Thank you. The advice not to rush is excellent. And that was good advice to have a Windows machine as well as a Linux computer -- it has taken me a year to get *every* programme I was using as a Windows user onto my Linux laptop. But that's fine; it's not a race.
Some good advice here. As a programmer who used Windows exclusively, the last straw for me was when MS was forcing the Windows 10 upgrade on people using underhanded tactics. I distro-hopped for a while and settled on Linux Mint Cinnamon, as it was the most familiar feeling next to Windows. I installed it on a 2nd hard drive to make the switch. I already used programs like GIMP and VLC, so that made it easier to mirror my Windows workflow. I have yet to find a program on Windows that doesn't have an equivalent on Linux (excluding specialized software designed exclusively for Windows, which I don't use anyway, but I digress). First, I switched to using Mint for all my daily web-browsing activities: email, UA-cam, social media, news sites, paying bills online, etc. They work exactly the same (web technology is OS independent). During this time, I became more familiar with how Debian-based Linux OSes worked, learning terminal commands (kind of like the Windows command line), how to do things like create shortcuts to network drives, and how to customize my icons and windows. Linux is very customizable, unlike having to hack Windows to kina-sorta customize it. When I learn something new, I write it down and keep it in a file called Linux Mint Tips, so I could refer back to it whenever I needed to. At this point, I also learned how to set up and use LibreOffice. It is compatible with MS Office documents, you can install MS fonts on it, and save in MS formats. I never used Outlook on my personal machine, but I did find Thunderbird handy for consolidating all my web mail accounts into a single, accessible location. Next, I learned how to install WINE, and transport all my games over to Linux. The only thing I had to do was install the base game, and then transport over my backed up game files and settings. Seamless integration. Yes, there were a few hiccups, but the Linux Community is very knowledgeable, and there's no question that can't be answered, and no solution that can't be found. That left me with only programming on Windows. Finally, after MS released its AI into all of its products, it made it impossible for me to use Visual Studio with all the program lockups and stalling. I went with various code editors on Linux. I had a few roadblocks, and had to learn to work without using VS IDE, but it allowed me to adapt to programming on Linux, and in a more OS-independent way. I gained a lot more knowledge and insight than I ever would have being locked into a proprietary ecosystem. Right now, my favorite text editor is Kwrite (very clean, colorful, and extendable). With my transition fully complete, I wiped my Windows hard drive, and never looked back. I WAS FREE!!! To this day, the very thought of using Windows makes me feel dirty, as if I were going to be infected with some kind of gross disease (MS spyware and viruses). Knowing what I know about Windows and knowing what I know about Linux, I could never go back. Hyperbole aside, making the switch was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. It only took me about a month. One thing I would advise is to keep this in mind: It may look like Windows, and may act like Windows, but it is NOT Windows. It does the exact same thing as Windows, but goes about it in a completely different way.
Thank you for this... For a moment in the past I had plan to switch into Linux, I rem it was on early win10 era, all that I got at that time were a weak HP netbook and a low end gaming PC. I created dual boot into my Netbook and use it mainly for browsing and a little office work (word processing, spreadsheet, mail with thunderbird etc). I used Ubuntu and it ran kinda slow, just a little faster than my Windows Windows 7 Starter ( The netbook only had Atom based CPU & 2GB DDR3 RAM and). But at that time I had kinda disappointed with the Ubuntu. I don't mind do the terminal stuff but in the eye of normal user, I found it was kinda annoying that when I want to update the app (like for example Firefox), I need to use terminal somehow because when I tried that with the App Store, for some reason it had problems/failures Now MS do the same thing again with WIN11... So I consider to use the Linux, and give it a chance once again.
Been slowly switching from Windows for some time. Linux Mint is great. I struggle with photos as I currently use a combination of Iphotos and Google photos. I also use Onedrive for all my files. I like Libeoffice and find it can do many things, however the more advanced spreadsheets it just can not do that I have for personal budgeting and tracking on Excel, or perhaps I have no figured out how to change my thinking for how to get it done. I find I basically have a digital mess and my 2024 is about trying to get Digitally Minimized.
Thank you. The advice not to rush is excellent. And that was good advice to have a Windows machine as well as a Linux computer -- it has taken me a year to get *every* programme I was using as a Windows user onto my Linux laptop. But that's fine; it's not a race.
