Basically the forced shift to the enshittified Windows 11 in october has me eyeing the fence a lot. But all I know about Linux is 1: it’s a cantankerous beast that can smell your fear and lack of computer skills and 2: that’s apparently not true any more? Making the change has slowly become a more real possibility for me, though I’m pretty much a fairly casual PC-user, I don’t do much more than play games. So I wrote down some questions I had about Linux.

Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?

Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?

If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?

Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?

How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a “Linux Update” program like what Windows has?

How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?

Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?

Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?

And also, what distro might be best for me?

  • easily3667@lemmus.orgEnglish
    1·
    4 days ago

    That comment is neither nice nor unkind. If someone can’t take a relatively neutral comment in stride and requires that I be “nice”…that’s a pretty unfortunate way to live, tbh.

    If you disagree with any of the claims that’s fine, but I think the facts are fairly rock solid. It’s a word whose definition can’t include windows. It’s a word people parrot endlessly in the last year or so since Doctorow got popular, without actually understanding it. If you want to prove me wrong, go for it.

    • Schlemmy@lemmy.ml
      1·
      9 hours ago

      Is asking people to be nice an unfortunate way to live? Works well for me. I bear bad news a lot in my daily life and I am aware that perception of written text is in the eye of the beholder so I tend to tone down when bringing written messages.

      As for the use of the word enshittified. That all boils down to your initial perception of Windows. You feel like it has been awful since… well, forever apparently. Many people disagree. It’s a matter of opinion, not facts. Whether I agree or disagree with your opinion doesn’t matter. The person you replied to felt like Windows used to be a decent OS that has turned for the worse to please their business customers. Somehow that’s how the term was coined.

      ‘‘Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves.’’