this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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Could be small or big.

My answer has always been that, Linux can't handle everything I'd ask out of it that I normally can with Windows. I know the games issue has been progressing far from the days when that used to have been an archaic flaw with Linux for the longest time. Games might not be the issue except for some concerns I have for some games.

I was taking some time a few moments ago, to check if a program called Firestorm Viewer would work on Linux Mint which could've been my distro of choice. And the description written on the linux page described exactly the kind of concerns I'd have for compatibility and usability from going Windows to Linux.

They said that their viewer was tested and designed to function mostly with Ubuntu and while it could work with other distros, it's not to be expected to be smooth.

That's the kind of sentiment and concern I have always had with Linux if I were to go from Windows to it. There are programs and tools on Windows that I have that are used for specific purposes and I know they will not function on Linux. Furthermore, incase anything breaks down, any and all solutions would only be applicable to that thing that would be far easier to solve than just being SOL if I was on Linux.

It is something as a user that I just can't simply afford to deal with on a regular basis if I made the switch.

So while I may not have too much of an issue running games, I won't have too much of an issue using alternatives, I won't have to deal with the Windows ecosystem .etc I will just be running into other walls that would simply make me second guess my decision and make me regret switching to the point where I would dip back into Windows in a hurry.

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[–] obey@lemmy.wtf 1 points 3 hours ago

Pirated games

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

While we are nearly an "All Linux" shop at home, there is one machine that I won't change.

It is a HP oscilloscope running a heavily modified version of Win98. Back then, it cost as much as a new car, and it still works mostly fine (and where it doesn't, I know, and can work around). The Windows is basically an afterthought to the hardware, and I don't think I could get any kind of drivers for the hardware - not even for a newer Windows version. So that remains.

But even my wife wants to switch to Linux now instead of going Win11.

[–] bufalo1973@piefed.social 1 points 3 hours ago

If it works, don't fix it.

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Most recently when I used Windows was because of work. I've been seeing these posts for a while now and I can make some valid arguments.

  • Anti cheat games
  • Adobe products (Web is not the same)
  • MS Office desktop
  • Work has processes linked to Windows specifically (server that only works on IIS Express maybe?)
  • Big legacy codebase where they don't match filename casing.
  • Specific Visual Studio scripts or plugins for a DSL.
  • Security requirements that need windows APIs (like mandating crowdstrike)
  • Music production with a Ableton (it works but it's not noob friendly).
  • You have deep knowledge of Windows and getting up to speed on Linux would take a year without guarantees you have a comparable system.
  • Your client is on Windows and you're making a desktop Windows app that's not cross platform.

Thankfully none of these apply to me so I'm on Linux but I can see how this is an issue.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

audio production in Linux is awful.

[–] golden_zealot@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

I've found a lot of success after biting the bullet and purchasing bitwig as my DAW.

[–] Kagu@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Unfortunately I'm addicted to a game that requires kernel level anti cheat. So I dual boot Fedora and Windows, but pretty much the only thing I use the Windows partition for is the game and that rare application that just works ™️ on Windows

[–] nizvicious@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Same here, fellow Fedora and Windows dual boot. I have a seperate hard drive for kernel level anti-cheat games: Escape From Tarkov - some PVE maps do run under Linux but PVP and parts of the map require anti-cheat.

Battlefield games from 5 onwards

Call of Duty games Coldwar onwards - do not open a call of duty game under Linux, there have been posts where it is an instant ban.

Ghosts of Tabor

I do have hope that one day the anti-cheat situation will work out where it doesn’t matter what operating system you are running but for now if I want to play some of the above games with friends for now I dual boot.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

So many folks seem to be the opposite of me…

Linux just works now. Shit with my printer, device drivers, LAN things, stuff like like is like wrestling an animal on Windows for some reason, and… just works with KDE. It’s like they’ve swapped places.

Random Windows apps works better in wine than they do in actual windows, sometimes. With no fuss: I double click and they launch, that’s it.

Don’t even get me started on security.


But Linux is (mostly) not performant for gaming, at least not on Nvidia. It’s… fine, but I’m not going to take a 10%+ hit, sometimes much more severe, and poorer support for HDR, frame limiters, mod tools and such when I can just boot neutered Windows instead.


