
Reasons to Switch from Windows to Linux - axiomdata316
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/07/23/5-reasons-you-should-switch-from-windows-to-linux-right-now/
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copperx
I'm a bit concerned about all of the comments here, in HN of all places,
praising Windows 10 as a daily driver. I thought this would be the most
receptive audience for Linux.

I don't think Linux on metal can be beat for developing software. macOS is a
close second, but its BSD toolchain feels a bit out of place when targeting
Linux servers. Windows is only really suitable for doing .NET development.

Can someone who uses Windows 10 shed a light on how you are using it for
development? Do you prefer to use Linux on a VM? is WSL a suitable substitute
for a dedicated VM?

~~~
carlmr
I'm working in embedded systems. Many of the debuggers and specialized
compilers are only available on Windows. Web (server) development is not the
only kind of development.

~~~
greenpenguin
Conversely, I also do embedded development, and our environment is entirely
Linux-based, even the RTL tools.

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kungtotte
I have to be honest, I was expecting a list of things that Windows actively
did wrong (e.g. phoning home) and why Linux is a better choice for people on
that basis.

This is not really five reasons to switch to Linux, it's five things that
Linux has finally gotten to be as smooth or smoother than Windows. That's
quite a sales pitch right there!

I like Linux, I've used it extensively in the past, and I mostly run software
that is cross-platform already. And if I didn't like games so much I would
probably have switched a long time ago (circa Ubuntu initial release). But if
you want Windows users to switch you gotta offer more than "You don't need to
use a terminal and we have Spotify now!"

~~~
imron
Could 2018 finally be the year of the Linux Desktop? /s

~~~
type0
It is, it's called Chromebbok.

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tomjuggler
I feel like some of the commenters have 5 brand new computers at home. Some of
us can't afford that sort of luxury. In my country you can buy 10 basic
laptops for the price of one entry level mac. The result is that most people
don't go for those things.

I am lucky enough to have two (rather old but still running) laptops at home.
Neither are capable of running Windows 10, and the one which is able to run
Windows 7 does so only sluggishly. Ubuntu with Xfce works great, super fast
even on 32bits single core cpu, and there are no UI problems. I am able to do
Android App development, Video Editing, and running a business.

Running Linux means I can have the latest security updates on older hardware
for free. Extending the life of frankly still perfectly adequate machines as
opposed to still running Windows XP - or worse just throwing them away and
using the credit card.

~~~
nooch
Out of curiosity what do you use for video editing?

~~~
tomjuggler
Kdenlive

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dmfdmf
I'll probably make the switch in early 2020 when Windows 7 support expires. I
like Windows 10 but the spying and the lack of user control of the updates is
a deal killer for me.

~~~
chopin
I switched to Linux Mint (Cinnamon) last year for this reason. I couldn't be
happier. Even the non-technical users in my household are fine with it.

~~~
type0
I don't like some of the Mint's practices, like holding back security updates
if you chose stability settings (they seem to have fixed it in the latest
release). But since it's the only flagship - top notch Cinnamon distro and it
is so newbie friendly I keep recommending it.

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1996
I love Linux but just... no.

Windows 7 was great, Windows 10 is already better with the right license (that
ain't free, whatever)

Thanks but no thanks

~~~
Zardoz84
So, your computer not gets stuck half hour with a lot of hard disk work doing
some Windows 10 stuff every time that W10 boot ups ? I actually I have only
W10 installed to play a few games. My Kubuntu install works far better and
faster that Windows for everything that I do.

~~~
Ratiofarmings
My windows 10 installs never get stuck like yours.

~~~
willtim
Perhaps he/she means applying a significant number of updates on boot? W10
does do this fairly regularly.

~~~
Jaruzel
Once a month, on patch Tuesday or thereabouts.

It's a balance between keeping your machine up to date, and not
inconveniencing the user.

That said, I do struggle to understand why MS can't rework the deployment
mechanisms to just stop/start services etc to allow for on-the-fly upgrades in
the background, instead of doing it all at a reboot.

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Drybones
I love using Linux. Sometimes. Mostly just from the CLI for servers.

I don't consider Linux desktop to be realistically usable for the average
user, and that's the biggest problem. I think the UX isn't there on most
setups. Small things like the screen blanking out when booting up to logging
in after putting in a password.

Web apps and electron apps have certainly made using non-Windows easier. But
people still want some of those popular big apps easily on their system.

