6 ms·

Windows 10 makes me want to move to Linux more than ever. I'm not some FOSS crusader, but I would like an operating system that doesn't spy on me, doesn't put a

Windows 10 makes me want to move to Linux more than ever. I'm not some FOSS crusader, but I would like an operating system that doesn't spy on me, doesn't put ads in my desktop UI, and doesn't force people into an upgrade to do so.

dublinben 10y ago
It sounds to me like you want to take control of your computer, which basically makes you a FOSS crusader. Only Free Software puts you in control that way.
nol13 10y ago
Do it, don't look back. (and I'll take this opportunity to thank everyone who works on FOSS software, paid or otherwise)
- monochromatic 10y ago
  It's been years since I've futzed around with Linux... it's a little daunting. I need to be able to exchange Word documents with clients, and I worry about formatting errors and the like showing up if I'm creating those documents in LibreOffice. Also, I do like to play the occasional video game. Really, what I want is Windows 7 that isn't locked to last-generation hardware and that isn't coming up on EOL. It wasn't FOSS, but it worked very well for what I needed.
  - coldpie 10y ago
    The company I work for, CodeWeavers, sells a commercial version of Wine called CrossOver for exactly that use case. We're a little behind the current versions of Office; 2013 doesn't work very well yet, but old versions work excellently and we're working hard on 2013.
    - monochromatic 10y ago
      Interesting, I'll look into that. (I use 2010 anyway, so that's no issue.)
    - andrei_says_ 10y ago
      How's Adobe CS support?
      - coldpie 10y ago
        Good question, I don't know. I remember hearing something just this morning about CS5 working well, but I don't know if that was with some internal hacks or with our public product. We offer a free trial if you'd like to try it out.
  - walterbell 10y ago
    Windows 7 reportedly "works" on current hardware, with a beta driver for Intel Kaby Lake GPU.
  - nol13 10y ago
    I mean, I certainly can't recommend to everyone in the world in good faith to 100% ditch Windows, games/business software, whatever. The world is what it is, and other than the dark patterns and privacy issues Windows is actually pretty solid these days. I'm slowly coming to grips with the fact that privacy is dead and there's nothing I can do about it, but dark patterns in my desktop OS is a pretty big issue for me, and using software that has my best interests in mind is a very refreshing experience. (plus I'm writing code all day that will run on Linux anyway..)
  - hedora 10y ago
    Try Steam for Linux. It runs about half the games in my library (and runs them well with a 2016 radeon gpu + FOSS hardware drivers)
jdeeny 10y ago
Linux desktop is at a pretty nice place right now, you should at least give it a try.
- monochromatic 10y ago
  Is there a consensus on a good distro for this use case?
  - cmdrfred 10y ago
    I like Debian myself.
  - cr0sh 10y ago
    Used to be the goto distro for those who just wanted a "plug-n-go" experience was Ubuntu. Unfortunately, Ubuntu has lost their minds when it comes to the desktop interface. But - you may like it. Try it out (live thumbdrive or such). It's possible to go back to the "old" interface if you want, and it doesn't take much effort - but may be more than you really want to play with. The other distro I have heard great reviews on that still has a sane interface is Linux Mint - again, try it before you "buy" it. Virtually every distro except for a few niche ones have Live boot versions, that will allow you to try them out on your system, get a feel for what works, what doesn't (hardware and software-wise), and how the overall system "feels" - before committing to an install. Your other option (to handle your use cases) might be to keep a windows partition (or on a separate drive) around and use that. Another option would be to use Microsoft's online Office360 suite (I think that's what it is called?). Or run VirtualBox on the Linux system, and run a version of Windows inside that. Any or all of these could be done together, in addition to using Crossover and/or Wine. You have a ton of choices here. Also - for your documents - you say you are worried about formatting when they go to the client - does the client need to be able to edit them? If not, then dumping them out as a PDF might be able to work for you, if they'll accept PDF copies vs Word docs. The other thing to do would be to take a few of your old copies of docs you have sent to clients, and run them thru LibreOffice or something - see what they look like when you import them, then export them back out to a new file in the various Office formats, and load them back up in Word and see what it looks like. You might be surprised at what you find (you might be disappointed as well). This is all something you can try with the Live boot versions of Linux distros. Oh - and games - besides using Crossover/Wine - there are a ton of native games available, plus plenty of "old-school" conversions and ports (some quite fun and amazing - some of the Doom/Doom 2 ports are pretty amazing). Also, there are a ton of Steam games on Linux available, too. If all you do is casual gaming, and don't care about always running the latest AAA shooter/fps/mmorpg or such - you'll usually be able to find something worthwhile and fun to play.
ouid 10y ago
I just wish people would stop calling these things upgrades.
kakarot 10y ago
> I'm not some FOSS crusader Give it time, friend. In another ten years you may find yourself exactly that. FOSS is the only way out of this hole we've dug for ourselves.

