this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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But Windows is broke. I recommend using it only if you truly have to (e.g. software dependencies for your work). If you think or know you don't need it, then don't use it, don't recommend it and also please don't claim it's not harmful or "just a tool like everything else". Tools don't spy on its users. The monopoly situation due to too many users still using is also in itself harmful for competition/alternatives, and on top of that its users suffer from massive amounts of privacy invasions.
If you don't want to continue to use Windows (which is an important realization to make), but feel like you can't use Linux yet for whatever reason, use OS X. It's sort of middle of the road. Also not great for various reasons, and also not recommended, but it will at least ease your transition to Linux later on because OS X is also Unix-like, and it's at least slightly less bad than Windows. Always re-evaluate from time to time, whether you still need Windows or OS X, and if not, switch to Linux.
The issue is that most users aside from nerds, programmers and other professionally very tech involved people don’t care about their operating system, or how much it spies on them. They want it to work without much thought, everything else is a secondary concern.
And this crowd is tough to capture for Linux, because if there is one thing that defines Linux it is the fact that you have to put in some effort to make everything work, especially with not supported applications like most games.
Not even developers. I know plenty of developers that use M1 MacBooks as a comfortable middle ground between Windows and Linux with excellent battery life, software compatibility cough Adobe, and an aight Unix environment. Many also prefer MacBooks cause they don't want to deal with Windows problems and hacking Linux, since they already troubleshoot technical problems for a living.
I'm actually almost the only one in my dev social circle that uses Linux and dual boots Windows for compatibility reasons, everyone else sticks to Apple.
Windows isn't broken for me, and given their market share, many others. What's an issue for you isn't necessarily so for others.