this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2026
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    2025, My Year of The Linux Desktop (europe.pub)
    submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by afk_strats@lemmy.world to c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world
    27 comments fedilink hide all child comments
     

    As was actually rare at the time i was born into a household which had a personal computer. As long as I remember, computers fascinated me. They still do. But that fascination came with an increasingly adverserial relationship with Windows and distrust of Apple. That changed in 2025, my first full year living with Linux as my primary OS and booting no Windows machines. I'm excited about computing again. I am more dedicated to FOSS than ever. Here are some of MY takeaways in listicle format for no reason:

    1. Working on Linux is VERY good. Office suites are great. I'm partial to ~~Open~~Only Office. Developing is a joy because everything feels like its made to work with a few commands. This is in strong contrast to whatever Office/"Copilot" is and my experience developing on Windows.

    2. I work in an IT-ish field and I've become a lot more knowledgeable about sysadmin and netadmin type stuff. Not an expert but enough to have more confidence when something does comes up. A lot of this comes from being in terminal more. I understand Windows is going in that direction too, but it won't push users there. Some is from self-hosting.

    3. Multimedia is a mixed bag. Krita, Blender, and Godot are incredible tools but if you are a professional who relies on software for your job, some of the FOSS alternatives don't fit a majority of users. I personally don't think Darktable is reliable enough to replace Lightroom because I've had too many crashes on too many machines with it. Despite that, I'm still looking to get rid of Adobe.

    4. gaming on Linux is "good" to "great", but not perfect. In some cases, Proton beats Windows, yes. In most cases, games just work on Steam. I think for the amount of tinkering I put in, I could run a barebones W11for gaming and get better overall performance than my CachyOS. I don't because I can live with less than perfect and kernel level anti cheat can pound sand.

    5. I dodge an unknown but substantial amount of anguish from not having ads, ai, and surprise updates forced on me. I am sensitive to ads and am upset every time I see one. I'm always shocked to see them on other people's computers. My work computers (Mac) have forced updates and forced restarts which are jarring. My computers feel like my own.

    6. I find and (hopefully) fix all kinds of problems. My discord muted itself randomly because of a Wayland bug a few times. There's an open issue about dxvk getting framerate drops after about an hour of gameplay. That one sucks. One of my door sensors stopped working with homeassistant despite it being prefect in mqtt2z; it's a confirmed bug as of 3 weeks ago. This stuff is annoying but I take it as the cost of not trusting black boxes with my hardware.

    To wrap it up, I think Linux is better than ever, more accessible than ever, and probably better than Windows for most people. To me, I would recommend it to my mom who only uses basic office tools and a browser and have recommended it to my tech savvy friend who got tired of windows update ruining his super custo1. m W11 setup... but would obviously caution my DOTA-addicted DM or my dad who runs part of his business on Access ( cringe, I know). It feels human, empowering and is good because of the way it is today not just because of its ideals.

    I hope this made you reflect on your Linux experience and maybe on how you can contribute to or help the community.

    Edit: OnlyOffice, not OpenOffice Edit2: WHY did I post on memes?!? Someone take away my late night/early morning posting privileges

    top 27 comments
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    [–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

    I would recommend it to my mom

    Can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink.

    [–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

    Totally. I wouldn't even have the conversation with someone just because. I think what I meant was, for a user like her, mostly web and some office tasks, Linux is perfectly suitable.

    [–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 day ago

    Many people are like that, but are still slow to venture into FOSS.

    Some of that may be from various user lock-in malicious-features.

    Some may even be from things like Microsoft's Sublimininal Messaging Subsystem in Windows. (Which I have toyed with to (unexpectedly effective) devastating effects.)

    A lot of it's probably from inertia and trepidation, comfortable with the devil they know, fearing the devil they don't. If only live systems were more familiar, and it was trivial for the novices to discover and try, more would switch sooner.

    [–] Shipgirlboy@sh.itjust.works 38 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    I've been doing this Linux nonsense for twenty plus years now and I can tell you with confidence, it's only gonna get even better from here on out.
    Welcome to a new era, praised be the Penguin!

    [–] hardcoreufo@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

    Ive been off and on the linux game for two decades. I had a dalliance with linux from like 2005 - 2009. Thought i was too cool and got a Macbook, used that for 5 years. Was travelling without it and needed a cheap laptop ASAP and got a chromebook just to look for jobs and apartments. Used that for a few years until i went back to school and needed a windows laptop sadly.

    As soon as I turned in my last assignment i performed a widows 10 update i had been putting off and it almost killed the laptop not just the windows install. I don't remember what happened but once i got it booting and windows reinstalled i said enough is enough and went back to linux.

    That was 8 years ago and I haven't looked back. Linux had gotten so much better while i was away and gets better every day.

