This year, we have seen a huge influx of Linux users (source), but we are seeing more distributions to try and pull people in. So let's talk about why 2020 is the best year in Linux (so far).
Windows 10 vs Linux
Now we need to understand, Windows 10 has nothing Linux can't do, and Linux has many things Windows 10 can't do. This is fantastic. Here is a simple table of basic things.
| Win10 | Linux | |
|---|---|---|
| OEM Support | Yes | Yes |
| Functional default shells | No (!) | Yes |
| Ability to ignore shells | Yes | Yes |
| Graphical Environments | Yes | Yes |
| No GUI Options | No | Yes |
| Easy software management | No (!2) | Yes |
| Easy customization | Yes (!3) | Yes |
| Dedication to low-spec machines | No (!4) | Yes |
| Redistribution allowed | No | Yes |
(!) - While Powershell and CMD exist, CMD is the default, and calling it "functional" is not exactly correct.
(!2) - Partly subjective, will be explained further.
(!3) - While easy, not many, and alternatives aren't easy to work with if they even exist.
(!4) - While ARM support exists, dedication to old machines with very low-spec hardware (below 4GB RAM, 2CPU Cores) is not great.
Not only is this list pretty large, but also doesn't take everything into account. Yet the point is made, the main things Windows 10 users might care about is mentioned. Now with that said, Linux is a better product, but it isn't easy to get/install. Except for System76, Juno Computers, DELL, HP, and others have options to get a form of Linux (usually Ubuntu or derivative) shipped with the machine.
Now, what about Phones? Linux has Android but with how closed and locked down it is, Android is to Linux as macOS is to FreeBSD. Now phone operating systems are mostly shipping with some Linux fork, (i.e. Android), removing Android and iOS, we get KaiOS as the third largest. Now KaiOS is more for non-smartphones, but it is somewhat available for such. Otherwise, we also have Neon Mobile from KDE, Ubuntu Touch from UBPorts, Manjaro has a mobile spin, Purism, LuneOS, Tizen, Sailent, and many many others. Not to mention Volla Phone is making a bit of noise itself. Not to mention we still have old things to fork, like Firefox OS, WebOS, and any desktop Linux distro with a mobile desktop environment, so we can plausibly expect more Linux phones.
Now on the tasty side, more Linux contributors exist. From the people who contribute to small distributions to those starting their own. In the Ubuntu world, we are seeing FOUR new desktop remixes. These being (in order by release) Ubuntu Cinnamon, Ubuntu Deepin/DDE, Ubuntu Unity, and Ubuntu Lumina. Four desktops Linux remixes for Ubuntu, making the total remixes being 11. While this is a little weird to have 11 remixes, note that this is good for Linux, is mostly found in the fact that it promotes options for those who care. Those who find Ubuntu boring can find a functionally similar distribution in terms of a flavor/remix they might prefer. This, depending on the advertising of the remix done by the leads, they could (all by themselves) drag new users to their distribution of Ubuntu, while dragging more people to Linux.
This is a lot so far, but it keeps getting better. We have seen Lenovo coming closer to Linux, by doing an interview with LinuxForEveryone, joined with someone from Fedora (Watch Here). So we also have Lenovo coming to Linux, plus many OEMs for Linux specifically, such as System76, Juno Computers, Tuxedo Computers, and probably a million others. Manjaro has an OEM, elementaryOS has an OEM, Kubuntu has an OEM, Ubuntu has a billion OEMs, Pop!_OS is developed by an OEM, not to mention we might also get more from Lubuntu, other remixes/flavors, other distributions like FerenOS and Linux Mint. We might even get Drauger an OEM for gaming-specific stuff.
Now this is aiming to be as short as I can get this article, as I have to focus on Ubuntu Lumina at least somewhat, but I want to post a lot so I can have fun talking with the community while I work, and maybe inspire someone.
Top comments (79)
There have been some great releases lately, Ubuntu proper and Pop_OS! are both outstanding this 20.04 iteration. Especially Pop and it's tiling extension, I'm really liking it. But don't undercut Windows. I was a 15+ year Linux user and I'm running Windows as my main OS now. With WSL it's pretty good. And if your using Windows Terminal, Bash, zsh, fish..etc can be your default shell with all their linux goodness. It's almost like the perfect mix of all the proprietary stuff we love to hate but all my linuxy goodness also. I'm doing wevdev, playing with Rust and Python seamlessly in Windows..it's cray cray!
