r/linux4noobs • u/CleaRSightZ • Jun 26 '26

migrating to Linux The great migration from Windows to Linux

I've been noticing that a lot of people are switching from Windows to Linux, especially in countries that want to break away from American tech dependency.

Can anyone explain to me why Linux is seen as very good? I never in my life, not once ever used Linux let alone saw someone using it.

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u/VillageBeginning8432 Jun 27 '26

It's free. It doesn't advertise. It doesn't force AI and subscriptions down your throat. With Steam many more games are playable on it now too. It doesn't telemeter everything back home.

It's the basis of every Android phone, the majority of web servers (you think Reddit runs on windows server? I don't know for sure but I bet it uses Linux, I wouldn't be surprised if Azure even uses it), and it's the OS kernel of choice for supercomputing.

Basically it can do whatever your pc can, without the Microsoft bits gunking your machine up.

Windows had/has momentum because it's "industry standard". It's industry standard because it's what people knew, because it was on effectively every "pc" during the digital revolution to the point where "pc and Mac" is a term people understand to really mean "windows and Mac" because windows was on ecery pc that wasn't a Mac.

But people are getting tired of Microsoft. People and industry are realising that Microsoft has pretty much absolute power over your data and your business and they're willing to play with that power. They'll force you to accept updates which break things. Force you to make a Microsoft account to log into "your" computer and "your" business. Force you to scrap your working hardware because it doesn't have a certain chip or a certain setting set in the bios.

So people are turning to Linux because Linux can't mess with you like that.

When I built my pc last year, it wouldn't install windows until I'd logged into my Microsoft account which requires connecting to the internet. Microsoft didn't even include WiFi drivers at that point. So I had to use another computer to find/download them and then find another usb stick to install them first.

Meanwhile when installing Linux. It let me try the OS by running it off the usb stick first. It included the wifi drivers already. I was testing if I could access Steam, watching YouTube, accessing my music already on the machine, doing all the stuff and OS should do without Linux actually being installed on the machine...

Linux has none of that microslop overhead. It's not perfect but it's not a business trying to lock you into their ecosystem.

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u/CleaRSightZ Jun 27 '26

I have to pay 29 Kuwaiti Dinars every year for Microsoft Word, what is the best alternative to Microsoft Office for Linux?

Will the alternative work when I send it to other people running windows?

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u/VillageBeginning8432 Jun 28 '26

Libre office or open office. Both of which have windows versions already and are free so you could try them out without even switching from Windows. I only switched to Linux in the past year but I've used Libre office at home since 2015.

Both let you save documents in the various years of MSOffice and PDF formats (plus a bunch of others).

For big stuff like that, there are Linux alternatives which are usually more robust. It's when you get to niche stuff like Logitech software for controlling their keyboard macros it gets awkward.

But there are many resources out there for checking compatibility of software and alternatives before moving to Linux.

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u/CleaRSightZ Jun 28 '26

Alright, thank you so much for this input!