Switching to Linux? Here's the Pros and Cons

If you limit yourself to a set of old hardware, Linux works just fine. You have actually better chances to make Linux run on the PC of your grand-parents than on a new PC you just built. I know I tried. How many misleading lies can you go about saying Linux has the best hardware compatibility on the planet when WIFI and GPUs are a freaking issue all the time? And it's not just NVIDIAs nowadays, AMD GPUs have also issues. Who cares about Internet, graphics, or CUDAs nowadays?

One of the main PROS for Linux is you can try it before you install it! Can’t do that with any flavor of Windows. Also, updating your OS. So much simpler in Linux than Windows.

PlayOnLinux is pretty old and I don't know anyone that actually uses it. Heroic Games Launcher is a great front end for Epic, GOG, and Amazon. And UMU launcher should allow other frontends (Lutris, Heroic, etc) to use Proton and proton fixes instead of regular wine. Bottles also works pretty well.

Windows didn't really doesn't need to have a lot of drivers built into it, since Windows controls market share, drivers either comes with, or can be downloaded, for any peripheral. Like you said, Linux is an afterthought. Printers, for example. HP printers play very nicely with Linux, others like Richo, not so much. I've always had the idea of a basic driver being hard coded in the device, itself and since the connection is bidirectional, you hook up the device, it detects the OS, and installs a "driver", to make it functional. That would take the burden off the kernal/OS, and maybe leaner. But, learning about Linux, dependencies can be an issue.

Some people already began fighting in the comments.

The lack of support from software and hardware makers are the consequence of the small amount of users that the Linux desktop have when compared to Windows. But the good news, is that the support will come if the number of users increases. I recommend to everyone that is sick of Windows wasting most system resources on spying you (the so called "telemetry"), or waiting what it feels like hours for updates to finish installing, to try Linux. Maybe you can't switch 100% of the time to Linux yet, because some of your hardware or software isn't supported (and you don't find any open software alternative that works for you), but you will be surprised of how efficient is Linux on resource use when compared to Windows. Lots of tasks can not only be done in Linux, but they can also be done faster. You can start by trying it with a "live distribution" that runs from an USB drive, or even a virtual machine (but obviously won't run as fast as on "bare metal" in this case). Or maybe you have a 2nd computer, and you want to try Linux there? Dual booting is also an option, but it can have it's complications.
Windows benefited from been the first user-friendly GUI OS, so it took the market, and users tend to keep using what they're used to. But i think that Windows deteriorated over time, and corporate greed took in, and is looking more and more "distopic", while the Linux desktop had made lots of improvements, and is ready to be used for any kind of users. Nowadays installing Linux and using it for common tasks like internet browsing is very easy, and efficient. So, why not to dedicate some of your time to try Linux? It will benefit you with a faster, efficient system that won't be spying on you, and all of that for free!!

I agree that Ventoy would be an excellent tool for the curious aspiring new Linux user. It would have been great to have in my distro hopping days, but due to hardware limitations at the time I couldn't even virtualize anything more than a CLI or basic window manager, and even live CDs weren't very common. I would say that Ventoy is an excellent tool for any Linux user, and honestly, for any advanced computer user in general.

It's all a massive Pro... Until you hit a Con (then life becomes achingly short, cough, text file)

"being a tweaker I just loved to reinstall the operating system" 😂

Thanks for making and posting this vid. I found it most interesting.

You're right about expectations. I'm in the position that my three PCs all run Windows 10. Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, told me that Windows 10 would reach End Of Life in 2025 - but I couldn't have Windows 11 either (not that I wanted it). It so happens that I am a hobbyist composer; and the one application I cannot do without is Spitfire Audio BBCSO Core. This is Windows or Mac only. I wouldn't even dream of trying to run this under Wine or on a VM - it is a real Resource Hog. Sure, there are DAWs for Linux, but I would not be able to use BBCSO Core, so there goes my orchestra. However, the PC that I use for music production already spends 99% of its time offline. I'm just going to keep that machine on Windows 10 offline, and I can still get to use BBCSO Core. Going to 100% offline will not be a big deal.

For my other two PCs, including my Daily Driver, they are definitely moving to Linux. I'm currently trying out distros, booting off USB drives. One problem I have run into is that my printer won't work. It keeps telling me (probably correctly) that it can find no driver for it. That might be because I haven't actually installed Linux yet, I don't know. If I can't get it to work even when I have installed Linux, a possible solution would be to attach it to the offline Windows 10 machine. It wouldn't be as convenient, but it would at least work. If anyone has any advice for me on that, I'd be most grateful.

Got sick of Microsoft's spyware and made the jump. As a gamer it was really important to have a lightweight OS with solid Nvidia support. I was originally planning to go with Pop!_OS for this, but the current installer is broken and I didn't want to use the previous installer, so I ended up on ZorinOS instead. PHENOMENAL out-of-box experience as a Windows devotee and as someone who is trying to look at things from the perspective of a typical, non-power user. Obviously games with anti-cheat won't work, but I don't play any of those anyway, and EVERY SINGLE GAME in my library (over 500 games) is playable (if not always perfect) using Steam Proton in Experimental mode.

