Just seeing what's keeping Window users from transferring to Linux full time? I'm using Mint 19.3, but I need a W7 vm to use my Itunes. If it wasn't for that, I'd never use Windows again.
Best answer I've got is 1) learning curve 2) office software 3) software compatability 4) driver availability for older devices (that currently operate fine on Windows 7) I haven't done a ton of research on the above. I mainly anticipate problems with 2, 3 & 4 and 1 is pretty much a given, for me. I don't pick this stuff up as fast as some people do.
It is not easy to have a straight answer to such a question but I guess my first reason is familiarity, I have always used Windows from the very beginning, and I don’t see the evil in MS that some people often describe. The second reason is convenience with third party software, whether one buys a scanner, printer, and what not, they always have drivers readily available for all recent Windows operating systems. The third reason is compatibility with other websites, matching intranets of other institutions (government, universities, schools, etc.). The fourth reason, unlike other people, I have never had a dramatic situation whereby I would attribute responsibility solely to Windows, from XP, Vista, Win8-8.1, and now Win10 they all worked fine, Win 10 being clearly the state of the art. The fifth reason is security, Win 10 now has its own free inbuilt antivirus which rivals the best from the paid competition, Windows is now by default a secure environment. Last but hardly least, since 2015 I’ve had free upgrades to latest versions of Win 10, a definite change in MS policies for new operating systems. I had a beautifully built Asus machine (about 12 years old with 64 bit capable CPU) which ran on Vista, unfortunately everyone decided to drop support for Vista (MS, Chrome, Firefox, AVs, and others) it made it practically impossible to use it as an alternative machine. I thought what a great opportunity to install a Linux distro. I tried Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Mint, they all worked and looked great except I couldn’t get any sound out of them. I spent two weeks searching the internet for a solution, which apparently was shared by many people, but zilch, nothing worked. I thought I might buy a Windows10 home license and install it for $140. I ended up buying a superb second hand laptop, Win 10 Pro, i5 CPU, 8GB RAM for $300, hard to beat. I gave my beloved Asus up for recycling…
For me it's: - accumulated knowledge about Windows OS - Office suite - lack of each month's patch Tuesday borks lottery
It doesn't need to be all or nothing. And indeed, it's risky to use one machine for everything. Also, if you want to use multiple personas, you ought to compartmentalize them. I still occasionally use Windows, basically because I can do stuff in Excel that's impractical in any of the Linux office spreadsheet apps. Or even in MySQL. And so I just run a Windows VM, with no network access. That is, I update a VM via nested VPN chains, clone it, work in an isolated clone, and then delete the clone when I'm done. So Microsoft never sees my data, or even knows who I am.
I respect that. It often is. People don't have time to learn about intrinsic details of multiple OSes. It is better to have one OS you understand, update, backup and configure than multiple with half-a***d configuration.
If you are Joe Public, not a business user who needs to use Microsoft s/w, it's quite a painless transition given the quality and variety of open-source s/w, not withstanding you may be able to use Wine to run your Microsoft s/w. Once you realise, and understand, the basics of using the command-line I would say there are probably three main issues I've had: 1. Learning how to mount a shared network folder to use Back in Time with. First time I read the instructions I remember thinking "seriously?" USB drives can be set to automatically mount in the settings without any requirement to do some voodoo. 2. Making sure you have a printer that works with your Linux. Printer coverage is excellent but do a google to make sure no issues have been reported. 3. A few days I installed Kubuntu on my wife's new, pre-loved PC and found the network adapter didn't work (very unusual but can happen). A bit of research and I found there was an open driver. In fact, Kubuntu's Driver Manager identified the requisite driver but it took me 10mins more to realise I had to go into the BIOS and turn off SecureBoot for it to work. I was nearly crying contemplating having to re-install Win10 on it. I think the first distro to do a noob's installation guide with clear and concise instructions on known issues and how get around them will go to #1. I still have Win10 on the TV PC and when I compare the upgrade processes of Win10 and Kubuntu there's an easy winner.
Windows just works! Experimented with Linux for several years and I was able to make it do everything that Windows could, even had two monitors. BUT, I had to "jump thru hoops" to do the tiniest little thing, printer, dual monitors, etc., and I got tired of that. With Windows, you just plug everything together, it recognizes everything, and everything just works. Acadia
You can backup configuration and reuse it later. This significantly reduces time on OS maintenance. Sometimes it may be still too much for some use-cases, I get it. On the other had we all know Windows also requires some time for update, backup and general maintenance.
And that's another thing, unless things have changed since I last tried Linux, Linus ALWAYS had more monthly updates than Windows, on a couple of months over a hundred.
It varies between Gnu/Linux distribution, distribution channel. Sometimes distribution can be configured with more repositories which also significantly increases updates eg Ubuntu's universe and multiverse repositories. Debian Stable is updated quite rarely.
Yes, you can install itunes through Wine, but Apple made it so itunes won't sync with the servers and you can login to your account and retrieve your music.
https://www.howtogeek.com/676963/why-desktop-linux-still-matters/ "When I speak to people who understand a bit more about operating systems, the reasons they give for not running Linux are variations on a set of the following themes: Gaming: Gaming on Linux has improved in leaps and bounds over recent years, but there’s still more choice in the Windows world. The perception that it’s easier to run top-end, optimized gaming hardware on Windows also persists. Linux won’t run a certain software: Whether it’s Photoshop, AutoCAD, or Microsoft Office, this is a deal-breaker for many people. They’re not interested in alternatives or running things under Wine. Fear of the command line: They don’t want to have to learn something new. They don’t want to be different: They want to use the same things their friends and family use. They don’t have an opinion on personal freedoms: Such as free software and open source. They don’t want to tinker: They just want to get on with their work." We're 2 per-centers.
I like Windows. I know where to find what I'm looking for and I know how to automate tasks to save time. I don't get monthly disasters and there are no Win10 issues with my computers. I have 12 Linux OS installed at present and apart from the fun of multi-booting, Linux is only occasionally used. I can't use it as well as I can use Win10.
Brian, assuming these 12 Linux OS's are different distros (maybe not?) - would be interested to know if you have a favourite, and why?
As per my signature, I have two dual-boot machines and one dedicated Mint machine. Linux is a fun toy but Windows is my workhorse.
Paul, my favourite is Linux Mint Cinnamon19.3 because it appears similar to Win10 in its setup. I find it easiest to use. I'm looking forward to Mint 20. I probably have more than 12 different Linux OS as I didn't count the ones that don't support Secure Boot. eg Manjaro. They are on my MBR computer.
This is one of the overlooked reasons, many run Windows simply because they prefer it. Although I run Linux full time since several years now I never really felt "at home" as I did with Windows. I remember my first time with a computer (XP), I felt comfortable with it after a couple of days; with Linux I still feel I'm in a hotel instead of at home.
I don't get it. Aside from using plural noun the best way to learn about OS is to learn right programming language and use OS API. For Windows best languages are C/C++, C#, some cmd.exe tools and PowerShell. PowerShell and cmd.exe are command line. Are he is really talking about people "who understand a bit more about operating systems"? Seems like a "Dunning–Kruger effect" to me.
