Well, in the case of Linux, also free. Many years ago I built an HTPC to run a media center at home and I got it all done and I realized that I didn’t actually HAVE install media (or a spare license) for windows and it kinda irritated me that a legitimate license was going to cost me like $100 for a computer that wouldn’t ever do anything but stream media from my own server. I had heard of linux before and I really wanted to make sure that my hardware worked without having to figure out how to actually buy windows and wound up installing ubuntu to test it out. I was surprised to discover that once installed it wasn’t really all that different from Windows and decided then and there that this would be perfectly adequate for my HTPC and wound up using linux on various machines ever since. (I always have an old thinkpad running some flavor of linux for most of my general computing).
Like a lot of folks, I think the only thing I use windows for is working remotely and gaming (although, that is less and less the case since I got a steam deck and linux support for gaming has gotten SO much better over the last ten years).
Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 11 months ago
I’m about to jump ship to Linux. I have been a Windows user since it first came out. I was DOS savvy before that, but Microsoft has just been getting worse and worse. They have never made a web browser that is worth a teaspoon of salt being high on the list of reasons they suck. Buuuuut, it’s what all the software runs on. Now, though, they have gotten to be such bullies about forced updates and more that I am done. I’m not gonna lie, it’s a little intimidating to have to start all over again, especially since Linux expects you to be very hands on with everything and I have let a looooot of my savvy slip by the wayside, but I feel like I’ve been forced at this point.
KillSwitch10@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Something about boiling a frog
pathief@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Unless you heavily depend on Adobe or a very niche proprietary software you’ll be fine. Install something user friendly like Linux Mint or Ubuntu and you’ll be fine. If you stick to these distros, Linux is going to be really really easy.