Why I Use Linux

January 2022 Edit: Despite my best efforts to stick with Linux, I found the convienience of using Windows too great. I still hold the opinions below, but until such a time that Linux is just as usable as Windows for my use case, I will continue to use Windows. I still encourage the usage of Linux because the more that use it, the more incentive software developers and their bosses will have to make everything Linux-compatible.

Let’s make one thing clear: I don’t hate Windows. I hate not having control over my own computer, and even more so my data being collected without my wanting.

After using Windows for the better part of half my life, I decided it was finally time to move to Linux. Part of it had to do with my career–I use Linux for all of my programming, and felt that there was no real reason to stick with Windows now that almost all GUI frameworks are cross-platform. Web programming especially is device-agnostic. As long as you have a modern web browser, of which all of the major ones are available for Linux, you don’t have to consider all of the device-specific issues. Another part was privacy.

Windows 10 was seemingly built from the ground-up to spy on you. Installation of the OS asks you whether you wish to disable several aspects of the software designed to collect your data. Checking ‘no’ on all of these doesn’t actually do much of anything. So much of Windows 10 is ingrained with tracking and telemetry that the ‘Ameliorated’ edition (a community project that removes all said issues) has to use several workarounds to prevent the OS from ever phoning home. So much of this and more–I was fed up. Microsoft’s solution to the Linux developer issue was to offer a type of integrated VM. My personal opinion is that they should have gone a new route, and created some kind of Linux distribution that would work with Windows software natively. I guess I expected too much; Windows 11 is looking to be more of the same.

I can’t deny the convienience of using Windows for most tasks. Everything’s built for it. Games especially. Luckily, the Linux community has been presented with a godsend in the form of Valve’s Proton compatibility layer, which uses Wine to help players start their games on Linux.

Linux is actually a perfectly workable operating system, even for those less technically inclined. Usually, you don’t even have to touch the dreaded terminal. However, what makes using Linux a hassle is the general lack of support from software developers who spend most of their time testing for Windows. I can’t blame them. They’re only following the market share. You obviously wouldn’t learn to use rollerskates and assume everything there translates to skateboarding. The real issue is the proprietary software, and frameworks.

At the very core of all consumer computer software, are instructions. The computer is simply told what to do. Linux, like any other OS, can do things based on the instructions given to it. But what happens when the instructions make no sense? The software simply doesn’t run. Any program made to run in Windows fundamentally cannot run on Linux due to differences in the instruction set. A compatibility layer like Wine can solve this, but the optimal outcome is not translation but native compatibility. A few developers are now offering a Linux-compatible version of their software but the vast majority simply do not, either because they don’t care or don’t think the effort will be worth it, or perhaps even both.

I know that Linux will likely never see widespread use as a consumer operating system, but so long as Windows remains the way it currently is–bloated spyware–I cannot in any good conscience use it at home.