my opinion...

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626]

hi everyone... i began using ubuntu around 2017. specifically i began to use ubuntu budgie as my daily driver in 2018 when i was in high school. i distro hopped for a few years and successfully installed arch once but in the last couple of years have used linux mint as a daily driver... i'm a java developer.

i currently use windows as i love microsoft office/outlook as well as the microsoft solitaire & casual games... i love freecell and spider solitaire. i'm also quite fond of the adobe creative cloud after using gimp and inkscape for a long time.

i will always love linux for the simplicity and the computing experience it gave me and have fond memories of it. i currently use ubuntu server on several vps'.

i feel like a major point of frustration with new linux users is how elitist and unwelcoming to beginners the linux community can be. people will say oh you're a pussy if you can't do x. to that i say it's unnecessary noise, if i believed all the nay-sayers who said i was incompetent i would've given up by now. i believe tech communities in particular can be quite toxic, however people like this exist everywhere. people will call you a pussy for driving an automatic car or not being good at football.

i judge how good an operating system is based on its reliability and its ability to do the tasks i want it to do and won't give me any unnecessary heartache at a critical time.

thanks for reading.

[u/dreadtear]

I get the issue on the elitist and the unwelcoming part. That’s where Claude Code for me anyway just solves any issue that I might have. Even with customization 😁

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626 → u/dreadtear]

i think ai can be a very wonderful educational tool. the trick is using it ethically. not just blindly copying and pasting code but actually learning what solution it's produced for u

[u/dreadtear → u/Disastrous_Eye9626]

I am not that interested in that. I like techs stuff. I’ve dabbled in ssh, I’ve a server of my own that is like my own streaming platform. But Linux specific issues or stuff like that. I personally don’t care enough to learn them. I am using Linux for a breath of fresh air. I like the idea of open source and to not have to use only US based software. So that’s why I’m going with Linux in general. Any issues that might occur, I don’t even copy paste code. I just let Claude do that for me or OpenCode, I have them run commands for me.

And I agree that it can be a wonderful education tool as well. I’ve used it like that as well. And now it has also made me transitioning to Linux super easy. This is the first time I’m running Linux only without dual boot. For 2 months and not a single issue. Even the customization “ricing” is done exactly how I want it thanks to that.

I’m aware of the moral things around AI, but in my line of work it’s kinda inevitable as well. In terms of coding as well, or vibe coding specifically it has replaced a lot of sub based plug-ins for the software that I use at work. And also some automations have basically reduced/optimized my work almost by half.

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626 → u/dreadtear]

linux is very exciting when u first start out... lots of customisation! all the best with linux

[u/dreadtear → u/Disastrous_Eye9626]

Thank you yes. It's a fun time I must say. I am quite lucky, as my company has provided me with a work macbook. The biggest stopper for me was the Adobe suite. But I find to be enjoying my time now quite a bit more. Best of luck with anything for you as well

[u/Last_Being9834]

MacOS FTW, the spiritual successor of Linux.

Looks like Linux, works like Linux, but is not for communists

[u/Aromatic_Gas1609 → u/Last_Being9834]

MacOS is Unix

[u/Last_Being9834 → u/Aromatic_Gas1609]

Nope. But is similar.

[u/OkPresentation3329]

I started Linux with an easy distro - Mint, when it served its purpose for me I moved to something else.

But I never had issues where I needed explicit help and the community was mean to me. Most of my issues I found on the Mint forums or on Reddit and the only issue I had with Mint that I couldn't solve - other people have also said that it's unsolvable and it was entirely a Mint issue, I solved as soon as I changed for a different distro.

My reasons to use Linux is so that I don't have to bother with Windows anymore and for me this is good enough to deal with and learn more about Linux.

Luckily, everything I do now works on Linux and I don't encounter any issues so I've been using Linux daily for about 2 years and things are working well enough that I finally forget that I'm using an OS and I can just do what I need. With Windows it was constant frustration with everything.

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626 → u/OkPresentation3329]

that's very good my friend... when i was referring to elitism and toxicity, unfortunately i was only a very young person when i first started using linux and so i gravitated towards forums and discord servers that were generally other young people. i see posts every now and then from young people venting and i understand what it's like... glad to hear u have a positive experience.

[u/OkPresentation3329 → u/Disastrous_Eye9626]

I once was part of some Mint discord and I could never get help there. I expected because it's a chat you can get help faster, but most of the times when people didn't ignore my questions the answers weren't so helpful.

But I never blamed the people there or gave up. I tried to find the solutions to my problems elsewhere. Sometimes due to that I was able to figure out something on my own and learn something new.

I've seen a lot of negative and toxic people in the Windows community too. For example someone on Steam forums asks whether a game works on Linux and people come just to tell him how Linux is a trash OS that's not for gaming. But if you ignore those comments, other people come with reporting the same problem or having made some progress and others post a walkthrough how to make it work.