I hope one day the display manager stuff like Wayland gets worked out. I would
love to be able to let people free on Linux stuff, but only distro I would
even feel somewhat okay to let someone use without teaching them much is Linux
Mint with Cinnamon. Second would MAYBE be Ubuntu.

UI/UX consistency and polish is so important here. That kind of stuff is hard
for FOSS though. Even companies like Red Hat, SUSE, and Canonical, with a lot
of money, don't seem to doing anything to make Linux Desktop really usable.
They've instead focused primarily on enterprise, servers, and embedded.

Windows 10 is my desktop and daily driver. I have a MacBook Pro with High
Sierra, a dual boot on the desktop for Ubuntu, servers with Ubuntu, Chromebook
with Gallium OS, and test monthly VMs for various distros to see where they're
at.

macOS feels basically like a "professional Linux". Unix-like, good UI/UX,
consistency, good default desktop applications. Before someone says
elementary, elementary is pretty, but it's UX is quite horrible and doesn't
work very well. Pantheon somehow fails to be more basic in user features than
anything else.

~~~
Something1234
I think GNOME has a pretty good user experience. It's very mac like with
actual window management rather than drag drop and stay right there. Although
the cinnamon desktop feels very close to windows.

~~~
type0
For a new and non techy users it isn't at all. Hidden menus, undiscoverable
features that you would need to read a lengthy manual to find out. Even the
simplest stuff need extensions and they still keep removing things from the
core.

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jareds
1 reason I should stick with windows. I've never gotten Linux screen reading
software to run properly in a virtual machine. About once year I grab the
latest Fedora or Ubuntu distro, fire up Virtualbox, and install Linux. Then I
reboot and speech will randomly die on me when using Orca. My Windows 10
insiders VM just works with both Narrator and NVDA screen reading software. To
point 4 in the article I've found Chocolatey to be quite nice. While it's
obvious that it's grabbing installers and running them as best as it can with
Command-Line options instead of distro supported software updates it's better
then the alternative of manually checking for updates or stopping what I'm
doing to install an update when software prompts me. It's been about a year
since I did my last Linux install so if anyone has experience with something
that is accessible let me know. While Linux may work better on physical
hardware instead of a VM I only have a Desktop that I don't feel like duel
booting since it also acts as kind of a home server.

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yial
I actually have a Dell tablet style laptop that I really wanted to install
Kali on, for some basic playing around with pen testing, but I was unable to
ever figure out how to get it to properly dual boot in anything but a “live”
configuration. (Not a deal breaker but for my application not as useable ). I
may have to give it another shot. Sadly, I absolutely am tethered to Windows
for work however.

~~~
type0
Dual boot isn't generally recommended because Windows and Linux file systems
don't mix well. Get yourself a second drive if you wan't to run them both on
the same machine.

~~~
CodesInChaos
Aren't Linux NTFS drivers production quality nowadays? And how is the second
drive on the same machine helping?

~~~
mclehman
If I recall correctly, it's not so much an issue of actual filesystem
incompatibilities, but rather something to do with Windows not respecting the
other bootloader well. Separate drives mitigate that issue.

~~~
kungtotte
I haven't tried dual-booting since I moved to Windows 7 (on 10 now), but I
never had any issues whatsoever as long as you installed Windows first and
then whatever other OS after.

Windows only clobbers the MBR during install in my experience.

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ionised
Developing on Windows 7/10 is a painful experience that I never wish to
revisit. I flat out refuse to work on Windows systems for development now.

I would choose either Debian or Arch as my daily development machine, with OSX
as a second choice (there are some annoyances in OSX I just can't wrap my head
around).

That said, I do have a Windows 10 machine at home, solely to play games.

~~~
baud147258
What are the main problems you've encountered on Windows? I am currently
developing on Windows 10 and it work well (java and c++)

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cmaxwell
I have a OSX desktop and a Windows 10 laptop...I hate using my laptop and am
thinking of dual booting with Ubuntu. I just wish I could go entirely Ubuntu
but I would miss Lightroom/Photoshop and MS Office too much.

I know that there are linux alternatives but I find them awkward to use and
much prefer the Adobe/MS suite.

~~~
magicbuzz
You need to have a look at Darktable.

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AllegedAlec
I would switch to Linux completely were it not for the fact that I like gaming
too much. All my non-gaming computers run some form of Linux (mostly Mint, but
I'm thinking about buying a new laptop soon and trying Qubes OS).

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anotheryou
I'd need to migrate to many little scripts and tools and occasionally play a
game or use the latest photoshop...

