this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2026
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Lemmy is so Linux-focused and people are surprisingly opinionated about it.

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Personal and work laptops are Macs. I’m also playing around with a Linux Mini PC as a potential future homelab but I’m already thinking why not get a used Mac mini that will be less of a bother.

Planning to get a small gaming PC with a ready to use Linux on it though, like the Steam Machine. Windows can suck my ass.

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

Work: windows laptop. It's fine.

Home: dual-boot. More windows time than Linux generally (I'm almost afraid to "admit" that on this forum, ha)

[–] horse@feddit.org 2 points 4 hours ago

I use macOS as my daily driver and Windows on my dedicated gaming PC. I have a server running Linux.

I've used Linux as my main desktop OS in the past and liked it (certainly more than Windows), but I just don't enjoy tinkering with my computer in my free time. I spend 8 hours a day messing with computers for work. I don't want to do it when I'm not working too.

I definitely see the value in having full control over every part of the OS, but it also means it takes more effort. Especially since I'm the kind of person who, given the option, will configure every little detail to my liking. With Linux that's basically a never ending project.

[–] NinjaTurtle@feddit.online 5 points 11 hours ago

I use all 3. Mac and Linux on my personal computers. Strong believer in use the tool that works best for the situation.

Battery life was the saling point for the Mac, software is whatever, I try to avoid all locked in features and software. Prefer Linux due to flexibility. Windows has annoyed me with all the crashes, slow performance, and increasing need to dump shit on us. Only use it personally when a game doesn't work on Linux.

At work, its just windows. I use WSL when I need to do some coding outside of a browser. Most of the time its noticeably slower than it would be on Mac or Linux but not my computer, so its whatever.

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 2 points 10 hours ago

Commodore Basic represent!

[–] ExtraMedicated@lemmy.world 65 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

people are surprisingly opinionated about it.

Getting repeatedly burned by soulless multibillion dollar comanies tends to do that to a person.

[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 8 points 16 hours ago

Of course there are.

It also shouldn't be surprising that something like Lemmy, an open-source project originally aimed at tech geeks and still used by a LOT of tech geeks, is filled with Linux users. Linux is an open-source project used by a lot of tech geeks.

[–] tangible@piefed.social 23 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

I'm in the Apple ecosystem, hardware-wise, and pretty happy about it. Not much to discuss, if other people feel differently, that's fine.

[–] franzbroetchen@feddit.org 4 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Me too ✌🏻 I like it, the hardware is rock solid and software-wise I try my best not to get too far into the walled garden. It's a good compromise

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 6 points 17 hours ago

My only complaint Hardware wise is all the extra lengths that Apple go to to make sure that things are less upgradable etc.

[–] Saltarello@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

I've self hosted for a while but never used linux desktop. Just this week I just set up dual boot on my laptop with the intention of using it 90% Linux 10% windows 10. Its been great so far & I'm enjoying the learning curve finding alternatives to what I'm used to (some of which I'm sure I can't run on Linux - Traktor & several other more obscure things). Lots to learn but good fun & the lack of AI horseshit plus the OS not spying feels liberating.

The very first software I installed (Brave) recommended to use terminal which didn't bother me in the slightest but it may be intimidating/offputting for mainstream.

I use windows 11 at work & at a friends who needed help. It's absolutely loathsome, everytime I open anything there's stupid irritating notifications & popups getting in the way when it tries to “help". Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows in our house

[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 5 points 16 hours ago

i love windows 3.1 and 95 does that count?

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 14 hours ago

I went from windows before the millenia to going mac in the aughts to back to windows but im linux now. mac was awesome when they bragged about being larger and more powerful with more ports and was big on the command line and had a server version and such. I honestly should have moved to linux years earlier but I sorta was worried about losing what you get day to day for work and my wife. My wife is still on windows. I have been trying to get her to change but she won't and im finally. that tears it you can come along when you want but im not going to be keeping up with windows stuff anymore unless its work related.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 13 points 20 hours ago (8 children)

Yeah, we can just STFU about it.

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[–] plutopos@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 hours ago

I have gone back and forth between linux and windows over the years. I suspect my laptop would have a better battery life under windows but i'm too lazy to switch again. Hmmm I don't think I count as the Windows user you're looking for actually, but I wanted to share my position

I am also the only person on Lemmt who thinks Windows 11 is good

[–] Pickleideas@lemmy.world 13 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

I think there's plenty of non-Linux people here, you just don't notice them because they have interesting things to talk about instead of their OS testing hobby.

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

interesting things to talk about

I'm here for the Star Trek memes and Dull Men's Club. Interesting things? Pfft!

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 12 points 19 hours ago

Like how to disable today's forced ai or kernel level anticheats being totes ok

[–] DeckPacker@piefed.social 9 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Ey, it's fine to use Windows, no need to insult Linux people though.

You can do some really cool shit with Linux, when it comes to ricing etc. You don't have to like it, but it can be a really cool hobby.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago

If they're not insulting Linux users, they have to deal with copilot shoving its nose into whatever they're working on.

