[aruggirello]

This. Where are "Linux evangelists" in 2025? GNU/Linux as a whole has never been in better shape to catch users fleeing from Windows, it surely looks like a much easier task than it was 15 years ago (even despite UEFI's additional complexity burden).

Spot on the +17% in lenovo shipments, but shouldn't we also care about the huge number of computers they're replacing - just because they're incapable of running Windows 11?

[gortok]

I use Windows for one reason only: Steam and best performance and compatibility for high resolution gaming.

If I didn’t want that, I wouldn’t be on windows at all.

The issue I have with Linux is that it’s 2025 and every single time I’ve created a Linux system in the past ten years, I have some sort of issue that I spend too much of my time figuring out. I am married, have three school age children, and have hobbies and I volunteer regularly. One of those hobbies is not “figuring out how to make Linux work.”

The downside of open source is you have to have the time to fix it yourself, and that lack of time is what keeps me from pursuing Linux, even though I am absolutely furious at the crap Microsoft is pulling lately, from shutting off ability to create a local account, to forcing OneDrive, to throwing Ads onto the desktop, to the telemetry and marketing spyware that is now standard on Windows 11.

[GreenVulpine]

I find it's the opposite nowadays. I run Kubuntu LTS on an all AMD system and most Steam games just work out of the box. No tinkering with the OS, takes 15 minutes to install and set up.

Compared to the hours and hours of battling Windows to get it to a usable state. Drivers, removing bloat, hunting for exes on the internet, dealing with low quality commercial software, etc. Then you get to do it all over again when a major update drops.

Performance is better on Linux too, I noticed a good 10-20% FPS uplift in some games. Found a random CPU review showing everything is slower under Windows. https://www.phoronix.com/review/windows-linux-amd-9950x-9950...

[keyringlight]

Just speaking personally, but one thing I wonder about with the issues is putting aside the 'internet knowledge base' how much I've accumulated knowledge of how to gloss over all the little issues in windows that doesn't translate over, and whether that applies to other people in general. There's the common "I migrated grandma and pointed her at firefox and she's loves it" anecdote for users with little assumptions, so for different types of user it'd be an interesting project to catalogue what pain points they come across, major ones are likely well known but I expect it'd be really interesting to gather minor ones. How much is adaptation to the windows/linux "DNA" or ways of doing things that would cause breakage if they were changed and how much could be looked at by various projects.

[nobodyandproud]

Other than the “best performance”, Steamdeck fits the bill.

I’d also mention Windows isn’t a panacea. I’ve fiddled with driver upgrades and downgrades for various games over the years on Windows.

[politelemon]

True about open source though it's the only place where your computer is and feels like yours. Macs and Windows have you beholden to companies that have increasingly been user hostile and both have been keeping me in a constant state of revulsion.

That said, if you're having to fix your system constantly then something is off, as many distros have become incredibly stable. Of course I don't know your circumstances so can't say anything specific.

[dralley]

If your games work with Linux, which you can check on protondb, they typically "just work" and the performance is comparable to (sometimes even slightly better than) Windows. At least using AMD. Nvidia performance is good I've heard but getting everything to work together is still a bit tricky.

[yread]

Indeed, writing this on a laptop with Linux that cant sleep and gets random crashes with blinking caps lock about once a week. Whether its Realtek ethernet adapter can run at its nominal 5gbps on a 6.14+ or <6.10 kernel without CPU soft lockups is an open question

[Gud]

This assume some default state where Windows is trouble free, which is clearly not the case.

[pjmlp]

I have been hearing evangelism since Windows XP days, when DX 10 drivers were Vista only, when driver model changed, when Windows 8 went to WinRT, when Windows 10 introduced telemetry, when....

In the end, Valve had to come up with Proton.

Signed ex-FOSS zealot.

[ac29]

Of all of the things that are a challenge on Linux, UEFI isnt one of them. I'm curious what you mean.

