Five Things Linux Does Better Than Windows

Does Linux best Windows in enough areas to merit serious consideration as your desktop operating system?

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[tre_EC]

Linux can breathe life back into an ancient machine as it is easy to find a lightweight distro that consumes a fraction of the resources that windows does.

[Ganerrr]

you forgot one thing:
people randomly asking how you got it to look like that when you screenshare something

[ampex]

One of my favorite things about Linux is that it doesn't gradually slow down because it's been running for 3 days. I have one system (file server) that's been up for 290 days with no issues.

[Beryesa.]

If you really want to ease out the transition, I would recommend to first start to use open source software on your OS. And there are projects you might really like that even if you won't switch, may continue to use: OBS studio, Blender, VLC, audacity, firefox, 7zip...

[crazycarl]

One of the biggest QoL perks of linux, imo is the update system. It's much more sensible and fast, it never restarts or upgrades anything unless you tell it to, and just generally takes a fraction of the time it takes windows to run an update. And it doesn't require the system to sit for minutes at a time before shutdown or right after startup "applying" the updates. It just boots up, and the updates are done.

[Tyriank]

Once upon a time, windows had an edge on linux, but nowdays there is Edge for both

[seifenspender]

It is a really good programming environment. Everything from setting up webservers, compiling C++, to writing scientific papers is just way easier and faster on Linux.
Obviously it has some problems, but with a bit of a learning curve these become a non-issue.

[ashtech]

After the initial learning curve it quickly becomes really hard to go back to windows. Its weird and upsetting after using linux for a few years to load up windows 10 and find that the start menu is cluttered with apps i dont want, in the instillation i have to click no to tracking/cortana/location about 7 times and to download apps from the store i have to have a microsoft account for some reason. But i think my biggest issue with windows is just that i paid money for it. I paid the one off fee to download it and use it and yet they continue to shower me with ads, make me use there apps, stop me removing stuff i dont want (xbox app) and constantly try to force me to use their browser, all so they can show me even more ads! This really shouldnt be the case for something you have already paid for. I would be fine with it if windows had a free version with the issues listed above and a paid version with all that stuff removed but the way they treat customers who have paid for their product is unacceptable. Cant recommend linux enough! Its so much easier than you think and the internet is covered in helpful forums and video to get you through any issues you encounter.

[KarlMySuitcase]

I feel like Linux gives back what you put in to it. As someone who likes to tinker with the system it has given me an amazing customized workflow. The downside is that every time I have to use Windows or mac now feels like eating soup with a fork and pisses me off so freaking much.

[alex]

Just gonna add this here, Microsoft actually uses linux on their Azure servers.

[mindaugasw]

0:15 System stability
1:39 Linux is highly customizable
2:48 Security - Linux is more secure
4:26 Privacy, no tracking
5:18 Price

[castaway]

I've been using Linux since November 2020. I switched from Windows 10 to Pop!_OS 20.10 to now Fedora. I love GNU/Linux for its simplicity and stability. I don't need my operating system to be integrated with services I don't use, and I love being able to choose basically everything about my setup. I can choose different desktop environments (like KDE Plasma, GNOME, or Cinnamon), different package managers (APT, DNF, Flatpak, YUM, Pacman, heck even Snap), and different development philosophies (Stability a priority? Go Debian or Ubuntu. Want latest kernel updates and packages? Go Fedora, Arch, or Gentoo. Want a noob-friendly distro? Pop!_OS and Linux Mint.) There is so much freedom in being able to do whatever you want with your software.

[dan_loup]

If you're using AMD as your video brand, having a small linux install for running Open GL applications can be a quite decent bet, as the mesa drivers are insanely faster than the official drivers.
In my specific case with a vega 8, Heavy OpenGL applications do triple the performance when running on linux in some cases.

[mikeoxlong]

in the early days of watching linus tech tips, i often got confused between linux and linus. it baffled me for years wondering how a man could become an operating system.

[theMoporter]

As a disabled user, using a controller to navigate the UI can be very helpful. Joy-Cons are perfect for one-handed navigation with smaller hands. It took a week of trial and error before I found a solution on Windows; I was set up in a couple of minutes on Linux with an app in the Mint repo. The flipside of Linux lacking proprietary drivers is that it will at least try to connect with anything, as opposed to the hostility of closed source systems towards competitor hardware.

Apple's OSes are still far superior for accessibility, with Android not too far behind, but Windows 10 is by far in last place from my experience.

[kisaragi-hiu]

On the last point: it would be nice if people talking about open source software being free of charge also emphasize that it still costs time and money to develop programs, so people should at least be nice and consider donating if you can.

[Jack-cqpv]

Linux's printer drivers are amazing, much better than Windows on the whole.

[RadikAlice]

I'd love to see the flip side. But it's crazy how overlooked and underappreciated package management
is in these kinds of discussions. Like, not having to worry about an app being outdated is amazing
Also, CUPS is great. Beats the snot out of using printers in Windows like, 50 times over.
A lot of app settings are somewhere in your home folder so you can easily move them and whatnot

[speedracerplease]

This is a combination of all your reasons, but I used to constantly have to fix my mom's computer, over the phone or in person, until I installed Mint on it and only heard about it once every 6 months or so

[jackthebeenstalker]

So I've been using Linux for about 2 months now, and it's amazing. Almost my entire Steam library of games work perfectly fine and most of the games run even better on Linux even though they're made for Windows. Make sense of that, will you? I know why though. Windows Updater, Microsoft Store and Cortana eat up RAM in the background for no reason. And the Windows kernel is only growing larger and larger in size with more and more code being added to it.