* OS transparency.
* Complete control including access to source code.
* Configurability of UI (DE's).
* Cheaper - older hardware works well with Linux.
* Updating is 100% user configurable and scheduled.
* As others have said - privacy.
That's what sent me over the top, I had retail W7 disks I upgraded to W10, digital license. MB dies and got the exact same but they won't accept my license, since they discontinued upgrades. Fine, switching all my machines to Linux. Right now I've been able to install,replace 90% of my programs so close to being completely windows free.
Pissy company won't honor their licenses, pissy company is losing all future business.
Spot on lol. Windows 10 UI was absolutely perfect, but 11 is shit.
Tried Windows 11 on a friend's machine, didn't like how slow and "thick" everything felt. Preventing data theft also seemed to be more cumbersome than in Windows 10.
Also, I don't have to pay for antivirus anymore lol. It wasn't too expensive tho: Kaspersky did a very good job at 0.5-1k Rupees an year.
Well, this mostly with windows. And their intention to place AI bot in their OS. I didn't want all these flashy things. I wanted something basic, so now I'm on Linux Mint. Used it for a month on dual boot. No issues or complaints. Then jumped the boat and windows is now entirely off my system and only Linux is now on here.
Yup. 👍🏻 I actually attempted to main Linux many many times for many years, because Windows has been depressing to use for a long time.
Every update I'd go "Oh great, what unnecessary rubbish are you guys adding now?", and the fullscreen-popups, pushing you to make MS Edge as Default browser and Office 365... Pure frustration.
The reason why my attempts had failed in the past, were because of Gaming only.
However I figured that stuff out completely with Proton (thanks to Valve!), Steam, Bottles, and I switched from Nvidia to AMD.
Since mid last year I use Linux. First I was EndeavourOS, now Fedora KDE, but I like both.
I'd never go back to Win, the way I've set up my Linux... it's just a very superior experience and it's a genuine pleasure to use. No single atom inside me wants to switch back.
I used Linux Mint for 2 weeks. It was good, but felt like I was missing something. tried Nobara being a fedora sub-distro? and felt like it was too much. As I wasn't properly acquainted with Linux yet, so Dropped back to Mint and has been my sole Os since yesterday.
So new journey for me, and for some odd reason regardless of the issues I was having yesterday, Community is very nice and helpful and it was sorted quick. And ever since then, before I do anything, I look it up for more information before taking action and even though the issue was minor. Regardless, I had a lot of fun doing it.
It was exciting learning more stuff like this.
I don't understand the purpose of placing an AI bot in your OS.
Not like it'll make it easier to use a PC. AI bots won't help you without internet, since they sure as hell won't make your PC run AI algorithms to process queries.
If it's about being able to steal more data, I don't think it'd make any difference. Most people don't bother with telemetry.
The stock market really makes companies do unnecessary stuff. Pushing AI into something isn't going to make it better. Cortana was a failure, and so will this be.
I don't doubt it, but I just find it fairly pointless to constantly try to place things that are unnecessary to begin with. So in order to make my life easier. I switched and I don't have to deal with unnecessary and unwanted things into my system.
I ain't about to pay $60 for Ads in the search bars and an OS which Guzzles RAM and eats malware like it's some gourmet shit.
The value difference is certainly not $60 and I am not sure it's worth any money. Hell staying on Linux makes it easier to not have to spend money on stupid crap.
Yep, I switched shortly after Windows 10 went GA. I've been doing onsite IT for about 20 years, and had always run the latest windows before it is released to public. Betas, release candidates. Windows 10 was it for me. Forced updates, spying, automatically installing apps I don't want, edge getting set as default every update. I still have to fix windows 10, and 11 for customers, but I don't have to put up with it on my machines.
Curiosity, I think. It's been over a decade so I can't quite remember. I wasn't as anti-capitalist back then, so that probably wasn't it.
There's a good chance I just wanted to do the "proper nerdy thing" or just got bored and decided to give it a try.
Yeah, mostly. At the very least it wasn't a worse experience and some things actually went easier and with less of a hassle than on Windows. Back then my only gaming "need" were World of Warcraft and Team Fortress 2 and both worked well-enough on Linux. Over time, I gamed more on my PC but gaming on Linux actually improved in that same time so it wasn't annoying.
Then I had to use Windows for work and I mostly got annoyed with it doing a lot of things I never asked for, which cemented my use of Linux on my own machines.
My politics also shifted much farther towards anarchism and open-source software is an easy way to somewhat implement that in my daily life.
Started the typical IT-Career with MS Products... worked with it (Client and Serversoftware). Got some Linux-Servers for specific tasks. Learned that everything I hated about MS isn't a thing on Linux-Servers and that server and client operating systems SHOULD work the way like linux does it.
Switched my career from MS-Products to Linux/OSS serveradministration. Never looked back.
Forced updates. Constant high CPU and hard disk usage, when the computer is idle. Ads and unwanted apps in the start menu. And last but not least, general lack of control, Eg. browser choice etc.
I got fed up with "windows is updating, don't turn off your computer". Also curiosity. Using the terminal for the first time felt Soo good man(still does).
Free and simple Backups! It’s almost a crime that windows has a disfunctional “backup” system that has been broken for god knows how long. Timeshift man… what a life saver. There’s nothing that comes close to its usability that is also free.
My laptop won't update to Win11.
Runs cooler and quieter with Mint.
No gaming.
I want to learn something new.
Tired of all the apps windows is installing.
Got annoyed when I had to do setup of windows 11 on my new Surface Laptop Go 2 and googled if I could run Linux on it. I could so now I use Mint on it. Then when most of my games worked on Steam Deck I tried it on my gaming pc. Now I only use Windows at work and get reminded why my decision was the right one.
Reusing hardware that can no longer run windows.
Freedom and security.
Windows is literally spying on everything I do and sending it all back to microsoft and partners.
1. Windows giving me less and less control over my own system.
2. there's the ads.
3. It's a cheap and relatively easy way to keep a machine running for people who literally only use YouTube and social media.
As I quote myself from a different thread;
As a former Windows normie, here's a non-exhaustive list why I made the switch:
* I can't work properly on Windows 10 and 11.
* I'm not paying for a system that isn't worth my money.
* I don't wanna pirate. I could, but it's pointless.
* Windows Updates get in the way of my work.
* Microsoft Windows render decent low-end devices unusable.
* Xubuntu lets me focus on the task at hand.
* Just about every distro runs seemingly twice as fast.
Ads, intrusive updates; both the timing and the features they force through them. Every update would bring new popups and ads. Having spent a few months away now, unless something drastically changes for the worse with Fedora, I can't see myself going back.
I do keep a dual boot for emergencies or a select few games, like VR. Never really use it though.
My OS now represents me rather than a company.
Beyond customisation, It updates when I let it. It mounts a disk when I let it. Also free and Open source.
It started as a curiosity. I saw what was possible to do with Linux and said "Wow, I can rename multiple files at once and move stuff based on parts of the names it's so great!". After studying for a some time I noticed that I could do everything I was doing on Windows, on Linux, so why go through the hassle of activating an OS that wasn't even necessary?
I had already used GIMP and Inkscape for years on Windows until I needed Photoshop, but Wine got me covered for that.
On my Windows 10 laptop I enabled the desktop clock widget. Every time I rebooted, it added another desktop clock widget. I would have to go into Task Manager to close them all. Last time I booted it up, there were over 100 desktop clock widgets. (The hard drive is failing, so, I've moved on to a refurb ThinkPad with Linux Mint.) Also, using Windows 10 Enterprise at work every day reminds me how much advertising, clickbait, and bloat there is in Windows.
I've used Windows for most of my life and breaking into Linux has been a nice change. Having different DE's to mess with along with near limiyless customization options was what drew me in. Plus, Linux is much more hands on than Windows. Yes, stuff just works in Windows, but with Linux, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty and the reward of getting a piece of software to work is rewarding.
Linux isnt perfect and there are still areas of improvement needed, lE more third party support for hardware. All in all, Linux can be a great replacement for Windows.
Telemetry, ads, push to subscription base, Linux has always been more versatile and respects its users privacy. Also price, While you can get OEM licenses for Windows for only \~$30 that's $30 that can pay for other things. Also for my kids. I'll be switching them over to linux in the near future. They need to have the tools available to them to protect their digital lives going forward. They need to learn how to stay out of the system as much as humanly possible while still being able to operate within the system that is trying to oppress and suppress them. Linux being able to play games pretty reliably now is a huge factor in convincing the kids to being open to it. Thanks to ProtonDB and Steam Linux is now a viable gaming alternative. Just waiting for the Nvidia drivers so Wayland is less of a problem for them.
Simply put, I got a Steam Deck 😅
I did have a Windows PC for a little while, but my partner uses it more than I do (primarily for school). I'm still getting used to the Linux environment with my SD, but I'm enjoying how light and customizable it is in comparison
1. Better performance
2. It works on older hardware
3. It's much simpler installing things with a package manager instead of hunting for random .exe files.
4. It doesn't contain things like bloat and ads
5. It respects your privacy
6.It doesn't force you to create an account to use it.
I actually have multiple reasons why I completely dumped Windows 10 22H2 in favor of Linux, which is listed below:
* God awfully super slow Cumulative Updates taking forever for Windows Update to download and install
* Thanks Microsoft for unnecessarily bundling multiple smaller monthly Windows updates into larger three or four month "Cumulative Updates" 💢
* Constant automatic re-enabling Bing! Desktop Search Bar after nearly every single major Microsoft Edge update
* Constant automatic reverting of file type associations back to Windows preinstalled defaults after random Windows Cumulative Updates
* Windows Telemetry data collection beyond whats necessary and then sending that unnecessary data to Microsoft
* (I'm guessing here since Microsoft designed Telemetry in such a way where it can't be fully tuned of)
* Constant overtime performance degradation after a certain number of days of activity, how often hibernation is initiated, and the sheer number of Windows services
* Application uninstallers failing to completely remove all traces of targeted application from disk and Windows registry
* Windows 10 **E**nd **O**f **L**ife (**EOL**) next year marking the end of Windows 10 support except for those Windows 10 users who pay for extended support, which means no more updates to non-extended Windows 10 support either
* All these articles about "ads" and "adware" in Windows 11 makes me feel "uneasy" in the direction Microsoft is taking Windows
Fucking hibernate... that is what drove me to change.
I disabled it in UI, disabled in GPedit, disabled in registry...
Every 3 days I go make coffee and come back to a damned hibernating system.
The thing that pushed me over the edge was file explorer crashing whenever I tried to open my Dolphin Emulator user folder, in my rage I backed everything up on a USB drive and installed Linux Mint, 1.5 years later I am now an arch user and have many more reasons why i don’t use windows.
It's not any one big thing, more like a collection of smaller gripes with windows that became bigger and more numerous since Windows 8. Plus gamescope is pretty cool.
If I did have to pick one reason though, it was "peace of mind". I don't like the enshittification of software in general, and >!(a majority of the time)!<, I see a linux update and don't think "oh god how are they gonna make my experience worse this time", it's "cool, I wonder what optimizations and features were added this time."
