refuse all

Sticking to Linux: the one simple trick they don't want you to know

The trick to sticking with Linux is to be realistic. Realistic with what you want from it and what it can provide you.

I've tried switching to Linux from Windows many times. Trying to strike the balance between stability, user-friendliness and bleeding-edge; Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint (the list goes on), but it's never lasted.

With the Apple Silicon revolution, I tried mitigating this by switching over to MacOS via an M1 MacBook Air and, while MacOS definitely has its benefits, I've continued to feel hamstrung by some of it design oddities, only to install a myriad of extensions to replicate a Windows-like workflow.

My big realisation through all of this, is that I actually quite like the Windows-way of doing things. It lets me be productive while largely staying out of my way. I've just been frustrated with Microsoft's increasing attempts to sabotage user-privacy and prioritising ad-revenue at the expense of bloat (which makes my claim of "staying out my way" less true with every passing day).

The global start-menu is a great idea, just not when every key stroke is sent to Microsoft servers to return me Bing results. Having the option to integrate OneDrive to sync cloud-based workflows is welcome, just not when it starts forcing itself by reinstalling with every update. And this pattern only seems to be continuing with Microsoft Recall.

My requirements:

Through this, I settled on ZorinOS. Having dedicated Windows themes and being based on Ubuntu provides the basis for a great experience. And yes, being based on Ubuntu-LTS means that the latest packages aren't always available but that requirement isn't on my list (though it might be on yours).

This isn't a universal endrosement for ZorinOS. Finding and settling on ZorinOS was just an outcome of introspecting to understand why I'm actually switching to Linux . Doing this before making the switch won't eliminate the inevitable distro-hopping rite of passage, but minimise it. Just enough to teach you Linux's intricacies without fatiguing you into wishing you never tried making the switch in the first place.