The Truth about Switching to Linux

00:00 - Am I dumb for not getting Linux
04:05 - What most IT Pros think of Linux .

[chloe-sunshine]

How to use Adobe applications on Linux:
1. Get a job at Adobe
2. Work your way up to CEO
3. Tell someone to make it work on Linux

[ransan]

I think there's two things that determine whether a user will be able to fully switch to Linux. The obvious one is that you're not "married" to a Windows-only application/game. The second, more important one is whether or not you have a lot of time that you're willing to "waste" during the adjustment/transition period.

[leemanwrong]

I used to feel the same but over time i've figured out solutions to my issues and now i'm fine running linux full time.

[HeDoesNotRow]

Most of the population sucks though, I'd never use them as a compass. Also let's not pretend that Windows is so intuitive, it's just habits that you learned while you were younger.

[peterschmidt]

What I've primarily found switching over to Linux is that whatever I could do in Windows, I can do about 90% of that in Linux. Whether that be running open source programs that worked on both or finding an open source alternative to it's windows counterpart. That being said, there's just certain things that don't work on Linux and I'm still going to have to use Windows in some capacity.

The best thing IMO for anyone considering the move is:
- Start to use open source software to begin with (Libre Office, Firefox, Thunderbird etc)
- Have a dedicated Linux machine and live in that for a time.

There's two reasons for this: You'll work out what you need to run and if you come across an issue, find a solution then and there by searching and fixing it on the spot. You'll learn some things along the way.

But I think 90% on Linux is still a better alternative than 100% on Windows.

[rvamark]

Windows 11 is pushing me to learn how to deal with Linux. I now have an old lap top running Linux Mint, and I am starting to like it. I even have a couple of Windows applications running under Wine. I will soon be installing Linux on my desktop as dual boot. The transition is slow but interesting, but I couldn't have done it without Microsoft's help pushing me forward with each "feature" they add to Windows.

[proctoscopefilms]

Amen bro. I feel you on the workspaces. Its so damn satisfying to flip through workspaces.

[jasoncravens]

It's just willingness to commit. Like you said, it's true commitment. You can use office with wine, xpdf is far superior, gimp will be no issue for a photoshop user. The gamer will be the person needing to keep a dual boot. Steam is kind of changing that though...

[stevejohnson]

A lot depends on your needs. I was using mostly free and open applications by year 2008, so a move to Ubuntu was pretty trivial. Unlike "windows, " it just keeps running. What I didn't anticipate are the repositories. There's almost no need to hop around Web sites searching for software. If it's a distribution-approved application, it may already be installed. If not, the package manager will get it upon request.

[GaryBusey-sLaserdiscCollection]

Thank you for making a video that I can refer to every time switching to Linux comes up. This encapsulates it perfectly.

[thepi]

Here is my experience switching to linux about 2-3 years ago: (sorry if this is a little long, I hope this helps someone decide though...)
0. First of all, why I switched to linux. I had been using wsl for all my programming needs ever since wsl came out for the first time. I was there for the transition from wsl1 to wsl2 and had wsl break on me a few times, rendering my workflow completely useless. I was still only using npm at that time, so it was nothing I cant make use of on windows. I was also having some problems with windows updates, where they will fail several times before actually succeeding, and my laptop had just recently been completely wiped while it was updating with no way to recover any of the data (included some documents which I cant find to this day, I regret not instantly backing them up instead of waiting for my weekly schedule). All this while my keyboard layout would get switched to English International without me asking, and no way to get rid of it via settings. So I did some digging around and found some registry tweaks to solve this issue. Now this is where the problem happened, the keyboard layout was gone, but then none of windows core apps worked, not even settings. This is when I finally broke down, and installed linux mint. I did not even bother backing up my data, just a clean slate.
1. I was quickly able to get my dev environment working on linux mint. I installed npm and node. Python was already on there and I downloaded VSCode. I also started tweaking the cinnamon desktop and was able to make it look quiet pretty. Overall, I didnt have any issues with my work setup, but I did learn git cli and docker cli, which didnt take more than 15 minutes maybe.
2. On the topic of ricing, I switched over to bspwm and absolutely loved it. My workflow slowly started to feel like an extension of my body. I would think something and it would happen almost instantly on the desktop, my fingers were getting routed with good muscle memory.
3. I had used lutris before, on my chromebook. So I knew that gaming on linux can be somewhat viable. What I did not expect was valve and proton. The only game I missed was genshin, but my preferred genre of video games changed drastically as my schedule changed. I started enjoying more metroidvania style inde games, with occasional warframe or csgo. All of which worked perfectly.
4. I got a backup drive on my PC, and moved all my data over there. This is so I can make the switch to arch linux. I have been toying with arch in a vm for a while at that point, and was ready to make the switch. And switch I did. I have been very careful with updates and always trying to keep on top of news, so I have so far never bricked my system since using linux.

