I'm a whole lot less computer literate than I was when I attempted it in my 20s, I also really only play some games nowadays and binge watch stupid on YouTube... the computer has become less of my life in my 40s so learning a new system sounds like... work.
For me it's not about whether it is more work or not. It is more along the lines of, tolerating microsoft's bullshit for any longer. Windows 10 in more ways than one, has teetered me towards the edge of switching. Because I hate stupid mandatory updates, I hate how insultingly stupid it is to use a Windows system these days and every dumb decision Microsoft has made that has turned Windows into what it is and what it will be in the future.
I won't mind a little work to use my machine, long as it frees me from all of that bullshit.
I think this is a very valid reason. I used to reinstall Windows every 6 months or so for various reasons, switching to Linux wasn't any more work. But if you don't enjoy researching, installing OSs, etc then it's only ever going to feel like a chore.
Look, to be perfectly honest, I've had to do far less "computery" bullshit on Linux. After about six months of everything just working fast and flawless, I realised Windows is the OS that requires a pretty high level of computer literacy. Even installing Linux is a simple and quick breeze compared to Windows.
All it took was a final, "Oh, for fuck's sake! That's it! I'm fucking done!" moment. I just didn't want to do it anymore. Never had one since. Using a computer is a nice thing again.
I 100% recommend Linux for grandparents!
It's fast and easy and no big deal until you want to do something radical like create a shortcut and pin it to your taskbar, or share a folder on a home network. Or share your screen with a TV... there have been too many damn times where I've wanted to do something that should be simple and the matter of a couple clicks but it sends me down a rabbit hole chasing dependencies and searching terminal commands and spending hours doing something that takes less than a minute on mainstream operating systems. My user experience has drastically improved since I swapped to Plasma but don't pretend everything works perfectly and intuitively immediately for everyone unless the expected use case is literally turning it on and opening a browser.
I empathize with this even as a highly computer literate person who works in tech. I turn 40 this year, and when I’m off the clock, I need to read books, touch grass, and live my life as if I don’t know how computers work.
A time machine: I already switched 6 or 7 years ago, after 40+ years using Apple ;)
Do I miss stuff? Yep. Is it ok to miss them? For me, yep too.
For various reasons, my family is tied to a small number of programs that don't have 1:1 equivalents on Linux. So far nobody is willing to deal with the inconvenience of switching to alternatives. I'm trying my best to convert them, though.
If GIMP and Inkscape looked and felt closer to Photoshop and Illustrator, that would help greatly. Also, if I could find a good alternative to InDesign that wasn't tied to a cloud service or a subscription license.
Funny, I could never afford photoshop so I find GIMP much easier to get around in 😆. There used to be a GIMP plugin that changed everything to be like Photoshop, not sure if it still exists. But GIMP doesn't have feature parity with Photoshop, one of these days we'll be able to draw shapes.
Is InDesign not already a subscription service?
There used to be a GIMP plugin that changed everything to be like Photoshop, not sure if it still exists.
PhotoGIMP, and yeah it's still around.
Personally I tend to just use Krita for most photo-shoppy things since I find the interface nicer to use, but I have to admit gimp has been making some solid improvements lately.
Have you tried Krita as a photoshop replacement?
I would need games to be supported, as well as engineering programs I need like solidworks, ansys, etc
I already use Linux, on and off, but the lack of support for a (proper) CAD program is the biggest issue for me.
I've been happy with FreeCAD for my CAD needs, but the stuff I do is pretty simple.
I need fans to be supported
SteamOS and steam consoles will be really helpful for this I think
My wife wants to switch eventually but might not be before windows 12
She does 99% of her computer stuff in a browser anyway, and the last 1% is in the ms office suite, which is why she hasnt moved yet
She would like to switch to libreoffice but she is not interested in learning that yet
Could use the browser versions of the office tools as an intermediary.
Someone answered about their wife so I will to. My wife hasn't switched because her husband doesn't encourage it because it's the only computer (of many) left in the house with Windows on it, and occasionally there's some Window's only program you have to download to update the maps in your car or something like that, and it's nice to still have one machine that can do it (rather than paying the dealer...).
I have many comments about your assumptions about Linux but I'll hold my tongue.
I would want Ableton to work well and without complicated funky bridging virtual bullshit. Yeah yeah I know about bitwig. I want Ableton
Ableton, recordbox, and traktor are really the only things keeping me from moving full time.
What I would give to be able to comfortably give up MacOS. I don’t even hate it, but Ableton is about the only software that I need it for.
Having a computer without Linux
Livin la vida Linux full-time since 2024, dual-booted from about 2020.
For me? Nothing.
Problem is my kids share my computer, and Linux doesn't easily support some of the stuff they like playing. And I don't want to have to spend a bunch of time finagling to get that software running via Wine or whatever.
It supports Super Tux Cart, and what more could a games-loving child need?
Using Linux. Still dual booting because I need CAD software for work and fun...
get Cricut design space studio to work over USB in a bottle, without having to run a whole damn windows virtual machine
I'm not the only person using the machine, and the only other user wants to use a circuit, which requires design space studio
I tried some things on reddit but people trying to figure this specific thing out is a recent development but it just happens to apply to me
I need a spare computer, a video course on demand for learning Linux, and a source of income to cover my bills so I can spend time on something that doesn't require looking for work.
Photoshop
Already on it
Until Linux can boot up Fortnite and the latest Call of Duty I’m not interested.
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