Switching to Linux

[Skyblade]

So, after having my mom's computer nearly hijacked by Windows 10 with it's new, even more forceful "please upgrade, oh wait, we're not giving you a choice", I'm shifting away from Microsoft and Windows. I don't like all the reporting and data collection it does, and I don't like Microsoft choosing when to update my system (especially since, in the past, plenty of their updates have been incompatible with my setups).

I've never used Linux before, though. I have no idea how easy it may be to install or run. But I'd rather have it as an OS than Windows at this point.

Any advice you guys can give me on how it runs, how easy it is to install (it'll be on a new machine, I'm upgrading in a couple months, which means it would be Windows 10 if I used a Windows OS), etcetera, I'd appreciate it.

[Spuuky]

Installing Ubuntu is trivial. Just download an ISO and make a boot disk and click through all the options, all of which are extremely self-explanatory to someone with even a cursory knowledge of computers. It's also free, stable, and has a lot of support. I think you will find that it's much easier than you anticipate. It basically looks just like OS X these days once it's running.

Windows 10 is a significant upgrade from Windows 7/8 and obviously from XP/Vista. I personally don't care about Microsoft collecting irrelevant data (I could always just block it if I needed to anyway) and I'm unwilling to give up the ability to play so many of my games, but if you aren't concerned about game compatibility specifically there's really nothing to be lost by switching. And Linux has ever-more game support, although not anywhere near "everything" yet.

[Pike]

Linux is very easy to install and use these days, it's still kind of finicky though so expect to use the console if you want to do more than the basics.

I've been using Linux on and off for ten years now, including a few stretches where it was my only OS for years at a time. I actually prefer it to Windows overall but at the moment I'm on Win10 because I missed too many games. If I was a console gamer I'd probably still be using it, honestly.

For maximum support and ease of use I'd recommend Ubuntu or an Ubuntu based distro (Linux Mint is currently super popular).

[Mirage]

Be prepared for some tech support when things don't work like she's used to, though

[Skyblade]

Installing Ubuntu is trivial. Just download an ISO and make a boot disk and click through all the options, all of which are extremely self-explanatory to someone with even a cursory knowledge of computers. It's also free, stable, and has a lot of support. I think you will find that it's much easier than you anticipate. It basically looks just like OS X these days once it's running.

Windows 10 is a significant upgrade from Windows 7/8 and obviously from XP/Vista. I personally don't care about Microsoft collecting irrelevant data (I could always just block it if I needed to anyway) and I'm unwilling to give up the ability to play so many of my games, but if you aren't concerned about game compatibility specifically there's really nothing to be lost by switching. And Linux has ever-more game support, although not anywhere near "everything" yet.

Gaming and web-browsing are mostly what I do on my PC, but I REALLY don't like Microsoft these days. Their attempts to get me to like Windows 10 by trying to forcibly install it onto my system and hide adverts for it in their Security Updates (yes, they did that) have soured me to the company a great deal (and I wasn't exactly their biggest fan in the first place).

Gah, this is going to be a tough choice.

[Pike]

In theory you can get a lot of games working via the Wine program. In reality getting a game running under Wine usually involves several hours of trial and error. (Trust me, I have a lot of experience with it.)

I really do love Linux but I cannot in good conscience recommend it to someone who games a lot, unless they like... love Linux even more than I do, haha.