I must start off by disclosing that I started my career (coming from
an Electrical Engineering background), focusing on Hardware and
Networking, but from the beginning was also fully certified on SCO
Xenix and Unix too.
Also, I have never
so much as owned nor used any Apple products. Bluntly put, I have found them overpriced and too proprietary for my liking, thus will
limit them in my comments
below:
From a personal
point of view, my home Operating System of choice started with
Microsoft DOS and I have migrated (excluding Vista & Windows 8
for obvious reasons) to the current Windows 10. My reasons have never
had anything to do with any loyalty to Microsoft at all (is still the
case today). The simple fact is that the vast majority of the
applications I currently use or need, continue to be Microsoft centric
or not even available on other platforms at all. It really is that
simple.
The question I do
often ask myself though, is if I find Microsoft Windows easy and
painless to use....and sadly the answer after all this time is still
a big NO!
For someone who has
worked daily in this environment for many many decades, the reality
is that Microsoft has made
almost no headway at all in being able to provide seamless and self
maintaining operating systems. What do I mean by that...... some
examples:
1. The Registry
system etc. is outdated and far too prone to errors or corruption.
There is a reason people have to use manual interventions and use
“ccleaner" and "Disk Cleanup" to do ongoing maintenance that the
operating system cannot do properly.
2. The Patch and
Update management system is nothing other than pathetic. Users have
very little control over the process and Microsoft continues to push
out far too many error prone patches resulting even in data loss in
some cases.
3. Constant
requirement for Disk De-fragmentation for those without Solid State
Drive technology.
4. Requirement for
complex multi layered add-on Security/Anti-Virus/Malware/Firewall
products.
5. Driver support:
The Plug & Play “promise” has never been realised.
6. Privacy
Configurations are obtuse and not very forthcoming. i.e. Microsoft is
collecting far too much data on their customers.
7. No Built-In
robust Backup and Restore function that can provide a total
“removable” solution.
I could go on and
on... but the above are some of the more important ones.
But here comes the
problem.... what are the options:
For some people, the
solution has been to migrate to Apple. Luckily for those who are into
Graphic Art, Photography and Multi Media etc., it will have been an
easy move for them. In recent years there has been a large migration
from MS Windows to Apple macOS within those market sectors. But as I
stated at the very beginning, it has never really been a viable
option for me.
Which brings us to
the only other real alternative, LINUX!
OK, so I must admit
even though I almost exclusively use Windows 10 for my day to day
productivity, I also use a Linux based system too. So why have I not
migrated across to this platform? The
truth is that I would love to....... if I only could!
1. Windows has a
single owner, Microsoft. Linux has no ownership, no leadership, no
conformity. In fact there
are more available Linux distributions that I care to count.
2. As a result of
the above the Linux market is confusing, fragmented and difficult to
navigate.
3. The Linux
community also have not exactly been making it easy for the
uninitiated to migrate. For support you
have to rely on the “Geeks and Nerds” of the industry. Company
support is still very limited at this
stage.
4. Very few of the
Linux distributions are user friendly or easy for the average user to
install.
5. Whilst there are
many tens of thousands of Linux apps available, many popular ones are
simply not available.
6. Many companies
(i.e. Canon etc.) don’t bother providing Linux hardware drivers.
The truth is that if
Linux was under the ownership of a single entity, they could probably
have overtaken MS Windows by now (Most people don’t realise that
the core of the Android operating system is Linux - Google was able
to do this by taking full ownership of this smartphone OS system).
The good news is
that with every passing year Linux is making progress and eating into
the desktop market. The Linux Server space is very different, and
not part of this discussion, other than to say that already almost all of
the entire planets collection of Super Computers run on Linux. Many
mainframe computers too – This because the worlds no.1 supplier of
commercial Server Linux products come from IBM’s Red Hat division.
In the Desktop space the range of options is unlimited, free and
Open-Source. This (as stated above) has resulted in fragmentation and
confusion though.
I am not an Linux
specialist, and like to think I have no real allegiance to any
distribution other than to declare that I currently use Linux Mint
20.x. The only reason I use Mint is because it makes migration for any
current Windows user fairly quick & easy. I simply did not want to get bogged down with too much
technical gumph! There is an Xfce, MATE & Cinnamon edition of Mint. Cinnamon is modern and very
Windows like, but is in my opinion not yet as stable/robust as the
Mate or Xfce edition (The Xfce edition is super efficient, runs faster and uses far less memory, thus an excellent choice for older hardware too).
At the end of the day its all down to a personal preference. i.e. The Cinnamon edition looks more sleek & modern, but with far too many annoying patches and updates in my opinion.... Xfce is very fast, stable and efficient thus requiring fewer patches and updates.
Whilst you will never have to worry about using Disk Defrag, CCleaner, Disk Cleanup or even figuring out what is going on with Service Patches again (In Linux you have full control over updates), there is certainly going to be a learning curve involved. You will need to make the effort to browse the many forums and blogs out there which contain unlimited advise and detail.
Do I think there is
a future for the Linux desktop? My answer is that currently the
global Linux Desktop market is still under 3%, but with every passing
year it is growing and increasingly becoming popular among the new
generation of young and upcoming engineers and programmers. So yes,
whilst it is going to take time, this Free and Open-Source Operating
System will grow and become mainstream, not in the short term, but
certainly in the medium to long term as the developers become more
and more business focused as well as putting more effort into the
“End User” and less from being seen as a community of “Geeks
and Nerds”!
Update (30 August 2021): Microsoft recently announced that only 8th Generation and newer Intel processors will be able to upgrade to Windows 11. This seems to be another classic Microsoft blunder in the making, one that is certain to upset existing Windows users (with hardware only a few years old). For some this will provide another key incentive to consider migrating to Linux! Though without doubt there are bound to be many hacks and backdoor methods to install Windows 11 onto older hardware whether Microsoft likes it or not!
Update: Some good articles from TheRegister
Why the Linux desktop is the best desktop!
Migrate to Linux
I use Linux Mint Xfce edition.
Note: I have used both MATE & Cinnamon editions in the past, but find that Xfce is just so much more robust, efficient and faster than anything else out there. Cinnamon is like a donkey cart, overloaded with all the excess stuff, plus more, so things tends to fall apart along the away requiring non stop patches. Xfce is like a small and speedy sedan car. Can hold more than enough, yet gets you from point A to B very efficiently without any drama along the way.