The term might come up in Linux distro installers but the ones I have used recently all handle it fine (Arch, Debian, Fedora). Secure boot is even supported without hassle by all the major distributions. Once Linux is installed the user definitely doesn't need to care about the pre-OS boot firmware.

[trenchpilgrim]

If anything I UEFI is _easier_ on Linux than Windows. Especially if you aren't dual booting and can use EFISTUB.

[trenchpilgrim]

We hang out in different circles because a surprising number of my non-tech worker PC using friends are trying out Linux and liking it. The only thing holding most of my friends back at this point is kernel anti cheat.

[CaptainOfCoit]

Games using kernel anti-cheats + Ableton + Unreal Engine (editor + plugins) not running properly on Linux are the three only things stopping me from removing Windows fully from my desktop.

[SubmarineClub]

I’m on Windows 10 and can’t upgrade to 11 even if I wanted to - my hardware is too old to be supported.

I’ve already messed around with a Fedora dual-boot, but now I’m fully planning to go 100% Linux once I get around to building a new computer.

Luckily I don’t really play multiplayer games so I don’t need to worry about the anti cheat issue.

[raw_anon_1111]

So 2025 is going to be the “Year of Linux on the Desktop”?

[cbm-vic-20]

"Linux on the Desktop" is great. I've been using it since 1994. "Linux on the Laptop" sucks- I just want my laptop to sleep and awake properly, without draining the battery. I'm old enough that I'm done spending time twiddling kernel parameters in an attempt to get all of the onboard devices working, including sleep.

[willis936]

I know many people (myself included) that stopped using Windows altogether this year. Even accounting for biases, this is a very bad year for Microsoft.

[dehrmann]

When the desktop environments unite and a single distro rises up as champion, the year is nigh.

[karlgkk]

> GNU/Linux as a whole has never been in better shape to catch users fleeing from Windows

It’s still in really bad shape, from a consumer perspective.

[Jare]

My recent experience with Linux Mint on a new PC is the opposite. I went from USB installer to a fully functional system with drivers, chrome, my fave web pages, and my fave games on Steam and Battlenet, etc running flawlessly without ever doing a single "techie" thing.

On Windows 11 I had to figure out that I needed hop on another computer to search, download and copy via USB some motherboard and wifi drivers before I could even access the Internet. A number of things in the system remain rather quirky and not entirely reliable, including video playback of all kinds.

If I was setting up a PC for say my dad tomorrow, I'm finally at the point where I'd rather give him Linux than Windows.

[izacus]

They're right here and are organizing campaigns to switch to Linux: https://endof10.org/

Did you even look before you threw out a lazy negative post?

[gjsman-1000]

The “Linux demographics” were a bunch of 20-30 year olds who are now 40-50.

Same with the “Free Software” crowd - those 20-30 year olds are now 50-60.

Aging demographics that broadly failed to attract any interest from the next generation. Honestly though, why join? There’s nothing inherently attractive about either community. Hang out with toxic gamers on Discord and join a team, or hang out with toxic old nerds still on IRC for ideological purity. I know which one wins. Even professionally, I’d rather join a model train community.

[pjmlp]

You're being downvoted, however you're exactly right.

Speaking as one of those 40-50, I firmly believe once our generation is gone all those ideals will be gone as well.

Also everyone that thinks Valve will stay the Linux white knight after current management is gone, is in for a surprise, who knows what they will do with their assets.

[futuraperdita]

This comment is getting downvoted for what is likely its tone of ageism, but I don't think that it's completely wrong: the original FOSS-activist community is now a group of oldheads and hasn't successfully made the same generational shift that maintained its original philosophy. Looking at any rant from Torvalds, the Linux programming community has often held technical elitism before inclusivity. "Open source" over "free/libre software" has found success not because of its personalities and community but rather because it is a meme that can be appropriated for your own. The counterculture I see in GenZ+ that is most interested in working with FOSS/public technologies is politically aligned differently and has more pragmatic goals (e.g. will use major commercial communications platforms such as Discord).