    My real linux passion re-emerged with the rise of proton. I'd long since written off heavy gaming on linux and mostly played on consoles tbat whold time. Now between laptops, servers, steamdecks, "steam machines" and a desktop gaming pc there must be a bakers dozen linux computers scattered around my house. Throw in Pis and that number doubles.

    I have a windows laptop that is locked in a cage in my basement that comes out once or twice a year. Its only job is to run sketchy chinese apps to update the odd device here and there. For everything else I've found a more compelling alternative on linux.

    [–] myrmidex@belgae.social 2 points 4 days ago

    Indeed, the journey keeps going. Switching from Windows to Ubuntu was great, from Ubuntu to Debian was great, from Debian to EOS and i3 was amazing, then came Fedora Atomic, another interesting development, and now I'm on nixOS which is also currently (and still) blowing me away.

    I feel the same after this switch as I did after all the others: I have arrived, this is my distro.

    [–] kyub@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

    Congrats.

    Yes, desktop Linux is generally very usable for the majority of users these days. This was already claimed to be the case in the late 1990s, which is probably why many non-IT-professionals had a bad first expression with desktop Linux. But this has changed since (very roughly) about 10 years ago or so, and for gaming in particular it has changed since very roughly about 5 years ago. This is also the reason why desktop Linux was at like ~1% market share all the time but has suddenly grown to ~6% within the last couple of years already. And with higher popularity comes more developer interest and support. Furthermore, Windows is becoming worse over time because Nadella is more interested in milking his user base instead of nurturing it, and many want more independence from US-based proprietary software due to the current political situation, and so it's very likely that desktop Linux is going to keep snowballing upwards. The trend is looking very positively for desktop Linux, it will probably reach MacOS market share within the next couple of years. For gaming specifically, it's already #2.

    The most important thing about the Linux ecosystem is of course that most of it (at least the core components) is free/open source software and this is necessary to have digital sovereignty.

    Other users interested in making the switch can make their transition easier by doing it in 2 steps: first, replace all important applications you're using on Windows with Linux-compatible applications (for example, no MS Office, no Adobe), then adjust to the changed workflows while still using Windows. Only after that, install Linux as the primary OS (or set up dual-boot, but it has disadvantages. Best is to physically disconnect your disk containing Windows (so you still have a backup in case you desperately need it) and use another disk for Linux). That way, the culture shock is a bit mitigated because you'll have at least some familiarity (the applications you need) inside an otherwise unfamiliar new OS environment. That way, the change will feel less overwhelming.

    If there are still dependencies which can't be worked around, there's also the emergency solution of using either wine or a Windows VM on Linux. In the latter case it's probably best these days to use winboat, which allows running Windows-only applications which then run inside a specific Windows VM or container on Linux. Or you just use a full regular Windows VM on Linux, with a shared folder between both systems for exchanging files.

    [–] Mercury1337@lemmy.world 17 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    Moved my work-setup to Ubuntu and haven't regretted it a second! Just wondering-really OpenOffice and not LibreOffice?

    [–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    Please explain the difference to a filthy casual such as myself?

    (Seriously, I haven't used any Office suites in decades, just bookkeeping software, and games. So. Many. Games.)

    [–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

    Back in 2010, the OpenOffice devs had to abandon that name for trademark reasonsΒΉ, so they renamed to LibreOffice and continued developing under that name.

    OpenOffice theoretically also still exists, but it's hardly getting updates. Unless you specifically like software from 2010 (including some security vulnerabilities, I believe), you want to use LibreOffice.

    ΒΉ) The OpenOffice trademark was owned by Sun Microsystems, which got bought by Oracle. Oracle has a very bad reputation, so the devs did not care to wait around for Oracle to fuck everything up.

    [–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

    Gotcha, thanks!

    [–] Mercury1337@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

    In very short: LibreOffice is an open-source fork of OpenOffice but is und stable development whereas OpenOffice is falling behind (for example if you have to work with MS Office files OpenOffice won't be a big help but LibreOffice can also properly write files like XSLX)

    [–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

    No. Not really. That was a brain fart. I use LibreOffice and OnlyOffice Desktop

    [–] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 days ago

    To compare, I was born into a household of Luddites via poverty. When me and my siblings got to high school and homework assignments started to have typing requirements, the family solution was to purchase a used computer that was running windows 3.1 (this was in the late 90's) which didn't last long.

    Despite my fascination with computers and again due to poverty, I was unable to obtain one for many years into adulthood. I learned about Linux sometime around 2004-5 and reading about people like Torvalds and Stallman and open source and the FSF seemed like a wonderful world of progress I had not experienced. I was given a computer that didn't work and was convinced I could make it come to life thanks to the magic of Linux. It did not go well.

