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this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I'm old enough to have seen this "flocking" several times. Some people stay and are pleasantly surprised. Most people go back a few weeks/months later, and leave a "Linux suxx" post behind them. I don't expect this time will be any different, and that's totally fine.
Linux is a lot better than the last few times.
It might just be 'good enough' at this point.
I agree. This time, it's actually different. Big name streamers and YouTubers are showing their support. Not just people in the tech industry, but random channels like EmKay and PewDiePie.
Linux is better than ever. Steam is a breeze. Wine support has never been better.
Meanwhile, Windows has more nasty surprises, underhanded backstabs, and security nightmares than ever before.
Dankpods has gone in on Linux too. He did a video about building a Bazzite PC a couple of weeks back.
Can you enumerate these underhanded backstabs? What a colorful claim.
Ads. Steering me to store all my data in Microsoft’s cloud where they do (or inevitably will) scan it for profiling, AI training, government surveillance, etc. (which also annoyingly locks file handles when documents are open). Shoving AI into every product, even when it’s completely useless. Sunsetting useful products. Changing license terms for paid products, forcing subscriptions. Requiring online accounts only and eliminating workarounds. Removing features and replacing them with incomplete UI offering less control. Massive security holes. Annoying patch/upgrade system that interrupts me while I’m working. Flaky, bug ridden tools (Teams, etc) And updates that break hardware.
-we heard you like search bars so we added a search bar next to the menu containing a search bar.
-open wide because here comes the unwanted update train.
-you want to do thing with file?
No, bad user. Play candycrush instead.
-that’s an impressive machine you have there. Would be too bad if someone were to slow it down with tons of bloat.
-Telemetry? At good ol MS? Never.
-oh but all the W10 menus you love are still there, it just takes a rainforest expedition to get there.
-Just buy a one drive subscription and walk away.
Yeah that search bar, so useless because the start menu itself is a search bar if you simply start typing.
I uh...don't have any of those experiences personally but that isn't really the point. I asked for underhanded backstabs.
Have you used Windows past the 8.1 days?
First time reading that PewDiePie is a "random channel"...
I think it's easily good enough for general use. It's only certain types of gamers (anti-cheat support is still pretty terrible), and people who are heavily attached to a specific Windows program that they spend a lot of time using, that will have trouble switching across full time. For everyone else, Linux is superior because it runs so much faster than the now incredibly bloated Windows. Depending on the distro, it's also arguably simpler than Windows too.
I mean I love linux but the biggest hurdle is that certain software/games just aren't compatible. I use my pc for sim racing in vr a lot. With no ability to use iracing or my vr in linux I'm stuck. While I hate Windows and would prefer to use linux, I'm not going to abandon my hobby and all the equipment I have for it just to use an os I prefer. Throughout many different domains of use for a computer their are many different variations of stories like mine. Until the software and games people use can be supported in the linux ecosystem 'good enough' never happens. Like for basic computer use linux is already better than good enough its fantastic, it just works has intuitive user interfaces the bones of the OS are there. The problem is that many companies and software providers just aren't filling the gap that is the needs beyond basic web browsing, media playback and, playing older/indie games without anticheat. Without the substance people expect it doesnt matter how good the bones of the system are they are gonna be trapped in windows and linux will be stuck as the outcast programmers and enthusiasts use while knowing they have to still use windows for the niche use cases they have. And time and time again, eventually running 2 systems gets tiring and linix use/adoption slows back down again.
many people will go back, but of these, i’m sure many will also come back eventually
i’ve tried a bunch of distros in my last 2 years with windows. many didn’t satisfy my needs at the time, so i stayed on windows.
but now, it’s been over a year since I definitely switched to linux, and over 6 months since i nuked (accidentally, but shhh) my windows partition. and i don’t plan on going back anytime soon.
Yeah it's been a long road for me to be fully Linux on my personal systems. I think I started messing with Linux circa 1997 and didn't switch over fully until I think Windows 7 went EoL.
Same history
Just out of curiosity, which distro did you end up using?
right now im on Fedora KDE! it works well enough for me, it’s modern, it looks good, and most importantly (for me) it supports fractional scaling well (my laptop needs fractional scaling and that’s been the thorn in my foot for a while)
Great choice, often underestimated but actually rock solid
Linux Mint works great, but I've heard good things about Bazzite, too.
I love and hate bazzite. It's still what I use daily, but man is it weird. Just small little bugs, an it is an immutable os so that threw me off, couldn't do my wild an whacky project but atleast most everything worked right out of the box!
I’ve looked at Linux for years but it was always so intimidating to me. I finally installed it when my pc was being aged out of windows 10 and honestly it’s really fun to play around with even though I’m not super tech savvy. It’s easy enough to find a solution online if I run into any problems and everything is free!
This is usually the case, people make it a monster in their heads but it's not bad as long as you're willing to accept it's a different OS to be used differently.
But this time Linux actually plays video games right out of the box. No trickery. Just install steam and the rest of the experience is smooth as butter
And sometimes with better performance than windows because of less of a system overhead.
I was one of those nomadic users, every year, since 1998 with Mandrake Linux.
