The first point I think is one of the main arguments. I've been using Ubuntu on a computer I bought in 2007. Worked like a charm (until the PSU blew up a few months back). Linux is a system that outlast its hardware!
One can also turn the argument around. What would be the reason to use Windows instead of Linux (if, like most of the people on HN I assume, you are computer literate) ?
For me it's the "it just works" factor. Just tons of tiny issues I have on Linux:
- I have to disable the compositor to get 144 Hz in programs
- With the compositor disabled, animations become very drawn out and pixelated
- Konsole's layout breaks on a new version so I have to keep downgrading it manually
- Audacity takes like 10 seconds to load
- I have to run modprobe every time I want to use my webcam
- The cursor is different in login screen and main desktop
- Spectacle (screenshotting tool) needs to be invoked twice to actually do a screenshot
- I can't print double sided pages on my network printer
- Dolphin can't connect to our household's Windows file share server (or maybe the fault lies in samba?)
- VLC hard freezes every once in a while and needs to be killed with -9 flag
At one point I maintained a txt of these issues but I don't have access to that right now
A lot of people apparently run into hardware support issues with Linux.
Personally, I have not had any issues in about fifteen years, but I cannot blame people for expecting their hardware to Just Work (tm). Back in the day, I enjoyed spending a weekend getting sound or wifi to work, but these days not so much.
At the same time, hardware support has gotten so much better over the twenty one years I have been using Linux, so it is much less of a hassle today.
Windows works on my new laptop(3 year old with TPM) perfectly. This doesn't mean Linux doesn't work too. I tried PopOs for a month. If in future I switch to linux completely this distro is going to be the one. But there are still bugs which aren't fixed yet on linux. Battery backup is also an issue on Linux (tried TLP too). There were many other problems too. To summarize it Windows was a way better experience for me with this specific hardware. And WSL is really a game changer for me as I can keep on using Linux without worrying about hardware issues.
>Not having to worry that upgrading one app will break things for other apps.
That's subjective.
>Safe screen locking.
Slock.
>Not having to spend hours getting hardware working properly but unreliably.
No issue with Void. Good luck with Windows and old harware.
You don't have your wifi drivers on your laptop reinstall? You are fucked. Yes, SDI Tool Origin, but you need an extra USB drive about 16GB to do so.
>Not having to deal with audio issues when you want sound from multiple apps.
That's bullshit, I solved that in 2004.
>A responsive interface that doesn't feel like a clunky children's toy from the early 2000s.
You mean, Windows 10 with UI latency and everything being felt as if it was ran over a layer of tar?
Because, in comparison, MATE flies. And I don't even use a DE.
Not the GP, but just because you solved it in 2004 doesn't mean others don't have issues. There are still hardware/app configurations that are broken on Linux. Pipewire is helping, but it's not perfect.
One can also turn the argument around. What would be the reason to use Windows instead of Linux (if, like most of the people on HN I assume, you are computer literate) ?
Games I guess.