I made the switch around this time last year and haven't looked back. A few things have taken a bit of effort to figure out, but largely it has been a breeze. I should've done this many years earlier.

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[–] 115 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

I got my good bud to finally swap to Linux months ago. We have to occasionally boot windows for some games. He laments it every time, even despite having plenty of issues on Linux. Windows just feels worse in every way. He said "At least the problems on linux are fun and I can fix most of them." - and he's no linux expert.

Maybe it's finally almost the year of the linux desktop :')

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  • [–] [S] 80 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    I get it. Problems in Linux feel like they're mine. I prefer it.

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  • [–] 29 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    Thats my exact thing on Linux. It has "issues" but theyre fricken fixable. And they won't happen again, likely. With windows its way harder to fix anything if it won't work beyond the "close and reopen again" technique and then if you do fix it a damn update breaks it again!!! Plus the bloat and spyware, ick.

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  • [–] 12 points 3 weeks ago

    then if you do fix it a damn update breaks it again!

    Just fixed a fairly common issue with Windows Update on my wife's W11 machine. Stuck at 99% forever. All you need to do is terminate the Windows Update process and try it again, or delete a cache somewhere.

    Want Windows' "official" advice if you're "having trouble"?

    Try reinstalling Windows . πŸ˜‚ ROFL

    Plus the bloat and spyware, ick.

    I was also quite unnerved when the "location data" task item came up on startup, and listed Windows Explorer as using it for a second. Sorry what? Wtf does Explorer need location data for?

    So happy to go back to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. I want to convert some family members' computers too when I finally get a chance for it.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 weeks ago

    Yeah. When I can't do something on Linux, or something breaks, I may have to figure out how to fix it, but most of the time it's less painful to fix than just trying to do basic stuff on windows and getting paywalled/adspammed/stuck in some kind of error hell you can't fix even if you know what's wrong.

    My windows dual boot rig gets progressively less use on the W11 boot over the last year. I may move it to an even smaller SSD... It only exists to run a few programs.

    I

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  • [–] 11 points 3 weeks ago

    100% relatable. There is a huge difference between, "It broke and I can fix it or that's annoying but not worth me spending time to learn how to change it (but I could if I was really really bothered by it)" and "It broke again and Windows forced another update and it's broke and now I have to fix it or that's annoying and it bothers the shit out of me and and there is nothing I can do to change it."

    Things just feel way better, even when it's all going wrong, when the problems are within your control. I left Windows a long as time ago because of this very thing.

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  • [+] 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 3 weeks ago

    I only boot it to play wardogs or to debase myself by playing league of legends or rainbow 6 (rarely thankfully). otherwise proton works for literally every other game I play. i never would have envisioned this ever being the case 10 years ago.

    Windows is a bloated corpse and I wait for the moment I can reclaim its SSD space with bated breath

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  • I have windows installed for some work-related stuff still, but I can't use it because windows decided it doesn't want to connect by wifi and I'm not gonna buy more hardware to just maybe get windows to be functional. Linux just works with it without having to mess with drivers, install software, etc. Also my work laptop won't connect to my bluetooth headset anymore after an update, so I have to connect it to my phone and then use AudioRelay to have wireless audio on my laptop. If just one

    Meanwhile linux problems are mostly just companies not wanting to support linux, so finding workaround to get their software to run or finding alternative software that works. The core functionality just seems so much more reliable, so I'm not constantly just trying to find ways to deal with all of the new problems that come out of nowhere.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 weeks ago

    Got to know a 66yo woman recently. She is not great with tech but curious and wants to try things.

    So, she got herself a new laptop for work. Old one was "old" and couldn't do things. Someone gave her a tip to install Linux on it. She did. She claims Linux Mint made her laptop work again.

    Today I gave her access to my Jellyfin instance. She couldn't run a movie off her windows laptop but Linux one worked straight away. Same Browser and all. Weird, right?

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  • [–] 94 points 3 weeks ago
    [–] 39 points 3 weeks ago (25 children)

    As much as I like seeing people making the jump, I'm seriously surprised how many people are still putting up with microsoft. Like yes, I get it, your grandma won't care, but I know people who are absolutely capable of installing another OS but still stick with windows, even tho there's not a lot of software that just won't run on linux. Some games like fortnite or league, yeah, but other than that ... it's just weird. Especially because they keep yapping about something breaking or not working all the time.

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  • [–] 36 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

    I’m seriously surprised how many people are still putting up with microsoft

    Last Friday I showed a colleague that the computer he had been using to control a robot arm with a CNC mill that day, is running Linux (Ubuntu). I opened a terminal, listened to the obligatory "wow, are you hacking?!", and typed uname.

    "THAT'S Linux?!"... And he is a clever nerd.