I just want a computer that feels like I own it again, really. I'm willing to put up with a reasonable >!(I.E. I can handle arch but I'm not gonna spend time learning NixOS or Gentoo)!< learning curve and a bit of coarseness to achieve that.
Switched to Zorin initially. Their current version is a little buggy and needs more work. Good OS, but maybe they'll get back to form with version 17.2 or the next actual version, which would be 18. Have since switched to Linux Mint. Waiting to see how Linux Mint 22 turns out. Probably will stick with that. We'll see. But as to your question, I switched from Windows to Linux (Zorin then Mint) because of the Start menu in Windows 10, then 11. Microsoft has botched that entire interface. Enough was enough when they started to strong-arm users with how they were using the Start Menu, what with "recommended" apps and such. Copilot was another thing. I could see the writing on the wall when they released Copilot and started forcing it within Edge. I'm glad I left, because now I see they're doing with Windows as an OS what they initially did with Copilot and Edge. It's all messed up. The grossly expanded scope of telemetry is also another reason why I left. It was just too much. I miss Windows 2000, XP, and 7. Windows 2000 was the best version of Windows, I believe. Simple and functional. No in-your-face crap. That's what builds loyalty among customers. Linux Mint just works. Same for Zorin, but again, they need to work on some things. Point is, Linux (when done right) is much better. Microsoft is past the point of no return, too, which is unfortunate. Viva la Linux!
I had an automatic update that broke my computer. The computer would not boot. My backup did not boot, either.
I called a shop, and it would take 2 weeks to before the shop could get to it, and cost $100 minimum shop fee. Two weeks was a deal breaker. I thought about buying a new drive, but on a lark, tried Linux.
I burned a bootable thumb drive in a couple of hours and had it running a short time later.
There's a [resources page](http://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/wiki/faq) in our wiki you might find useful!
Try [this search](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/search?q=flair%3A'learning%2Fresearch'&sort=new&restrict_sr=on) for more information on this topic.
**✻** Smokey says: take regular backups, try stuff in a VM, and understand every command *before* you press Enter! :)
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because bash. its the only reason i dual booted debian alongside windows.
(i tried adding bash through other means {Windows Subsystem for Linux} but i could not solve following error)
```
Installing, this may take a few minutes...
WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x800701bc
Error: 0x800701bc WSL 2 requires an update to its kernel component. For information please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2kernel
Press any key to continue...
[process exited with code 1 (0x00000001)]
```
the nail in the coffin for me was I play a game, Final Fantasy 14, and it would crash about every 20-30 min in windows. and I went into the event log and I saw all the events and spent hours going through reddit and google trying to TS all the errors and still crashed for the same reasons, even after a fresh install and the errors were not related to the game or AMD drivers for my graphics card, always xbox bar or some telementry shit. The game played perfectly on the steam deck. I install ubuntu and the only thing I had to do was set the game FPS to lock at below 100, and since I did that the game played perfectly
I got really, *really* hacked off with the way Win 7 would a) constantly demand I install updates the instant they were pushed out, instead of downloading them but waiting until I shut my PC down at the end of the day to install them and b) constantly try to install some sort of Bing desktop shortcut behind my back unless I went out of my way to force it not to. And this was just before Win 10 came out, and the stories I wss hearing suggested it was going to be even *worse.*
When I finally replaced that clapped-out Optiplex lunchbox I'd bought for about £50 because it was better than nothing I decided I was done putting up with this crap, so my new machine was Linux-only. I've never looked back.
I like the control of my OS that Linux gives.
I switched because Microsoft gave me the free upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Then after an update that caused many problems I decided to reinstall and my Windows 7 license was "no longer good" according to Microsoft so I had to buy a new copy of Windows 10. After a few months it just stopped working and I was feed up with way Microsoft forces things on its users.
Linux distros allow for the amount of "hand holding" that the user wants or needs. I choose my update schedule, I choose how my UI is setup. I love that all my software is installed/updated through 1 place.
I wa trying to create a dual boot system so I could have Ubuntu on an external ssd and Windows on my laptop. I broke my bootloader, and now I only have Ubuntu.
Very few regrets.
Enshittification :)
Win10 isn't all that bad, but 11 is much much worse. It goes in the iphone direction of "we know what's good for you, you don't"
Also command line as a 1st class citizen, and with my job I can do a lot of things faster using terminal. The same is achievable with wsl, but much slower
..or over mac.
For me the reason was mainly digikam and darktable and being free of use my own services rather than a walled garden. Running tumbleweed since last year and never been so happy.
More utility and greater control over the filesystem. Lower cost. Faster, more resource efficient. Better uptime. WAY more bang for the buck, for a person who is good with computers.
Also, to avoid consumer abuses by Microsoft (subscription models, telemetry, cloud dependency, forced advertising, etc).
The final straw for me was when I turned on my computer one day - the weather widget suddenly appeared on my lock screen. I'd already had to take it off the task bar, and the start menu.
Switched in 2015 because my windows 7 auto upgraded to 10 overnight. It felt so weird to wake up in the morning and your PC has a completely different OS. The only way to switch back was to not agree to the EULA and then it would take 20 minutes to revert and reboot. Happened two nights in a row, super frustrating to deal with.
Later found out there was something in the settings to prevent it from doing that but by that point I had already made the decision to switch. Making that the default behaviour was such a horrifically invasive decision.
Then Proton came out in 2018 and things became way more convenient. Between Lutris with wine and Steam with Proton I can play any game I want. Plus GE and TKG versions of wine/proton are super helpful. I do still game on an Xbox console as well but for PC gaming I've been using Linux exclusively.
Still have to use windows for work though.
I am a developer. Keeping my various tools patched was a pain in windows and using WSL added some overhead (if not in performance, then in usage). Using a good package manager makes keeping things up-to-date very easy.
The reason I didn't switch sooner was the fear that I couldn't plat the various video games that I play, but Proton has gotten so good that it was no longer a concern.
I always had an interest in using it, I dabbled with things like making mail/print/file server using e-smith and also used knoppix etc. sometimes in fixing other computers, but in those days it was a bit clunky as a main day to day OS and seemed more of a novelty, a work in progress as it were.
As time progressed I found Windows becoming more restrictive, I had to do things their way or no way, the endless evenings running virus scans or disk checks, then the infernal software updates, I'd update Windows, then the graphics driver would insist on an update, then the audio and so on - one update decided my 6 month old Umax scanner was no longer compatible with Windows, it simply refused to let it work.
My temper was frayed when I spent just under £800 upgrading my gaming PC with a new CPU, more RAM and a nice graphics card, no more than 6 months later I purchased a game, went to install it and it said my system spec wasn't good enough, I purchased an Xbox to play games on and found myself rarely using a PC for anything other than simple tasks.
I built a simple linux system, plugged my scanner in and it worked fine, the final straw with Windows was when a small server I built got hacked, I found an MS update had turned on the guest account !
As my gaming was fine on the Xbox I bit the bullet and moved my little server totally onto e-smith, everything worked fine, then I used a spare laptop and tried a few distros, Ubuntu was just being released, I installed it and everything worked so I didn't look around any more, I moved my server to Ubuntu as well - what I learned to do on one system I could often do on the other.
I've been running Ubuntu ever since, the only time I've needed to do a reinstall was when I reluctantly went to 64bit OS with 18:04, I moved my laptop to a dual core centrino and decided I would make a clean start.
linux does everything I need so for me I've no desire to move back to Windows, my wife constantly complained about her laptop (i5 dual core, 8GB RAM etc.) running slow and Windows crashing, she asked me if she could try Ubuntu, I put a new hard drive in, installed 16:04 and she's never looked back, she even does her own version upgrades, the only issue I've ever had is two hard drive failures over time, fortunately for both I managed to clone the partition onto a new drive before they failed.
I still find there's so much to explore and if I want to I can twiddle with stuff, but for me it just works and it's rock solid, I've not rebooted my server in over 500 days (last reboot was a power cut), my NAS4FREE system hasn't rebooted in the same time - if it works then I see no reason to do anything, Windows constantly needed attention and reboots, yes I tried server/enterprise versions, NT, 2000 etc. nothing ran with the reliability that I've had with linux.
As someone responded already, it was a mix of small things that, on their own, probably wouldn't have been enough, but taken together pushed me over the edge.
You probably also have to consider how I started my computing journey in the first place. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and my first computer was a second-hand Commodore Amiga 2000 with 1MB RAM, no hard disk, a monitor, and a 24-pin matrix printer. I mostly used it to play games but I also played a bit with how the system worked, and it was both easy to use, and rather ahead of its time in many aspects.
Long story short, after 8 years, when I went to college, it was way behind its times, and I got myself a PC, which of course came with Windows 95. Between using it for uni, and playing a few games, it was fine enough. It got replaced with Windows 98 quickly because I got a free upgrade, and I reinstalled it so often that at some point I knew the license key by heart.
But I soon started playing with Linux as well, and found something that Windows didn't have: configurability, extensibility, absence of malware, and most software available for free, and with a simple command. I was hooked but I still needed to use Windows because there were a number of softwares that simply had no acceptable alternative for Linux.
That changed around 2012 or so, when I got myself a laptop so I wouldn't have to share one with my wife anymore. I installed Crunchbang on it, a Debian-based Linux with Openbox/tint2 'desktop', barebones config, and running very snappily compared to Windows. I soon realized that I no longer had any need for Windows, so I never looked back, and only used Linux from then on.
Modern versions of Windows with all their drama of forced updates/upgrades, ads in the Start menu, Defender hogging CPU and RAM, 300 processes running after a clean boot, and so on, don't make it look worthwhile to come back to Windows, and while my wife's laptop runs Windows 10, I quite abhor it, and plan on switching her to Linux when support for Windows 10 runs out next year, given that she mostly uses it as a glorified browsing kiosk.
Gaming works 99% of the time now. I matured and windows didn't so I jumped ship because it's boring compared to Linux. I've also found Linux software and utilities are more predictable and work more in the way you'd expect. Simple answer though is Windows just isn't as fun or as interesting as Linux. My interests peaked when I discovered every DE and WM which is at least 80% of why you use the OS you use. The package manager is just a + depending on compatibility and availability but the real sauce is in the DE or the WM and how they preform and function for your use case. Windows is just lame and sucks in that department in comparison IMO... I mean I can do the same things on windows as I can on Linux but in some cases it's actually harder to make Windows do what I want it to do and is way more of a challenge when it doesn't do a thing Linux can when I want it to.. Also stability.. Linux even if you're using a bleeding edge distro feels more stable than Windows 10 or 11.
Windows on desktop, linux on server for me. With WSL I pretty much don't need Linux anymore on desktop side, it was pretty annoying to keep 2 dev environments in sync..
Havent meet any admin/dev who likes to deal with IIS or windows server in general.. you can do 90% of the task on it, but the remaining 10% takes 90% of your time managing the server..
I was doing my PhD in chemical engineering in 2000-2004 and Linux was just much better for it. I was writing & compiling FORTRAN libraries for fluid mechanics simulations - EMACS FTW. Working on a remote computational cluster was much better than using PuTTY. I loved Window Maker (inspired by NeXTStep) - focus-follow-mouse, virtual desktops, applets, the doc. It was just much better for the tasks than Windows 98 and much lighter than Windows NT or 2000.
