder corresponding to your Insta360 bottle:
export WINEPREFIX=$(realpath ../bottles/Insta360) - set variable pointing to the soda runner:
export PATH=$(realpath ../runners/soda-9.0-1/bin):$PATH- exact folder name depends on the version of soda you used in step 6
- run the installer script
./setup_nvlibs.sh install - back in the Bottles flatpak, go to the Insta360 bottle settings and switch to
kron4ek-wine...runner- as for why I didn't start with the
kron4ek-wine...runner from the start, it's because I had trouble running thesetup_nvlibs.shscript in step 13 when I tried to point to thekron4ek-wine...path in step 12, so I started with the soda runner instead
- as for why I didn't start with the
- run the Insta360 Studio installer inside the Insta360 bottle
- open Insta360 Studio inside the Insta360 bottle, go to Preferences, and if hardware acceleration is enabled by default then everything should be working!
Note: You'll want to put all 360 files in the Bottles Flatpak sandbox at
$HOME/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/Insta360/. This way Insta360 Studio will be able to see them. Exported files will end up in the sandbox as well.I actually did this all in a VM with GPU passthrough, and then made a backup of the entire VM. This way I'll always have a working copy of Insta360 Studio, even if newer versions of Linux or Bottles stop supporting it.
Tested on:
- Fedora Bluefin 42
- Bottles runner: kron4ek-wine-10.8-amd64
- nvidia rtx gpu
- Insta360 Studio version: 5.6.1
References:
- download
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I just wish games worked fine on Linux.
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They do
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I’ve read people saying this here on lemmy often.
But it really hasn’t been my experience at all with very few exceptions.
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Good news, an overwhelming majority does work fine, and a significant number of those actually run better than on windows. I just switched to Linux on my desktop pc (because of win 10 EOL and because fuck microsoft) and I'm amazed how smooth the experience has been.
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What games? Because a lot of games do work fine, maybe even most of them. The problem is that the outliers are often games that a lot of people are playing (see https://areweanticheatyet.com/). Those games are usually not my cup of tea anyways.
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Holy shit, ZDNet is still a thing?
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What’s wrong with them?
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Oh, nothing on my end far as im concerned. Just an old company name i hadn't seen in a long time
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5 reasons you should not ditch Windows:
- Your hardware is incompatible or you do not want to fiddle with settings or command lines
- Your applications/games only work well on native Windows (and not wine)
- You need serious group policy support or other device/software lockdown methods
- Your company policy requires it
- Makes helping Windows users harder if you cannot walk them through the same things they are doing
Of course if any of these apply you can always dual-boot or use a VM. I'm not saying you shouldn't use Linux at all.
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To me, my activity on my own computer being monitored by Microsoft is the only reason i need to not use it.
And I do actually think you may be slightly mad to be OK with that. Maybe because you feel you get a "free" operating system. I think thats the mentality of a slave.
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you do not want to fiddle with settings or command lines
Kinda the reverse for me
I need to fiddle with Massgrave and various debloat scripts to run win
Your applications/games only work well on native Windows
Windows for docker, winboat, etc
serious group policy support or other device/software lockdown methods
I would argue sudo and normal file permissions do the same
Makes helping Windows users harder
???
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Your hardware is incompatible
I think you'll have an extremely hard time finding any hardware that supports Windows but can't run linux. With Win11 requirements it's much more likely to be the other way around.
Your applications/games only work well on native Windows
Personally, every game I care to run works perfectly fine on my Steam Deck. I refuse to play any games that require kernel-level anti-cheat. It's officially distributed malware if you ask me.
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It's crazy how many people are just OK with running completely proprietary code that monitors everything that happens on the machine and phones home all the time, all with the promise to "catch cheaters".
Fortunately every game I've seen so far with such malware is just a generic competitive multiplayer dopamine farm that targets the Streamer crowd.
"But all my friends are playing it!" - Is it really worth it to run omnipresent malware on your machine just to play the currently trending game for a few weeks until you move on to the next?
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I think you’ll have an extremely hard time finding any hardware that supports Windows but can’t run linux
My previous laptop couldn't boot linux for like 2 years until kernel patches came out. It still to this day doesn't support bluetooth in linux due to an unfixed/wontfix kernel bug. And the wifi only uploads at 1mbps under linux.
By incompatible I don't mean "won't boot at all" (even though I've had that multiple times, including with my Surface tablet), but it's all the little stuff that often doesn't have a 100% working driver (either yet or at all). Maybe you don't experience this but there's still lots of people that do.
Personally, every game I care to run works perfectly fine on my Steam Deck
Almost none of my TeknoParrot games work under linux, no matter what version/patch/fork of wine/lutris/proton/etc. I try. Plus there's tons of people that still want to play those newer games with kernel-level anti-cheat, even if you don't.
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Your company policy requires it
The only legitimate thing on this list. Also the most obvious and pointless.
I don't think anybody is saying to format Linux over the company computer against their Windows policy.
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Linux doesn't really have better security. It is actually worse from a purely security perspective.
The key difference is privacy and freedom. A high security prison might be secure but you probably don't want to be there.
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Why worse?