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  • [–] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    A lot of nerds would be perfectly capable of installing a different OS. But i atleast often forget that screwing around with the computer itself isnt the focus for a lot of them. They just use the computer to get shit done in their field of special interests. Like for me the whole administrative overhead of switching to Linux was only bound by the resource of time. But i really looked forward to it and had a blast when i finally secured enough time to do it. In the end i just learned a new aspect for my hobby. For others that would just take time away for the things they want to do. Interest in open source, privacy, beeing in control of your digital shit etc also isnt as common as one would hope even for computer nerds.

    With that said in the last two years i still saw a big shift. Atleast in the other online spaces i frequent and even in my private life tons of people picked up Linux. Just because the strain of windows became so insuffereable.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    If you have to use Windows and Office at work, you're kind of stuck. At home I finally ditched Win10 and found LibreOffice perfectly fine to use. Not everyone can make that choice or would want to have one type at home and one at work.

    But it's okay, Microsoft seems to want to shoot themselves in the foot every chance they get. Even making the mistakes they are, they can't even easily topple the monopoly dependence they built up.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago

    Iβ€˜m old(er), need my PC for work since my livelyhood depends on it, and unfortunately only have a limited amount of fucks to give per day. That made it quite the daunting task to switch OS since Iβ€˜m stuck with Windows for over 20 years now.

    Got new hardware recently and will take my time to set up Zorin OS while keeping the old Windows machine running in parallel for a while. It is the softest of switches I could think of all in all, and Iβ€˜m looking forward to it. Sometimes things take time, especially when people have essentially been indoctrinated with Windows since their early school days.

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    [–] 30 points 3 weeks ago
    [–] 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    For real, I have little to no patience with the myriad of Windows bitching posts these days. I'd say "skill issue", but Linux is easier to set up and maintain than Windows. The only work I've had to put in was when I decide to fuck with perfectly functional defaults just because I can.

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    [–] 15 points 3 weeks ago

    It's been very entertaining to watch the microslop shitshow unfold watching from the sideline as someone who isn't using Windows at all. 10/10 can recommend. Back when I switched to Linux it's because I thought it was cooler, not because it was better. But now Linux is so much better. It's not even a contest. If it's a race windows showed up drunk, ran into the wrong direction and then straight into a wall.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    I've been watching this shitshow for two and a half and oh boy am I glad I bailed when I did. The last Windows I truly loved was 7 (I'd still use it if I could, but Mint can get close enough for me in terms of look and feel without too much ricing, and, like Win7, things just... work), everything Microsoft has done since has just been a slowly degrading dumpster fire.

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    [–] 14 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    Windows? just get some blinds smh

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  • [–] 12 points 3 weeks ago

    10 years in and its hard to believe people even use Windows. Everytime I have to use it I feel dirty

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  • [–] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    This! I didn't even realize how bad things were until I stepped outside. Using a sensible OS took a big load off my shoulders.

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  • [–] 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    I can't even remember the last time I logged in to Windows.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 weeks ago

    At first I didn't understand this because the bottom text was scrolled out of view. Then I scrolled down and was like "OMG YES!" I just love this. I'd totally buy you a beer to celebrate. Virtual cheers 🍻

    Desktop linux has never been better.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

    I really like nixos, which will not even tell you to reboot if the kernel is unchanged. Plus it will restart my services correctly when I update or pull new container images on my server.

    It’s very very nice.

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    [–] 7 points 3 weeks ago
    [–] 6 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    Finally managed to get most games working on Mint . The only thing I still need Windows for is VR desktop for gaming. Once someone makes a decent Linux version then I'm pretty much done.

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    [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago

    Hey, me too! I ditched W10 for Linux Mint in Sept last year, so much to learn but it's been a blast. I've never experienced having such a smooth working PC.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago*

    I feel this as well. I use arch, btw.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago

    Shout-out to that guy who argued with me that onedrive doesn't randomly reinstall itself for no reason.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    I face some issues with updates on linux breaking things (Arch btw) but it's usually an hour debugging and then a "hey, someone already made a fix for this as a pull request that you could install now if you compile from git".

    That's a hassle, but it's better than spending an hour debugging, realizing the only real solution is to wait for a hotfix from the powers that be, then several more hours trying to get a workaround, then the five stages of grief ending in admitting defeat and waiting for the hotfix that'll break something else.

    On Linux, there's always a way to do what you want to do, with all the risk and reward that comes with that.

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    [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago

    Going to linux from windows was eye opening. No more 'oh you don't want this well we'll remind you again in a few days' or microsoft trying to upsell their services on my own machine or fighting with the operating system in order to do something simple. It is so nice to feel like I own my own machine.

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