How is it that not more people switch to Linux?

[Doobeedoo]

3 minutes ago, MiszS said:

By bloat I mean that it's somehow using 3.5GB of ram (after debloating), while linux mint uses 1200MB max. Also yeah you can bring back the old context menu, don't even need third party tools, just registry keys

Well, mine is using more, I keep number of things in tray running. But really? Are we counting bytes of memory like RAM is an issue now? I'm not using my PC that I worry how many tabs I can open man. You'd have 16-32GB nowdays.

Yes I know, some don't want to mess with registry.

[OddOod]

Given that windows is ~free and is where where all my stuff is, it seems fine. I haven't found it to be ad riddled, nor slow nor laggy.
That being said, I also have quite a few *nix machines in my life.

But you want the real answer? It's switching costs. It's always switching costs. And you will always always always underestimate how monumental those costs are.

[Erioch]

14 minutes ago, Motifator said:

I'm sure most of you are on Linux already... uh, phones, lol.

Except I've never had to enter command lines for anything on my phone.

[Obioban]

I feel like each OS has it's place.

 

I use Windows for my work (engineering, so CAD software that is only on windows) and my gaming PCs. I could use Linux for the gaming PC, but windows works and is working.

 

I use MacOS for general computing/personal data/family computing. Secure, easy, stable, pleasant to use, I am not the product.

 

I use linux for my servers and homelab stuff. Stable, reliable, kind of a PITA initially but then I never think about it again and just leave them running, with updates, as an appliance.

[OddOod]

36 minutes ago, MiszS said:

By bloat I mean that it's somehow using 3.5GB of ram (after debloating), while linux mint uses 1200MB max. Also yeah you can bring back the old context menu, don't even need third party tools, just registry keys

Windows will "use" as much ram as it can get its hands on. It's just caching programs that it thinks you will be launching soon, but it happily releases it almost immediately when anything else needs it. 
And yes, Windows isn't great on low spec machines, but so what? My main rig is never gonna be low spec. Horses for courses.

[Drvulcanlord]

As a user of Window and Linux on different machines I'll offer my experienced because I'm bored.

On the crappy old laptops I use I have had carrying experiences on Linux, some distros run terrible, like Ubuntu cause they ruined it with snaps, but some run very well, like just plain old Debian. personally I enjoy the command line for things like installing programs but its annoying if I just want to install some GPU drivers. As for windows, I started on 7, moved to a Specialized build of win 10 called Win 10 Ameliorated edition, and am now running Tiny 11. So I'm not a typical windows user. I will say as it stand I do prefer windows for gaming as I don't use steam and instead just install individual games but I know I'm the minority in that regard. 

That's a long rambling paragraph but whatever. 

[Motifator]

47 minutes ago, Erioch said:

Except I've never had to enter command lines for anything on my phone.

...then I suppose you're a Realme user?

[ItTakes2ToMango]

2 hours ago, CosmicEmotion said:

 

 

It's slow, ads everywhere, useless features that are there just for data gathering, bugs left and right.

 

 

I use Windows 10 and 11 every single day between work and personal use and I have genuinely no idea what you're talking about

 

Not only do I not have ads but both tend to work pretty flawlessly for everyday use and is definitely not slow

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 hour ago, Doobeedoo said:

But it's not, not that much really. 7 to 8 was the worst ever. 10 was better, to me 11 is around same to me, some things are better with modern settings finally improving and certain context menus. Maybe I adapt fast, though I do use new versions from start. But yes some things like tray settings that feel like a phone with more clicks is bad, but overall I prefer 11 over 10. Though sure both have odd design choices, like removed functionality or customization limits for no reason. 

Thing is, any distro can pose issues, along with needed config setup. Thus one of the problems that is fragmentation that doesn't help Linux for mainstream.

I've always adapted fast, I found 11 very jarring because they messed up the right click menu.  My mum stuggled to adapt as they added more junk to explorer, she was used to drive letters being the major focus.  So it made her moving to KDE Plasma not really any harder than from 7 to 10.

