Linux

They didn't want to constantly rely on me to fix every little thing they break instead of learning how to do it themselves.

No wait, that was my reason for not switching them. 😆

For one of my friends its just cause she has a shitload going on and enough problems to deal with without trying to figure out a new way for her computer to work and whatnot

Plus I think art stuff she uses doesn't support linux and she found krita unsuitable for how she likes to work

"I really only use the PC for gaming. Mostly, I play Valorant."

There ya go, you're not getting that working under Linux even if you are a master tinker. 🤷‍♂️ He did eventually switch, but not until long after he stopped playing Valorant regularly.

Some reasons are silly, some are incredibly valid. Sometimes it's just "I don't want to" and that's OK too, lol.

I am very pro Linux but “I like Windows” is valid enough for me. I might ask why but I am not going to act like that reason is invalid.

He's a Windows security researcher. I felt dumb.

Adobe software, autoCAD, and anticheat are the top 3 reasons I usually hear. While there are alternatives for the first two, people who need these specific tools professionally don't really have the choice.

Anticheat for gaming is a big one too. Personally I didn't even consider switching until I finally quit Destiny 2 for good. If the main game someone plays just doesn't work, they're not gonna switch.

Something equivalent to..."I just want to drive the car, not learn about the intricacies of internal combustion".

They are not ready. They took several years to master Windows to just a minimum of use. They don't have the money to pay for help if problems occur. They don't have someone in their network that can help them. They need a specific app to work flawlessly for either job or hobby. There's a lot of good reasons. But there are getting less of them, while Linux is evolving.

"It's not compatible with all games"

"VR on Linux is trash"

"I can't play XYZ game because Linux isn't compatible with anticheat"

"Program XYZ doesn't have a Linux version, I don't want to learn a new program"

"Windows bloat never bothered me, I just ignore the AI/advertisements"

"I'm forced to use Windows because of my job"

"Linux is to complicated/troublesome. I just want something that works"

@VoxAliorum accessibility is not as good as others OS. This is really the most legitimate reason I was given.

#a11y #linux #foss #accessibility

My silly reason is when it comes down to business the ms office suite works the best out of any office suite.

Sure that is because Microsoft spends more time making it incompatible with any other editors than actually developing decent software but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t trust people on the other end of the email to perform even one step of troubleshooting if the document doesn’t open for them on the first try.

The same reason everybody gives when dealing with pretty much anything: "I don't want to learn something new".

I use Mint for my streaming laptop and it works fine - great, even.

My main PC is still on Windows because from what I understand FL Studio needs WINE to run, and I could never get WINE to work on the streaming laptop. That plus 10 years of files and shit that I don't know if they will work or whatever if I did switch over. Pretty sure most or all of my Steam games would work fine, it's just too many unknowns for everything else. I'd be happy to be proven wrong but it's too big of a hassle for now.

TL;DR: Basically gaming compatibility and additional complications, on top of all what is new due to Linux.

I have a brother trying to convince him to use Linux over Windows (or at least dual boot). I could make him use Manjaro (back then when I was using Manjaro myself) on a laptop. That was his first experience and he is a gamer who likes multiplayer games. So the experience was a bit mixed. Later I borrowed him my Steam Deck for 2 weeks and it was a torture to myself, as it was the launch period of the hardware. And then I convinced him to buy Steam Deck instead a laptop.

He still loves the Steam Deck and uses it here and there, especially on vacation. But as lot of primary multiplayer games he play do not work on Linux and because of complications with some non Steam games and lot of applications he had, such as Discord, he went back to Windows on his new PC. Some complications arised because of the Steam Deck and its limitations, but that did not change the fact how games he plays are not working.

But he admits that SteamOS is the better operating system. And he understands why it is what it is, but as said, that does not change the fact he cannot play some of his favorite games on Linux. But that is not all. You have to understand that newcomers who experience LInux for the first time, and switched reluctant without research, don't know what Wayland is, don't know differences between desktop environments and has to deal with compatibility layers on top of all other new Linux stuff for them.

