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Jainil Prajapati
Jainil Prajapati

Posted on • Originally published at jainil.dev

Should I switch to Linux?

The Linux kernel, which Linus Torvalds first made accessible on September 17, 1991, is the foundation of the Linux operating system family, a group of free and open-source Unix-like operating systems. Usually, Linux is distributed in the form of a package. Here are some reasons to choose Linux. If you care about your privacy, switch…

The Linux kernel, which Linus Torvalds first made accessible on September 17, 1991, is the foundation of the Linux operating system family, a group of free and open-source Unix-like operating systems. Usually, Linux is distributed in the form of a package.

Here are some reasons to choose Linux.

If you care about your privacy, switch to Linux instead of Windows.

Linux is completely free!

Yes, the glorious cost of Linux is exactly $0.00.

While purchasing a license for Windows can be extremely expensive.

Linux is safe.

On Windows, you frequently need to install anti-virus software that requires a subscription, but Linux asks, “Anti-what?”

You can change anything!

If there is something in Linux that you don’t like, you can change it or remove it.

Pre-installed Powerful Tools

Linux already has a tone of useful programming and hacking tools installed.

Privacy

Windows always gather user information. nearly everything

Linux doesn’t have a hide-and-seek game because its source code is always accessible.

Portability

A portable OS is Linux. It works with many different computer architectures.

Portability means you can move your code from one system architecture to another easily.

You should use Linux for a number of additional reasons, about which we’ll talk in a later post.

Top comments (14)

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vallerydelexy profile image
vallerydelexy

for dev related work pc, wsl2 is good choice.
unless youre working alone and doesnt live in the real world, yeah you should 100% install linux.

otherwise, stuff happen in real world where there are a lot of stuff that linux doesnt have.

for example, corel draw (illustrator step brothers)
linux doesnt have that.
i know we can use wine to run it.
but at what cost?
lower performance etc etc.

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy 🎖️ • Edited

I live in the real world and have not been offered a Windows laptop at a job for almost a decade. It's always been Mac or Linux

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joolsmcfly profile image
Julien Dephix

I too live in the real world and have been using Linux since 2006. Never missed Windows.
At the time I had to switch from Photoshop/3DS Max to Gimp/Blender and embraced it.
InkScape, Vectr & al. might be a good substitute for Corel Draw. You need to unlearn first and then it’s all good.

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vallerydelexy profile image
vallerydelexy

yeah im a big fan of "open source alternative".
but unfortunately, here in my country, almost all industrial related graphical design work is done and shared between business in .cdr format.

so yeah. thats what holding linux back from being used for main os for large majority of people in my country.

and theres also other things like company spesfics software that is built only for windows.

so yeah, linux is not yet ready for real world ( or my country, to be specific )

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joolsmcfly profile image
Julien Dephix

From what I’ve read you can open .cdr files in InkScape but it’s not guaranteed to look the same. If you convert to SVG prior to importing in InkScape then it should be fine.

Anyway, Linux is more than ready for the real world. The problem is proprietary and Windows only software.

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vallerydelexy profile image
vallerydelexy

no its not yet ready.
from end user's stand point, linux is not a choice for main os.
proprietary & windows only software is a problem that end user will not care about, its a term that used in dev space.

what the user know is, this or that app doesnt work (or doesnt work properly) in linux.

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joolsmcfly profile image
Julien Dephix • Edited

this or that app doesnt work (or doesnt work properly) in linux.

It’s more “is not available” than “doesnt work”.

Corel Draw not being available on Linux does not mean Linux is not production ready. It simply means Corel has not ported their suite to Linux.

Being production ready means it’s stable and can be used for, you guessed it, production work.
Plenty of 2D/3D artists are Linux users. End users (non devs) as you said.
It works for them. It works for my team. It worked for my previous team and the one before that too.
It might not be suited for Corel Draw users but that’s just because of Corel.

I’ve also introduced Ubuntu, Mint and other flavours to non dev users and they felt at home, home being Windows.

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zabdeldjallil profile image
Djilou

The answer is always yes.

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️

While purchasing a license for Windows can be extremely expensive.

To be honest it's quite affordable; I don't think the price is really a good reason to not use windows.

One thing I'd add is that linux, in general, also lets you automate much more stuff than windows. Almost everything is somehow available to simple bash scripts, whereas windows just gives you some hard to use C APIs that you'd have to write your own programs for.

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jainilprajapati profile image
Jainil Prajapati

I don't have money to buy another licence 🥺

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eljayadobe profile image
Eljay-Adobe

The key points I like about Linux are open source (as mentioned a few times), and that there are quite a few different distros to choose from.

And for the particularly bold, a viable option is to fab up your own personal Linux mix.

Another point for Linux (for me) is that it is more-or-less Unix. And I'm a Unix fan. (WSL2 brings that to Windows, although I moreso use Cygwin.)

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volker_schukai profile image
Volker Schukai

Yes, the glorious cost of Linux is exactly $0.00.

This is an often read argument.
As a private person, this may be true, but as a company, the license costs are a relatively small part of the total costs. And Linux also costs, of course. Support, security, training, etc.

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andrewbaisden profile image
Andrew Baisden

Linux developers always have positive things to say about their OS.

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adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett 🌀

Yes