What Is The Hardest Part of Switching To Linux?

Thinking about trying Linux but worried it's too hard? You're not alone! This video dives into the 2 biggest challenges new Linux users face (installation & software) and offers tips to overcome them.

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[notjustforhackers]

The hardest part is un-learning Windows.

[dutchbachelor]

One part of the hardest part is trying to find the equivalents / alternatives for the Software you are already using. The other is that some vendors actively make it very hard to extract your data from them / to cancel your subscriptions and otherwise try to prevent you from leaving. I am looking at you, Adobe and Apple...

I think the whole MS Recall debacle will drive a lot of people over to Linux and quite a few will unfortunately return back to Windows because they find their favorite application either has no alternative or they just can't find a way to get their data out. Many people also just don't have the patience to sit down to figure this stuff out.

But... this also means that in the time they tried it, they will hopefully also see all the good things Linux have to offer. Because that is how I see it happening for most people: they try it at first, are overwhelmed, balk and return to Win. Then maybe a year or couple of months later try again, stay a bit longer. And each time they stay longer and longer until they finally go all in. And this cycle can be accelerated by events on the Windows / Mac side of things when they botch up and finally piss people off enough to switch over.

What is very much clear to me, is that Windows is definitely on the decline and as long as MS keeps doing that kind of stupid things, like stuffing AI in every corner of the OS, no matter how invasive or keep adding bloat- and adware and being a blatant security risk, users will keep ending up at the alternatives. Mac if they can afford it, Chromebooks if they can't / wont afford it and are not tech savvy / willing to experiment and Linux if they are. There isn't much else in between, is there?

[pedromain]

On my experience as a beginner installing linux as the only OS is not that hard, but, setting dual boot is a little, it needs partitions and things, I already had the basic knowledge and following tutorials worked. Tried Fedora 40 with Gnome, it was awesome after I understanded the flow of Gnome is really usefull and boost productivicty A LOT. But still it was hard to get the system ready, RPM Fusion, some basic libraries, codecs, this was easier than I tought it would be but it still requires a lot of research, thinking, rebooting, and be conected to the community, if a regular user try Fedora without the community is going to be really hard, the system is just "raw" by default.

[RedVRCC]

The hardest part for me is gaming, I can't even get my VR connected to it. I gave up after the first day. There's just too much effort required to achieve the same result as windows.

[Beryesa.]

We need more linux OEMs and that's the ultimate solution to all the problems eventually :P
Just checking what Valve's done even without global sales is ...

[JohnDoe-ivns]

Im actually trying to switch to Linux & didn't know you could delete the OS of a computer & install a different one to boot.

My old PC is an old HP from '09 that still only has Windows 7 installed.

I will try to buy a more convenient laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad) & see what good Linux distro I could install to boot with the harddrive :)

[lunchbox]

Maybe a rare scenario but for me it was xorg that was stopping me from ditching windows. I didn't even know what xorg/Wayland was at the time but x11 made the desktop so sluggish (multiple monitors with different refresh rates) that it was a total deal breaker for me. Glad I eventually took some time to research and discovered Wayland, I exclusively use Linux now.

[XiONDiGiTaL]

Used Ubuntu since 2012 but switched to Arch recently. Still dual boot Windows though due to the fact that a lot of games haven't been ported over and bottles/wine can be janky at times.

[finkelmana]

Virtually everyone on the planet could not care less what OS they are running or even know what an OS is. They just want the computer to do the same thing it did before. You could make a Linux distro that looks and behaves exactly the same as Windows or OS X and they would be fine with it. However, the moment you say you cant use peripheral X or software product Y, then it becomes useless to them. Thats just the way it is and thats fine.

[badsubtitles]

For me it was wifi drivers, three times. Each time i had to mess with them i had already forgotten how to do it.

[yurydmorales]

- 0:05🤔 Installing Linux can be challenging for beginners due to unfamiliarity with the process and hardware compatibility issues.
- 1:01💻 Lack of professional tools on Linux, like AutoCAD or Adobe Suite, may pose challenges for users accustomed to them.
- 2:16🛡 Transitioning to any new operating system, including Linux, involves hurdles and adjustments, regardless of prior experience.

[IfritBoi]

Bringing everything over to Linux, easily. All of the data that's still on your Windows partition or your old OS not only can be tricky most times, it's also a long process to do

[lightyagami]

WINE is not an emulator, it's a translation layer from the Windows API(s) to UNIX

[FlameForgedSoul]

We would add hardware as number 3 on that list. Unless you're purchasing new from known 'nux friendly suppliers you might find your [insert favorite widget here] isn't supported.

[sociallyferal]

I would say one of the difficulties is ensuring your hardware is full. I have pop_OS on a dell xps and it's fine. Onboard graphics, only web and word tasks. Linux works well. Installed it on my desktop, installed fine but some core stuff for my gaming mostly mod related refused to launch. Appimage, and yes, even setting to execute it didn't work. Windows again and found new embedded ads with latest version. Tested live version of pop_os and mod, still no go opens then closes. Tested Fedora, mod seemed fine there. So installed that. Saw it using neavou drivers. Went to install proper ones due to forums mentioning performance issues otherwise. Expected a 1 liner command. No. Best i found after an hour was some 30 step process of dependency installs, config file editing, grub editing, run file executing. At this point it was a case of is it really worth this pain, , will I have to do this next month when nVidiaupdates their drivers? So I am currently back on Windows. I might consider it again when I need to buy a new machine and go a full AMD route.
Say what you will for windows, from a daily usability standpoint, software tends to run.
I like the look and feel of Linux, but software working differently on same OS but different hardware, and starting to feel that what hardware I have might not be fully utilised because of incomplete drivers is a turn off. Or basic tasks like driver installation being a tangled mess. Windows does not require constant internet just to access forums to do tasks (assuming those guides match OS or kernel versions.
Have you seen those posts of don't use app store use repository, no use files from source, use native steam, no use proton versions because libraries can change. Dozens of how to do something, usually because something changes so often it breaks things. I can take steps to reduce windows spying, but I don't want to wrestle everytime I use my PC for something new.
Linux is still great for servers or nuc/laptops with limited hardware though.

[jschudel]

I don't think that a person who is not at least a bit of a techie would be even interested in Linux. People who try Linux already are aware that they will need to use the command line here and there because they did their research. So installing a distro for them will not be the hardest part.

The demographic you are talking about use what ever OS the computer is currently running on.

[DJDiskmachine]

The limits with regard to music creation software for me personally

[jmvr]

I tried installing Linux, but it ruined my drive and I had to reinstall Windows to fix it (it was Manjaro and I tried to dual boot with Windows, but it would not boot to Windows or Manjaro. Really, it's on me for choosing Manjaro over Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or even UwUntu).

My main reason why I don't switch is because too many things that I do require Linux, whether that be a game that does not run well according to ProtonDB, or I want to use my Oculus Rift but apparently it doesn't run on Linux, or I want to use Visual Studio because its C# support is superb and I don't like JetBrains Rider (money and appearance). I don't want to dual boot, because that failed miserably and I don't want to go through the mess of reinstalling all my apps again, so really I just gotta get a new drive to install Linux there instead. Hopefully I have another free SATA port

[michaelburasco]

I would think that the majority of users that would abandon Windows would switch to MacOS. MS Office and Adobe software works virtually the same on MacOS and Windows. And they probably have no idea what Linux is. Mainly gamers with expensive gaming PCs and tech savvy users would consider Linux.

[pfifo_fast]

If I was an OEM, i would sell dual boot computers as my default, and offer the option to single boot (and even giving a cheaper price if you dont want windows)