Why your sister felt she has less control is just a feeling, because she know less, therefore can control less. It makes sense from her perspective, so I would not say its entirely wrong.

"Nobody uses it so nobody can help me"

Bitch I'm standing right in front of you, also you can pay people or get free support on the internet. Linux users are way more helpful than the average Windows user...

I can give you my own reason: I don’t have enough energy left besides work and general life to clean up my mess of hoarded data and make the switch. I am reasonably sure that all my hardware would work, about all games I play should work (nothing with crazy anticheats, next to all steam) too. I have two Linux nerds I could contact if needed and I have some prior experience, even though it is about half a life ago.

They use nothing but an iPhone. Not even a tablet. Just the phone.

I don't ask. I just point at Microsofts shit and ask why they haven't switched already.

“I don’t want to”

The common excuse i hear is "I don't want to have to code like in MS-DOS."

People out here think linux is still 40 years ago

I did an update or something and it corrupted the bootloading for Fedora Silverblue. Had to just reinstall everything. Also was a time when the update url or something was broken and I couldn't update. That remains the biggest issue. But it might not be an issue for a professionally maintained distro like Ubuntu that has a company backing it. I feel like it's safe to recommend Ubuntu but not any other distros.

And it's definitely true that the average user has more control on Windows. You can download installers and random zip files with executables and they'll just work. Linux has such a messed up model for executables and libraries that they usually have to be recompiled for every Linux distro unless you use flatpak.

But I think it's mostly the learning curve of getting used to how linux desktops work and their idiosyncrasies that makes it hard for people. And tons of bad advice online telling you to run commands.

Linux actually has lots of GUI apps that can help fix issues and do things in Linux but people keep offering outdated advice about using command line tools and editing brittle config files.

And some things are distro-specific.

Too lazy.

The best reason is the simplest one. People have job where they rely on a piece of software. If you took years to master something like Adobe Photoshop and later switched to linux only for all that to go away and you being forced to use something different like Gimp, you would 100% be pissed off

First my problem was fractional UI resizing making everything stutter and only supporting 60hz. I fixed that by going to KDE (Kubuntu).

Now my problem is that my battery doesn't last for a whole day of lectures - while it does with windows. Also, sleep is ass.

Will still probably fully switch in 2026.

My school requires the installation of office apps like Microsoft access. I can't get Microsoft office apps to run with wine.

I also can't get games from Ubisoft connect to run with wine. I usually try lutris but the games always crash. So I have a virtual windows machine for school work and I have to play all of my games on steam.

Sounds like I don't know how to use wine or wine hates me

I mostly run Linux though.

I "tried" Linux but never got it usable. I initially decided to run a vm on virtualbox to experiment. I tried Debian, arch, kali, Ubuntu and all ended up having an input lag of 1-2 seconds. Windows the system was fine. But I found my self unable to do basic tasks it was no bad. I don't mean I didn't know a command or unwilling to find a foss software equivalent, I mean it took several tries to get the mouse over the X to close a program due to input lag.

OK I then decided to try a docker container with Linux. It got so messed up if I open docker desktop it displays an error that the container was unable to start, if you close the error to edit settings or create a new container it closes docker desktop, no way to fix it.

I was able to get a wsl command line working but all I found it able to do is add 5 steps to everything due to having to start the command, start wsl, log on, elevate permissions etc.

"The file system layout is dumb. What the fuck is /etc? Also I hate using terminal"

miracast doesn't work on linux.

My friend

• loves making and sharing home videos, but his entire workflow is tied to Windows Movie Maker
• his wife insists on using an iPhone and is tech-illiterate, so depends on him having iTunes for syncing stuff
• has bad memories of Linux from the 2000s and has grown comfortable with a copy of Windows that I've debloated