I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Distro recommendations & newcomer experience

  • Many commenters stress starting with mainstream, stable distros: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, Debian (and sometimes Kubuntu). Main reasons: good defaults, hardware support, and huge pools of guides and Q&A.
  • Pop!_OS is praised as an Ubuntu-based “polished desktop” with built‑in Nvidia drivers and tiling support, good for desktops and laptops but not servers.
  • Arch-based distros (CachyOS, EndeavourOS, Artix, Manjaro) are repeatedly called out as bad first choices: rolling releases, complex installers (bootloader/DE choices), and an expectation that users read wikis and news before updating. Some call it “borderline unethical” to recommend them to beginners.
  • Immutable/atomic spins (Bazzite, Bluefin, Aurora, Fedora Silverblue) get strong endorsements for “just works” updates and gaming setups, especially for non‑technical users and relatives.
  • Void Linux gets a minority but strong defense as fast and very stable, with the suggestion that the article’s author probably missed enabling the non‑free repo.

Gaming on Linux

  • Consensus: single‑player and many non–kernel‑anticheat multiplayer titles work well via Steam + Proton; ProtonDB and “areweanticheatyet” are recommended for checks.
  • Roughly “80% of Steam” compatibility is cited; the missing ~20% is said to be dominated by competitive online games with kernel‑level anti‑cheat that simply won’t run.
  • Performance can be as good or better than Windows on some hardware (especially AMD and Steam Deck), but users still keep a Windows box or partition for a handful of problem titles (e.g., some Battlefield/Borderlands releases).
  • Bazzite and other gaming‑focused distros are recommended to get a working stack with minimal manual tuning.

Creative / professional software gaps

  • Major blockers for many: Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop, Capture One, high‑end DAWs (Ableton, Cubase, some VST ecosystems), CAD/CAM (Autodesk/Fusion 360), Unreal Engine.
  • Darktable/Ansel, Krita, Inkscape, Kdenlive, Reaper, Bitwig, Surge, Cardinal, etc. are suggested alternatives, but several photographers and audio folks state they tried everything and still can’t match their Windows/macOS tools or plugins.
  • Running DAWs and plugins through Wine/yabridge/VMs is described as possible but fragile: JUCE changes breaking Wine, latency problems, random crashes, and hardware (audio interfaces) that lack good Linux drivers. Many keep at least one Windows or Mac machine purely for music or photo work.

Office, work tools & enterprise lock‑in

  • Microsoft Office (especially Excel and PowerPoint) remains a key obstacle; LibreOffice/OnlyOffice work for light use but not for complex documents, advanced Excel features, realtime collaboration, or Visio.
  • Workarounds mentioned:
    • Web versions of Office (mixed feelings: often “good enough”, but not feature‑complete).
    • Dual‑boot, VMs, Wine/Proton, WinApps/Winboat.
  • Several note whole industries (healthcare EMRs, tax/compliance, legal, specialized engineering tools) are deeply tied to Windows‑only software, certification, and vendor support. For these users, switching desktops is seen as negative ROI regardless of Linux’s quality.

Hardware, laptops & UX

  • Multiple people praise Linux-first vendors (System76, Framework, Starlabs, Universal Blue devices) and business laptops (ThinkPad, EliteBook, Latitude) as solid bases.
  • Others struggle with: sleep/hibernate unreliability, external monitor wake issues, and worse battery life vs macOS or recent ARM Windows laptops. Some avoid suspend entirely and just reboot.
  • MacBooks are widely regarded as unmatched for hardware polish (battery, trackpad, screen), though Asahi Linux is still limited to older Apple silicon and not yet turnkey; many run Linux in VMs on Macs instead.
  • Trackpad experience is a recurring complaint on Linux; some mitigate this with keyboard‑driven tiling WMs or specific compositors (e.g., Niri) that do better gestures.

Stability, updates & rolling vs stable

  • Multiple anecdotes of Arch/Endeavour/CachyOS upgrades breaking Nvidia drivers or even bootloaders; some insist users must read Arch news before every update.
  • Others argue this is unacceptable in 2026: OS updates should not brick systems, and immutable distros with rollback (Bazzite/Bluefin/Silverblue, Timeshift+btrfs) are held up as the right direction.
  • Several long‑time users report years of trouble‑free use on Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora; others report mysterious gradual slowdowns on multiple distros.
  • Nvidia on Linux is repeatedly identified as a primary source of pain; many recommend full‑AMD systems for smoother graphics and gaming.

Philosophy, privacy & who should switch

  • A sizable faction frames the switch as about joy, autonomy, and resisting telemetry, ads, forced Microsoft accounts, and Copilot‑everywhere. They see learning some CLI and debugging as the “price of freedom.”
  • Another faction is pragmatic: OS is “just a tool”. They’ll stay with Windows or macOS as long as those run the software they need and don’t break often, and view ideological arguments as irrelevant to their day‑to‑day work.
  • Some worry that mass adoption would attract more malware to the desktop; others argue more users are required to get serious vendor support and better apps.
  • Near‑universal agreement: for web‑+‑light‑office users, a preinstalled, mainstream Linux distro can be perfectly adequate; the real friction is with specialized workflows, gaming edge‑cases, and hardware quirks.