Looking back at my transition from Windows to Linux

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Microsoft Office & File-Format Lock-In

  • Many see Office, not Windows, as the real barrier to Linux: users mainly need Word/Excel/PowerPoint and must interoperate perfectly with partners.
  • Proprietary formats are described as a “roach motel”: data goes in but can’t leave with full fidelity; XML standardization hasn’t fixed this in practice.
  • Google Docs is sufficient for some, but many orgs block it for policy/security reasons. Compatibility between Office and G Suite (or others) is seen as a hard non‑negotiable.
  • LibreOffice is viewed as “good enough” for 80–90% of everyday tasks, but inadequate for advanced Excel usage and fragile on complex .docx/.xlsx; UI quality and annoyances are recurring complaints.
  • OnlyOffice and WPS are cited as having better MS compatibility; browser Office 365 is considered usable but feature‑limited and buggy by some.

Gaming on Linux

  • Big progress via Steam/Proton; many single‑player titles “just work,” and some users now game almost entirely on Linux.
  • Online games with invasive anti‑cheat (Battlefield, Call of Duty, Fortnite, some racing sims) remain major holdouts; this is framed as a chicken‑and‑egg problem with anti‑cheat vendors and Linux support.
  • Debate over kernel‑level anti‑cheat: some refuse it on security/privacy grounds; others prioritize stopping cheaters and are willing to trust game vendors.
  • Workarounds include dual‑booting, Windows VMs with GPU passthrough, or keeping a separate Windows box; opinions vary on whether this is acceptable overhead.

Linux Desktop Usability & Reliability

  • Several commenters report that Linux desktops have become significantly smoother in the last 5–10 years, often feeling more stable and fixable than Windows/macOS once set up.
  • Pain points: Bluetooth quirks, trackpad behavior and gestures, battery management, swap/Out‑Of‑Memory behavior, occasional crashes or hangs under memory pressure, and hardware acceleration issues (e.g., YouTube playback).
  • Some argue these can be mitigated with tuning (swap settings, earlyoom) or careful hardware choices (ThinkPads, AMD GPUs, OEMs like System76/Lenovo with Linux preinstalled). Others see this need for tuning as disqualifying for average users.
  • ChromeOS/Chromebooks and ChromeOS Flex are highlighted as the only truly mass‑market “Linux desktop” that hides complexity, especially for older or nontechnical users.

Freedom, Surveillance, and Corporate Control

  • A strong thread links migration to Linux with concerns about privacy, telemetry, cloud lock‑in, and dark patterns in Windows 10/11 and mainstream software.
  • Some see “RMS‑style freedom” as increasingly vindicated; others consider the freedom rhetoric overwrought but agree that vendors are growing more hostile to user control.
  • GitHub and VS Code are mentioned as extending similar surveillance/lock‑in dynamics into the open‑source ecosystem.

Adoption Barriers & Ecosystem Issues

  • OEM “Windows tax” and difficulty buying machines without Windows remain structural barriers.
  • For many, work constraints (Citrix, Adobe Creative Suite, advanced Office workflows) force retention of at least one Windows machine or VM.
  • Cross‑distro app distribution, proprietary software support, and economic incentives for maintaining unglamorous parts of the stack are seen as unresolved systemic problems.