You are right, Windows 10 has been improving and WSL isn't half-bad.
The thing is, Linux is still a much better option, for anyone from beginner level to advanced. WSL is good, but a true Linux install (whether on hardware or virtual machine) is still a billion times better. Not to mention Rust and Python support on Linux is not only faster on Linux, but just as seamless. Not to mention Windows 10 still has its bloatware, lagware, adware, and built-in malware issues, plus probably many more vulnerabilities than Linux. Yes, Windows 10 is good, Linux is lightyears ahead in almost every way.
Scratch that, every way.
I guess it just depends what your trying to do. Windows doesn't really have bloatware unless you buy from an OEM. Nothing a fresh install can't fix. But they both have their issues and pluses, guess we could throw MacOS in the mix. In the end I guess it's whatever trips the ole' trigger. Fun to play with all of them non the less.
I actually disagree, a fresh install is still rather bloated in many ways, not to mention the $100 price tag is a huge turn-off for me. Especially when it has no upper-hand against the free products, other than Windows's life support: Adobe. A fresh install still contains adware, which 99% of Linux distributions do not include that.
Bloat takes many forms. How many proprietary file formats are there, for which there exists a nonproprietary alternative that is functionally equivalent and makes much more efficient use of bytes? I think I've already run out of fingers counting them.
On eBay you pay only less than 2 dollar for Windows 10
How is this relevant to the subject of bloatware? Does the $2 Windows 10 disk contain less bloatware than the legit version?
of course not, you buy only a key and get Windows directly from the Microsoft server, but Kai says:
Which bloatware do you mean is in a fresh Windows 10 installation?
Groove Music, Candy Crush, OneDrive, MS 365 Trial, etc. Basically all unwanted MS services.
But you're conveniently ignoring the fact that all flavors of Ubuntu come with an equivalent of each of those. It also comes with an Music player, games, some cloud storage option, Libre Office. Hell, even Ubuntu came with some weird Amazon link for some time.
What you call bloatware is mostly just basic software for basic functionality.
I dunno in the mobile phone context bloatware is pretty unambiguously defined as apps that can't be deleted without rooting the phone. There is value in having an assortment of tools laid out in a freshly installed (or purchased) system. Bloatware is when the system's vendor's opinion of what tool you should use for what purpose has veto power over your own.
Linux being a better option is just a matter of taste. For most, if you don't need WSL then you wouldn't need Linux to begin with. Linux also comes with bloat and ad-ware (remember that Amazon link).
"Linux is lightyears ahead..." That is almost laughable and I use a Ubuntu machine for work and having to install bloated tweaks just to adjust it's UI into something decent (which just coincidentally makes it look more like Win10) just shows that the guys behind these distros haven't been able to copy what MS has almost nailed.
Try using Xming with WSL. You get what ends up feeling like Linux, but with fully featured, Microsoft-developed "Wine".
I will be honest, WSL is for people who cannot duel boot Linux but are forced to use Windows 10 for work with the need to do Linux stuff. WSL was never meant to replace Linux, and is more for Sysadmins at companies who don't want Linux desktop.
WSL is not as cool/usable as deskop Linux (even for work) and is really meant for limited work.
Right. If only there was a way to render windows apps on x or wayland w/o vnc.
Just an FYI, I’m a 15+ year Linux user and switched to windows this year and I’m very happy with it.
My early experience was on MacOS 10.6.8, then Raspian (Jessie, Stretch, and Buster), then Windows 10 with WSL and Ubuntu. I love *nixes, so I mostly ignore the fact that I'm on Windows, and use WSL for most things.
Also, you mean dual. Duel booting is a fun picture to imagine though!
Biggest problem with pop I see is their usage of systemd boot to implement the bootloader. It's just hard to make it work with dual booting windows.
Look more like Windows/Mac with alternative looks if wanted - check
Easier to use - check
Specialize in a type of software - check
Promote web apps - check
Easier installation - check
Preinstalled by manufacturers - check
Looking good, what's your next checklist?
"Look more like Windows/Mac with alternative looks if wanted - check"
Yeah but this ain't something you can do like picking a theme from a menu. Be real.
