Now that all but one of the Linux computers are up and running (I have a newer laptop that has not yet had Linux installed), I wanted to dive a little deeper into why I no longer use Windows at home. (My work laptop uses Windows 11 and I truly have come to intensely dislike it.)
One of the complaints about Windows 11 that I hear again and again is that everyone fears updates because it seems every update breaks something. For instance, one of of the most recent complaints I heard that the VLC media player now takes a long time to load and run a media file. This occurred after a recent Windows update that appears to block access to some Windows resources that were readily available in the past.
There’s also the increasing number of ads that show up on Win 11, as well as the notification that insists that users must have a Microsoft account to even use Windows 11. There’s also been the push for users to put all their files on Microsoft’s One Drive, a cloud service that allows Microsoft to scan all of your files whether you want them to or not. My work laptop has ‘forced’ this which can mean that if I don’t have an Internet connection I can’t see my own files. I certainly didn’t like this and set up to make sure I have copies of my files on my laptop’s hard drive and our local file servers. My employer’s IT department has pushed to maintain our own file servers and so far the corporate guys have agreed to this. I also keep copies of my files on an external hard drive, a ‘belt and suspenders’ precaution that I am glad I have used because it has saved me all kinds of grief on more than one occasion.
I have been using Linux for years now and I have no complaints. I have found it to be easy to use. This is particularly so for more recent versions and distributions. Some distributions are almost indistinguishable from Windows when it comes to how some of them look and their ease of use.
There are two I recommend if someone is interested in trying them out. (One of the beauties of Linux is that you can try it out without having to install them as they’ll boot from a USB key.) One of them, Linux Mint, is one that I have been using for a couple of years now. The other is Zorin OS. They both have a look and feel that is similar to Windows 10, but better. (I must mention here that Hewlett Packard has been shipping an increasing number their computers with Zorin OS installed as they have found it to be an excellent alternative to Windows 11. It has also reduced the number of customer support calls they have had to deal with due to Win 11 being so awful.)
I find it telling that Linux has a rapidly growing portion of the OS market with over 10% of computer users in the US using Linux. If Microsoft keeps doing everything it can to make using Windows ever more miserable than it already is, I expect that percentage will hit 25% within 2 years...if it takes that long.