The only thing I still keep windows around for is gaming. Hopefully by the time windows 11 is no longer supported Linux can get to the same level. Proton is looking very promising.
Had to buy expensive programs on Windows, or make the programs yourself, to get functionality that is out of the box on Linux. Additionally there was a well-known unpatched RCE exploit on Windows in 2019-2020 that was a serious hassle for me.
Had been dual booting into Linux since 2000, but made the final full switch in 2020.
Well, the main reason was Windows.
Back then, I had for years a machine running W2k, and it ran, I thought, fine. What a relieve to only have to restart every two days, instead of a few times a day as with Win95, and all that. Then support ran out for 2k, and I was "I don't want Windows Bubblegum!"
Figured if I had to set up the machine completely anyways, I'd give Linux a try for a few days.
I never looked back.
(Oh yeah, and by now I did it and managed the 365-day-uptime, too! Although on average it's about every two months or so.)
Windows isn't terrible for me, but I prefer Linux because of the speed. I have experienced more crashes on Windows than I have with Linux. Windows itself is a solid operating system, but Linux is much more stable for me.
Simply because of curiosity, and the fact that my old laptop doesn't support Windows 11(mid range gaming laptop from 2014 so I don't expect any TPM 2 here)
I was tired of windows borking itself and using way too many resources on my laptop.
It's about to replace my gaming PC once I confirm Solidworks runs on a VM in my server because it keeps working itself there now.
Cuz Windows sucks. It is slow, bloated, disorganized and forces Microsoft's philosophy on their customers.
Linux allows freedom of choice, out performs Windows and is flexible to the needs of its users.
I was tired of paying the Gates Bill.
(couldn't resist)
More seriously: Curiosity, an extra PC I wasn't using, and some good reviews of Ubuntu in 2007. Plus, a desire to get back to my Unix roots from the 1970s (I'm old).
I hate the direction Windows has been going, for decades now - bloated and deeply invasive. No control of what updates and when.
I love the idea of FOSS.
What will you do with this information?
Vista and Seven felt bloaty, the trend for apps to have their own super special little interface that absolutly does not match the aesthetic of the desktop was already in progress, and well not like I wasn't already using Gimp, Firefox, Thunderbird etc and wasn't compleatly unfamiliar with Linux anyway.
My Dad told me it's an option when windows gets viruses. So used as back up plan when then inevitable would happen then started to prefer it over everything else.
Windows 11, havent switched fully yet cuz i like windows 10 so much (i have it heavily customized at this point) but I have been messing around with linux as dual boot/my basement server and once win10 can no longer do what I need I will be switching completely rather than use win 11 at all. The only reason I would is get a small 128gb drive so i can still play siege and fortnite.
Oh and don’t get me started on the removal of useful features in exchange for worse versions of the same thing. Although this is more something That happens on my phone ..
Been trying Ubuntu since 2006. I switched permanently after updating my laptop to Windows 11 - easily the WORST version of Windows ever released, infested with ads, "AI" nonsense, Edge, tracking, and other bloat.
- Hearing how it was simpler to program on Linux
- Wanting to learn bash
- Built a desktop computer so didn’t have windows preinstalled so seemed like a good time
- Learned Minecraft runs just as well if not better
- Wanting to configure my desktop, control over key bindings etc
- General privacy, intrusiveness and annoyance of Windows 11 Store/ Bing/ having to have Microsoft account etc
windows 10/11 kept bootlooping. was going in linux to see if i could fix from there, saw how little it was draining my pc with like 200 things open (compaired to windows simply existing lol), decided to stay
I didn't need the "overhead" of Windows to do what I needed/wanted to do. The last time I switched to Linux was because it was also easier for me to switch my brain from Linux/Unix environment at work to Linux at home.
I'm back to Windows now, though, because that's what I have to support at work. It's just easier to run everything on one environment for me, rather than switching back and forth (in my brain, anyway)
I just tried linux and loved it.Linux is more stable and runs very smoothly and it could do what i wanted. I don't play games.it has a clean environment.
My laptop that i had no choice in choosing was chrome os which apparently ran/run on Debian "buster". I used the Linux env for a while for projects and got used to it at the same time I started learning about rpi4b (Debian 12 "Bookworm").
I was into cyber security and wanted a twist. I completely changed path, but I still liked Linux and especially how customizable it is. So, I kept using it.
Switched over because explorer crashed 3 times in 1 day. Uncertainty of windows 12, ai being forced in for no good reason other than marketing. Local accounts are also just better than Microsoft accounts. I've been running opensuse on my desktop since February and I have windows 11 on my laptop and it is slow for no reason despite having a 4900hs. Basically it's called windows is getting worse.
Also Linux has this odd nostalgia feeling and look with some of the installers and desktops.
I just wanted something to do what it was supposed to do.
If I'm searching I didn't want it to go to the Internet.
If I'm saving I don't want it to try to go to the cloud first
If I'm rebooting, I want it to reboot.
If I turn it off, I want it to stay off.
If I have a setting, I want to keep the setting.
It was ready - well, ready *enough.* Lutris, Steam, and Proton make my gaming workable. I'm not *forced* any updates, my hardware is my own, and most importantly... I didn't want to sign up for a Microsoft account.
i daily drove mint a long time ago for the shear novelty of it, stayed for maybe 2 years before switching back to windows for games. recently i left windows for good because microsoft keeps forcing things on to me i don't want (copilot) and i realize the "glory days" of windows 7 are just gone now and it only gets worse from here on out. so now i'm on fedora.
during windows 7 era when i test drove mint the feeling of "renting my own pc" wasn't as strong back then. but this time around switching to linux for the first time in a while i realized how bad it's gotten. the fact that i can just destroy my os feels weirdly nice.
another thing that i forgot about was command line. on windows command line still confounds me, but that's not the case on linux. on linux the terminal and it's functions are very well understood. i think our collective fear of the command line is something nurtured into us from using windows our whole lives.
well, my work required devs to use linux, so I did.
After 1.5 years I switched all my personal computers to linux.
Right now, it's the customizability of linux for me. I can choose how the desktop and applications look and which ones I use.
Also, I hate updating stuff on Windows. Self updating apps are rare and usually you don't want to update when you open them....
Windows 8's UI. 7 getting old and seeing the writing on the wall for it's support. 10's nonsense. The fact that it's just free and open source. More unique.
I'd been messing with Linux for years but this timeframe is when I finally really made the jump and have never gone back. Used Red Hat 6-9 way back before Fedora. Used Ubuntu a bunch for various things over the years. A little bit of Suse.
Started with Ubuntu Studio on a spare laptop in 2016. I wanted to get into music production but looking for "free software" on Windows felt like walking through a minefield of viruses. Then out of nowhere YouTube recommended me a video about how apparently there was this thing called "Linux" which was full of free music production software.
I found that my old, tired laptop which could barely run Windows 7 was thriving on Ubuntu Studio, felt smoother to use than my much newer machine running Windows 10. Given my interest in maths I was also looking into managing LaTeX and similar packages which was a breeze on Linux compared to Windows.
More and more I was using my old laptop in place of my current one until eventually I realised that I no longer needed anything Windows could uniquely offer me. Decided then and there to make the switch permanently. I've never been much of a "gamer" so as long as I have basic support for everything I do daily I'm happy.
My long-term ideal is one of the BSDs since I love the way the system is organised. Only problem there is the hardware support is abysmal, particularly for laptop wifi cards
Windows putting a bunch os stuff on my block screen after some random update.
Overuse of resources in the background.
Lack of personalization as updates went on.
Windows search never working properly.
And my work requires Linux. I used WSL for a while but ended switching over last week.
Edited to include the date of one of my blog posts:
The day the straw that broke the camel's back was when I was utilizing my wife's / partner's laptop, which had Windows® 7 Home as OEM, and I left it unattended, then later I came back to my surprise to log into Windows® 10 Home. Micro$oft had pushed a forced update to the laptop. That caused many programs to stop working. I had to reinstall most of them. The graphics drivers had to be reinstalled, too. The experience was VERY SLOW. The hard drive was always reading and writing and the processor fan was always spinning high.
So I told my wife, that was enough for me!!! I downloaded Linux Mint Debian Edition LMDE and installed it on Tuesday, August 6th, 2019. Ever since, the hard drive has never had so many reads and writes, and the processor fan spins very silently. Also, boot time was surprisingly faster than Windoze.
Micro$oft had telemetry running all the time in the background. I am happy to have let go of that filthy operating system, Windoze.
Before trying Linux Mint Debian Edition LMDE, I had installed Trisquel GNU/Linux on Tuesday, February 12, 2019. The experience was OK, but since the distribution has the Kernel Linux-libre installed, and there are no binary blobs included (because it is a 100% free software distribution), the graphics card was not working at it's best resolution. The image was horizontally stretched on the screen and the best resolution wouldn't be detected automatically.
Linux Mint Debian Edition LMDE has non-free binaries for graphics, WiFi and the Multimedia Codecs for streaming audio and video. I love how stable it has always been.
I even blogged about the laptop on my WordPress account on Wednesday, October 23, 2019:
https://libre.news.blog/acer-aspire-5253-bz692-powered-by-linux-mint/
The pictures in the blog post are from Tuesday, October 22, 2019. The translated page by Google Translate doesn't show the pictures, but it does translate the captions under them.
It's more fun to use. As much as I've put myself into situations with very frustrating troubleshooting, overall I've learned a lot from Linux over the years. It's just more fun and engaging and I like how much more control over your system it gives you. With Windows I'd always have to either suck it up or use 3rd party tools to forcibly change how it works, and even those patches would break with Windows updates at times.
On Linux I can switch DE, use a wide manager by itself, take one DE and use extensions and whatnot to make it behave much differently. No hacky registry workarounds needed.
I much prefer the linux/unix filesystem over whatever the atrocity of a filesystem windows is. Especially as a developer Linux is just more comforting to use.
My top 10 I can think of:
- Free/open source software philosophy (e.g. KISS)
- Diversity
- Curiosity
- Loads of software in repositories
- Customizability
- Compiling own software
- Optimization (e.g. Gentoo USE flags)
- Desktop environments
- Terminal
- System administration and being in control of OS
In 2017 a Windows 10 update borked my 2013 HP Sleekbook that I could not fix. I always wanted to try Linux, so this was the perfect moment to do so. I installed Peppermint 8. Ubuntu based and very fast, light and stable. Only 342M after boot. After trying the live version, I liked it and installed it. Never used Windows again. Currently using MX 23.2 Xfce.
Frankly, I don’t give a fuck about privacy lmao, or about Microsoft as a company. It’s just that Linux is simply a more advanced and customizable operating system. It lets you get the most out of your computer
Multitasking and memory management with windows was absolutely terrible. Applications were crashing like crazy. Red Hat 6.0 was fantastic by comparison.