"Easier to use - check"
Nope. It ain't. Linux has improved a lot in terms of usability but for the most common things you have to resort to a terminal and right there is where you lost any non-dev user.
"specialize in a type of software - check"
Besides software development and setting up servers, what other use?
"Promote web apps - check"
Still a loooooooooooooooooooooong way from Windows and even Mac.
"Easier installation - check"
This has actually improved a lot in recent years. I remember how Ubuntu and Mint could just freeze mid installation on you.
Posts like these are the reason why i have mixed feelings if i hear someone loves linux. Linux enthusiast have such narrow views on things, they only see the advantage of linux over windows and try to trash talk windows as much as possible, sometimes to the point where they get really childish. There are numerous advantages of windows over linux, as well as the other way around. Why can't you just say both operating systems have their advantages, but that you like linux more? You just give opinions, not covered by any arguments.
Windows is far easier to use than linux for none technical users, you have a gui for everything and many things are explained by Windows Tipps. In linux you have to change config files and so on, this is not something my parents could do without detailed steps (which i also have to use for many things in linux). There are so many things, which windows does for you automatically, which you have to take care of in linux yourself.
Of course Linux is much better in Enterprise Server Environment and also in embedded hardware, because it is made for it. Still there are many many use cases, where you have to get Windows server to run specific servers, and the software manufacturers made this decision for a reason. Windows is also not bad for server environments, or how would you explain that most enterprise companies still rely on microsoft active directory, microsoft exchange, ...
Saying WSL is not like a real linux installation without giving any arguments for it is also pretty pointless. It is a full linux installation with a native kernel (since wsl2), and it works just like a linux installation. What is the difference?
Dedication to low level hardware? This is also only relevant for a very small group of users, windows still runs fine on like 10-15 years old decent hardware. Of course it feels sluggish then, but i wouldn't want to use linux on weak hardware as well. If you want to that's fine, but this is not a strong argument for linux.
Microsoft has done so much in the recent years, just look at vscode, all the new features that github has gotten since the acquisition, wsl. I don't get why people still hate on microsoft so much. Please revisit your argumentation. Also if linux is so much better, why is it not able to take more of the market?
There are minimalist linuces that run fine on 10-15+ year old low-end hardware. It will feel sluggish to access the modern web, but most of your offline activities will not.
As for hating on Microsoft, I for one don't. It isn't like 20 years ago when MS was the hegemonic operating system. In web search, Microsoft's Bing is clearly the underdog. That's why I preferentially use Bing for image search. I use DuckDuckGo for general web searches. They do now have their own image search, but it seems to me to be still somewhat underdeveloped, so I use Bing Images because it's the underdog relative to Google Images. Same for Microsoft Translate (formerly Bing Translate) for translations. Of the Five Private Sector Eyes (the so-called Tech Giants), Amazon is the one I hate most passionately; Microsoft perhaps the least.
I just checked the OPs other articles, just to see the proof of his argument. Noticed that the content is nothing but anti windows and trashtalk. Kind of one reason why I don't hang out much with Linux community. The type of trashtalking in such articles goes on may even violate "code of conduct" on devto IMO.
Oh did you?-
I will not be responding to this as this has no real evidence (and often completely false and idiotic claims), something you still boiled me alive for IN THIS VERY COMMENT. I mean I could mention EVERYTHING wrong with this comment, but in all honesty, the 3 minutes it took to read/understand this comment was enough of a time-waster.
Gotta say this is Not really a mature behaviour, just saying you should revisit your thinking about microsoft/Windows, was Not trying to offend you. If i did, im really sorry
Its always great to see wider adoption of Linux, however your statement "Windows 10 has nothing Linux can't do" is blatantly untrue and you know it. If it were so, I and many others wouldn't need to dual boot.
As much as I'm very much an avid Linux user and prefer Linux over windows, I do need to point out that Windows server 2016 and 2019 do allow for no gui with PowerShell installs. They are windows 10 1607 and windows 10 1809 respectively. (My last contact had me being a Windows server admin so I had to learn this information)
I do not count Windows server, and I never saw the option so I am unable to say it is there.
Yea, the server versions of windows 10 only offer the no gui installs. But like anything MS does, they do make it annoying to find the documentation on it. Another reason I prefer Linux over windows. so much easier to access documentation and have more control to do stuff without shelling out $800 to $1200 USD (per licence).