So I’m not getting away from Windows in the near future, but to frank, I don’t understand why more folks (who get past the admittedly tall hurdle of learning about partitioning and installing an OS) don’t dual boot, or seek to use certain poorly supported Linux native apps when double clicking exes mostly just works.

But my point is you don’t have to pick and choose. And there’s no commitment. You can have your cake and eat it, and send the cake back if you don’t like it.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Edit: These are reasons I use Linux because I read the title too fast... Doh...

Because I dont think its normal to have an American tech company recording what I do at my computer. Its a bit shocking that people have given up and just let them watch everything now.

Its not only that, its also that windows always is annoying. Weather its constant sounds, notifications, ads, user interface changes or bugs, its all so annoying.

Linux is just beautiful, quiet, fast, no ads. Doesnt get slower with time. Updates are actually adding features you may want.

The entire open source idea is beautiful. Sharing solutions, working together, without profit motives.

[–] Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

Mac OS has always worked well enough. It's much worse now in my opinion than it was since High Sierra but it's still fine. Also, I fear it'd be quite difficult to get Linux working on an M2 MacBook Pro for dubious benefit to me.

If I was on a PC though, I'd definitely try Linux out, really don't like Windows 11 and didn't love Windows 10

[–] deathbird@mander.xyz 2 points 1 day ago

I ended up doing it, but my hesitation prior to the switch was gaming. I did it anyway though, and now with Proton I don't miss a thing.

Get a couple USB sticks and backup your documents folder. Having backup, aside from being a generally good idea, should make you feel safer to test and experiment.

I do understand the general concern about running your Windows apps, but I'd say just trust yourself and see what you canake work, and what you can find good alternatives for. I'm at a point now where there are Linux apps that I really like but can't get to work quite right on Windows. It's not a one-way thing.

[–] variouslegumes@reddthat.com 33 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You'll find some things are broken and janky in Windows and Linux. Just different jank you're not used to. I have friends who complain about how they have to do weird workarounds for Linux and then turnaround and fuck with RegEdit. You get used to either given enough time.

[–] 0_0j@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

then turnaround and fuck with RegEdit.

LOL, forgot about this. And they say they ain't tech savvy enough

[–] sjkhgsi@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Drivers. I've got a bunch of music stuff that lets you edit presets on the computer and they just don't make drivers for Linux

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 33 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I'm lazy and haven't gotten around to it yet

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[–] for_some_delta@beehaw.org 3 points 1 day ago

I still need to provide binaries for Windows, so build and compile for multiple operating systems.

I love Linux. Deploying software to customer sites was historically challenging on Linux due to system dependencies. Containers alleviate most of those problems.

[–] pleaseletmein@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don’t think I’m good enough with computers not to just fuck it all up.

I professionally develop software on Linux, and still managed to fuck up an Arch system a few years back. So don't feel so bad.

These days, I rather spend time with my young child than tinkering with a Linux setup. So my trusty 10yr old PC (that has seen a few GPU upgrades) is still running Windows for the occasional gaming when I have the time.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I want to be able to rely on all the things I want to do on my PC "just working" I don't want to come home after a long day of bullshit looking forward to playing a game or working on a project and have to do a bunch of troubleshooting because something is fucked up. I'm not there yet with Linux. To be fair I'm not there yet with Win 11 either so I'm in a tight spot.

I did buy a laptop so I could try it out more aggressively but have ran into a lot of roadblocks and just have a lot of things that I haven't had time to figure out yet.

[–] VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What kind of projects are you creating?

I will say, Linux really is not all the way there for people who use Adobe products. I get the hesitation. But, I haven't had issues with games since like 2022 - and that was because I was trying to mod anyway.

That said, I have to inquire what distribution you're using on your laptop? Not that they're perfect, but something a little more preconfigured for your needs like Pop!_OS or CachyOS may be the ticket to a smoother experience.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

CAD for 3d printing/woodworking

Drawing

Managing my media server and putting together playlists/reading lists.

Various little coding things to help with workflows on different things.