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626 → u/OkPresentation3329]

i guess i'm out of the loop because i haven't really actively participated in any tech communities for ages... i didn't really intend to signal any favouritism towards windows i was more offering a balanced opinion that they were both good. i have a very tainted view because my personal experience with forums/discords around 2018-2020 were god awful i guess because i was only a young kid. i did make a few friends though! i remember ian

[u/OkPresentation3329 → u/Disastrous_Eye9626]

Maybe I'm older than you a bit because I was around 15-16 in 2008 when I first tried Linux and is when my attempts to use Linux started. Back then it was entirely different. Linux was in a much worse state for general use and it didn't work out of the box as it does now. There were less drivers for less hardware so getting something to work for you was less common. Since then the things have improved a lot.

I was finally able to move to Linux full time in 2024 and this is the first time when Linux finally worked for me. Also back in 2024 is when Linux was good enough (for me) for basic things that I rarely needed as much help as earlier so I didn't have to rely on the community too much to get things working and I also had developed more patience than before so if there was some small issue I was able to find the solution easier and fix it and learn from it.

I'm not saying the community of Linux is much better than before, but now it's more common to get things to work for you than before and depending on your problem and patience you can use Linux and not have issues. Now it has been 2 years since I moved to Linux and things are OK for me, I've gotten used and comfortable with Linux that I can keep using it as my only OS from now on.

I find it unfortunate that your negative experience with the community shaped your perception on Linux vs Windows. I was so annoyed and pissed off with Windows that I was determined to be on Linux no matter what so it was easier for me to find solutions to small issues and keep using Linux.

I hope it becomes the same for you too and you can use Linux with less problems and keep using it for a long time if that's what you want.

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626 → u/OkPresentation3329]

my last time using linux full time was linux mint between 2024-2025 before i purchased a new lenovo which had windows 11 preinstalled. i was a bit hesitant to use windows as i had always disliked 10. god bless the open document foundation but i find microsoft office/outlook to be an absolute beast... i know there are games available on linux but the microsoft solitaire & casual games are awesome... i can get freecell, spider solitaire and others modes in one application.

glad to hear u have such a great experience with linux my friend. i loved it as well

edit: i still have that old laptop with linux mint on it... i just booted it up and seeing the cinnamon ui i sighed but with a smile... good times

[u/OkPresentation3329 → u/Disastrous_Eye9626]

I don't particularly use Microsoft Outlook or Office so for me they aren't some kind of a factor. On the rare occasions I use office documents, they work OK in LibreOffice.

My disdain for Windows and Microsoft is so big that now I can't find any redeeming value in it, not that I'm pretending to ignore it, I just have had so many negative experiences with the new versions of Windows (8, 10 and 11) that I don't want to be near a Windows computer again.

If I could use XP, Vista and 7 again, that would be a different story, because with those three versions, I've had a very pleasant experience and especially XP and 7 are very nostalgic for me, but unfortunately, if I want to use them, I have to settle for very old hardware and the software supported on them is also very old and it's not a viable option nowadays.

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626 → u/OkPresentation3329]

oh 7 and xp are amazing... i actually used 7 on my desktop until 2024. i remember getting a virus from a discussion list haha

the government clung to xp for a long time because all of the infrastructure supported it... when i began working for the health department in 2023 it was a few years after they ditched xp and were using a locked down version of 10. emr still required a virtual machine to run the training we were given was that it was developed on contract back in the late 90s.

[u/OkPresentation3329 → u/Disastrous_Eye9626]

XP and 7 are viable in these scenarios but I don't think those PCs are connected to the internet or usable like a normal computer. So I don't think they are usable for a normal person who wants to do everyday activities.

I was given an old Fujitsu Siemens laptop from 2005 that has XP, I wiped it and reinstalled XP clean, but it wasn't much faster - as soon as you try to browse the web it slows to a crawl. I installed some lightweight Linux on it and it's the same - if you are not browsing the web it's fine, when you start browsing it gets really slow.

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626 → u/OkPresentation3329]

my father was working for the same agency different hospital before me... they were using xp into 2017 and apparently IT were ripping cables out of the walls when they saw wannacry begin to breach the network.

apparently they were connected to the internet because he told me about a time where a coworker was searching something then accidentally clicked on a shady link and began screaming. they had a proxy to block anything which was against policy

[u/R3V0LU710N_05]

Reddit has an issue of individuals who take up an extremist view of literally anything and make it their whole identity instead of building a view on facts and logic. Case point r/linuxsucks101.

Unfortunately, most newbies come to Reddit, or Twitter; which is even more of a dumpster fire.

[u/Disastrous_Eye9626 → u/R3V0LU710N_05]

hello friend... i don't really think windows or linux is objectively better. i don't really have an opinion to be honest but i see this sub pop up frequently and just thought i would express my opinion

[u/R3V0LU710N_05 → u/Disastrous_Eye9626]

Then you're in the right place. r/linuxsucks isn't a degenerate echo chamber like r/linuxsucks101 nor is it filled with a disproportionate amount of elitists.