[MiszS]

29 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Windows will "use" as much ram as it can get its hands on. It's just caching programs that it thinks you will be launching soon, but it happily releases it almost immediately when anything else needs it. 
And yes, Windows isn't great on low spec machines, but so what? My main rig is never gonna be low spec. Horses for courses.

 

1 hour ago, Doobeedoo said:

Well, mine is using more, I keep number of things in tray running. But really? Are we counting bytes of memory like RAM is an issue now? I'm not using my PC that I worry how many tabs I can open man. You'd have 16-32GB nowdays.

Yes I know, some don't want to mess with registry.

Yeah but what about the spyware, even if you don't care about wasted ram, it still spies on you like crazy

[Sauron]

IMO the main and most relevant reason not to is software support. This doesn't just mean games, but also (and notably) drivers. I answered a post yesterday where OP was asking about HDR support to tell them that it pretty much doesn't exist on Linux aside from very experimental implementations. GPU drivers are mostly inferior to their windows counterparts (through no fault of Linux or distribution developers and maintainers, but nonetheless it is the case) and on occasion you run into situations where they just make your desktop unusable.

 

Most of the other reasons people give are either misinformed, a product of habit or personal taste. That's not to say that habit and personal taste aren't valid reasons not to change, but they're not really something that can be addressed by developers; either you're willing to spend a little time adapting to something you're not used to, or you're not.

Just now, MiszS said:

By bloat I mean that it's somehow using 3.5GB of ram (after debloating), while linux mint uses 1200MB max.

This is not a good metric. Unused ram is wasted ram and caching is used when possible to speed up your system, both in Windows and in Linux; this doesn't mean that that memory will not be available if you open more programs that have active need for it. "Bloat" has become (and possibly has always been) a useless buzzword that today seems to simply refer to "using system resources", no matter what those resources are being used for.

[Doobeedoo]

4 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I've always adapted fast, I found 11 very jarring because they messed up the right click menu.  My mum stuggled to adapt as they added more junk to explorer, she was used to drive letters being the major focus.  So it made her moving to KDE Plasma not really any harder than from 7 to 10.

Not sure if I'm more on minority side, though I always tried to learn and adapt when something new comes, to see how it works and learn it as it before I change or fix. I've learned certain shortcuts that are great. The right clock at start was odd, some things didn't show there, potentially up to devs of those programs, though also on older menu there could be bloat of some programs I didn't want their sections. There are ways to configure this, though I didn't find it need it. I use modern or shifted old one if need. 

Not sure what you mean about junk in explorer, I find it rather simple for most stuff you'd need, same like before, like general copy, paste, move, rename, sort, view, delete and such. There are drive letter, huh I see them right now. Did so since fresh install.

[Average Nerd]

9 minutes ago, MiszS said:

Yeah but what about the spyware, even if you don't care about wasted ram, it still spies on you like crazy

What I don't need, I uninstall or disable, and whatever remains is minor enough for me to not care.

[Doobeedoo]

9 minutes ago, MiszS said:

 

Yeah but what about the spyware, even if you don't care about wasted ram, it still spies on you like crazy

You can disable a lot of stuff, though nothing is perfect. This was a thing all the way back from XP days, so I find it odd that people mention this always each ver.

Also, if one is worried about that as much, better not use a single online social media or platform or have email from known big companies.

[Erioch]

29 minutes ago, Motifator said:

...then I suppose you're a Realme user?

Never heard of it.

[ItTakes2ToMango]

2 hours ago, CosmicEmotion said:

 

Also gaming is excellent on Linux these days. I have 500+ games on Steam and they just work. 

 

 

Well that's cool but the majority of my steam library (like 65%)  is unplayable on Linux without some sort of intervention or package install or settings change or whatever

 

It's not THAT great

[MiszS]

34 minutes ago, Sauron said:

This is not a good metric. Unused ram is wasted ram and caching is used when possible to speed up your system, both in Windows and in Linux; this doesn't mean that that memory will not be available if you open more programs that have active need for it. "Bloat" has become (and possibly has always been) a useless buzzword that today seems to simply refer to "using system resources", no matter what those resources are being used for.