dublinben 10y ago

It sounds to me like you want to take control of your computer, which basically makes you a FOSS crusader. Only Free Software puts you in control that way.

nol13 10y ago

Do it, don't look back. (and I'll take this opportunity to thank everyone who works on FOSS software, paid or otherwise)

monochromatic 10y ago
It's been years since I've futzed around with Linux... it's a little daunting. I need to be able to exchange Word documents with clients, and I worry about formatting errors and the like showing up if I'm creating those documents in LibreOffice. Also, I do like to play the occasional video game. Really, what I want is Windows 7 that isn't locked to last-generation hardware and that isn't coming up on EOL. It wasn't FOSS, but it worked very well for what I needed.
- coldpie 10y ago
  The company I work for, CodeWeavers, sells a commercial version of Wine called CrossOver for exactly that use case. We're a little behind the current versions of Office; 2013 doesn't work very well yet, but old versions work excellently and we're working hard on 2013.
  - monochromatic 10y ago
    Interesting, I'll look into that. (I use 2010 anyway, so that's no issue.)
  - andrei_says_ 10y ago
    How's Adobe CS support?
    - coldpie 10y ago
      Good question, I don't know. I remember hearing something just this morning about CS5 working well, but I don't know if that was with some internal hacks or with our public product. We offer a free trial if you'd like to try it out.
- walterbell 10y ago
  Windows 7 reportedly "works" on current hardware, with a beta driver for Intel Kaby Lake GPU.
- nol13 10y ago
  I mean, I certainly can't recommend to everyone in the world in good faith to 100% ditch Windows, games/business software, whatever. The world is what it is, and other than the dark patterns and privacy issues Windows is actually pretty solid these days. I'm slowly coming to grips with the fact that privacy is dead and there's nothing I can do about it, but dark patterns in my desktop OS is a pretty big issue for me, and using software that has my best interests in mind is a very refreshing experience. (plus I'm writing code all day that will run on Linux anyway..)
- hedora 10y ago
  Try Steam for Linux. It runs about half the games in my library (and runs them well with a 2016 radeon gpu + FOSS hardware drivers)

jdeeny 10y ago

Linux desktop is at a pretty nice place right now, you should at least give it a try.

monochromatic 10y ago
Is there a consensus on a good distro for this use case?
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  I like Debian myself.
- cr0sh 10y ago
  Used to be the goto distro for those who just wanted a "plug-n-go" experience was Ubuntu. Unfortunately, Ubuntu has lost their minds when it comes to the desktop interface. But - you may like it. Try it out (live thumbdrive or such). It's possible to go back to the "old" interface if you want, and it doesn't take much effort - but may be more than you really want to play with. The other distro I have heard great reviews on that still has a sane interface is Linux Mint - again, try it before you "buy" it. Virtually every distro except for a few niche ones have Live boot versions, that will allow you to try them out on your system, get a feel for what works, what doesn't (hardware and software-wise), and how the overall system "feels" - before committing to an install. Your other option (to handle your use cases) might be to keep a windows partition (or on a separate drive) around and use that. Another option would be to use Microsoft's online Office360 suite (I think that's what it is called?). Or run VirtualBox on the Linux system, and run a version of Windows inside that. Any or all of these could be done together, in addition to using Crossover and/or Wine. You have a ton of choices here. Also - for your documents - you say you are worried about formatting when they go to the client - does the client need to be able to edit them? If not, then dumping them out as a PDF might be able to work for you, if they'll accept PDF copies vs Word docs. The other thing to do would be to take a few of your old copies of docs you have sent to clients, and run them thru LibreOffice or something - see what they look like when you import them, then export them back out to a new file in the various Office formats, and load them back up in Word and see what it looks like. You might be surprised at what you find (you might be disappointed as well). This is all something you can try with the Live boot versions of Linux distros. Oh - and games - besides using Crossover/Wine - there are a ton of native games available, plus plenty of "old-school" conversions and ports (some quite fun and amazing - some of the Doom/Doom 2 ports are pretty amazing). Also, there are a ton of Steam games on Linux available, too. If all you do is casual gaming, and don't care about always running the latest AAA shooter/fps/mmorpg or such - you'll usually be able to find something worthwhile and fun to play.

ouid 10y ago

I just wish people would stop calling these things upgrades.

kakarot 10y ago

> I'm not some FOSS crusader Give it time, friend. In another ten years you may find yourself exactly that. FOSS is the only way out of this hole we've dug for ourselves.