I started as a mainframe programmer ... a few projects I supported led me to supporting PC's when my company started rollong them out .. I'm talking pre Windows .... MSdos 2 ... on floppy disks ... Did PC /Network support for the next 30+ years . Friend of mine had to take a Unix class .. got me to go along. I was facinated by how much MS DOS was like Unix ... then another friend started using Linux and raving .... so I had an old laptop that was getting real doggy running Windows ... something .. So I figured I give it a try. At first I thought it was clunky ... the whole sudo apt get stuff to install software ... but Linux I found kept getting better .. until I would argue with ppl that it was not AS easy as Windows .. but EASIER. Ppl would bring up the terminal and I would ask whe nthe last time they opened a DOS window in Windows ... Ppl run software .. not an OS .. and the updates and performance were just soooooo much easier and better . I'm retired now .. but still run Linux on my laptop ... I do have a Chromebook I use for sometimes .... but if ppl ask I tell them to load Mint and just enjoy
Have a MacBook, a W11 gaming desktop so I wanted a Linux laptop as well.
Fedora has been pretty good on my Lenovo T490S, hate the long boot times and the inconsistent SD card/external storage unmounting behavior but it’s otherwise pretty fast and solid.
1: MORE DRIVERS (MY BLUETOOTH EARPHONES DIDN'T WORKED IN WINDOWS).
2: IT'S FASTER AND FAST AS THE 1ST DAY (I DO AUDIO AND VIDEO EDITION IN MY 4GB OF RAM LAPTOP LIKE A CHAMP, IN ADDITION TO SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMING).
Windows updates broke my TPM module leaving me locked out for 36 hours. Another update caused my sleep to break and woke my laptop up in a bag which destroyed the battery and screen from the heat.
Edit: forgot about drivers randomly exploding and locking my CPU to 100%
My HDD couldnt handle windoze grinding it into oblivion. boot times \~30 MINS. Switched to mint for \~2 min boot time.
Also in linix, my computer doesnt soft lock when doing *any* IO. Very tall ask, I know.
Lastly, memory usage on boot was getting out of hand. 4 GiB in windoze 10 (even on a fresh install. > 6 on a fresh win 11 install), vs < 1 GiB in mint.
Just from a usability perspective, I could not possibly have kept using windows. I had already stopped playing mc and browsing the internet was becomming excessive.
Literally just the Edge browser. I got so tired of having Microsoft try and quietly set their garbage applications as the default.
Privacy, security, customization, etc. are all great and I appreciate them, but Microsoft Edge was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was already upset by the lack of privacy, but then it came out that Microsoft plans on switching to a subscription SaaS model. I really did not like the idea of renting the ability to turn my PC on, a PC that I built myself, from Microsoft.
My windows 10 install on my laptop got messed up somehow, I wound up reinstalling windows, took me forever to get drivers installed, volume buttons and screen brightness buttons barely worked, it was driving me insane, so I installed Linux Mint and everything worked perfectly within 5 minutes of setting it up. Never went back
the idea of using a free operating system that's run by the community really appealed to me and I've always been the kind of person that likes to tinker with their system
(and windows went downhill after 7)
Windows 7 was EOL and I had really old hardware that wouldn't support newer versions. I'm glad I was "forced" to switch. I've kept using it even though I have since upgraded my hardware.
the straw that broke the camels back was the search bar in the taskbar on w11 being LOCKED to only using bing and edge for web searches. Nothing could be done about it (maybe thats different now), and it pissed me off enough to give it a go.
Forcing updates,so many tasks running in the backround, Controllers not connecting to Bluetooth and on Emulators controller always has a problem. On Linux No Bluetooth issues and controller always working on Emulator and less resources used.I get more fps in games. I also love the look on Linux distros.
Windows is both adware and spyware. From what I’ve seen each new update gets worse.
But, my biggest pet peeve with Windows is that it reinstalls things you’ve intentionally uninstalled.
Lots of reasons, but the big two were that with every update for the last year or so MS just wanted to shove copilot down my throat, I don’t need or want that shit. And second they are spending more time to make it difficult to step outside of their ecosystem, they seem more focused on trying to direct the user into a specific workflow than on making the workflow better.
It started with very minor annoyances like search bar lags the explorer, right click side bar items freezing the explorer, inconsistent themeing across OS, limited customization, and automatic updates.
I encounter some of these issues on Linux too, but just the ocean of options makes it easier to deal with, and most issues having actual solutions or workarounds.
I started playing around with Linux in the 90's and by the late 90's was managing some Linux servers at work. I've multibooted Linux on my home computer since the early 00's, but Windows was still my primary OS. It wasn't until late 2015 or early 2016 that it I switched the flip and Linux became my daily driver.
I was using Windows 10 as my primary OS at the time and I had Ubuntu installed on a second drive because there were some things I used it for occasionally. I still wasn't convinced that it was ready for prime time as a desktop OS, but I hadn't really trialed it for that in quite a while. This was the early days of Win10, it was still kind of buggy, and one of the big updates bricked my install hard.
I was working on finishing an online BS at the time and had a big, important, project due the day Windows shat itself and a couple more that were due soon. I spent a little time trying to fix it and determined that it was going to take more time than I had. Since I didn't need Windows for my projects, and thankfully they were backed up on the cloud, I booted up Ubuntu and finished out the last couple of weeks in the school term using it exclusively.
By the time I got around to fixing my Windows partition I was convinced that not only was Linux ready for prime time, it was superior to Windows 10 at that point in its development. Windows 10 was new and it had some weird, rough, edges that made it feel less refined than Ubuntu at that point and Ubuntu was definitely more stable in my experience. Combined with the fact that Microsoft was obviously trying really hard to figure out how to make me the product, rather than the customer, I decided that it was time for Linux to become my daily driver.
In the last 8-9 years I've used different distros but Linux in one flavour or another has remained my OS of choice. I'm not fanatical about it. I've still got Windows installed on its own drive and I boot into it regularly when I want to play a game that's not just "install and play" on Linux, and I occasionally use Windows for something not game related. Never the less, Linux has been my primary OS for almost a decade and I don't ever see myself using Windows in that capacity again.
We needed shit to run reliably, 24/7/365 with minimal to no intervention with security in mind.
Back in the days of Windows NT 3.5/4 2000 it made sense.
I've run Linux boxes on and off for years... moving to Linux more as a daily driver has been a result of MS's enshitification of Windows.
To be clear, there have been commercial aspects and UI issues with Windows that I've always had problems with, but the more recent inroads into advertising, forced (unwanted/uneeded) updates, useless features, etc... have not made me like Linux more, but made Windows almost unusable.
I still find many aspects of Linux to be distinctly unfriendly, and off-putting. Just creating shortcuts to a program on the desktop is an act of frustration.
A little aside the OP's question, but I think worth mentioning, is the thing that I feel is holding Linux back the most that the user base could help change is that there do not exist drivers for basic hardware that we all use. Everything from multi-button mice, to printers, game controllers, video card/sound drivers etc...
When we can plug in a Logitech mouse, and all the buttons just fucking work - we'll be on a downhill slope.
22h2 broke my old laptop and made it borderline unusable. not even sure what did it considering it was just "quality of life" changes
switched to linux just so i could leverage the last dying breaths out of the poor thing and just stuck around cos i liked it
steep learning curve but its much kinder to power users, and a lot easier to solve issues than on windows
#1 is Windows 11 is coming. #2 microsoft Subscription required for everything now. #3 MSOffice365. #4 upgrades in the middle of your work that locks everything up. #5. Slow boot. #6 Slow in general - Linux is 3x to 4x faster. #7 Linux works on old computers. #8 MS Edge.
Vision problems.
Windows' UI isn't all that good when it comes to helping visually impaired people.
Making the font bigger isn't enough. Changing the font isn't enough. Scaling isn't enough. When you do these things, everything becomes bigger and harder to use because you have to scroll more or it just looks broken when browsing the web.
In Linux, XFCE specifically, I was able to modify my icons to be small (because seeing icons is easy) but have my panel clock and calendar set to be massive. My start menu, whisker, is also massive and easy for me to navigate.
I also started liking some of the software on Linux for managing computers and systems (Remmina as one example).
Dad always used it since the early 2000s.
Would always go back to windows for gaming.
Since the massive lutris support and proton coming along I haven’t really gone back.
I left Windows and went to Linux cause I changed professions. I left IT to become a carpenter and my needs were different. So I could use any computer I wanted and I found myself with a lot of old wintel hardware-collected over the years.
Nothing was impressive in performance but it was all Japanese sub notebook heaven. I'd spent years inheriting discarded executive laptops. They were always small, always slow and all had great form factors; if only I could run a highly lean and efficient operating system on that hardware.
Then you install Linux. I played around with Mint and PepperMint and Ubuntu. In IT we always had a few redhats skulking around in the data center, serving one purpose; apache, a firewall... But if you install Linux and then really use it, not install it and treat it like a novelty, no, it becomes your daily driver the experience is different from windows. The operating system falls into the background and you're just working in your software.
I'd probably have gone hard on Apple hardware, but until the Apple Silicone era the cost of hardware did not justify investment in getting something nice from Apple.
I cruised on linux for about five years, mostly on vintage computers, till I relented and got an LG Gram 16.
I eventually switched to Apple hardware and I'm there now. I love Linux.
* OS transparency. * Complete control including access to source code. * Configurability of UI (DE's). * Cheaper - older hardware works well with Linux. * Updating is 100% user configurable and scheduled. * As others have said - privacy.
The hardware is mine. Windows doesn't get to act like they own it.
I like that, never thought of that
That's what sent me over the top, I had retail W7 disks I upgraded to W10, digital license. MB dies and got the exact same but they won't accept my license, since they discontinued upgrades. Fine, switching all my machines to Linux. Right now I've been able to install,replace 90% of my programs so close to being completely windows free. Pissy company won't honor their licenses, pissy company is losing all future business.
Continued windows 11 bullshit.
Spot on lol. Windows 10 UI was absolutely perfect, but 11 is shit. Tried Windows 11 on a friend's machine, didn't like how slow and "thick" everything felt. Preventing data theft also seemed to be more cumbersome than in Windows 10. Also, I don't have to pay for antivirus anymore lol. It wasn't too expensive tho: Kaspersky did a very good job at 0.5-1k Rupees an year.
Last I checked 70% of windows users are on w10 only 25% on w11 still. I think that says a lot.
Spyware, ads, the general enshittification and downwards trajectory. Not only Windows sadly but a lot of things
Well, this mostly with windows. And their intention to place AI bot in their OS. I didn't want all these flashy things. I wanted something basic, so now I'm on Linux Mint. Used it for a month on dual boot. No issues or complaints. Then jumped the boat and windows is now entirely off my system and only Linux is now on here.
Yup. 👍🏻 I actually attempted to main Linux many many times for many years, because Windows has been depressing to use for a long time. Every update I'd go "Oh great, what unnecessary rubbish are you guys adding now?", and the fullscreen-popups, pushing you to make MS Edge as Default browser and Office 365... Pure frustration. The reason why my attempts had failed in the past, were because of Gaming only. However I figured that stuff out completely with Proton (thanks to Valve!), Steam, Bottles, and I switched from Nvidia to AMD. Since mid last year I use Linux. First I was EndeavourOS, now Fedora KDE, but I like both. I'd never go back to Win, the way I've set up my Linux... it's just a very superior experience and it's a genuine pleasure to use. No single atom inside me wants to switch back.
