How do you know Linux is gaining steam outside of the usual circles? When you see writers like Jason Evangelho from Forbes switching over to Linux and writing about his experience.
He's been writing about Linux since early July, his reasoning for trying out Linux I'm sure will sound familiar to anyone who has used Windows often:
A few weeks ago during a time-sensitive 350GB file transfer, Windows 10 rebooted without warning. When the OS restarted I was greeted with an infuriating blue screen that had become all too familiar. No, not that infuriating blue screen. The one that declares "Working On Updates." It was, as they say, the last straw. After two decades of relying on Windows I finally decided it was time for the nuclear option.
He continues on to talk a little about his experience, including Linux Mint having an off day not finding a drive to install on. However, that didn't stop him, whereas I'm sure other writers would have then gone off on a rant he simply picked a different distribution (Ubuntu). Usually, when I see such writers on major news websites writing about Linux, it ends up coming across as a pretty disappointing read as if they've set themselves up not to like it. So it was incredibly refreshing to see him have a little patience to push through it. It's the same for anything that's new to you, if you're not prepared to learn a little—you will probably fail.
The latest article, titled Gaming On Linux: 2 Ridiculous Myths And 2 Brutal Truths, features yours truly after we had a bit of a chat. We went over the usual points, most of which will be well-known to our regular readers and people who've been using Linux for a long time. Still, some of it felt important to actually get across to a wider audience. This is why I appreciate Evangelho's writing, because he reached out to people in the community for feedback and help. To make sure he actually understood various upsides and downsides of using Linux for work and play. Although, it's slightly amusing how I mentioned Wine a little and then along comes Valve with Steam Play.
It's really fantastic to see more people on major websites actually try Linux for themselves and have a positive experience. More like this please.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: Mountain ManMy wife recently bought a new laptop with Windows preinstalled. I spent a couple of hours uninstalling all the junk software that it came with and configuring the OS so that she could use it.But if you uninstall ALL junk from Windows, you'll get this:
Quoting: anewsonCongrats on becoming our de facto industry spokesperson, we couldn't have made a better choice. Also appreciated your down to earth answers in the article.Well, it took a lot of blood sweat and at times tears to get here :P
When Phoronix often talks about 100+ hour weeks with his site, well, he's not kidding. I would say my average week just doing this is around 60-70 hours a week. The problem is, half of what I do just isn't seen. Talking to developers, getting the word out speaking to people for things like this, giving developers advice, testing games before release and so on. It all adds up on top of actually getting stuff written to display to people to show for it all.
Edit: words, wrong, something
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 4 September 2018 at 3:32 pm UTC
Mohandevir Sep 4, 2018
Quoting: dodrianIf you want to be a gamer in the sense of being on the cutting edge and keeping up with the latest trends and technologies in gaming, then maybe Linux isn't for you, or not as your main gaming OS.
I might be dreaming, but Proton might change that. What I mean is that might come a day when initial releases of AAA titles will include a "Steam Play Ready" mention (meaning collaboration between Valve and the gaming studio).
Ok, I probably just put my rose colored glasses on... :)
Personally, I've converted my mother to Linux a couple years back. (Not quite selfless, as it cut back on the computer support quite a bit). Last time I visited, I upgraded her laptop to Ubuntu 18.04 (from 16.04), switching to Gnome in the process, and I was a bit concerned that those changes would cause her some discomfort. Last time I rang her up, I asked how it went with the new system, and she says it's the best upgrade she has ever had (she really likes the Night Light mode).
My take is that for everyone doing simple tasks (web, mail, simple office stuff, photos), Linux has been ready for the job for ages. The problem is, most of those people aren't able to install an OS of any kind, so unless they have a friendly soul to help them (or they can buy hardware with Linux pre-installed), they will always be stuck with Windows.
Last edited by kaiman on 4 September 2018 at 5:11 pm UTC
Quoting: ageresAn acquaintance recently told me he had removed all the privacy-violating crap from his Windows 10 laptop, to which I quipped "well, what you know about at least." He insisted that he went deep into the system ripping things apart and didn't just change the user-facing settings, but I didn't have time to enquire further. I would have liked to ask why he would go to that much trouble if he was really concerned with privacy (he also uses ProtonMail) instead of just using Linux.Quoting: Mountain ManMy wife recently bought a new laptop with Windows preinstalled. I spent a couple of hours uninstalling all the junk software that it came with and configuring the OS so that she could use it.But if you uninstall ALL junk from Windows, you'll get this:
Mohandevir Sep 4, 2018
Quoting: SalvatosAn acquaintance recently told me he had removed all the privacy-violating crap from his Windows 10 laptop, to which I quipped "well, what you know about at least." He insisted that he went deep into the system ripping things apart and didn't just change the user-facing settings, but I didn't have time to enquire further. I would have liked to ask why he would go to that much trouble if he was really concerned with privacy (he also uses ProtonMail) instead of just using Linux.
"Habbits are strong with this one." :)
Quoting: SalvatosAn acquaintance recently told me he had removed all the privacy-violating crap from his Windows 10 laptop, to which I quipped "well, what you know about at least."
German authorities found that Microsoft is not able to provide them a Windows 10 version (not even a special one!) that is not sending home encrypted data without a real explanation. Which makes its use illegal (edit: for them) in theory.
Last edited by Eike on 5 September 2018 at 10:02 am UTC
hardpenguin Sep 4, 2018
Arehandoro Sep 4, 2018
Quoting: EikeQuoting: SalvatosAn acquaintance recently told me he had removed all the privacy-violating crap from his Windows 10 laptop, to which I quipped "well, what you know about at least."
German authorities found that Microsoft is not able to provide them a Windows 10 version (not even a special one!) that is not sending home encrypted data without a real explanation. Which makes its use illegal in theory.
Would you mind providing a link for this, please? I'd like to create some "fireworks" back in the office tomorrow... xD
Quoting: ArehandoroWould you mind providing a link for this, please? I'd like to create some "fireworks" back in the office tomorrow... xD
I've only got a German one...
https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Behoerden-ignorieren-Sicherheitsbedenken-gegenueber-Windows-10-3971133.html
(If I find time I'll look for more.)
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