TLDR: I switched to linux due to my windows workflow being absolutely unusable, and since I had an unusable experience on windows, I never felt that I was missing anything on linux. It always felt like an upgrade. I understand that I just got extremely lucky, and most people will have a tough time switching, but I do still recommend. Burning all the bridges (completely wiping my windows drive) actually did help a bit I think. I probably still would have not adjusted to linux if I gave myself the opportunity to dual boot and go back to windows.

[MegaManNeo]

I'm glad Valve pushes Proton big time.
Sure it doesn't help with say Oculus VR headsets or external anticheat but it helps me staying on Linux most time if I feel that way.
Thanks to winbtrfs, using the same Steam SSD for both Windows and Linux is possible but using both for twenty years... I got used to both as well and don't mind either side.

[thatguynar]

It honestly took me a long time to fully "get" and acclimate myself in the linux ecosystem. And now that I've managed to wrap my head around a few things I honestly already find troubleshooting some stuff in windows cumbersome. I still do have windows dual-booted though since I have some high quality printing-related stuff that are missing a lot in linux.

The main thing I always tell my friends who want to try out some linux distros is always make sure to setup backups first before messing around with the system.

[tomspencer]

The easy distros are no worse to learn than Windows and there are fewer annoying surprises This was not the case 20 years ago, but now things are pretty smooth. Yeah, learning something is a pain for some people, for others it is a pleasure to use their brain for something other than to keep their skulls from collapsing from atmospheric pressure.

[insanityNL]

As a long time Windows user, I needed to switch to Linux for work. I can say, yes, it has a learning curve, but using Ubuntu helps a lot. Also you can find almost anything if you need it. Using a customized terminal using Nala and Starship. Customized almost the entire UI, and added some useful tweaks, by watching a lot of YT videos.

Conclusion:
Though it can be hard as a daily driver, Linux is growing on me. Found myself using the laptop with Linux a lot more when I'm not gaming.

[YrmiZ]

I agree this 100% For me it was easy because I never really used proprietary stuff except Steam. I am one of those who love to tinker stuff and it feels good as hell every day. But if you don't have time and patience to learn new stuff Linux is not your thing.

[Nicfallenangel]

It took me the better part of 5 years jumping back and forth before I finally had a working setup and comfort to jump straight to Linux full-time. Like others here have posted, I use it because starting dev environments for the systems I use at work is an exponentially easier task in Linux than Windows.

As far as application differences. I fell in love with Gimp on Windows because I didn't have the money for Adobe and didn't want to try a virus laden crack just to have a decent image editor. I've been lucky that the platform as a whole has moved into a more usable space for me and the apps I use daily. Most of the apps I use are cross platform (VSCode, Libre Office, browsers, putty for serial terminals, etc.) Even some of the niche software for various systems release a Linux client now. I even have several utilities that are windows only that tell you either what setting need to change; or just work in Wine.

I still get frustrated daily, and tinker with a LOT of failures before getting some things right. Yes it's easier when you start learning where to look to troubleshoot on your system, but that's all learning curve. I steer friends and colleagues to Mainstream "easy" starter distros. I talk about what I use, but know that 90% of people are not going to be able to keep up on a system/knowledge I've built and tweaked over the decade since I first booted a live CD to play around. I think I still have a version 3 or 4 Ubuntu CD I purchased, hiding in some forgotten stack of CDs. A lot of people in the community tend to forget what it was like starting out. A lot of people have also gotten used to the struggle of doing something in a different way than what seems to be intuitive on the outside. Is it always easy? No, but is it better than having ads streaming directly to your start menu? I think it is. For me, it's worth the time and effort I've put in. If you're expecting a magic change for anything other than browsing the Internet a fraction more safely, then this experiment is not going to last long. If you truly want to ditch Windows and think it's worth the challenge, stick with it. Like most things in life, the fight is usually worth the gains you get along the way.

[DiegoGZorrilla]

Games performance is the main reason I still double boot Windows. Other software is replaceable most of the time, walking that hard path of finding new ones. AlternativeTo has help me a lot with that. Thank you for the videos

[AnzanHoshinRoshi]

Thanks, Chris. But when I came to Linux I found it to be exactly what I wanted. But then I was using StarOffice, the GIMP, and whatever FLOSS I could find while using Windows. Warty Warthog Ubuntu was perfect and I installed over Windows and haven't used Windows at all since.

[RedRatFPV]

Well, I made the switch a couple of weeks ago. Since I'm working on Linux servers for years, i gave it another shot. And I mean it's great, the last time I really visited Linux Desktop was maybe 5 years ago and it has improved a lot! The only issue I'm having so far is CAD modelling, but I'm doing this by no means professional, only for hobby use. I'm trying to learn onshape now, but it's a cloud solution and by far less intuitive than AutoDesk Inventor.