I think for a big company is it okay to use windows server but not for small one or for a webspace provider
Your comparison is biased. All you are doing is picking things you think Linux is good at and ignore and omit everything Windows is good at.
The things that Windows is better than Linux at are precisely the things that are most aggressively monetized. Those things work better on Windows (or don't work at all on Linux) for intellectual property reasons and no other reason. Those who think in terms of authorial rights (think "creative class") invariably despise the very concept of open source software, as well they should. Their preferred platform tends to be Apple products, as they see Apple's "gated community" approach as a feature rather than (as I view it) a bug. A "tech" company maybe even more devoted than Apple to the creative community is Adobe. I remember a few years ago Adobe made a decision that 11.2 was the highest version of Flash Player that was to be made available to anyone who was using both an open source browser and an open source operating system. Firefox on Windows? Advance to latest version. Google Chrome (NOT Chromium) on Linux? Same, good to go. Firefox or Chromium on Linux? No soup for you. Likewise the video card manufacturers, both of them, are actively working against open source, although I get the sense that the Linux community largely considers AMD the lesser evil, but I don't follow hardware issues much. I'm definitely a Linux evangelist, but there are some categories of users to whom I would definitely recommend Windows or Mac over Linux. Mainly the ones who think of their PC as a home entertainment appliance.
Other than Windows 10 having more support for Adobe, there is not one thing Windows 10 does that Linux doesn't do better. Even most manufacturers support Linux, and there are Linux only manufacturers. Try to name the things Windows does better other than Gaming or Adobe support (as those are what keep Windows 10 alive, and even then Linux gaming is becoming better by the week)
Office products. Libre office is great, but functionality wise it can't hang with MS Office. But on the other hand, I would predict within the next 5 years MS office will be on linux anyway. Teams is there, they are working on onedrive... it's only a matter of time.
Besides Adobe, which I hate, there are the Affinity products also. Inkscape and Gimp again are good but can't hang.
Then there is all the financial software...quickbooks being a biggy, it does have a cloud version though.
There are also way more native apps on Windows from the bigger players ...of course many of them are just becoming electron apps and will eventually be on both someday.
LibreOffice is almost on par with MS Office, and like you said it wouldn't surprise me if MS Office came to Linux, they plan to port MS Edge to Linux so MS Office isn't a long shot. Affinity is good, and I 100% agree with GIMP and Inkscape are not quite ready to pick on Adobe, but they are solid alternatives. I feel like with financial software, there are good cloud/online options so in my opinion not an issue. With the more native apps for Windows becoming Electron apps, even though I hate Electron, I still think the switch to it will be beneficial.
Interesting times indeed.... I did forget on other thing.. There is nothing that matched full blown Visual Studio for devs.. it's crazy good. But may come to the Linux side someday.
Edge will be an easy port, it's chromium. Office is a behemoth.
Another interesting thing, there is a push from Microsoft to rewrite a lot of their low level stuff in Rust..
Yeah, crazy times. I will just continue to enjoy both.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
Sorry but LibreOffice is no where near on par with MS Office. Libre Office looks, feels, and performs like a ten year old MS Office. Sometimes you just have to look at things objectively. MS office is a superior product.
“There is not one thing Windows 10 does that Linux doesn’t do better.” Lol.
It’s pretty clear you have very little/narrow professional experience in the software industry by saying ignorant things like that.
I did want to hear you reply with something meaningful, but the fact that you won’t even admit your bullshit is biased just means you have zero integrity.
You're totally right. It feels amazing when using Linux as your daily OS. With more time using it, you start getting into it and understanding how that works. That also includes your freedom, you can find a distro that fits your needs perfectly. Even for me...
Every year is great for Linux! We always get something exciting by developers. But unfortunately that still isn't enough to beat Windows. To do that, Linux needs stability. Additionally, there is not so many of Linux developers, and they also all work on different things. And I think the main problem is diversity here... If more people was polishing packages everyone uses, the situation would be much better. Now every user guaranteed to face glitches, and after that I doubt he will stay on Linux. Thought, that's just the nature of open source! Everyone works on things they want.
I want you to elaborate on "Linux needs stability".
On the argument that there are too many distributions, understand I am a Darwinist, meaning I believe that only the strongest survive. Yes, there are a lot of distributions, but some will still be bigger than the others. Yes, open-source is about working together, doing what you want, etc. the laws of Darwin and evolution still apply.
