Windows 10 Alternative

[Mark_BX25D]

After I switched to Linux the simulator ran three times as fast compared to windoze. Same source code, same compiler, very little screen I/O. Don't know where Gates was wasting all the processor time.

I strongly suspect that the biggest reason MS is so secretive about their code, even for obsolete versions like Win95, is that they don't want anyone to know what a kluge it is. I'm sure any good non-MS programmers would be shocked at the incompetence if they could ever get a look at their code.

A lot of people seem to think that Gates is some kind of computer genius. He's not. He's a marketing genius, and a very ruthless marketing genius.

 

[Scm]

WINE (not, "Wine") runs SOME Windows apps on Linux. Some run reasonably well, some run poorly, and some run not at all.



Yes, if you don't mind the horrible interface on Libre.

As much as I hate Windoze, and have been trying to make the switch for about two decades now, the Linux community is still fixated on being not Windows, and has paid very little attention to usability.

Yes, can force yourself to get basic things done, but I do far too much on Excel & Word to have the time to put up with LibreOffice.


But if you are going to dive in, before you chose a distro, here's the most important tip - check the support community. As two examples, Mint has an excellent community. Many of the users are sysadmins and really know their stuff, and are willing to take the time to help newbies.

Last time I tried it, PCLOS was horrible. Most there didn't really know much, but they were happy to either share their ignorance (giving very bad advice) or to demonstrate their superiority. For example, one newbie posted about a video problem. He explained that he was completely new to Linux and didn't know anything. He put effort into explaining the details of his hardware and the problem he was seeing, and he was completely lost.

The very first response to that post? Here it is, in it's entirety: "Edit your video.conf".

That's it.

And that was typical of that forum.

Choose well, and don't be bamboozled by the bells and whistles. Spend some time in the support forums and see what kind of help you are going to get.

Lots of people and I switched to Linux for the privacy aspect. I grew tired of sharing my life with a major corp (Google, Apple, Microsoft) I found its hard to find a more popular dstro that respects privacy the same as the more independent ones.

First thing to check is their sponsor or partner page. Who has their tentacles in there? Who do they share YOUR data with? If you have to click "agree" to use your computer, know what you are agreeing to.

The second thing is finding a distro that is actively trying to avoid systemd (tentacles).

Terrible support is really just "the linux way" and I'm ok with that for what I get (better privacy)

 

[Hugo Habicht]

A lot of people seem to think that Gates is some kind of computer genius. He's not. He's a marketing genius, and a very ruthless marketing genius.

100% correct.

And he was extremely lucky that IBM chose the DOS operating system for their, as they believed, short lived personal computers. An operating system that he actually copied pretty much 1:1 from Digital Researchs CP/M operating system. He only added a (poor) disk interface and changed one register in one system call.

 

[xrocketengineer]

Well, I am not trying to get away from Windows but I want to be able to have other choices. Particularly with all the continuing issues with Windows 11 like this latest issue. I have played with Linux on and off over the years starting with the Mandrake distribution years ago that at the time was very good. It allowed splitting a hard drive with Windows easily without screwing up Windows. After that, all the distributions I tried, Suse, RedHat, PCLinux, Netrunner Linux, etc. had limitations with available apps and I found them to be not very Windows friendly.
Now, what I am looking for is a Windows replacement for several low power computers that I had given away to my relatives over the years and were running Windows 10 poorly. This is for them to use as a backup to their current Windows 11 main computer. It has to be something that is usable in those low power computers and similar enough to the "look and feel" of Windows so that the users do not have a steep learning curve. I think I have found it with MX Linux.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

In my opinion the main problem with Linux is that it is open source. So everybody takes a copy and modifies it to suit their requirements.

If there would be only one Linux distribution, microsoft would be long gone. I suspect that they actually support all those splinter Linux systems actively for that reason.

I use Debian, native, not a derivative, because I think it is the biggest distribution.

Wrt to application programs I believe everything is there in every major distribution. If not, you can always build it yourself from source. Not easy, initially, I admit that freely.

Somebody mentioned the LibreOffice user interface being so bad. I don't know, I only use LibreOffice Calc occasionally and I find it way better than the microsoft equivalent.

For text processing I use TEX, wysiwyg program output always looks amateur like to me which is easily explained by typesetting being a three year training course (in Europe), so nobody can expect to create a professional looking document by using software like word of LibreOffice.

 

[Scm]

In my opinion the main problem with Linux is that it is open source. So everybody takes a copy and modifies it to suit their requirements.

That's its best feature.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

That's its best feature.

Exactly. If someone's wants only one choice they can pick one distribution and stay with it. Try Slackware and you'll quickly understand why Ubuntu exists.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

That's its best feature.

I know.

But it is also the biggest problem.
This is madness: List of Linux distributions
The wheel reinvented hundreds of times.

As I said: if there would be only one distribution there would be no microsoft any more. And possibly no apple either.

 

[sagor]

I too use LibreOffice, mostly the Calc for spreadsheets on both Windows and Linux. But I also do presentations (Powerpoint/Impress) and word processor (Writer). I regularly import/export older versions of Excel with Libreoffice Calc when on Windows. Libreoffice is fairly compatible with the MS Office products.
Only issue I've had with Calc is importing Macros from Excel, most of them do work, but a few need re-writing, especially the more complicated ones.
I've basically switched over to Calc for all my spreadsheets now, forget about Excel... LibreOffice is free and very powerful on both OS platforms I have. (It supports Mac OS as well)

 

[johnjk]

I switched my FIL to Ubuntu years ago. He was a chronic yes/ok clicker. Worked great. Anything he downloaded went to trash and he had no rights to install or execute anything. The only thing he could do was preview photos from his friends which made him happy. Made me happy since I was not reloading Windows 2x a week due to viruses. Upgraded him to an iMac when the old Dell PC died. My old desktop is Windows 7. She sits unplugged in a corner. Need to validate I have all the pictures off and then use the HDD for target practice. Now for daily use, I use an iMac. Yes I still run AV software and VPN on it. Does everything I ask. If I need portable I have a Samsung tablet that is my long haul flight companion I use.