Like, how many days in a row do I have to dismiss the fucking AI prompt asking me if I want to have my data mangled? I'm not sure the actual answer, I just ignore the fucking banner because I can't be assed anymore. I'm sure there's a setting somewhere, but MicroSlop will move and re-enable it again later so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] kobra@piefed.social 3 points 15 hours ago

Apple/macOS is my main 'home' for work, creation, and general use. At work, I also deal with Linux a decent amount running a few k8s clusters. At home, I use a Windows gaming machine but literally only use it for gaming.

[–] Gerudo@lemmy.zip 6 points 18 hours ago (11 children)

I don't want making my computer function, to be a hobby.

I want to get off Windows but every time I have tried to switch to linux, stupid stuff makes it a pain in the ass. This last time, I tried Zorin. I put chrome on it (not my computer) and it just absolutely refused to run. I spent my whole day off just trying to get chrome to not brick the computer. No dice.This is just one instance of at least 4 or 5 times I have legitimately tried to switch, or tried to switch someone else to Linux.

[–] plutopos@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

May I ask why you want to get off Windows? I mean I can imagine a few reasons but I don't like making assumptions

[–] Gerudo@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 hours ago

Your assumptions are probably accurate. As an OS, I don't want tracking, AI, fingerprinting, using my data, age verification blah blah blah. As a company, I don't like much of what they stand for, also enabling and promoting many of the things I mentioned above to become industry standard.

Linux CAN be that for me, and it feels like I can make the swap at some point, but every time I try, and with multiple distros, I run into something that just drives me back.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

you had a problem with chrome??? I was on zorin and used chrome. how did you install it? oh wait not your computer. did you have admin rights? I don't think you could install chrome on a windows machine where you were given a user account that was not admin.

[–] Gerudo@lemmy.zip 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I grabbed it from the little app approved store front thing or whatever that Zorin had. I tried a couple different methods and it would install fine but every time it launched, it would hard freeze the system. No other app or anything installed had a problem.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

yeah but where you on an admin account? because again windows would have issues installing software from a non admin to? You post sounded like your friend made an account for you.

[–] Gerudo@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I did the install from scratch. I'm not here to diagnose why chrome didn't work on an install I did a year ago.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 6 hours ago

ok sorry. the way you said your friends machine it sounded like your friend was running linux and you where trying it out. did not mean to bug.

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Use and support windows systems at work. I'm at a small business that uses some ancient software that is only Windows compatible.

At home am fully switched over to Linux.

[–] HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 3 points 16 hours ago

Oh yeah I'm still using Win10 because tbh I'm too lazy to get into linux

[–] skooma_king@piefed.social 8 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Linux at home. Linux, macOS, and Windows at work.

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[–] homes@piefed.world 6 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

I have an 2025 M4 Pro 16” MacBook Pro, an iPhone, and an Apple Watch. But I also have a 2012 iMac that’s running Fedora

I like both Macs and Linux. I see them both as having their places. macOS is a form of UNIX/BSD after all, so they interoperate particularly well.

[–] UsefulInfoPlz@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

Mac for personal, Linux for work. Been that way for over 20 years. They tried to force us to switch to new windows machines (we’re a linux shop) and i said i’d quit first. They tried to sell the WSL crap… i showed them how my 8 yr old machine ran circles around their new windows laptop. I’m still running linux. Every ounce of my being hates windows. Mac just works. Linux (for me) just works. Linux can be a bit fiddly at times. But once it’s working, it just works.

[–] c0dezer0@programming.dev 7 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Everytime when I see someone has windows problem you can be sure at least a opinated Lemmy user recommend them to uninstall windows and use Linux instead.

This is not always the best solution.

If the machine is from work or school you can't simply install anything you want.

Maybe the user has other programs/hardware that work only on windows and install Linux would cause more problems. I know you could use wine, virtual machines or other tricks but some stuff don't work there.

Sometimes the "just use linux"-advice is posted as a meme. A non tech savy person would not understand this meme and could feel they are not being taken serious.

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[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 8 points 21 hours ago

What is your question? I do use Linux at home, and nothing else. But at work, I have to use Windows or macOS if I want a salary. macOS is better than Windows because it's a unix like lunix.

[–] tunetardis@piefed.ca 2 points 15 hours ago

Mac at home, Mac/Linux at work. Though I suppose Linux has its foot in the door at home also via the Steam Deck. I haven't spent too much time on its desktop though. Mostly, I do stuff on a MB Air at home and a Mac mini at work.

I seldom use Windows anymore. I have an old gaming PC that ran it, but the Steam Deck is generally more powerful, so it's been resting idle for a while now. There are a few people at work who use Windows, and I occasionally have to do some IT stuff for them on those machines and I hate it!

[–] _hyperlinked@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago (6 children)

I use Windows 11, macOS, and Fedora Workstation. I’ve never understood why some people make their OS choice part of their identity.

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[–] mech@feddit.org 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] fistac0rpse@fedia.io 9 points 20 hours ago

TempleOS? nice, me too

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