I've been playing around with Bazzite which seems to be pretty good so far but I have a list of things still I need to figure out how to do on it. Also for the record I've been running a headless debian server for my media for years without much issue so I'm not clueless about Linux but that isn't as involved as using it for a desktop.

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

CAD is the one thing that has no meaningful Linux alternative.

For drawing or painting, Krita or Gimp are your top options, though Gimp gives some of the worst user experience in all Linux. Inkscape if you do vector art.

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[–] Horse@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 day ago

bill gates will shoot my dog

[–] PetteriPano@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I flipped in 1997, so any software I might have missed since those days are probably not around anymore.

Windows 95 was pretty shitty in comparison to Linux, and a lot of software broke with NT 4.0

It was an easy choice at the time. Linux was the operating system for this new fancy thing called the internet. Software development turned into a career, and Linux is just a very nice stack for building backends and infrastructure.

I do have an old ThinkPad around running windows 10. I've only used it three times in the past five years: To unbrick an Android phone, to set the MMSI on a marine radio, and to update the maps on my car's satnav.

[–] thenewred@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)
  • CAD
  • Photo editing

Gave FreeCAD and darktable a solid try hoping to switch my main desktop, but they have significant usability problems

[–] Badabinski@kbin.earth 5 points 1 day ago

CAD was a big problem for me as well. I've been happy enough with OnShape (coming from Autodesk Inventor), but the extreme SaaS nature of it makes me worry.

[–] Mechanite@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I used to dual boot windows just for when I needed to run LR Classic or Photoshop but now I just use winboat which makes them usable in Linux in your desktop environment while under the hood its running through a VM. It works great except not having GPU acceleration hurts, but it was a compromise worth it to me to not have to reboot into and out of windows.

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[–] compostgoblin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I did. But I could easily see how people are put off by the “fan base”. I actually avoid talking about Linux at all irl because I don’t want people to think I’m a fossbro

[–] Vanth@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago

Jesus, yes. And I'm a lady so I get the extra layer of dudes trying to gatekeep their "manly" hobby. I can go for a hat trick of perceived emasculation while I'm at it and tell them my deadlift form is better than theirs and that I know the best way to clean a trout.

[–] Fyrnyx@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 1 day ago

Jesus yes, the fanbase, more primarily the die-hards.

The kind that feel they have to be the jehovah's witness of operating systems. Can't tell you how many times someone wants a software or even a hardware issue troubleshooted and it never fails, there's that one guy or two going "GO LINUX!". "Have you tried Linux?" they butt in, disrespecting the inquiring user just wanting their problem solved so they can continue using their computer throughout the day. They're not interested in being marketed to or browbeaten, even if that thing is free.

It's happened to me before. Game won't run? Linux. Can't boot? Linux. Your computer is on fire? Linux because I guess it is capable of virtualizing a fire extinguisher to cool your computer down. It is no wonder some users online find Linux users insufferable this way.

The only worst thing a Windows user can do to you is just nag you to upgrade the OS but you can tell them to fuck off. With a Linux user? It could turn into an hours-long debate.

[–] Whitebrow@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Isn’t mint based on Ubuntu? So that should work without a hitch for you. Worst case just boot into the live usb without installing it directly and just try it there.

As for me, I dual boot on separate drives because I have specific software that requires windows sometimes. Otherwise it’s primarily Linux on all machines in the house.

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[–] fufu@feddit.org 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] golden_zealot@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

I've found real solutions to pretty much everything but this. For Fusion, I still just have to run it in a windows VM under Linux.

[–] sifar@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago

There is too concentrated which is bad (mac, win), and there is too fragmented which is bad (that is your Linux/distro universe). In other words, in one world, a single entity controls and is responsible for everything, and in another world, no one is. I am not getting into what is worse or better, rather what is usable for an end user.

And then there's the tacit wisdom of the FOSS/Linux world savants: "Uh, if something is not done or not available – you can just fork it or raise a PR, can't you?" completely escaping the fact that almost the entirety of the users of either world are just end users.

[–] Eiri@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Because my PC is an entertainment box. I don't want to turn it into a problem to solve.

Also, Nvidia.

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