Pro: No "automatically on" Recall feature recording your desktop and sending data to Microsoft =)

Could you please normalize the audio in your videos? One section quiet, next one too loud. Thanks.

Con: Limited software available on Linux. Like me, you'll most likely have to learn new software before making the switch. A lot of Linux software can be installed on a Windows machine, so you can take the time to learn it while still using Windows. I did. It made switching much smoother and easier.

(Yawn)
You guys can’t come up for anything other than “windows bad.”
30 years and it’s still a lame rant.

Microsoft Windows made me switch to Linux. The main reason, I found all these shady websites and enjoy every one of them. But something was stopping me to continue my fun, viruses. Even with viruses protection, which didn't help. While I continue on these shady websites with Windows. When I destroy my OS, no worries I know how to install Windows with ease. But one day I stop myself trying to install Windows again. I said to myself lets try out this Linux first. I happen to burn a Linux distro a week ago but never try it. So that day one July 15, 2003 I install Linux my very first time. I learn my way around in Linux my very first 5 days with Linux. The cool thing I was poor. So even though I was on Windows. I only download open source software, because I couldn't afford the Windows commercial versions of that software. So I was 80% using open source software anyway. So the transition to switch was a piece of cake. But the main reason I stay with Linux was those shady websites. I was able to navigate them all without a hint of problems, not even viruses. Cool I can enjoy all of the Internet, including the shady stuff with Linux.

I've already switched. Idk why I'm here

As a Linux beginner, I've only had great support online from Zorin OS and Linux Mint users. Their forums are a fantastic resource.

No real cons for the average user. As long as the system is compatible and peripheral devices work, you can watch media, browse, shop, do banking, mails, write essays etc. and play 1000s of games through Steam. Let's hope the recent MS BS pushes more people in this direction. Dual boot is the way to play. The thing is, in my view, throwing a fit over a specific "game" not working is childish, when there are 1000s of other options. The ProtonDB database of working games is vast and expanding. Considering that Windows is now a breach of privacy, this is such a small sacrifice to make.

Yes, people is always a big con. Everyone who has to work with people hates them.

I am thinking of installing Linux in HDD partition as a dual boot and figure out gaming, audio and video editing, obs studio experience.

I have tried switching to Linux multiple times, but there are too many quirks for gaming for me. I will probably try again when I no longer game or do creative stuff. (Or once Windows more fully switches to Vulkan)
Windows might be locked down, but it has a vast (and current) application ecosystem for many things such as games and creative/art software. That larger user base leads to (usually) better features, fixes, compatibility and even pleasing GUIs to try and get market share from other products.
Linux while customisable (about the only and main; besides licensing; selling point I see in pro Linux videos) has a plethora of Distros that is off putting for new comers, and repositories aside, there seem to be less apps overall, though part of this will be the many projects are just hobbies of those who want to rather than profit driven.

I like POP_OS followed by Fedora. But I think Linux is more for enthusiasts still, though it is getting better.

But the tweaking, even things not working the same between builds. i.e. An Appimage app that works on laptop, yet not desktop. Though that seemed to be integrated vs nvidia graphics but, windows on laptop or desktop will generally work the same.

I dislike snap and flatpak (although I understand the idea for them) but the trouble I had with Steam flatpak and trying to get a different drive for game installs. Or browsers not remember last folder for downloads etc.

I have moved to Enterprise Windows to escape/delay Recall and I dislike all the ads Microsoft keep trying to push (let alone every product, browser, phone, toilet in existence trying to second guess what I want to do or how to do it or what extra options there might be), but I think it is easier to remove/disable stuff than having to tweak everything. Although that could be familiarity, but it's more windows practices than the OS itself that's the problem, in much the same way people forget how much tweaking and tinkering Linux requires for anything beyond web browsing daily.
I don't dislike Linux, and will probably try again when the new POP_OS is released, but I do dislike things not working as expected. Mouse cursors offsetting, video behaving like my old diamond monster 2 and showing only part on screen, or reducing to just a portion of the screen. Having to turn off things like hardware acceleration in Chrome, Firefox, mouse settings.
Or even just using a high res monitor and some apps using tiny print while others scale and both sometimes happening within the same application.

Sure - no OS is perfect, and neither side is quite as bad as proponents of the others tend to state. But unless you prefer troubleshooting, I think Windows is still a good choice.
Frankly - my parents and family are tech illiterate. Getting them to Windows File explorer can be a challenge, so I would hate to think what they'd do with Linux. . . .😱

AMD and Intel GPUs are the highest successful GPUs on linux but NVIDIA GPUs are certainly improving slowly overtime on the linux platform.

I started using Linux a long time ago as a way to tinker with an old thinkpad. I installed lubuntu. Then I got a raspberry pi and used raspbian for a while. With windows 10 ending soon, I decided to seriously start getting familiar with a distro I could use as a daily driver. While working in post and vfx many of the facilities all used Cent Os and now Rocky. I originally started with Ubuntu, but it just didn’t appeal to me. The snaps felt so slow and that was the downside. I do like the interface though. I soon switched to Rocky. It took a little bit to learn since I was more familiar with Debian distros but I’ll never go back now. Rocky has been fast, stable and just works. Yes, I had a lot more things to manually install but I’m ok with that. ChatGPT makes that process so much easier and I like the basic gnome layout with minor tweaks. I find today that I’m not really missing a lot of software like there once was and there’s a ton of propriety software that there never was. I have snaps installed but only for certain apps that are running better than flatpak variant. To put it short, it made computing fun again.

