A lot of people have been talking about Windows 10 reaching so-called "end of life" by its creator, Microsoft - and a lot of them have been encouraging Windows users to migrate to Linux. Like many out there, I've had my fill of corporate bullies and fascist technocrats presuming to lay claim to my data and own and profit off my productivity, and especially the advertizing spy and bloatware crap that Uncle Bill has stuck into recent offerings of Windows - made worse by so-called "security updates".
Given the passing of time, I've oft considered alternatives. I would never in my wildest nightmares even consider moving on to Windows 11 (or 12, if or whenever that comes out one day), for example. But I have considered numerous other offerings from other sources, preferably open ones.
In the meantime, I've watched dozens of videos by Linux pundits singing its praises and saying enticing things like "you almost never have to even use the terminal if you don't want to" and comparing various versions and flavors of the open-source OS with regards to how easily Windows users could switch over to it in order to wean themselves off their nasty, self-harming Windows habit.
Not for the first time has it occurred to me that these frothing evangelists for Linux - pasty-faced prophets of the Terminal, act exactly like the militant vegan activists who demand that everyone substitute eating bacon for munching on grass.
I've been around a while y'know - I've heard all those arguments by now. Not that I totally disagree - I've just been hoping for viable alternatives to the Gates empire to materialize for YEARS. Hell, in the last 30 years or so, I've actually installed a plethora of wannabe Windows challengers - from Lindows and BeOS, to Android, Google, Kolibri OS and Haiku - and yes, even Linux. In fact, I installed dozens of flavors and iterations of Linux over the years in the hopes of finally leaving the Windows platform behind - with the most recent time being last year. Alas, still to no avail - after a week of frustration and inability to do anything productive, I reinstalled Windows 10. And I'm glad I did.
Yup. Linux.
It's not that doesn't look attractive, it's not that it doesn't come with all the bloatware, spyware and junk that Windows 10 comes infested with that we wish it didn't, and it's not that it can't install apps easily enough once you've figured out the awkward, clunky Linux way of doing anything, and it's certainly not its noticeable speed advantage on older systems over anything that ever left Bill Gates' little kingdom.
Here's the thing with Linux that puts me off leaving Windows 10: apps. As in, there are literally THOUSANDS of apps for Linux - but when it comes to specifics, let's say replacements for productivity software like MS Office? Real, serious, actual replacements that can each do everything that the original can do?
Yes there are free office-like suites for the OS, quite a few of them. I tried all the ones I could find - and "Only Office" came closest of all of them - but still no cigar... because none of them do all the same things MS Office can do. Just as a 'for example', none of them can save a Powerpoint (or whatever they call it in Linux) presentation into a video format with sound, and the features and in-app menus and options are bare-boned and lacking. And there's no port of MS Office for Linux, don't think I didn't look EVERYWHERE. There is one for Apple though - but I'd sooner jump off a skyscraper wearing a coyote suit with an anvil strapped to my back than switch to that overpriced, underfeatured trash.
There there are other apps, like Videopad and the accompanying NCH media suite - no ports for Linux either. And iPhotoPlus 4, the really ancient, basic photo editing program I use, won't run on Linux either.
Linux aficionados will handwave the discomfort and inconvenience away and just point you to the various repositories of Linux "equivalents" and claim there are plenty of replacements. Sure, but what if I don't like them? Or what if they're too different to the ones I like to use? What if the whole damn thing just rubs me the wrong way?
What's that? Use an emulator, you say? Ah! Emulators!
There are indeed emulators for Linux, like "WINE" and "Bottles" - cute, I see what they did there - but they don't work for most of the apps I tried running on Linux, including Office. Mostly the apps I tried would crash, malfunction, or wouldn't even open. To me, that was the deal-breaker. I do everything on Office, you see - from graphic design, illustrations, to building elements for my videos - and not to forget writing. If I don't have that, I don't really have a use for a computer at all - no matter what OS is installed on it.
And there's the rub - the thing I think all these corporate types, marketers, planners and strategists have lost sight of. Nobody buys a computer just for the OS it comes with. What makes people want, buy or use computers is the reassurance that the apps they need or are familiar with will work on them.
As for Linux, if they want to really make a proper dent in the market and replace Windows (and I hope they do - Microsoft really needs taking down) they're going to have to make Linux - and its APPS - a lot more like the things it longs to replace.
None of that faffing about with terminals in Unix. Just pointy, pointy, clicky clicky. And apps that can do the same things no matter which OS platform you're using.
So until the time that happens... no. Sorry, Linux.
I'll stick with my modded copy of Windows 10, thanks.
But... but... updates! All those security updates you won't get anymore!
Ssh. Be quiet, screeching ones - I disabled those horrible pointless updates years ago. There are also easy ways to debloat, decrapify and despyware a Windows installation... And everything works fine - my PC is mine and so is everything on it. We continue, regardless.
And lastly, penguins - stop trying to be fuckin' fancy - it's pronounced "lee-nucks", not "lynn-icks". ;)
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