I have always been in love with the idea of an open source OS, but if I couldn't game and work on it, it wasn't ready. Every year, until Valve made it easy to game on Linux.
I made the switch when Proton was released and never looked back.
My point is, every time users go back to Windows, they have their own personal reasons, but those will some day not be the truth anymore.
Desktops only frankly became remotely useable to normal people with recent revisions of things like kde...
Between that and software actually finally started becoming remotely reliable in like 2022-2023 for your avg windows user.
Comparing the past to now is not reliable fair.
More progress towards making things normal user friendly have happened in the last 3-5 years then the last 20.
Let me guess, you might have tried Linux on n the past but only really started using Linux full time around 2021/2022, because every time I see someone saying "Linux only became user friendly around year X" is always around a 1 year mark after they started using it daily, because it's a lot more a matter of being used to than actual usability. I have been using KDE since 2004, and while things have changed it wasn't all that much, I don't remember any big usability refactor or anything of the sort happening, I'm fairly confident that if I were to put you to use a KDE 3.5 UI you would feel right at home.
And also other operating systems are becoming terrible in recent years. So double plus good for Linux.
Many people will definitely go back, but the percentage staying might be better this time around. Linux has gotten a lot more usable and stable for those tech inclinced enough to be able to install it thanks in part to proton, immutable distros, flatpacks, Wayland, and improved defaults. Mint and bazzite are pretty darn good for daily use. I've never stayed on Linux as long as I have with this run, and I really don't feel much of a push to leave it. Most everything I want to do just works.
I agree, I notice more new blood around Linux compared to the previous "OMG, Micro$oft suxx, let's all ditch Windoze!1!!" craze (I guess it was Win8.1 -> Win10, maybe?)
my buddy wanted to switch from w10 to mint and i tried to recommend kubuntu because of wayland, i told him mint will be laggy because he has many screens with different refresh rates and mint can't handle that. he wouldn't listen, installed mint, and a few weeks later went back to w10 raging how linux suxx it's so laggy. could've just installed kubuntu but no, it had to be w10.
That's an Nvidia issue, not linux.
oh, always thought it was an x11 issue and affected AMD too. well anyway he's broke and he got a high-end nvidia gpu for next to nothing so I'm not going to even try to convince him to get another gpu
Linux usage has been trending up over time. It's real.
I've been trying to switch to Linux for at least 5 years. I wouldn't say it's any better now than it was then. I desperately want to love Linux, but it fights me at every step of the way. As a media pc... I have had zero success using it as a media pc. My one requirement is an on screen keyboard, but it doesn't come with one, and all the offerings I've found are shit. They won't work in some windows, or at all.
As a laptop... This has been the most successful. I've not had any real issues with Linux on various laptops, other than finding replacements for certain windows software, but that's not really a Linux problem.
As my main pc... Gaming has been fine. Hdr has only really recently become a thing, and it seems fine. However, I'm constantly coming across stupid things are ARE a Linux problem. Downloading and installing software has too many methods. I understand downloading a file to install something. I understand downloading a script to install something. I even understand why you'd need to make that script executable before it'll work. I don't understand what to do with a bunch of random files that claim to be an installer but don't seem to have an install script or a .deb package. I don't understand why once I map/mount a network drive, it fucking disappears after a reboot and needs to have the mount process be automated at every reboot.
Linux is just hostile to users. And while it is, it'll never massively succeed.
LTSC is a much better option.
Each person knows what it feels more comfortable with.
Linux is not inherently hostile, it just has a very different way of doing things that what you're accustomed, so you perceive it as hostile. It is sometimes easier for someone who never touched a computer to learn Linux that someone who grew with Windows to unlearn the habits.
There's nothing wrong with feeling comfortable in Windows, it's the system you grew up with and know how to work with and maintain.
Windows, starting with 8, is inherently hostile to its users in ways that are very difficult or impossible to mitigate. It's a black box of complicated machinery, a lot of which is trying to spy on you, steal your data, show you ads, upsell you on their stupid cloud services so that they can steal more of your data, etc. At this point, disabling all of this is really difficult and unreliable.
Linux on the other hand is like a box of spare parts that you can build whatever you want from. You really do need to read the manual, or else whatever you build will look and work like shit. However, if you do build something good, it's yours now in a way that a proprietary OS never will be.
Same. I loathe Linux. I've been trying to use it since I was 19, periodically installing one distro or another, and I hate it. I absolutely hate it. I'm not saying it is bad or anything but I do not have the patience to fight with an OS over every tiny thing or having to look up a guide for every installation or having to double check what will work and won't because you're going to need a container.
Linux, I'm sure, is great but it's also one of the least user friendly operating systems out there, regardless of Distro. I keep trying to use Linux Mint and it keeps driving me up the fucking wall. Either Linux supports nothing without a battle or nothing supports Linux without a battle and I'm not remotely interested in fighting with my PC to do something simple. The second that that shit gets sorted is the second I'll be fine.
Thanks for the opinion Bill.
For anyone wondering, linux offers over a dozen virtual keyboards and btw they aren't called on screen keyboards. All of them work great. And lots of distros come with one included.