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Comment by christophilus | Hacker News Reader

Step 1: Format

Step 2: Install Linux

Linux isn’t the end all be all like every programmer thinks it is.

I switched to Linux (specifically Arch because I wanted the challenge). While most programs I use were available on Linux in some form (LibreOffice, VS Code, etc.) and some had replacements (HxD -> wxHexEditor), there’s still things I miss from Windows. As in, even though Wine works great for things like Steam and Exact Audio Copy, some programs just don’t work. In my case, namely iTunes and Adobe (yes I still use iTunes).

You may think, “who needs iTunes, etc.” or “just use FOSS replacements for Adobe,” but the fact of the matter is that people still use these programs for various reasons, and if they don’t work out of the box, the average user gets upset.

If you want an Average Joe to switch to Linux, you need to make sure all his stuff works. I know a few (non tech savvy) people who hate Windows 10, but just deal with it because the alternative (Linux) isn’t as easy to set up.

> and if they don’t work out of the box, the average user gets upset.

Adobe tools are specialized and not for the average user, getting upset doesn't help anything, should MS be blamed that designers can't use Sketch on Windows?

Average (read: least common denominator) of users needs MS Office, Skype, Dropbox etc. Some work and some don't on Linux. Hardware compatibility isn't completely solved issue on Windows or on Linux. My relatives couldn't upgrade without issues to Win10, so that machine went into the dumpster after a couple of drilled holes through the hard drive. Such a shame, environmentally speaking because it wasn't slow, RAM could have been upgraded (stationary i5 Haswell CPU and Intel graphics) and could just have bought an SSD. But they couldn't be assed to "upgrade" to Linux even though I offered my help with this, simply just went to the store and got a new Windows 10 machine. It is a commodity after all. Too much precious time can't be "wasted" to learn Linux and Windows is "always the same".

Eh. Anecdotal evidence goes both ways. I installed Ubuntu on my mom’s laptop, and she likes it much better than windows.

My apologies. I wasn’t implying that it won’t work for everyone; It will. It’s just that for what seems to be a majority of the population, if it doesn’t work, they won’t use it.

If only Linux had as nice and frictionless experience as Windows or Mac.

Linux on desktop is somewhat bearable with the right distro but on a laptop it's a big no no (terrible battery life etc).

Huh? I get a full work day and then some (~10 hours) out of my Dell XPS 13 running Linux. Quit spreading bullshit. Linux has come a long way, to the point where I and many of my colleagues genuinely prefer the experience over that of Windows or macOS. Maybe you should give it another try yourself. I recommend Manjaro over Ubuntu for newcomers nowadays.

Quit acting like a religious fundamentalist. Goodbye.

Honestly the fear of using Linux is mostly due to people not trying it and people being used to Windows already. If you look at it objectively, and look at the built-in parts and not the obvious availability discrepancy of third party software on the more popularly used platform, I think Linux might come out ahead.

The prime example I can think of is printers. In Windows, my dad now learned how to reinstall a printer since, in our experience, most computers need to reinstall the printer every single time you want to print because it'll show the printer as offline but find it when it searches for it. In Linux this just works, I add it once and it just talks to its IP address, no problem. My girlfriend (Windows) will ask me (Linux) to print something via USB because it just works. Printer support in Linux has turned around somewhere about 5-10 years ago.

Things like tabs in explorer or multiple workspaces is something we've had for decades but Windows is just getting around to it. Installing software from a "market" or "store"? That has been a thing for decades as well, it's called repositories and the packages are customized to work with other software in your OS version. Works great, but in Windows developers have to repack all the dependencies they need for every piece of software. Not to mention that, after installing 50 programs, you also have 50 updaters pinging and downloading away when you're in the train on a mobile connection. (Nowadays metered connections mitigate that mostly, and people also have larger data plans, but the software all has to individually build support for it.) Everything is third-party and you have to hope that you clicked the real download link and not an ad. The unified software and update management is something I found hard to believe (as a former Windows user) before seeing it in action. How could a niche volunteer project be doing better than this OS that I just paid 130 euros for? (As student, that was a lot of money. I'm still not sure why I didn't just pirate the crap, in the years ahead I paid for enough Windows licenses that came forced down your throat with laptop hardware, not to mention the Microsoft tax on Android devices...)

Windows has been trying to catch up but with every step forwards, you also hear of things like "ads in your OS" which just sounds entirely backwards.

> Windows has been trying to catch up but with every step forwards, you also hear of things like "ads in your OS" which just sounds entirely backwards.

You still don't get ads in WordPad so there's still way to go.

Good ol' Dutch comfort: it could be worse!

I've never had a battery life problem with Arch or Mint.

It has. Since it does not boot most of the time, you are going to shut down your computer and do other, meaningful things instead, like reading, writing, painting, hiking or hanging out. Install Linux and wasting time on HN and Facebook is a problem of the past.

(I'm joking, I have been an happy user of the Linux desktop on laptops for many years)

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