I don't know what you mean with Adobe. It's a company not an application. Adobe Reader sucks and I don't need Adobe Pro, because I am able to use LaTeX.

Why I need a real distribution instead of a naked operating system like Windows is that it comes with ten thousands of preconfigured packages.

Then the system is transparent. I know what it does and can analyze it easily. When something doesn't work, I am able to find the cause. This is essential for me.

I don't need any shady antinvirus that hooks into the kernel, making the computer overall insecure. I generally trust the OpenSource community more than I trust Microsoft.

I also don't like ads on my system, except I subscribed to them. I pay for software and give devs money to keep projects running. But I don't want to see unrelated ads.

Hold the meta key and click+drag to move applications around

this varies depending on Desktop Environment

But holy crap do I accidentally select text or drag files randomly around when intending to move a window (on windows)

edit: in case I wasn't clear of when my issues arise

what's the price of windows these days?

Flatpaks can be updated via shell scripts with something like flatpak update -y - what trouble are you having?

As for things that Linux can do that Windows can't the list is literally endless. I think the biggest one for me is that the system does what I tell it to do. I'm not begging my computer to do things, I am commanding it. I don't want my OS to think for itself and second-guess me, and I don't want my computer to tell me "no". Also, being able to use a filesystem made within the last 30 years could be considered useful depending on if you value your data. ZRAM is another neat trick that seems obvious in hindsight. Linux has all the cool experimental technology first, and it takes a long time to end up on Windows, if ever.

Plug in every USB i find on the ground without fear.

Nothing. Also everything.

You can probably do most of not all of the things I do on Linux on a regular basis on windows just as well. But at this point I feel like I have a reverse "Windows is the default" effect going on since for me Linux has been and is the default for over 10 years.

When I start work in the morning I turn on my Linux laptop to ssh into some Linux servers (and RDP to the occasional windows servers/desktops).

After work I play games on my Linux handheld or do some work on my Linux desktop. Maybe move some files on my Linux Nas.

Like I said I could probably do all of this on windows. It would be a major change and in would have to relearn some things in addition to figuring out how to do some stuff on windows that I just never do. But at this point why even bother. There are a lot of ideological reasons to move to Linux there might be some technical reasons on either side but I just don't have any pull to use windows unless I need to (some special program/firmware updater whatever) for which I do have an install hanging around, which I boot once in 6months or so

You can be root on GNU/Linux, you cannot on Windows or any other nasty proprietary OS.

With Linux you can save money by going 1 tier lower on the CPU (AKA buy a Ryzen 3 instead of a Ryzen 5, and so on) than you would go on Windows, at the same performance.

And of course, you can invest that money on other components or other stuff in general. 💵

@Subject6051 download and install at no cost, customize/change DE or not use one at all and opt for a simple window manager, use a packet manager to download and install applications

5. Not update my system

You can't do that on Windows, the updates are forced on you.

I use a single gpu that I detach from my host and reattach in a vm when I start the vm (and vice versa). I don’t think windows will enjoy a sudden lack of gpu.