Heyho, recently someone asked for the silliest reasons, but as someone who has suggested linux to many people, I often encounter people having valid reasons for staying with Windows or switching back.
The most boring but valid one is “I have to use Windows for work. It is a requirement (of some software I have to use)”. But there are also other answers that fit. My sister for example tried Linux, but while installing software constantly encountered issues that I helped her solve and eventually switched back because she felt like she had less control than over windows. While I am aware that this is fundamentally wrong, it is valid that some amateur users do not want to invest enough time to get over the initial hurdles of relearning how to install software.
What are the best reasons people have given you for not wanting to try Linux?
I don’t ask. I just point at Microsofts shit and ask why they haven’t switched already.
You don’t ask, you ask?
“It’s not compatible with all games”
“VR on Linux is trash”
“I can’t play XYZ game because Linux isn’t compatible with anticheat”
“Program XYZ doesn’t have a Linux version, I don’t want to learn a new program”
“Windows bloat never bothered me, I just ignore the AI/advertisements”
“I’m forced to use Windows because of my job”
“Linux is to complicated/troublesome. I just want something that works”
last one is not a good reason
Is it? For most users, windows takes care of absolutely everything and if something lacks, just google, download and done, especially because most software is written for windows. With Defender they even removed need of antivirus for a normal user.
If something lacks on Linux, half the time you need to say hello to console. You also need to learn about software alternatives, because there’s high probability that the default, well known option won’t work.
To both of which most people will say no to from the very start.
Honestly software management on Windows is trash. Oh missing a feature? Go fuck yourself, maybe tweet them, they might listen (lmao). Oh you want to tweak something? You can with this 27 step process and it will revert back in the next update.
Honestly, there is something to experience on a given OS, but every time I’m stuck doing stuff on Windows I get slapped in the face with how fucking tedious it is do anything simple. Like to be update to date for games takes seriously 3 different installers, two of which you have to research and find yourself (game store and drivers app). That’s what it is good at…
Hey, what you descibe is a power user. And that’s valid, but power users also don’t tend to have problems with linux, and they ain’t anywhere close to majority of computer users. Also, to even download a game nowadays you need to have store installed so that’s crossed out, and then game drivers are installed by the store so (or added to cd installer in ye olde times) so wtf you on about.
But again. You are power user. Linux is, IMO, better than Windows for power users because you can do whatever with it. Windows is, however, better for granny, weird office lady and that quite dense kid who, while wanting to use computers, cannot be bothered to learn anything more than where the web browser icon sits.
They are not ready. They took several years to master Windows to just a minimum of use. They don’t have the money to pay for help if problems occur. They don’t have someone in their network that can help them. They need a specific app to work flawlessly for either job or hobby. There’s a lot of good reasons. But there are getting less of them, while Linux is evolving.
TFT and office, mostly. Libreoffice isn’t valid, mostly because Microsoft intentionally breaks their own formats, but yeah.
Something equivalent to…“I just want to drive the car, not learn about the intricacies of internal combustion”.
The last Windows machine in my house is because of one program: Embrilliance. It’s embroidery software that lets you make designs and send them directly to the embroidery machine. It technically works in WINE, but for some reason one of the cursors is missing, so when you try to draw freehand, you have no idea where the mouse is. Was thinking about trying Winboat for this eventually, but I haven’t gotten around to it.
My school requires the installation of office apps like Microsoft access. I can’t get Microsoft office apps to run with wine.
I also can’t get games from Ubisoft connect to run with wine. I usually try lutris but the games always crash. So I have a virtual windows machine for school work and I have to play all of my games only on steam.
Sounds like I don’t know how to use wine or wine hates me
I mostly run Linux though.
I’ve only tried Trackmania, but was able to get it to work with Proton. I remember having one or two slight issues at first, dealing with Ubisoft connect, but I got it running pretty easily.
Don’t play games with wine, use Proton
I did try proton but it was the same results. I don’t know why my Ubisoft connect games won’t work, somethings missing
Adobe software, autoCAD, and anticheat are the top 3 reasons I usually hear. While there are alternatives for the first two, people who need these specific tools professionally don’t really have the choice.
Anticheat for gaming is a big one too. Personally I didn’t even consider switching until I finally quit Destiny 2 for good. If the main game someone plays just doesn’t work, they’re not gonna switch.
Do you work with CAD programs and if so, do you know a full feature alternative? I grew up with Linux because my father had unix at work before CAD program makers moved to windows and nowadays he has windows because that is where his CAD programs work. He is in retirement already, but very much a creature of habit. So while he has time to learn something new, radically different controls or such wouldn’t work out.
I use commercial CAD. CATIA for car bodies. There is no FOSS alternative that comes close for my work. But the light at the end of the tunnel is, many CAD systems, including CATIA, are going web based. So users just need a browser on any OS. And the back end can be what it wants.
My father worked in machine development, I believe AutoCAD was actually one of the programs they used. I am sceptical when it comes to browser based versions utilising the full power of the system, interesting development for sure though.