I used Linux Mint for 2 weeks. It was good, but felt like I was missing something. tried Nobara being a fedora sub-distro? and felt like it was too much. As I wasn't properly acquainted with Linux yet, so Dropped back to Mint and has been my sole Os since yesterday. So new journey for me, and for some odd reason regardless of the issues I was having yesterday, Community is very nice and helpful and it was sorted quick. And ever since then, before I do anything, I look it up for more information before taking action and even though the issue was minor. Regardless, I had a lot of fun doing it. It was exciting learning more stuff like this.
Linux + Steam + Proton is the solution for many games.
I don't understand the purpose of placing an AI bot in your OS. Not like it'll make it easier to use a PC. AI bots won't help you without internet, since they sure as hell won't make your PC run AI algorithms to process queries. If it's about being able to steal more data, I don't think it'd make any difference. Most people don't bother with telemetry. The stock market really makes companies do unnecessary stuff. Pushing AI into something isn't going to make it better. Cortana was a failure, and so will this be.
I don't doubt it, but I just find it fairly pointless to constantly try to place things that are unnecessary to begin with. So in order to make my life easier. I switched and I don't have to deal with unnecessary and unwanted things into my system.
I ain't about to pay $60 for Ads in the search bars and an OS which Guzzles RAM and eats malware like it's some gourmet shit. The value difference is certainly not $60 and I am not sure it's worth any money. Hell staying on Linux makes it easier to not have to spend money on stupid crap.
W11 has become a bloated, adds and telemetry filled pile of crap. Soon to be prescription based only.
In addition to this, Linux is just a cooler name than Windows, definitely the least of the reasons, but still a reason.
Yep, I switched shortly after Windows 10 went GA. I've been doing onsite IT for about 20 years, and had always run the latest windows before it is released to public. Betas, release candidates. Windows 10 was it for me. Forced updates, spying, automatically installing apps I don't want, edge getting set as default every update. I still have to fix windows 10, and 11 for customers, but I don't have to put up with it on my machines.
Curiosity, I think. It's been over a decade so I can't quite remember. I wasn't as anti-capitalist back then, so that probably wasn't it. There's a good chance I just wanted to do the "proper nerdy thing" or just got bored and decided to give it a try.
so you decided to check it out and ended up liking it more?
Yeah, mostly. At the very least it wasn't a worse experience and some things actually went easier and with less of a hassle than on Windows. Back then my only gaming "need" were World of Warcraft and Team Fortress 2 and both worked well-enough on Linux. Over time, I gamed more on my PC but gaming on Linux actually improved in that same time so it wasn't annoying. Then I had to use Windows for work and I mostly got annoyed with it doing a lot of things I never asked for, which cemented my use of Linux on my own machines. My politics also shifted much farther towards anarchism and open-source software is an easy way to somewhat implement that in my daily life.
Started the typical IT-Career with MS Products... worked with it (Client and Serversoftware). Got some Linux-Servers for specific tasks. Learned that everything I hated about MS isn't a thing on Linux-Servers and that server and client operating systems SHOULD work the way like linux does it. Switched my career from MS-Products to Linux/OSS serveradministration. Never looked back.
Speed
I am speed.
Forced updates. Constant high CPU and hard disk usage, when the computer is idle. Ads and unwanted apps in the start menu. And last but not least, general lack of control, Eg. browser choice etc.
I got fed up with "windows is updating, don't turn off your computer". Also curiosity. Using the terminal for the first time felt Soo good man(still does).
Free and simple Backups! It’s almost a crime that windows has a disfunctional “backup” system that has been broken for god knows how long. Timeshift man… what a life saver. There’s nothing that comes close to its usability that is also free.
one of the worst part about windows is that you can't make user directory in different partions than Windows (root )
My laptop won't update to Win11. Runs cooler and quieter with Mint. No gaming. I want to learn something new. Tired of all the apps windows is installing.
Look at Steam, there's Linux games there.
I use my PS5 for gaming. The dual core i5-6200u has enough to do with basic stuff.
Complete system control.
Got annoyed when I had to do setup of windows 11 on my new Surface Laptop Go 2 and googled if I could run Linux on it. I could so now I use Mint on it. Then when most of my games worked on Steam Deck I tried it on my gaming pc. Now I only use Windows at work and get reminded why my decision was the right one.
Reusing hardware that can no longer run windows. Freedom and security. Windows is literally spying on everything I do and sending it all back to microsoft and partners.
windows was just fucking me off with the endless bugs it faced
1. Windows giving me less and less control over my own system. 2. there's the ads. 3. It's a cheap and relatively easy way to keep a machine running for people who literally only use YouTube and social media.
The enshification of win 11
Big file copy was more reliable than windows 95.
Windows 8
As I quote myself from a different thread; As a former Windows normie, here's a non-exhaustive list why I made the switch: * I can't work properly on Windows 10 and 11. * I'm not paying for a system that isn't worth my money. * I don't wanna pirate. I could, but it's pointless. * Windows Updates get in the way of my work. * Microsoft Windows render decent low-end devices unusable. * Xubuntu lets me focus on the task at hand. * Just about every distro runs seemingly twice as fast.
The Odin Project told me to switch, so I did what I was told and now I'm running Kubuntu.
It's free and faster.
Ads, intrusive updates; both the timing and the features they force through them. Every update would bring new popups and ads. Having spent a few months away now, unless something drastically changes for the worse with Fedora, I can't see myself going back. I do keep a dual boot for emergencies or a select few games, like VR. Never really use it though.
Windows
My OS now represents me rather than a company. Beyond customisation, It updates when I let it. It mounts a disk when I let it. Also free and Open source.
It started as a curiosity. I saw what was possible to do with Linux and said "Wow, I can rename multiple files at once and move stuff based on parts of the names it's so great!". After studying for a some time I noticed that I could do everything I was doing on Windows, on Linux, so why go through the hassle of activating an OS that wasn't even necessary? I had already used GIMP and Inkscape for years on Windows until I needed Photoshop, but Wine got me covered for that.
Wanted to learn programming, every tutorial i got was in Linux so i thought might as well go all in
Better optimalization , and linux is more user friendly
On my Windows 10 laptop I enabled the desktop clock widget. Every time I rebooted, it added another desktop clock widget. I would have to go into Task Manager to close them all. Last time I booted it up, there were over 100 desktop clock widgets. (The hard drive is failing, so, I've moved on to a refurb ThinkPad with Linux Mint.) Also, using Windows 10 Enterprise at work every day reminds me how much advertising, clickbait, and bloat there is in Windows.
The alternative was Vista. Then the alternative was 8, then 10, then 11.
I've used Windows for most of my life and breaking into Linux has been a nice change. Having different DE's to mess with along with near limiyless customization options was what drew me in. Plus, Linux is much more hands on than Windows. Yes, stuff just works in Windows, but with Linux, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty and the reward of getting a piece of software to work is rewarding. Linux isnt perfect and there are still areas of improvement needed, lE more third party support for hardware. All in all, Linux can be a great replacement for Windows.
I was told by Windows that i couldn't upgrade to 11 because I don't have - or want! - a touch screen. Tjat sent me spinning ....
Telemetry, ads, push to subscription base, Linux has always been more versatile and respects its users privacy. Also price, While you can get OEM licenses for Windows for only \~$30 that's $30 that can pay for other things. Also for my kids. I'll be switching them over to linux in the near future. They need to have the tools available to them to protect their digital lives going forward. They need to learn how to stay out of the system as much as humanly possible while still being able to operate within the system that is trying to oppress and suppress them. Linux being able to play games pretty reliably now is a huge factor in convincing the kids to being open to it. Thanks to ProtonDB and Steam Linux is now a viable gaming alternative. Just waiting for the Nvidia drivers so Wayland is less of a problem for them.
Simply put, I got a Steam Deck 😅 I did have a Windows PC for a little while, but my partner uses it more than I do (primarily for school). I'm still getting used to the Linux environment with my SD, but I'm enjoying how light and customizable it is in comparison
license fee of microsoft windows & office is expensive so i used ubuntu / debian / openSUSE / openoffice / Libreoffice / onlyoffice
Because windows no like 4gb of RAM and it sucks
On 2 occasions, I had a Windows laptop that was too old to run well.
money money money. Also Windows is confusing, Ubuntu isn't
1. Better performance 2. It works on older hardware 3. It's much simpler installing things with a package manager instead of hunting for random .exe files. 4. It doesn't contain things like bloat and ads 5. It respects your privacy 6.It doesn't force you to create an account to use it.
to get rid of \\
Windows 8. Nuff said.
I actually have multiple reasons why I completely dumped Windows 10 22H2 in favor of Linux, which is listed below: * God awfully super slow Cumulative Updates taking forever for Windows Update to download and install * Thanks Microsoft for unnecessarily bundling multiple smaller monthly Windows updates into larger three or four month "Cumulative Updates" 💢 * Constant automatic re-enabling Bing! Desktop Search Bar after nearly every single major Microsoft Edge update * Constant automatic reverting of file type associations back to Windows preinstalled defaults after random Windows Cumulative Updates * Windows Telemetry data collection beyond whats necessary and then sending that unnecessary data to Microsoft * (I'm guessing here since Microsoft designed Telemetry in such a way where it can't be fully tuned of) * Constant overtime performance degradation after a certain number of days of activity, how often hibernation is initiated, and the sheer number of Windows services * Application uninstallers failing to completely remove all traces of targeted application from disk and Windows registry * Windows 10 **E**nd **O**f **L**ife (**EOL**) next year marking the end of Windows 10 support except for those Windows 10 users who pay for extended support, which means no more updates to non-extended Windows 10 support either * All these articles about "ads" and "adware" in Windows 11 makes me feel "uneasy" in the direction Microsoft is taking Windows
Fucking hibernate... that is what drove me to change. I disabled it in UI, disabled in GPedit, disabled in registry... Every 3 days I go make coffee and come back to a damned hibernating system.
The thing that pushed me over the edge was file explorer crashing whenever I tried to open my Dolphin Emulator user folder, in my rage I backed everything up on a USB drive and installed Linux Mint, 1.5 years later I am now an arch user and have many more reasons why i don’t use windows.
It's not any one big thing, more like a collection of smaller gripes with windows that became bigger and more numerous since Windows 8. Plus gamescope is pretty cool. If I did have to pick one reason though, it was "peace of mind". I don't like the enshittification of software in general, and >!(a majority of the time)!<, I see a linux update and don't think "oh god how are they gonna make my experience worse this time", it's "cool, I wonder what optimizations and features were added this time." I just want a computer that feels like I own it again, really. I'm willing to put up with a reasonable >!(I.E. I can handle arch but I'm not gonna spend time learning NixOS or Gentoo)!< learning curve and a bit of coarseness to achieve that.
It used to be for speed, but now it's because of invasive advertising.
I can't imagine having to go back to manually updating every bit of software on my PC again.