    Thanks to my inexperience, I attempted to download Linux from my local library, where I had 1 hour of internet usage allowed per day. I don't know what I downloaded but it was not Linux. I think it was a collection of man pages in text files. Needless to say, that was not my year of Linux.

    I did not own a working computer until I built one myself, in 2009 at the age of 27. I ran windows, played lots of games, wasted a lot of my time and finally delved back into the Linux world by installing Mint alongside my Windows installation. That was in 2020. The next day, the COVID lockdowns were announced. Then my system wouldn't boot into either Windows or Linux. The day after that, my internet was disconnected because Spectrum is one of the worst ISP companies ever. All I had was a usb with a Mint live system. I had also gotten my first smartphone the month prior and because Verizon is one of the worst phone companies ever, I was unable to tether my data plan, which was heavily throttled anyways and effectively useless. Learning Linux without internet access or having any friends interested in Linux or computers in general, is not something I would recommend to anyone.

    September of 2021 I finally decided to 'defenestrate fenestra' or 'throw windows out of the window' and switched fully to Linux. My year of Linux I will say was 2024. That is the year I built a new computer, the third computer I've built and the third computer I've owned. The computer I'm using to type this out. I have not had to change distros or reinstall since then and being self taught in computers, having never held a job in IT, having a developmental disorder, being well below the poverty line my entire life and being someone who has attended college 5 times and dropped out 5 times due to either poverty or disability, it feels pretty good. I am still light years away in knowledge compared to many but it feels good to be able to know what my computer is doing and know that I did it myself.

    I still will randomly 'stat /' just to see the birthday. "Birth: 2024-02-05 04:54:20.000000000 -0500". I don't know if the time showing all those zeros is normal and I don't care. I'm a month away from my second year with this machine and I am very proud of it.

    Why did I type this huge and personal story without being asked? The answer might be the same answer to your question of 'why did I post this in Linux memes?'

    Because someone out there might read it and it might be what they need to give them that courage to finally make the switch themselves. Seeing stories like these with people who feel comfortable using Linix despite the various problems which might accompany them.

    Anyways, because this is Linuxmemes, I should mention that I use an Arch derivative, BTW.

    I can draw a circle in GIMP too. Like 4 different ways.

    Yes ladies, I'm single.

    [–] drkt@scribe.disroot.org 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

    What unholy incantations are you performing in Darktable for it to crash?

    [–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

    Maybe I do turn on too many things...

    Edit: To be clear, I edit thousands of raw photos per year and do so in bursts of hundreds. I kind of know what I want so it's wholly possible that I used the wrong plugins. I know that was something I struggled with when I picked it up. There are 5 ways to do the same thing, the devs had a preference, the docs didn't tell me, but it wasn't clear what I was "supposed" to use by just using the application. Now... I could have probably gone and read change logs and release notes but that wasn't the way I was thinking at the time...

    [–] drkt@scribe.disroot.org 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

    My workflow is importing my whole SD card to Darktable after a shooting session, which is somewhere in the hundreds, infrequently nearing a thousand. It grinds to a halt until it's done importing, and slows down significantly when I'm doing a lot of processing to a single image, but it has never ever crashed or really threatened to crash.

    I use the Flatpak version.

    [–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

    Ok. This convinced me to give it another serious try

    [–] Tundra@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

    sudo pacman -Syu && flatpak update

    [–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

    or just topgrade to update everything

    [–] devfuuu@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

    Congrats and welcome. The year of linux is when each person decides for themselves.

    If you need help with anything make sure to say something very wrong while asking.

    [–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

    True. And make sure you post a sincerw wall of text to a meme community

    [–] ranzispa@mander.xyz 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

    I have been using Linux for quite a while. When I got my current job my boss told me to search a computer I would use, I told him to buy one with no OS and install Linux to save some money. Overall, my job is pretty good in Linux: most of my job is connecting to other servers and writing software.

    However: video calls have lots of problems. Sometimes they work, sometimes they do not. The Microsoft office suite is actually a very nice piece of software that you can not use on Linux, there is the online version but that sucks ass.

    Besides that, everything is good.

    [–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

    For my job, I'm in the unfortunate position of having to use Teams, Zoom, AND Slack on a daily basis on my work-provided MacBook. They all suck in some way. I use Signal, Discord, and rarely Zoom on ChachyOS with the same hardware (kvm switch) and it doesn't feel that different

    [–] jlow@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

    Yay, been using Linux as my main OS for a few years now as well 😸

    Have you looked if Darktable alternatives (RawYherwpee, RapidRaw) are a better fit for your workflow / don't crash for you?

    [–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

    I have casually explored RawTherapee which is probably viable but I didn't spend as much time as I have in dark table.