I'm talking about the exact same pc, with no apps open, if Windows does some caching that takes up so much memory, then it did a bad job, because it wasn't any faster than on linux (if not slower), I'm talking about a fresh install (I even debloated windows as much as I could), with no other apps installed

[CosmicEmotion]

2 hours ago, Motifator said:

I'm sure most of you are on Linux already... uh, phones, lol.

Linux phones are joke still, we can agree on that at least.

[Average Nerd]

8 minutes ago, MiszS said:

I'm talking about the exact same pc, with no apps open, if Windows does some caching that takes up so much memory, then it did a bad job, because it wasn't any faster than on linux (if not slower), I'm talking about a fresh install (I even debloated windows as much as I could), with no other apps installed

Windows takes up between 7 and 8GB of RAM on idle, and yet I have never even once run out of RAM (I have 16GB), so is it really a problem?

[CosmicEmotion]

48 minutes ago, Sauron said:

IMO the main and most relevant reason not to is software support. This doesn't just mean games, but also (and notably) drivers. I answered a post yesterday where OP was asking about HDR support to tell them that it pretty much doesn't exist on Linux aside from very experimental implementations. GPU drivers are mostly inferior to their windows counterparts (through no fault of Linux or distribution developers and maintainers, but nonetheless it is the case) and on occasion you run into situations where they just make your desktop unusable.

Plasma 6 offers HDR out of the box. But you do need some tinkering to get games to work with HDR still. Should be resolved soon though.

[Drvulcanlord]

1 hour ago, Motifator said:

...then I suppose you're a Realme user?

Nah

[Sauron]

8 minutes ago, CosmicEmotion said:

Plasma 6 offers HDR out of the box. But you do need some tinkering to get games to work with HDR still. Should be resolved soon though.

As I said, experimental support. It also only works on wayland afaik. I'm sure it can be made to work if you're willing to spend the time on it but it's quite restrictive and certainly not something you can expect of someone who just wants to use their computer out of the box.

[CosmicEmotion]

17 minutes ago, Sauron said:

As I said, experimental support. It also only works on wayland afaik. I'm sure it can be made to work if you're willing to spend the time on it but it's quite restrictive and certainly not something you can expect of someone who just wants to use their computer out of the box.

It's actually enabled by default if you have an HDR monitor. Xorg is completely dead, it won't even be an option in Fedora 40.

 

By the end of the year I'm expecting HDR to be enabled by default for games as well.

[Nayr438]

The simple answer is most people don't care, they just want their system to work. People don't want to worry about if X is compatible with Y or have to look up some outdated guide to run some random script or set of commands to accomplish something that might break their system or break in the next update.

 

At the end of the day Windows by far has better support from manufacturers and software developers and that's what matters.

 

[LogicalDrm]

3 hours ago, CosmicEmotion said:

In general, I think Microsoft has become extremely comfortable with their monopoly and it's sad to see people using this degraded Microsoft freeware because of misconceptions.

Microsoft has market lead, not monopoly. If they were, they would have raised prices already. And not made it so that they are actively actually adding features to keep it in that way. Also, the fact that most Windows users are willing to PAY for a license than just pirate it. Even if significant amount just pay for someone else to pirate license for them.

 

48 minutes ago, CosmicEmotion said:

Linux phones are joke still, we can agree on that at least.

For a Linux evangelist, you lack some basic knowledge. Android is based on Linux.

 

I have thought about installing Linux to my laptop. I probably won't daily it. Not when the past couple years of Linux mainstream has been meh to ok. And because the backlash anyone who doesn't want to dive head first to deep end will get. As the problem with Linux community has for the longest time been this odd polarity. They want to be the mass, but don't want the masses there. As in those people who expect things to work and ask stupid questions when they don't work.

 

Another reason why I probably wont ever daily is all the software I know already and would have to find replacements. Sure, most of them already are originally made for Linux. But then there are stuff I use occasionally and just work for my purposes that won't have any counterparts. Plus, first boot on Linux has never been pleasant for me. It feels like some basic configuration to get things to work for someone who can't use defaults on anything takes couple of hours. Whereas new install of Windows is ready to go under hour.