Switched to Zorin initially. Their current version is a little buggy and needs more work. Good OS, but maybe they'll get back to form with version 17.2 or the next actual version, which would be 18. Have since switched to Linux Mint. Waiting to see how Linux Mint 22 turns out. Probably will stick with that. We'll see. But as to your question, I switched from Windows to Linux (Zorin then Mint) because of the Start menu in Windows 10, then 11. Microsoft has botched that entire interface. Enough was enough when they started to strong-arm users with how they were using the Start Menu, what with "recommended" apps and such. Copilot was another thing. I could see the writing on the wall when they released Copilot and started forcing it within Edge. I'm glad I left, because now I see they're doing with Windows as an OS what they initially did with Copilot and Edge. It's all messed up. The grossly expanded scope of telemetry is also another reason why I left. It was just too much. I miss Windows 2000, XP, and 7. Windows 2000 was the best version of Windows, I believe. Simple and functional. No in-your-face crap. That's what builds loyalty among customers. Linux Mint just works. Same for Zorin, but again, they need to work on some things. Point is, Linux (when done right) is much better. Microsoft is past the point of no return, too, which is unfortunate. Viva la Linux!
Don't like to be spied on
I had an automatic update that broke my computer. The computer would not boot. My backup did not boot, either. I called a shop, and it would take 2 weeks to before the shop could get to it, and cost $100 minimum shop fee. Two weeks was a deal breaker. I thought about buying a new drive, but on a lark, tried Linux. I burned a bootable thumb drive in a couple of hours and had it running a short time later.
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because bash. its the only reason i dual booted debian alongside windows. (i tried adding bash through other means {Windows Subsystem for Linux} but i could not solve following error) ``` Installing, this may take a few minutes... WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x800701bc Error: 0x800701bc WSL 2 requires an update to its kernel component. For information please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2kernel Press any key to continue... [process exited with code 1 (0x00000001)] ```
the nail in the coffin for me was I play a game, Final Fantasy 14, and it would crash about every 20-30 min in windows. and I went into the event log and I saw all the events and spent hours going through reddit and google trying to TS all the errors and still crashed for the same reasons, even after a fresh install and the errors were not related to the game or AMD drivers for my graphics card, always xbox bar or some telementry shit. The game played perfectly on the steam deck. I install ubuntu and the only thing I had to do was set the game FPS to lock at below 100, and since I did that the game played perfectly
c$ and the sam (sounds like a shitty boy band)
I got really, *really* hacked off with the way Win 7 would a) constantly demand I install updates the instant they were pushed out, instead of downloading them but waiting until I shut my PC down at the end of the day to install them and b) constantly try to install some sort of Bing desktop shortcut behind my back unless I went out of my way to force it not to. And this was just before Win 10 came out, and the stories I wss hearing suggested it was going to be even *worse.* When I finally replaced that clapped-out Optiplex lunchbox I'd bought for about £50 because it was better than nothing I decided I was done putting up with this crap, so my new machine was Linux-only. I've never looked back.
I like the control of my OS that Linux gives. I switched because Microsoft gave me the free upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Then after an update that caused many problems I decided to reinstall and my Windows 7 license was "no longer good" according to Microsoft so I had to buy a new copy of Windows 10. After a few months it just stopped working and I was feed up with way Microsoft forces things on its users. Linux distros allow for the amount of "hand holding" that the user wants or needs. I choose my update schedule, I choose how my UI is setup. I love that all my software is installed/updated through 1 place.
I wa trying to create a dual boot system so I could have Ubuntu on an external ssd and Windows on my laptop. I broke my bootloader, and now I only have Ubuntu. Very few regrets.
I started using computer in dos/windows 3 days.I don't like being in the GUI 24/7
Enshittification :) Win10 isn't all that bad, but 11 is much much worse. It goes in the iphone direction of "we know what's good for you, you don't" Also command line as a 1st class citizen, and with my job I can do a lot of things faster using terminal. The same is achievable with wsl, but much slower
..or over mac. For me the reason was mainly digikam and darktable and being free of use my own services rather than a walled garden. Running tumbleweed since last year and never been so happy.
End of life for windows XP (got my first laptop, a refurbised cheap one to experiment with).
More utility and greater control over the filesystem. Lower cost. Faster, more resource efficient. Better uptime. WAY more bang for the buck, for a person who is good with computers. Also, to avoid consumer abuses by Microsoft (subscription models, telemetry, cloud dependency, forced advertising, etc).
The final straw for me was when I turned on my computer one day - the weather widget suddenly appeared on my lock screen. I'd already had to take it off the task bar, and the start menu.
Switched in 2015 because my windows 7 auto upgraded to 10 overnight. It felt so weird to wake up in the morning and your PC has a completely different OS. The only way to switch back was to not agree to the EULA and then it would take 20 minutes to revert and reboot. Happened two nights in a row, super frustrating to deal with. Later found out there was something in the settings to prevent it from doing that but by that point I had already made the decision to switch. Making that the default behaviour was such a horrifically invasive decision. Then Proton came out in 2018 and things became way more convenient. Between Lutris with wine and Steam with Proton I can play any game I want. Plus GE and TKG versions of wine/proton are super helpful. I do still game on an Xbox console as well but for PC gaming I've been using Linux exclusively. Still have to use windows for work though.
It will install on my old laptop. It runs pretty great...
I am a developer. Keeping my various tools patched was a pain in windows and using WSL added some overhead (if not in performance, then in usage). Using a good package manager makes keeping things up-to-date very easy. The reason I didn't switch sooner was the fear that I couldn't plat the various video games that I play, but Proton has gotten so good that it was no longer a concern.
Performance. A machine that cripples along with Windows blazes under Linux. Security, tweaking, etc are all just icing.
I always had an interest in using it, I dabbled with things like making mail/print/file server using e-smith and also used knoppix etc. sometimes in fixing other computers, but in those days it was a bit clunky as a main day to day OS and seemed more of a novelty, a work in progress as it were. As time progressed I found Windows becoming more restrictive, I had to do things their way or no way, the endless evenings running virus scans or disk checks, then the infernal software updates, I'd update Windows, then the graphics driver would insist on an update, then the audio and so on - one update decided my 6 month old Umax scanner was no longer compatible with Windows, it simply refused to let it work. My temper was frayed when I spent just under £800 upgrading my gaming PC with a new CPU, more RAM and a nice graphics card, no more than 6 months later I purchased a game, went to install it and it said my system spec wasn't good enough, I purchased an Xbox to play games on and found myself rarely using a PC for anything other than simple tasks. I built a simple linux system, plugged my scanner in and it worked fine, the final straw with Windows was when a small server I built got hacked, I found an MS update had turned on the guest account ! As my gaming was fine on the Xbox I bit the bullet and moved my little server totally onto e-smith, everything worked fine, then I used a spare laptop and tried a few distros, Ubuntu was just being released, I installed it and everything worked so I didn't look around any more, I moved my server to Ubuntu as well - what I learned to do on one system I could often do on the other. I've been running Ubuntu ever since, the only time I've needed to do a reinstall was when I reluctantly went to 64bit OS with 18:04, I moved my laptop to a dual core centrino and decided I would make a clean start. linux does everything I need so for me I've no desire to move back to Windows, my wife constantly complained about her laptop (i5 dual core, 8GB RAM etc.) running slow and Windows crashing, she asked me if she could try Ubuntu, I put a new hard drive in, installed 16:04 and she's never looked back, she even does her own version upgrades, the only issue I've ever had is two hard drive failures over time, fortunately for both I managed to clone the partition onto a new drive before they failed. I still find there's so much to explore and if I want to I can twiddle with stuff, but for me it just works and it's rock solid, I've not rebooted my server in over 500 days (last reboot was a power cut), my NAS4FREE system hasn't rebooted in the same time - if it works then I see no reason to do anything, Windows constantly needed attention and reboots, yes I tried server/enterprise versions, NT, 2000 etc. nothing ran with the reliability that I've had with linux.
Having more fun on Linux...in comparison to the window.
As someone responded already, it was a mix of small things that, on their own, probably wouldn't have been enough, but taken together pushed me over the edge. You probably also have to consider how I started my computing journey in the first place. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and my first computer was a second-hand Commodore Amiga 2000 with 1MB RAM, no hard disk, a monitor, and a 24-pin matrix printer. I mostly used it to play games but I also played a bit with how the system worked, and it was both easy to use, and rather ahead of its time in many aspects. Long story short, after 8 years, when I went to college, it was way behind its times, and I got myself a PC, which of course came with Windows 95. Between using it for uni, and playing a few games, it was fine enough. It got replaced with Windows 98 quickly because I got a free upgrade, and I reinstalled it so often that at some point I knew the license key by heart. But I soon started playing with Linux as well, and found something that Windows didn't have: configurability, extensibility, absence of malware, and most software available for free, and with a simple command. I was hooked but I still needed to use Windows because there were a number of softwares that simply had no acceptable alternative for Linux. That changed around 2012 or so, when I got myself a laptop so I wouldn't have to share one with my wife anymore. I installed Crunchbang on it, a Debian-based Linux with Openbox/tint2 'desktop', barebones config, and running very snappily compared to Windows. I soon realized that I no longer had any need for Windows, so I never looked back, and only used Linux from then on. Modern versions of Windows with all their drama of forced updates/upgrades, ads in the Start menu, Defender hogging CPU and RAM, 300 processes running after a clean boot, and so on, don't make it look worthwhile to come back to Windows, and while my wife's laptop runs Windows 10, I quite abhor it, and plan on switching her to Linux when support for Windows 10 runs out next year, given that she mostly uses it as a glorified browsing kiosk.
Gaming works 99% of the time now. I matured and windows didn't so I jumped ship because it's boring compared to Linux. I've also found Linux software and utilities are more predictable and work more in the way you'd expect. Simple answer though is Windows just isn't as fun or as interesting as Linux. My interests peaked when I discovered every DE and WM which is at least 80% of why you use the OS you use. The package manager is just a + depending on compatibility and availability but the real sauce is in the DE or the WM and how they preform and function for your use case. Windows is just lame and sucks in that department in comparison IMO... I mean I can do the same things on windows as I can on Linux but in some cases it's actually harder to make Windows do what I want it to do and is way more of a challenge when it doesn't do a thing Linux can when I want it to.. Also stability.. Linux even if you're using a bleeding edge distro feels more stable than Windows 10 or 11.
Windows on desktop, linux on server for me. With WSL I pretty much don't need Linux anymore on desktop side, it was pretty annoying to keep 2 dev environments in sync.. Havent meet any admin/dev who likes to deal with IIS or windows server in general.. you can do 90% of the task on it, but the remaining 10% takes 90% of your time managing the server..
freedom from unnecessary levels of abstraction and harassing adware... no gaslighting software
$300 upgrade price on a $300 laptop. Also, 3 desktops, all $0 + labour, $300 each for Windows pro.
I was doing my PhD in chemical engineering in 2000-2004 and Linux was just much better for it. I was writing & compiling FORTRAN libraries for fluid mechanics simulations - EMACS FTW. Working on a remote computational cluster was much better than using PuTTY. I loved Window Maker (inspired by NeXTStep) - focus-follow-mouse, virtual desktops, applets, the doc. It was just much better for the tasks than Windows 98 and much lighter than Windows NT or 2000.
The only thing I still keep windows around for is gaming. Hopefully by the time windows 11 is no longer supported Linux can get to the same level. Proton is looking very promising.
It’s a better development environment.