You also mention glitches on Linux, which if glitches are an issue, Windows 10 would cease to exist. So would pretty much the existence of computers. Linux is more stable and less glitchy/vulnerable than Windows 10 (if we are successfully guestimating vulnerabilities in Windows 10).
Well, maybe you're right. I just realized I had no issues on my Fedora laptop recently! Well, maybe with software/games availability, that's why I still need Windows 10 partition installed alongside. Fortunately, there is a Proton thing, so hopefully the problem with games availability will soon disappear.
I'm an anti-Darwinist, at least in the social sense, but I see more similarities than differences between the many Linux distros. In virtually any distro, if you do a web search of your error message, the odds are very, very good that you will find a solution to whatever your problem is, usually without the need even to interact with anyone in the community. Because planned obsolescence (not to be confused with deprecation) is not a major part of open source software development, solutions a decade old or more often still work.
My recent experience with LibreOffice is that it can run the main forms of documents fine (DOC DOCX and ODF). However I can see Skype not being as good on Linux, but it does run on Linux natively at least.
Fair, but I think with the work by Canonical, the largest company in Linux, and Red Hat who is owned by IBM, It won't be too long before we see more clients like that make the switch. Zoom and Skype (plain) are both on Linux, SfB seems to not be far away. Plus a quick VM or partition isn't too hard to make, especially using QEMU or GNOME-Boxes which are rather light weight.
Teams works fine (and is native), so does Zoom. Discord and Slack are also very popular and native. I used all regularly on Pop. Just an FYI if it is valuable.
Linux rocks... most of the time. I use Fedora on my dev machine in a VM and centos on servers. But the reasons why I keep using Windows on bare metal and Linux in VM is driver support. Until Linux gets its shit together and offers good driver support for everything from wifi to graphics and anything in between...I will never be able to use it on bare metal... oh...and office and CAD / 3d printing software compatibility is also a real issue for Linux. For short, Linux is the best option for developers, but still isn't an option for any other regular user. And I am not sure if it will ever be...
Lack of availability of Linux drivers is a shortcoming of peripheral manufacturers, not the Linux community, although it is admittedly another reason Linux won't meet everyone's needs.
I like how being a Linux user forces me to shop more carefully for peripherals. I also like how it encourages me to spend my money with vendors who are less militant about their trade secrets than those vendors whose posture toward open source (reverse engineered let alone vendor-supplied) drivers is overt hostility. I decided on a Brother laser printer and a Qualcomm Atheros wi-fi adapter on that basis. It's good economics.
Linux is good for the average user, most of my work is trying to make Linux nicer for the user and many others do the same.
I love Linux. I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 running Arch, 2 Ubuntu boxes, and a debian home server. That being said, driver and laptop support needs to improve before widespread adoption.
My first Linux experience was a nightmare. I installed an LTS Ubuntu on a brand new Dell XPS 15 my first day of work. Dell is supposed to have pretty good Linux compatability so I thought it would be easy. Yet, wifi didn't work, volume and brightness controls didn't work, and the graphic card drained the battery really fast. I had never used Linux except for SSH'ing into a server. So my entire first day of work was wasted tacking down a USB ethernet adapter, stringing an ethernet cord across the office, then learning how to backport a wifi driver on an OS I had never really used before. Took me a week to get the brightness and volume controls to work. I was able to figure it out, but I could not imagine a normal PC user figuring that out on their own
Sometimes tech-savvy, some are people who just want to play games. Plus the regular user will still grasp Linux just fine without much need for help. The average user writes documents, browses the internet, and maybe plays a couple games. Linux does that perfectly fine, without need of knowing everything ever.
Dear he is being a troll. Don't feed the trolls.
Fair enough, thank you
These kind of articles are just funny. It remembers me of linux users 20 years ago.
Most of the reasons and arguments are just opinions. "I prefer this one just because". And most are just half truths. No, that list ain't "large" by any means. Linux has almost a dozen different software managing systems. It ain't easy. It's a friggin mess. At least whatever you install, however you install it on windows, it always shows in the app list with a uninstall button. Dozens of different Ubuntu distros aren't exactly a good thing. That's called fragmentation is, now that you mention Android, it's one of it's biggest problems.
The future is convergence. Being able to use any app on whatever platform.
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