Microsoft Makes The Case For Linux
Once upon a time, I was a Windows user too.
Once upon a time, Windows was a no-frills, distraction-free experience that did exactly what you needed and got out of the way when you didn’t need it.
Modern Windows is not that. Around every corner are thousands of tiny violations of your time, your attention, your privacy, and even your personal goals when using the platform. With every new release, Microsoft makes an increasingly compelling case for switching from Windows to Linux.
But don’t take my word for it.
The Cost
Windows is not free. The copy that came pre-installed on your machine was subsidized by the purchase of that machine, but you could pay up to $139 for Home, and up to $200 for Pro, if you decide to buy your own copy.
But you don’t stop paying for it. You’ll pay when you need to upgrade to the next Windows. You’ll pay when you buy your next computer. You’ll pay for the OneDrive storage that Microsoft desperately wants you to use. You’ll pay for the Copilot subscription that’s getting a dedicated key on your keyboard. You’ll even pay with your personal data (more on that later).
Linux doesn’t cost you anything. You can download it, run it, and upgrade it whenever you want.
The Waste
You probably thought that once you bought all that stuff, you were done buying things, right? Well, maybe, at least until Microsoft decides you need to buy more.
You see, when you run Windows, Microsoft gets to decide when your old computer is no longer useful, and Microsoft has a long history of updating Windows in ways that force their users to toss perfectly good hardware.
There was that time that they released Windows Vista, which did not run on the majority of PCs at the time. Or when they gave Windows 8 a tablet interface so that everyone would now need a touchscreen. Or the time that they decided everyone now needed to have a TPM 2.0 chip in their computer to run Windows 11.
With Linux, you aren’t forced to upgrade. Even brand new versions of Linux run great on old hardware, so you can upgrade your computer when you are ready, not when Microsoft decides that you’re ready.
The Data Collection
Microsoft wants to know everything about you, because they sell that information for big money. So modern Windows does everything in its power to track what you do on the platform.
That’s why Windows requires an Internet connection to install. It’s why Windows now requires a Microsoft account to log in. It’s why Windows wants to know your location, and wants you to use Edge, and why Bing looks a lot like Google.
Microsoft collects so much information on you that there are entire articles about how to opt out, but even that won’t stop all data collection, because Microsoft still reserves the right to collect “required data” about you, including what devices you have, how your system is configured, and what programs you have installed.
Against this backdrop, it makes sense how Microsoft could think Recall is a good idea. Recall is a “privacy nightmare” that saves screenshots of your entire desktop every few seconds, and feeds them into Microsoft’s AI. While now turned off by default, this insane feature actually exists in Windows. Whatever convenience could be afforded by having an unlimited, unredacted record of everything you do on your computer can’t possibly be worth the risk to your security, privacy and identity online.
On Linux, the situation is totally different. While telemetry does exist, it tends to be limited to user diagnostics and usage pings, and opting out is much easier, if information is collected at all. Very often, open source software communities don’t even know how many users they have, let alone who they are.
The Advertising
Now that Microsoft has all this nice information about you, what better use for it than to advertise to you. It says so right in their privacy policy.
Windows shows you ads in the Start Menu, Lock Screen, on the Edge browser start page, inside folders, system menus, and even during installation.
Microsoft itself seems to have realized how brazen the shilling has become, as they’ve publicly committed this year to reducing the amount of advertising in Windows.
Linux doesn’t have this problem. The occasional app may try to upsell you, but aggressive marketing doesn’t get far in the Linux ecosystem. Users can just pick up and go elsewhere, to a different app, or even a different flavor of Linux.
The Apps
If you’re on Windows, you’re probably used to paying for all the other software you might need, either with real money, or by wading through advertisements. What if you didn’t have to do that?
On Linux, free and open source tools exist for almost any task you can imagine. For creators, there’s Ardour for audio production, Kdenlive for video editing, Krita for illustration, Blender for 3D, Inkscape for 2D, Darktable for photography, OBS Studio for streaming, and so much more.
For coders, Linux is the development environment, and Linux systems are everywhere. Learn Linux, and you can develop software for the most installed operating system in the world, powering Android phones, embedded systems, IoT, cloud servers, and all of the world’s biggest supercomputers. For makers, you can design schematics and circuit boards with KiCad, or do mechanical designs with FreeCAD.
You can game on Linux too. With a growing community and Valve’s Linux-powered Steam Deck, Linux gaming has finally gotten good, and some would say, great. The games that you want to play probably still cost money, but it’s no longer true that you need to be on Windows to have a good gaming experience.
For everyone else who just needs to get on the internet or email their friends, Linux is stable, secure, and gets the job done. Almost everything you need to use Linux as a daily driver works out of the box on every major distro. On top of that, every tool I’ve mentioned is free and open source, so you don’t have to pay the Adobe Tax to be an artist anymore.
Try Linux
If you don’t like the direction that Windows has been going, you don’t have to accept it; you can refuse by switching to Linux.
If you’re not sure if Linux is for you, you don’t have to commit. You can try Linux without making any changes to your system. If you’re on Windows now, download Rufus, grab a flash drive, put a Linux image on it, and boot into USB from the BIOS. You’ll have a running Linux environment that works just like what will be installed (if a bit slower), so you can easily find out what Linux distribution you like.
I’m liking Fedora right now, but you might like something different, like Ubuntu or OpenSUSE or even Gentoo. There are so many distributions to choose from, each with their own ideas and preferences. That’s because Linux is developed primarily by volunteers who do it because they are passionate about free software and about building an operating system that they themselves would want to use.
There is a learning curve. There are things on Linux that will feel familiar to Windows users, and things that won’t. When you venture into Linux, it is important to get familiar with the tools that exist, and learn how they work. The experience isn’t always as polished as commercial software, but often times it actually is. Either way, it will be different.
When you use Linux, your computer is yours and yours alone, and you get to decide what that means for you, not anyone else. Linux isn’t “free” just because you don’t pay for it. Linux is “free” because it gives you the freedom to use your computer however you want and for as long as you want.
I’ve been using Linux for the past 15 years, and every year the case for switching to Linux gets stronger. As Windows gets more pushy, invasive, and rent-seeking, Linux does more of what I need, more easily, and with fewer hiccups, with a larger and more supportive community to help out when I get stuck. I consider the difficulty of learning Linux to be an investment in an operating system that respects my time, my choices, and my privacy.
Microsoft has made switching to Linux such an obvious choice that there’s often no reason to look back anymore.