Wish people wouldn't blame developers for software incompatibility. In my experience (nearly 25 years developing software), the developers are keen but they don't make the decision on what work gets done and what support will be provided.

Cons? none.

There were no Pros or Cons about Switching To Linux
I was forced into switching to Linux when an early update to WeenDoze10 bricked my work laptop. Thank God for my friend Rick, who handed me a stack of Linux distros to tryout.
I found there were NO Cons and now ALL of our machines, run Linux (Mint & MX)
We have NO REASON to use any other OS and WILL NEVER go back to anything from Microshaft.

Window$ 11 (and even 10) is UNACCEPTABLE. I will never use that cr@p. So, cons or no cons, Linux is the only alternative for me (except giving up using computers and start living in a monastery or something)

I changed from windows to lmde and is fun experience, still learning new things 😊

The licensing fee got me to change about 10 years ago. Haven’t looked back.

Im not sure I agree with the supposition that hardware drivers are still a major roadblock for people anymore. Back when I started with Linux (Early 2000s) this was very much the case, but thinking back over the last 5 years I can't think of a single Wifi or GPU component which hasnt been supported by OSS / kernel drivers or, in the case of Nvidia, vendor drivers.

Regarding games and especially consoles, there is the whole retrogaming scene incl. Batocera, but that is a legal grey area, to say the least. Emulators work fine, but you're on your own finding the games.

Linux may not be the best for gamers but it has the best apps for photo and graphics editing, audio recording and editing plus a full compliment of routine word processing and spreadsheet functionality. Email and video conferencing is not limited. All for no cost.
A popular commercial photo editing package not available in Linux is Topaz and the is no equivalent for it's high end AI features.

I'm happy channels like yours and The Linux Experiment ate trying to have a realistic view of Linux and how it's not the best thing since sliced bread. It has weaknesses a d flaws but it's also something that can help others get freedom when running their hardware and that's cool!

Cons: You will be fiddling with your computer more
Pros: It's fun to fiddle with Linux! 😄

Great video. I suspect you are correct in the the Linux community is the biggest problem. There are many very helpful people in it but at the same time there are a lot of the intolerant RTFM type. They figure that since they had to figure something out everyone else should.

I think that the second, and possibly could be the biggest, is the number of distributions and customization possible. Most people tend to be creatures of habit. They don't like change. You sit down to two different windows or mac computers and what you see is basically the same thing. You know where things are. One the other hand there is a huge difference between a Linux machine running Cinnamon desktop and Ubuntu. Even the names of equivalent apps can be completely different. Back in the days of DOS and Win3.x there were an awful lot of secretaries that resisted going from Word Perfect 5.1 to the windows version because it was so different.

And you are completely correct that sometimes you just can't abandon Windows entirely. I keep a Windows box available just so I can connect the Boss sound studio to my guitar amp.

Everything search is the one last must-have app keeping me on Windows, but with Microsoft going insane with Recall, I'll have to switch soon.

Linux isn’t a silver bullet, but it is great if you know what you’re doing. Of course, it’s not for everyone, and that’s totally fine.

It's a funny situation now. If 10 years ago all my machine were Windows, but now I can't even find a Windows machine anywhere.

Linux is absolutely great. This video is not. 20 minutes of monotone droning.

If you are planning on installing linux on a laptop, you can create a bootable USB drive and boot the laptop from it. This will tell you if things like wifi will work at least, before you commit to fully installing it.

Games are purely waste of time energy and money.
such an unwanted unneeded and unproductive activity.
I hate the games ,because it is making the people useless.

I want to use software of my choice, not what you want me to use.

Thanks for your videos, I learned a lot form them. I saw you have mouse pad of T-mux cheatsheet the tis great. Do you have plan in future do desks pad with vim cheatsheets, I'm looking for that for ages :). Thanks for your videos and keep doing god job.

pro: linux does not record every action you do on screen and feed it back to microsoft who double-super-duper promise they won't do anything skeezy with it.

Good advice for potential Linux users.

"why do I need to ask for permission to use my PC?" Windows users are not dumb enough to not understand that it's the software that you're paying for 😆
Just say what's there and acknowledge what's missing.

I recently decided 2025 will be the year I go Microsoft free.
I settled on Debian 12 for SECURITY, PRIVACY & STABILITY. PROS.
CONS have not found one yet.
To the Windows user that still insists Linux is too hard - 1 there is always a learning curve to something new. 2 suggest you think through your data privacy. . . Microsoft doesn't respect your data privacy. Do you really trust them?
I have been on Debian 12 for two months now and not 1 crash. Every update has been smooth - no follow on patches to fix an update.
Up to you, but just know there really is a viable alternative desktop and it just keeps getting better all the time.

Linux is addictive, it itself becomes the game.