Asklemmy

The first time I tried to switch to Linux, it was a bad choice of Distro (Puppy, I think Lucid Puppy, where I learned that I would rather use Windows 3.1's UI than stock XFCE) me incorrectly believing I could just run it from USB all the time so my family could just use Windows (I couldn't have been older than 14 and the PC was old at the time, we got it in 2005 and it came with XP and struggled with Windows 7, and the storage was low,) and just not making an earnest effort to learn Linux. This was all user error. I tried Mint also, which straight-up didn't work on my hardware at the time.

The second time I tried to switch, Mint again, about a year or two and a new PC after the first. I think Cinnamon is one of the best UIs ever made, but I also think Windows 10's is pretty good (to be clear I despised Windows 7's UI,) and I ran into compatibility issues and ultimately found that, with no strong benefit to web browsing or gaming (this was well before Proton) which were the main things I used my PC for, and still needing a lot of Windows software, just being mostly Windows worked.

Last time I tried to use Linux earlier this year, I didn't intend to switch fully, but I wanted to switch my music making hobby, that I do with Linux Multimedia Studio, to Linux because some features of LMMS don't work on the Windows version (I wanted to link multiple channels to a single VST plugin, which is necessary for the VST plugin "Genny" to produce a file that works on a real Sega Genesis.) This feature does work on the Linux version of LMMS, but Genny itself does not (and I did install WINE, some other VSTs did work.)

I'd love to say I'll switch when Windows 10 EOL hits, Windows 11 has a fucking awful UI and starts to introduce some of the reasons I've never seriously considered Mac or iOS (I feel like Windows used to at least respect that my PC is MY PC when Win11 doesn't,) but I can't because that last one still sticks in my mind. I keep a Mint partition on my PCs, but it's pretty much solely for doing things that might get me malware on Windows, or helping fix Windows if I break it.

I could never get my bluetooth microphone to work under Linux, and I was having to input my password many times every day just to accomplish simple tasks. Couldn't even make the password into a PIN, that wasn't allowed for some reason.

I use Linux full time now, with the exception of the Adobe suite, which runs in a VM right now and will be changed to a dual boot once I installed a second hard drive. I use GIMP and Inkscape where I can, but i need the big evil Corp software for bigger projects where the Foss software falls short.

If the software runs on Linux natively someday or a Foss alternative is on par, I will gladly make the full switch.

My primary desktop is Windows 11, but literally no other computer I personally own runs Windows. Part of it is games, part of it is proprietary software (music production, dj, etc). I could probably game on Linux full time, but until the commercial software situation is improved I will always have an additional Windows or Mac computer.

It's always something that doesn't work and I can't get working. Right now (I dual boot) it's my 4G modern in my laptop that I don't seem to understand how to activate the GPS receiver in. Even if I got it to work I wouldn't know since I have no idea on how GPS is supposed to work on Ubuntu...

Because in my experience Linux hasn’t been consistently reliable in the long term.

My computer is a tool. I need it to just work, not cause me work. I’ve tried many distros and sooner or later something random stopped working, causing me to stop what I was doing and troubleshoot the problem.

Like the time I installed Mint on my desktop and my GPU fan ran full throttle all the time. Or that time when OpenVPN stopped working from one boot up to the next. Or those times when a fresh install hung up and failed fully boot.

Contrast that with the thousands? tens of thousands? of days when Windows just started without incident, got out of my way and let me work or game or whatever.

Is Windows bloated and slow? Yes. Is it constantly spying on me? Yes. Is it annoying in dozens of little ways that Linux isn’t? Yes. But it is consistently reliable and Linux isn’t.

I’m not a Windows fan boy, and I’d love to be able to use a linux desktop on the reg but every time I forget my previous disappointment long enough to try again, I am once again disappointed.

One thing has been working well for me. I have a Raspberry Pi with Raspian running Pi Hole, MiniDLNA and a couple of other things. It’s been as solid and reliable as I could ask.

I had to recompile nvidia-bl every time the Linux kernel updated or my backlight control keys wouldn't work. Put up with it for four years then installed Windows 10 when it came out.

Just one thing: Lightroom.

Laser cutter control software is windows only, just haven't had the time/energy to rip out the entire control system and rework it to be open source.

I’ve tried and used Linux many times. Sometimes over the course of a whole year, but I always end up going back to Windows because of my games and Adobe.

There is no AMD Adrenaline software so I can't properly use my AMD card

Reading a lot of these comments I think people are under the wrong impression of the current state of Linux. I think you'll have a better experience with a bleeding edge distro like Arch or Fedora.

A lot of your productivity apps are on Linux, a higher percentage of your games work than you think, and you could see a performance boost over windows. Plus there are multiple app alternatives that are even better.

I ditched Windows three years ago. 99% of my 450 Steam library works (yes AAA games) thanks to Valve with Proton. What doesn't? Call of Duty, because of invasive kernel level anti-cheat and I'm good with that.

Steam, Zoom, Slack, Teams, Spotify, Plex, Jellyfin, Discord are all on Linux.

Edit: Also there is no "look/UI" to Linux. It's your DE, and you're free to choose one, or a Window Manager. Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE, i3, Awesome, Openbox, XMonad, Sway, Hyprland.

So I didn't quite try it to switch, rather installed linux to dualboot specifically because one game had lag issues on windows, and ultimately there are just 2 things keeping me from making linux the main and windows the backup.

One is game compatibility, while linux has come a long way it's simply more convenient to be on windows which can effectively run everything (even if there are a few more performance issues at times).

The other is that I couldn't find a DE of which I liked the look that could handle high refresh rate monitors properly. LXDE works for my purpose and I think it looks ok, but by design it just doesn't feel as nice to use as windows.

Hated gnomes UX, liked KDE but it couldn't handle my monitor. Wouldn't wanna bother with trying many more options unless I actually know it will work with my hardware.

I can't use Fusion 360 on Linux, so I dual boot windows. But that's the only time I ever go back. I don't even run a bootloader with options and you'd never know Windows is on my machine unless you interrupted the boot process and checked boot drives. Getting into Windows is a manual process on my system.

My work uses Azure Virtual Desktop and there is no Linux client for it, only the web client which seems vastly inferior. Even running in a browser on Windows the colours are terrible.

WSL2 and work. Firstly at work i'm forced to use Windows since all the dev toolchains and deployement Tools are unfortunately Windows only... And secondly since I have be able to work from home (at night or afterwards) I need Windows on my Box as well. Thirdly, other than that my private coding projects all died since I just wanna switch off once I'm done and game a little... So there Windows also wins out. And lastly since all my Servers run Linux if i need to write a Script and test it WSL did the Job so far.

Very unfortunate since i enjoy using Linux (love i3) but i cant be bothered at the moment :( Maybe the next dev job allows for a Linux Environment :)

HDR support didn't work when I tried it for madvr or games. Not sure if that area has changed.