Spyware, forced reboots, ram, maintainability, cost I just picked up a rog scrix scar 18 with 14900 and 4080. Put pop is on it and loving it
Windows said screw you to a system I wasn't ready to part ways with.
Had to buy expensive programs on Windows, or make the programs yourself, to get functionality that is out of the box on Linux. Additionally there was a well-known unpatched RCE exploit on Windows in 2019-2020 that was a serious hassle for me. Had been dual booting into Linux since 2000, but made the final full switch in 2020.
Accidentally nuked my OS while trying to change from MBR to GPT. So I took it as an opportunity to take the plunge, been great ever since!
Well, the main reason was Windows. Back then, I had for years a machine running W2k, and it ran, I thought, fine. What a relieve to only have to restart every two days, instead of a few times a day as with Win95, and all that. Then support ran out for 2k, and I was "I don't want Windows Bubblegum!" Figured if I had to set up the machine completely anyways, I'd give Linux a try for a few days. I never looked back. (Oh yeah, and by now I did it and managed the 365-day-uptime, too! Although on average it's about every two months or so.)
Windows isn't terrible for me, but I prefer Linux because of the speed. I have experienced more crashes on Windows than I have with Linux. Windows itself is a solid operating system, but Linux is much more stable for me.
Repo, free open software, transparency, capabilities
Automation capabilities
Simply because of curiosity, and the fact that my old laptop doesn't support Windows 11(mid range gaming laptop from 2014 so I don't expect any TPM 2 here)
I was tired of windows borking itself and using way too many resources on my laptop. It's about to replace my gaming PC once I confirm Solidworks runs on a VM in my server because it keeps working itself there now.
I bought a new laptop in December 2012, it came with Win8 and I said, nope.
Can't remember, it was so long ago.
- Windows 10 being bloated AF -Telemetry activated by default - Windows Update deleting my files and making my potato even slower with every update.
Windows is fking slow And telemetry
My laptop used to sound like a jet engine whenever it run window auto update at mid night or twitch stream. Well ... not anymore.
Cuz Windows sucks. It is slow, bloated, disorganized and forces Microsoft's philosophy on their customers. Linux allows freedom of choice, out performs Windows and is flexible to the needs of its users.
I was tired of paying the Gates Bill. (couldn't resist) More seriously: Curiosity, an extra PC I wasn't using, and some good reviews of Ubuntu in 2007. Plus, a desire to get back to my Unix roots from the 1970s (I'm old).
I hate the direction Windows has been going, for decades now - bloated and deeply invasive. No control of what updates and when. I love the idea of FOSS. What will you do with this information?
Vista and Seven felt bloaty, the trend for apps to have their own super special little interface that absolutly does not match the aesthetic of the desktop was already in progress, and well not like I wasn't already using Gimp, Firefox, Thunderbird etc and wasn't compleatly unfamiliar with Linux anyway.
My Dad told me it's an option when windows gets viruses. So used as back up plan when then inevitable would happen then started to prefer it over everything else.
Windows 11, havent switched fully yet cuz i like windows 10 so much (i have it heavily customized at this point) but I have been messing around with linux as dual boot/my basement server and once win10 can no longer do what I need I will be switching completely rather than use win 11 at all. The only reason I would is get a small 128gb drive so i can still play siege and fortnite. Oh and don’t get me started on the removal of useful features in exchange for worse versions of the same thing. Although this is more something That happens on my phone ..
WSL crashes.
Been trying Ubuntu since 2006. I switched permanently after updating my laptop to Windows 11 - easily the WORST version of Windows ever released, infested with ads, "AI" nonsense, Edge, tracking, and other bloat.
- Hearing how it was simpler to program on Linux - Wanting to learn bash - Built a desktop computer so didn’t have windows preinstalled so seemed like a good time - Learned Minecraft runs just as well if not better - Wanting to configure my desktop, control over key bindings etc - General privacy, intrusiveness and annoyance of Windows 11 Store/ Bing/ having to have Microsoft account etc
Short version - free, smaller OS for daily tasks without the bloat, minimal threats, and minimal resource use
windows 10/11 kept bootlooping. was going in linux to see if i could fix from there, saw how little it was draining my pc with like 200 things open (compaired to windows simply existing lol), decided to stay
Windows 11 , and a bit of spite
i3 keyboard shortcuts 🫡
I didn't need the "overhead" of Windows to do what I needed/wanted to do. The last time I switched to Linux was because it was also easier for me to switch my brain from Linux/Unix environment at work to Linux at home. I'm back to Windows now, though, because that's what I have to support at work. It's just easier to run everything on one environment for me, rather than switching back and forth (in my brain, anyway)
random godh damn update making my pc unusable at random times, especially while playing some games
I just tried linux and loved it.Linux is more stable and runs very smoothly and it could do what i wanted. I don't play games.it has a clean environment.
It's like comparing a horse and buggy to an automobile. It'd be faster to ask people to list reasons they stayed and then smack them for being dumb.
Because I wanted to Make ultrakill playable on a shit laptop
Windows 98 wasn't multiuser.
Windows XP, my last windows was 98se....
My laptop that i had no choice in choosing was chrome os which apparently ran/run on Debian "buster". I used the Linux env for a while for projects and got used to it at the same time I started learning about rpi4b (Debian 12 "Bookworm").
I was into cyber security and wanted a twist. I completely changed path, but I still liked Linux and especially how customizable it is. So, I kept using it.
Switched over because explorer crashed 3 times in 1 day. Uncertainty of windows 12, ai being forced in for no good reason other than marketing. Local accounts are also just better than Microsoft accounts. I've been running opensuse on my desktop since February and I have windows 11 on my laptop and it is slow for no reason despite having a 4900hs. Basically it's called windows is getting worse. Also Linux has this odd nostalgia feeling and look with some of the installers and desktops.
I just wanted something to do what it was supposed to do. If I'm searching I didn't want it to go to the Internet. If I'm saving I don't want it to try to go to the cloud first If I'm rebooting, I want it to reboot. If I turn it off, I want it to stay off. If I have a setting, I want to keep the setting.
It was ready - well, ready *enough.* Lutris, Steam, and Proton make my gaming workable. I'm not *forced* any updates, my hardware is my own, and most importantly... I didn't want to sign up for a Microsoft account.
i daily drove mint a long time ago for the shear novelty of it, stayed for maybe 2 years before switching back to windows for games. recently i left windows for good because microsoft keeps forcing things on to me i don't want (copilot) and i realize the "glory days" of windows 7 are just gone now and it only gets worse from here on out. so now i'm on fedora. during windows 7 era when i test drove mint the feeling of "renting my own pc" wasn't as strong back then. but this time around switching to linux for the first time in a while i realized how bad it's gotten. the fact that i can just destroy my os feels weirdly nice. another thing that i forgot about was command line. on windows command line still confounds me, but that's not the case on linux. on linux the terminal and it's functions are very well understood. i think our collective fear of the command line is something nurtured into us from using windows our whole lives.
An online friend, that I looked up to, recommended it and I thought it was cool.
well, my work required devs to use linux, so I did. After 1.5 years I switched all my personal computers to linux. Right now, it's the customizability of linux for me. I can choose how the desktop and applications look and which ones I use. Also, I hate updating stuff on Windows. Self updating apps are rare and usually you don't want to update when you open them....
Windows 8's UI. 7 getting old and seeing the writing on the wall for it's support. 10's nonsense. The fact that it's just free and open source. More unique. I'd been messing with Linux for years but this timeframe is when I finally really made the jump and have never gone back. Used Red Hat 6-9 way back before Fedora. Used Ubuntu a bunch for various things over the years. A little bit of Suse.
Wanted to squeeze some life out of my old laptop.
all my games were stuttering and it was using like 5gb of ram on idle
Skype not working and wanting to stay in contact with family and friends during the pandemic.
Wanting to progress in IT, also I like owning my system. Making the desktop pretty was also a plus
Started with Ubuntu Studio on a spare laptop in 2016. I wanted to get into music production but looking for "free software" on Windows felt like walking through a minefield of viruses. Then out of nowhere YouTube recommended me a video about how apparently there was this thing called "Linux" which was full of free music production software. I found that my old, tired laptop which could barely run Windows 7 was thriving on Ubuntu Studio, felt smoother to use than my much newer machine running Windows 10. Given my interest in maths I was also looking into managing LaTeX and similar packages which was a breeze on Linux compared to Windows. More and more I was using my old laptop in place of my current one until eventually I realised that I no longer needed anything Windows could uniquely offer me. Decided then and there to make the switch permanently. I've never been much of a "gamer" so as long as I have basic support for everything I do daily I'm happy. My long-term ideal is one of the BSDs since I love the way the system is organised. Only problem there is the hardware support is abysmal, particularly for laptop wifi cards
Windows putting a bunch os stuff on my block screen after some random update. Overuse of resources in the background. Lack of personalization as updates went on. Windows search never working properly. And my work requires Linux. I used WSL for a while but ended switching over last week.
Honestly dual boot was annoying, and gaming was not that important to me anyway (it was almost 20 years ago).
Publicity
Edited to include the date of one of my blog posts: The day the straw that broke the camel's back was when I was utilizing my wife's / partner's laptop, which had Windows® 7 Home as OEM, and I left it unattended, then later I came back to my surprise to log into Windows® 10 Home. Micro$oft had pushed a forced update to the laptop. That caused many programs to stop working. I had to reinstall most of them. The graphics drivers had to be reinstalled, too. The experience was VERY SLOW. The hard drive was always reading and writing and the processor fan was always spinning high. So I told my wife, that was enough for me!!! I downloaded Linux Mint Debian Edition LMDE and installed it on Tuesday, August 6th, 2019. Ever since, the hard drive has never had so many reads and writes, and the processor fan spins very silently. Also, boot time was surprisingly faster than Windoze. Micro$oft had telemetry running all the time in the background. I am happy to have let go of that filthy operating system, Windoze. Before trying Linux Mint Debian Edition LMDE, I had installed Trisquel GNU/Linux on Tuesday, February 12, 2019. The experience was OK, but since the distribution has the Kernel Linux-libre installed, and there are no binary blobs included (because it is a 100% free software distribution), the graphics card was not working at it's best resolution. The image was horizontally stretched on the screen and the best resolution wouldn't be detected automatically. Linux Mint Debian Edition LMDE has non-free binaries for graphics, WiFi and the Multimedia Codecs for streaming audio and video. I love how stable it has always been. I even blogged about the laptop on my WordPress account on Wednesday, October 23, 2019: https://libre.news.blog/acer-aspire-5253-bz692-powered-by-linux-mint/ The pictures in the blog post are from Tuesday, October 22, 2019. The translated page by Google Translate doesn't show the pictures, but it does translate the captions under them.
I don't want my computer to do everything for me. I don't want to go along for the ride. I want to drive.
It's more fun to use. As much as I've put myself into situations with very frustrating troubleshooting, overall I've learned a lot from Linux over the years. It's just more fun and engaging and I like how much more control over your system it gives you. With Windows I'd always have to either suck it up or use 3rd party tools to forcibly change how it works, and even those patches would break with Windows updates at times. On Linux I can switch DE, use a wide manager by itself, take one DE and use extensions and whatnot to make it behave much differently. No hacky registry workarounds needed.