Yes I have no interest in having a browser in the way. But 2 things. Firstly CATIA in a browser is just the same CATIA running on a remote PC somewhere. It’s the same program. And secondly, as longvas the UI looks and works the same, with no delays, then it’ll be fine. Sure you can’t use it when your wifi or Internet is down or slow, or the provider has power or Internet issues. And your customer is not a military or super secrecy case. But its clearly expecting to find a market.
Unfortunately not, just something I hear a lot from folks.
Depends what he’s looking for. I think Onshape (browser based CAD) has a free version. Your data is public though unless you go with a paid version.
If he wants a free Linux CAD there is FreeCAD and a few others.
If he is attending a university, as some retirees do to audit courses or enrich life, then Siemens NX (what GM, Stellantis, SpaceX, etc use) have an academic license for around $100 a year. It is now Windows only based, unless you run Linux headless version, but if you use any version NX12 or below there is a GUI LInux version that runs on REL or SUSE (or openSUSE since it shares SUSE binaries)
Are any of those comparable in power to things like AutoCAD?
FreeCAD is a step below the AutoCAD suite. On shape is comparable for mechanical design. Siemens NX is top tier only matched in high end functions by CATIA. NX and CATIA dominate in Automotive, and Aerospace.
Thank you for the detailed answer. Maybe there is a way to find NX like you said, will certainly let him know.
The best reason is the simplest one. People have job where they rely on a piece of software. If you took years to master something like Adobe Photoshop and later switched to linux only for all that to go away and you being forced to use something different like Gimp, you would 100% be pissed off
I can give you my own reason: I don’t have enough energy left besides work and general life to clean up my mess of hoarded data and make the switch. I am reasonably sure that all my hardware would work, about all games I play should work (nothing with crazy anticheats, next to all steam) too. I have two Linux nerds I could contact if needed and I have some prior experience, even though it is about half a life ago.
Edit: Oh and having something that does what I want and not some guessed approximation at home would make me even more intolerant of the shitshow we have at work.
“The file system layout is dumb. What the fuck is /etc? Also I hate using terminal”
But… what actually is etc, opt, var, dev, bin, usr, local?
especially coming from windows…
there is no “Getting started” guide from the OS, you got to read a book or something to learn this…
during my early day i thought:
- etc = etcetra? I put random my own stuff here?
- opt = options? Do i put my configuration here?
- dev = develop? Is this where debugging symbol or devtool live?
- local = this must be where my local profile is located?
- usr = user? Or is this where my local profile is located?
- var = huh?
- lib = library? huh why?
- media = my media folder where i put my images and video?
lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard
Also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_filesystem
Has a breakdown of what each has referred to, historically
Counterpoint
Does your average windows user know what any of Windows top level folders mean?
Some might think they do. But then very few programs respect the Windows standards, so…
The people who gave me their reasons for not using Linux do indeed know, and since this is a thread about best reasons not to use Linux, there isn’t much need to argue the point of “no, it’s the users that are wrong”
I’ve been using Linux for a long time and I don’t know any of this really.
Basically, home directory is for everything, unless some instructions say some other path.
I “tried” Linux but never got it usable. I initially decided to run a vm on virtualbox to experiment. I tried Debian, arch, kali, Ubuntu and all ended up having an input lag of 1-2 seconds. Windows the system was fine. But I found my self unable to do basic tasks it was no bad. I don’t mean I didn’t know a command or unwilling to find a foss software equivalent, I mean it took several tries to get the mouse over the X to close a program due to input lag.
OK I then decided to try a docker container with Linux. It got so messed up if I open docker desktop it displays an error that the container was unable to start, if you close the error to edit settings or create a new container it closes docker desktop, no way to fix it.
I was able to get a wsl command line working but all I found it able to do is add 5 steps to everything due to having to start the command, start wsl, log on, elevate permissions etc.
What you should have done if you’re unwilling to nuke Windows, which you clearly are, was to swap out your boot drive and install Linux directly. Any drive will do for that purpose. You didn’t try Linux, not really. You used some apps that run it.
Okay, but have you tried actually installing it? VMs just have worse performance
That may be my only choice. Was trying to avoid it as I don’t want to lose everything on my computer and dual booting would be difficult as I don’t have a huge hard drive.
You don’t need to install it to try it. Many distros will let you try the os while it is booted off of the usb. Ofc this doesn’t give you all the functionality and you won’t be able to save data. But you will at least see the performance is better.
I’m gonna second the reccomendation to just boot it from a flash drive and try it out. Virtualization takes a ton of performance and on lots of hardware isn’t going to be a nice experience compared to actually running it without virtualization
You don’t have to make the switch, but it’ll give you a much better sense of what you might like, without dealing with lag and input delay :)
My recommendation generally (although the current price of memory makes this more difficult) is to buy a second NVMe drive and install Linux on that. No fussing with a second install on one drive, virtually no risk of Windows thrashing your Linux install or accidentally deleting your Windows data while partitioning, etc. And you can just wipe the drive and install something else if you don’t like it, or use it as storage if you ultimately don’t like Linux.
They use nothing but an iPhone. Not even a tablet. Just the phone.
@VoxAliorum accessibility is not as good as others OS. This is really the most legitimate reason I was given.
They have to work with Adobe. Or any of the big musical instrument sample libraries.