Some good advice here. As a programmer who used Windows exclusively, the last straw for me was when MS was forcing the Windows 10 upgrade on people using underhanded tactics. I distro-hopped for a while and settled on Linux Mint Cinnamon, as it was the most familiar feeling next to Windows.
I installed it on a 2nd hard drive to make the switch. I already used programs like GIMP and VLC, so that made it easier to mirror my Windows workflow. I have yet to find a program on Windows that doesn't have an equivalent on Linux (excluding specialized software designed exclusively for Windows, which I don't use anyway, but I digress).
First, I switched to using Mint for all my daily web-browsing activities: email, UA-cam, social media, news sites, paying bills online, etc. They work exactly the same (web technology is OS independent). During this time, I became more familiar with how Debian-based Linux OSes worked, learning terminal commands (kind of like the Windows command line), how to do things like create shortcuts to network drives, and how to customize my icons and windows. Linux is very customizable, unlike having to hack Windows to kina-sorta customize it. When I learn something new, I write it down and keep it in a file called Linux Mint Tips, so I could refer back to it whenever I needed to.
At this point, I also learned how to set up and use LibreOffice. It is compatible with MS Office documents, you can install MS fonts on it, and save in MS formats. I never used Outlook on my personal machine, but I did find Thunderbird handy for consolidating all my web mail accounts into a single, accessible location.
Next, I learned how to install WINE, and transport all my games over to Linux. The only thing I had to do was install the base game, and then transport over my backed up game files and settings. Seamless integration. Yes, there were a few hiccups, but the Linux Community is very knowledgeable, and there's no question that can't be answered, and no solution that can't be found. That left me with only programming on Windows.
Finally, after MS released its AI into all of its products, it made it impossible for me to use Visual Studio with all the program lockups and stalling. I went with various code editors on Linux. I had a few roadblocks, and had to learn to work without using VS IDE, but it allowed me to adapt to programming on Linux, and in a more OS-independent way. I gained a lot more knowledge and insight than I ever would have being locked into a proprietary ecosystem. Right now, my favorite text editor is Kwrite (very clean, colorful, and extendable).
With my transition fully complete, I wiped my Windows hard drive, and never looked back. I WAS FREE!!! To this day, the very thought of using Windows makes me feel dirty, as if I were going to be infected with some kind of gross disease (MS spyware and viruses). Knowing what I know about Windows and knowing what I know about Linux, I could never go back.
Hyperbole aside, making the switch was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. It only took me about a month. One thing I would advise is to keep this in mind: It may look like Windows, and may act like Windows, but it is NOT Windows. It does the exact same thing as Windows, but goes about it in a completely different way.
Thank you for this... For a moment in the past I had plan to switch into Linux, I rem it was on early win10 era, all that I got at that time were a weak HP netbook and a low end gaming PC. I created dual boot into my Netbook and use it mainly for browsing and a little office work (word processing, spreadsheet, mail with thunderbird etc). I used Ubuntu and it ran kinda slow, just a little faster than my Windows Windows 7 Starter ( The netbook only had Atom based CPU & 2GB DDR3 RAM and). But at that time I had kinda disappointed with the Ubuntu. I don't mind do the terminal stuff but in the eye of normal user, I found it was kinda annoying that when I want to update the app (like for example Firefox), I need to use terminal somehow because when I tried that with the App Store, for some reason it had problems/failures
Now MS do the same thing again with WIN11... So I consider to use the Linux, and give it a chance once again.
Been slowly switching from Windows for some time. Linux Mint is great. I struggle with photos as I currently use a combination of Iphotos and Google photos. I also use Onedrive for all my files. I like Libeoffice and find it can do many things, however the more advanced spreadsheets it just can not do that I have for personal budgeting and tracking on Excel, or perhaps I have no figured out how to change my thinking for how to get it done.
I find I basically have a digital mess and my 2024 is about trying to get Digitally Minimized.
Try Zorin OS 16. It is very much like Windows and you will pick it up pretty well. Run Linux in a Virtual Box and get a feel for it.
First of all, learn to tackle Snobs of Linux.. They Shall you a Noob... but live with it. 😅