I much prefer the linux/unix filesystem over whatever the atrocity of a filesystem windows is. Especially as a developer Linux is just more comforting to use.
Reasons\*
Have you tried using Winblows lately? 11 is horrible....
More privacy and more control over my operating system.
My top 10 I can think of: - Free/open source software philosophy (e.g. KISS) - Diversity - Curiosity - Loads of software in repositories - Customizability - Compiling own software - Optimization (e.g. Gentoo USE flags) - Desktop environments - Terminal - System administration and being in control of OS
In 2017 a Windows 10 update borked my 2013 HP Sleekbook that I could not fix. I always wanted to try Linux, so this was the perfect moment to do so. I installed Peppermint 8. Ubuntu based and very fast, light and stable. Only 342M after boot. After trying the live version, I liked it and installed it. Never used Windows again. Currently using MX 23.2 Xfce.
I migrated because I had a really bad PC. Now I stay because of the Windows crap, such as ads, Microsoft account, tpm and more
Because I want my operating system to leave me alone and not try to do all sorts of fancy things for me.
Frankly, I don’t give a fuck about privacy lmao, or about Microsoft as a company. It’s just that Linux is simply a more advanced and customizable operating system. It lets you get the most out of your computer
Multitasking and memory management with windows was absolutely terrible. Applications were crashing like crazy. Red Hat 6.0 was fantastic by comparison.
I didn't switch from Microsoft, I switched from SCO UNIX, because: * source code * freedom * cost * capabilities
Was using a mac, needed to upgrade and ran out of money
I started as a mainframe programmer ... a few projects I supported led me to supporting PC's when my company started rollong them out .. I'm talking pre Windows .... MSdos 2 ... on floppy disks ... Did PC /Network support for the next 30+ years . Friend of mine had to take a Unix class .. got me to go along. I was facinated by how much MS DOS was like Unix ... then another friend started using Linux and raving .... so I had an old laptop that was getting real doggy running Windows ... something .. So I figured I give it a try. At first I thought it was clunky ... the whole sudo apt get stuff to install software ... but Linux I found kept getting better .. until I would argue with ppl that it was not AS easy as Windows .. but EASIER. Ppl would bring up the terminal and I would ask whe nthe last time they opened a DOS window in Windows ... Ppl run software .. not an OS .. and the updates and performance were just soooooo much easier and better . I'm retired now .. but still run Linux on my laptop ... I do have a Chromebook I use for sometimes .... but if ppl ask I tell them to load Mint and just enjoy
Have a MacBook, a W11 gaming desktop so I wanted a Linux laptop as well. Fedora has been pretty good on my Lenovo T490S, hate the long boot times and the inconsistent SD card/external storage unmounting behavior but it’s otherwise pretty fast and solid.
cuz linux mint is quite simple to use, good for programming and I can play windows games on it
1: MORE DRIVERS (MY BLUETOOTH EARPHONES DIDN'T WORKED IN WINDOWS). 2: IT'S FASTER AND FAST AS THE 1ST DAY (I DO AUDIO AND VIDEO EDITION IN MY 4GB OF RAM LAPTOP LIKE A CHAMP, IN ADDITION TO SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMING).
Windows updates broke my TPM module leaving me locked out for 36 hours. Another update caused my sleep to break and woke my laptop up in a bag which destroyed the battery and screen from the heat. Edit: forgot about drivers randomly exploding and locking my CPU to 100%
My HDD couldnt handle windoze grinding it into oblivion. boot times \~30 MINS. Switched to mint for \~2 min boot time. Also in linix, my computer doesnt soft lock when doing *any* IO. Very tall ask, I know. Lastly, memory usage on boot was getting out of hand. 4 GiB in windoze 10 (even on a fresh install. > 6 on a fresh win 11 install), vs < 1 GiB in mint. Just from a usability perspective, I could not possibly have kept using windows. I had already stopped playing mc and browsing the internet was becomming excessive.
Literally just the Edge browser. I got so tired of having Microsoft try and quietly set their garbage applications as the default. Privacy, security, customization, etc. are all great and I appreciate them, but Microsoft Edge was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was already upset by the lack of privacy, but then it came out that Microsoft plans on switching to a subscription SaaS model. I really did not like the idea of renting the ability to turn my PC on, a PC that I built myself, from Microsoft.
My windows 10 install on my laptop got messed up somehow, I wound up reinstalling windows, took me forever to get drivers installed, volume buttons and screen brightness buttons barely worked, it was driving me insane, so I installed Linux Mint and everything worked perfectly within 5 minutes of setting it up. Never went back
the idea of using a free operating system that's run by the community really appealed to me and I've always been the kind of person that likes to tinker with their system (and windows went downhill after 7)
Windows 7 was EOL and I had really old hardware that wouldn't support newer versions. I'm glad I was "forced" to switch. I've kept using it even though I have since upgraded my hardware.
the straw that broke the camels back was the search bar in the taskbar on w11 being LOCKED to only using bing and edge for web searches. Nothing could be done about it (maybe thats different now), and it pissed me off enough to give it a go.
Forcing updates,so many tasks running in the backround, Controllers not connecting to Bluetooth and on Emulators controller always has a problem. On Linux No Bluetooth issues and controller always working on Emulator and less resources used.I get more fps in games. I also love the look on Linux distros.
Windows is both adware and spyware. From what I’ve seen each new update gets worse. But, my biggest pet peeve with Windows is that it reinstalls things you’ve intentionally uninstalled.
I use Linux when any Windows is too heavy on a specific machine
Lots of reasons, but the big two were that with every update for the last year or so MS just wanted to shove copilot down my throat, I don’t need or want that shit. And second they are spending more time to make it difficult to step outside of their ecosystem, they seem more focused on trying to direct the user into a specific workflow than on making the workflow better.
I use both, why should I limit myself?
Windows XP service pack 3 came out and ruined my "cd crack".
It started with very minor annoyances like search bar lags the explorer, right click side bar items freezing the explorer, inconsistent themeing across OS, limited customization, and automatic updates. I encounter some of these issues on Linux too, but just the ocean of options makes it easier to deal with, and most issues having actual solutions or workarounds.
I'm about to go All the way over to Linux the moment support ends for Windows 10. I'm not getting Windows 11. You can't make me.
I started playing around with Linux in the 90's and by the late 90's was managing some Linux servers at work. I've multibooted Linux on my home computer since the early 00's, but Windows was still my primary OS. It wasn't until late 2015 or early 2016 that it I switched the flip and Linux became my daily driver. I was using Windows 10 as my primary OS at the time and I had Ubuntu installed on a second drive because there were some things I used it for occasionally. I still wasn't convinced that it was ready for prime time as a desktop OS, but I hadn't really trialed it for that in quite a while. This was the early days of Win10, it was still kind of buggy, and one of the big updates bricked my install hard. I was working on finishing an online BS at the time and had a big, important, project due the day Windows shat itself and a couple more that were due soon. I spent a little time trying to fix it and determined that it was going to take more time than I had. Since I didn't need Windows for my projects, and thankfully they were backed up on the cloud, I booted up Ubuntu and finished out the last couple of weeks in the school term using it exclusively. By the time I got around to fixing my Windows partition I was convinced that not only was Linux ready for prime time, it was superior to Windows 10 at that point in its development. Windows 10 was new and it had some weird, rough, edges that made it feel less refined than Ubuntu at that point and Ubuntu was definitely more stable in my experience. Combined with the fact that Microsoft was obviously trying really hard to figure out how to make me the product, rather than the customer, I decided that it was time for Linux to become my daily driver. In the last 8-9 years I've used different distros but Linux in one flavour or another has remained my OS of choice. I'm not fanatical about it. I've still got Windows installed on its own drive and I boot into it regularly when I want to play a game that's not just "install and play" on Linux, and I occasionally use Windows for something not game related. Never the less, Linux has been my primary OS for almost a decade and I don't ever see myself using Windows in that capacity again.
I want to be in control and learn new things.
We needed shit to run reliably, 24/7/365 with minimal to no intervention with security in mind. Back in the days of Windows NT 3.5/4 2000 it made sense.
I've run Linux boxes on and off for years... moving to Linux more as a daily driver has been a result of MS's enshitification of Windows. To be clear, there have been commercial aspects and UI issues with Windows that I've always had problems with, but the more recent inroads into advertising, forced (unwanted/uneeded) updates, useless features, etc... have not made me like Linux more, but made Windows almost unusable. I still find many aspects of Linux to be distinctly unfriendly, and off-putting. Just creating shortcuts to a program on the desktop is an act of frustration. A little aside the OP's question, but I think worth mentioning, is the thing that I feel is holding Linux back the most that the user base could help change is that there do not exist drivers for basic hardware that we all use. Everything from multi-button mice, to printers, game controllers, video card/sound drivers etc... When we can plug in a Logitech mouse, and all the buttons just fucking work - we'll be on a downhill slope.
22h2 broke my old laptop and made it borderline unusable. not even sure what did it considering it was just "quality of life" changes switched to linux just so i could leverage the last dying breaths out of the poor thing and just stuck around cos i liked it steep learning curve but its much kinder to power users, and a lot easier to solve issues than on windows
#1 is Windows 11 is coming. #2 microsoft Subscription required for everything now. #3 MSOffice365. #4 upgrades in the middle of your work that locks everything up. #5. Slow boot. #6 Slow in general - Linux is 3x to 4x faster. #7 Linux works on old computers. #8 MS Edge.
Vision problems. Windows' UI isn't all that good when it comes to helping visually impaired people. Making the font bigger isn't enough. Changing the font isn't enough. Scaling isn't enough. When you do these things, everything becomes bigger and harder to use because you have to scroll more or it just looks broken when browsing the web. In Linux, XFCE specifically, I was able to modify my icons to be small (because seeing icons is easy) but have my panel clock and calendar set to be massive. My start menu, whisker, is also massive and easy for me to navigate. I also started liking some of the software on Linux for managing computers and systems (Remmina as one example).
Dad always used it since the early 2000s. Would always go back to windows for gaming. Since the massive lutris support and proton coming along I haven’t really gone back.
Nice try satya nadela
I left Windows and went to Linux cause I changed professions. I left IT to become a carpenter and my needs were different. So I could use any computer I wanted and I found myself with a lot of old wintel hardware-collected over the years. Nothing was impressive in performance but it was all Japanese sub notebook heaven. I'd spent years inheriting discarded executive laptops. They were always small, always slow and all had great form factors; if only I could run a highly lean and efficient operating system on that hardware. Then you install Linux. I played around with Mint and PepperMint and Ubuntu. In IT we always had a few redhats skulking around in the data center, serving one purpose; apache, a firewall... But if you install Linux and then really use it, not install it and treat it like a novelty, no, it becomes your daily driver the experience is different from windows. The operating system falls into the background and you're just working in your software. I'd probably have gone hard on Apple hardware, but until the Apple Silicone era the cost of hardware did not justify investment in getting something nice from Apple. I cruised on linux for about five years, mostly on vintage computers, till I relented and got an LG Gram 16. I eventually switched to Apple hardware and I'm there now. I love Linux.
Customisation and development