Hello, World! I've been using computers since I was very young - I remember when I used to play little games like Minesweeper on my dad's old computer - I had no idea how it worked (honestly, I still don't...), but I loved playing it. A few years ago, I got my own laptop, which I still use to this day. However, throughout all of these years of me using computers, one thing had always been the same - Windows. That was the operating I had always used. In fact, when I was little, I thought it was the only operating system! Apart from Chrome OS, Windows 10 is the only operating system which I'm familiar with, and for the longest time, I was happy with it. So what changed? Why did I decide to switch from Windows 10 to Linux (Ubuntu in particular)?
Why Did You Switch?
So what's wrong with Windows? What made you take this drastic leap into a new operating system, a new world? Well it started when I first learned about Linux. At first, I thought it was just an inferiour version of Windows, and didn't pay much attention to it. However, over the last year or two, I started learning more about the operating system, or family of operating systems I should say. I learned about the many pros and cons about Linux versus Windows. I'll list the few which really got me interested - (Please note that some of this information may be wrong, since I'm very new to Linux)Pros
- Linux is completely free and open source - If theres one thing you should know about me, its that I love stuff thats free and open source. Most of the programs and websites I use on a daily basis are in fact OSS - Godot, Firefox, Lichess, just to name a few.
- Linux is safer - How is it safer than Windows? Simple - as I mentioned above, it's open source. You might be wondering, "If the source code is available to anybody who wants it, and they can tweak and fiddle with it as they will, how on Earth is it safer?" Well, the answer is quite simple. While there are a few people who'll try to find and exploit weaknesses in the code, many, many, many others will be looking for those same exploits and weaknesses to patch them.
- Linux is more private - Linux is focused on safety and privacy, so this is never a concern when using these operating systems.
- More customization - Unlike Windows, everything in Linux can be customized, due to its open-source nature. Your imagination and technical skills are the limit! If you don't like how the dock looks, you can change it. You don't like the desktop? You can change it. You don't like the terminal? You can change it!
- Linux is better for development - I'm a developer. Programming is one of my favourite hobbies, whether its making a website like this one, a game, or an app. I love messing with tech, moving the knobs, clicking the buttons, seeing what works and what doesn't. And overall, Linux is much better suited for development than Windows will ever be. First off, as I mentioned above, its much more private and secure. There's less chances to accidently get malware when installing stuff, which is a big concern for developers who install things every day. It also has tons of development tools available, and comes with some useful ones like Git and Python. Linux also tends to be faster than Windows, and speed is important when developing. Finally -
- The Package Manager - Linux's builtin package manager is a dream come true. Every distro has a package manager (as far as I know). This makes installing programs much, much easier and safer. For example, If I wanted to install Discord on a Windows computer, I would have to first go to their website. I would have to make sure its the right one, or else I might accidently download some malware. Then, I would have to navigate to the Downloads page, and make sure I download the correct version, for the correct operating system. It would install an .exe file, which I would have to run to finally install the program. For linux, its much simpler - I can simply open up a terminal window with CTRL+ALT+T, and then type in
$ sudo snap install discordAnd voila, I'd have the latest version of Discord on my system, ready to go, sans malware or extra unnecessary steps.
Cons
- Its much more commandline-based - This one could be considered a pro or a con. Honestly, for me, it doesn't make much of a difference, but many people might be scared at the idea of having to type commands in a terminal, to do simple tasks like updating the system or installing new programs, thus making Linux less accessible that Windows or macOS.
- Some apps aren't supported - Linux supports tons of programs and games, but there's a few big names which can't be run on a Linux machine. Visual Studio for example, isn't available for Linux. Many popular video games are unfortunately not supported as well, such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Downloading games through a windows emulator such as Wine is possible, but many large online multiplayer games have anticheats that prevent Linux users from playing.
- Difficult to Install - It took me around close to six hours to get Ubuntu up and running - granted I did mess up many, many times. And I may have corrupted my Windows installation, since I can't seem to boot from it, even though I installed Ubuntu on a completely different drive. However, this shows that for people who aren't familiar with linux, installing it will be very challenging and error-prone.