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15 Signs Linux Is Not For You
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this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Here's a few more.
You want to use multiple monitors without messing around.
You don't want to run an emulator for your games.
You like being able to share software with people.
You need corporate software for work or your own business.
You're looking for a computer that 'just works'.
The monitor thing is very dependent on distro, I didn't really have any issues at all with Linux mint or nobara
As others have said wine/proton is not an emulator and some games run even better on Linux, that being said a lot of AAA games have DRM that prevent you from running them on Linux, that would be your real argument there
Don't like being able to share software? A ton of software on Linux is FOSS and available on windows, not all of it of course, but you could say the same about Mac
Depending on the corporation and software, you can use Linux, but yes, most places are windows shops, so that is difficult
But yeah,a computer that just "works" I concede most distros will not get you there. Nobara is definitely a bit unstable but I can deal with it because I was in IT for 6 years. Although immutable distros are close, but they definitely still take some knowhow to use, and have their limitations
Edit: misread part of the comment
Wine question 2.0: Does WSL count as Windows?
There are several apps that are compiled for both Linux and windows natively, that's what I was referring to
Most of these points are fair, but.. wine is not an emulator!
And yet you knew exactly what I meant.
A computer that "just works" nowadays is an android phone, windows has so much broken due to them replacing devs with AI that you can't justify that as a reason nowadays.
Just never works
I don't understand the first two.
The first one is because at least on Mint, on the machine I have, multiple monitors just don't work, and I've been told it's not just me, it's X11. The second is the need for Wine or Bottles (or whatever Valve has done).
Wine literally stands for "WINE Is Not an Emulator".
That said, Proton is pretty transparent, you can just install any game off Steam right now and it'll work 9 times out of 10 without you noticing that you're using wine. I often can't tell if I'm using proton or not and get surprised when I go into the game files for one reason or another expecting proton and am surprised to find a native Linux build. There has even been at least one time I've switched from a native Linux build to Proton because it ran better, and it was just one toggle.
Why the resistance to wine? Did you have an issue while using it, or is it the principle of using a compatibility layer?
16: I've had more headaches getting multiple monitors to work in Windows than I ever have in Linux. Try connecting 2 monitors of wildly different resolutions in Windows and witness the abject failure of windows to handle that elegantly. Your mouse can slip off into a "void" where no monitor exists, and yet your content can just disappear to, dragging the mouse between monitors slips the cursor way off and to the right, screenshots are a mess, etc. etc.17: I only play games in Linux and I never use emulators... unless it's for things like SNES.18: I don't know what you're getting at with this one. Software is way more shareable in Linux. You just say "it's in your package manager" or "install this Flatpak". Windows and Mac on the other hand have half-assed app stores and a culture of "just go to${URL}and click "download, ok, ok, ok" which inevitably leads to stuff breaking and no discernible way to determine what failed 'cause your machine is full of rando installations.19: This is fair, though most high-profile stuff like CrowdStrike works for Linux now.20: I cannot begin to tell you how much Windows and Mac don't work. Like, at all. Just today I spent an hour on a call with another developer stuck in Windows trying to get a JDBC driver to work. The constant ambiguous error messages, useless documentation directing you to "just go to${RANDOM_SITE}and installsome-cryptically-named-executable.msithat craps out with error messages about missing runtimes... the whole operating system is hot garbage and that's before you factor in the missing keyboard shortcuts, flaky monitor support, creeping AI, and ads shooting into your eyeballs. The only way Windows "Just Works™" is if you redefine "works" entirely.For #18, here's how my sneakernet software sharing goes: Windows: I copy the installer exe, or a zipped version of the software as installed to a flash drive. The person can then run the software from the drive, or copy it to their own PC. No Internet required, no outside connection called for.
Linux: after determining that they have the right distro type for the software, I have to walk them through either getting it from a GUI repository client, apt, pacman, flatpak, snap, or whatever other cockamamie thing it's on. They have to install it from the central authority - which is not sharing the software. It's suggesting that someone else connect to the Internet and download a thing.
If it requires the Internet to for a typical user to share software on media, your operating system is hostile to freedom.
If you want to share software like that, just use AppImage. It's perfect for sneakernet software sharing: no internet access required, and it requires less technical knowledge from end users than telling them to use a package manager. Just copy the file and run it.
#20 is what it is