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Not OP but - Windows is being bombarded by malware every second of every day. Linux, with its 6% of desktop user market share - not so much. This kinda' guarantees Windows has a pretty good resilience (these days).
On top of that - in Linux you can change/break anything, which means bad actors could have you run malware by posting "helpful" comments on help threads. You know, "just run this .sh with
sudo".Then you have situations like Arch has been going through - DDOS attacks on official repos and malware injected into a couple of packages in AUR. Sure, it got caught - but how many users installed the malware? How many other packages are under less scrutiny and are still serving malware in AUR?
And, I'm certain, someone out there is reading this and preparing to write a hot take on how "AUR is what it is, you're not supposed to blindly install stuff from it" - but that's exactly the problem. Because 99% of users have no clue what they're doing.
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Windows Defender monitors the entire system continuously
Windows is bad for privacy but security is a different matter.
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The first one (MS account) is so weird to me...
I mean, I get it, people are just allergic to "anything MS", but it's just silly.
Set up a "burner" MS account. Use it to set up the OS, get your BitLocker recovery key and the OS license backed up automatically for easy use. Create your regular local account, switch, remove admin rights from the MS account, never use it again.
Job done, problem solved.
The third one (better performance) is disingenuous. Better performance... where? On what hardware? Nvidia drivers are notorious for causing issues. Many games, even on Proton, run like crap or just... don't run.
The last one, security, is also a bad reason. Linux is not inherently more secure than Windows, it's just less attacked due to a lower desktop market share. What Linux does have, however, is that it's massively easier to break by a clueless user, especially when following online advice when something isn't working - and that's going to be a common occurrence, especially with freshly-switched newbies. Windows will prevent noobs from breaking or exposing a lot of stuff.
The urban legend that Linux is more secure than Windows needs to die.
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I'm always amused at the hoops that some Windows users will jump through in a vain attempt to sidestep Microsoft's telemetry and surveillance—rather than just using an OS that respects your privacy to begin with. It's gotta be Stockholm syndrome or something.
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It's the nvidia performance issues that keep me on Windows. I'd love to use an operating system that values and respects my privacy. But I'm not willing to take a large gaming performance hit to do it. That day this gets fixed I am dropping Windows and never looking back.
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I'm always amazed at the hoops some home owners will go through in a vain attempt to renovate an existing bathroom in their house, rather than just burning their house down and building a new one from scratch. It's gotta be Stockholm syndrome or something.
Despite it being literally the biggest barrier brought up anytime someone suggests people should switch to Linux, it's like you guys just can't seem to get it through your head that literally 99.9% of PC users lack the technical knowledge needed to make the switch and find the amount of time and effort needed to learn how intimidating to the point that, yes, those "hoops" you mention are actually the easier option.
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I'm always amused at people just randomly talking about telemetry (without understanding what it is), even unprompted.
Pray tell, why did you feel the need to say it, especially say it this way? I never mentioned anything about telemetry in the first place...
Oh, wait! Do you believe that the existence of an MS account on your device changes something related to telemetry.....?
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It’s easier than you think to try out on dual boot. You can also run your windows apps through a virtual machine!
Is dual boot a good way to ease yourself in? I literally just made a new nvme partition to try a dual boot
Don't do it on a machine that holds valuable data or one that you need the machine to stay functional for work. I repeatedly fucked up my installation trying to get dual boot setup initially. Bootloader are easy to mess up. Even on a working installation, a Windows update would sometimes break the dual boot.
Its not difficult to set up a virtual machine inside your Linux installation. That way you don't have to reboot and lose your other workflow to access your windows apps.
I'd say no. The effort to setup a dual boot and then hope it never breaks isn't with it. I'd recommend installing into a virtual machine and running from there. If you break something in your install then it's easy to start over and it's way easier for initial setup.
One thing you should do is to start with Windows and then add Linux, not the other way around. I remember someone online said Windows installation likes to occupy all of the drive/will erase the Linux partition, but I might be wrong on that. I have dual boot Fedora + Windows, and I solely use Windows for: a) using windows installation assistant when needing to reinstall windows for family and friends (apparently you can’t create a bootable Windows drive with Linux, which is kind of odd. Just getting the ISOs don’t seem to work, you have to use the “assistant”) b) Not much else actually, I use Fedora for almost everything now. There’s a Linux version of every app I use!
It's what I did, though this was on a Windows 8.1 machine a decade ago. I've heard people talk about Win 10 and 11 being a bit removedier about dual booting.
I think some of what made my conversion to Linux a success was having that fallback. Linux Is Not Windows, and you're going to have to relearn how to do a bunch of little things that are impossible to see coming. There are little things you do, little utilities you use that are different in Linux. "I double click this file and a thing opens, I don't know what you call the thing." that kind of stuff. And you'll need to do something to turn it in on time. Having your old WIndows partition means you can reboot your computer, do the thing the way you're used to, get it done, and while you're at it look up what that program is so you can find out how to do it in Linux.
I've seen people not give themselves that fallback, and then get pissed at Linux over a little thing that is possible, they just hadn't learned how, and learning how while trying to get something done is frustrating.
Or just run a live disc.
It is so easy for everyone to just answer this question for themselves rather than read articles about it. And it takes about the same amount of time and effort.
Disc?