r/linux • u/Zodiak1011 • 2d ago

Alternative OS Why does it feel like Linux is suddenly exploding in 2026?

I’ve been seeing more and more people switching to Linux this year, especially gamers. Bazzite, CachyOS, Linux Mint, etc. seem to be getting mentioned everywhere.

Why didn’t we see a massive shift like this earlier? What changed, or what finally pushed people to make the switch?

I know the Steam Deck was probably a big factor in showing people that Linux gaming is actually viable and that Linux isn’t as painful as it used to be.

But what else changed over the last few years that made Linux suddenly feel like a realistic alternative to Windows for so many people?

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1.5k

u/lunchbox651 2d ago
  • Proton
  • Windows 10 dying
  • Windows 11 getting worse
  • Steam deck
  • Steam machine
  • Governments seeking to encroach on user privacy

Etc etc

The more of these things compound the more some people will gravitate to an open source OS

511

u/Ferthura 2d ago

And lots of European countries trying to get away from US influence

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u/the_abortionat0r 2d ago

It's more to do with trust and how fragile the US really is and how meaningless our constitution and laws turned out to be.

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u/ThrowAwayYetAgain878 2d ago

As a European, I think you're both right. Despite eroding trust somewhat, the US was the unquestioned hegemon of the Western world, mostly through soft power (in the end). I would not have believed that a speedrun of putting that into question would have been possible (in practice).

At least, Linux benefits for now lol.

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u/New_Egg_1024 1d ago

It is much easier to break things than to build them.

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u/troisieme_ombre 2d ago

No, there's a real objective to actively reject american software, mainly because American laws enable them to basically bypass european privacy laws as soon as data reaches american infrastructure. Which is an obvious security risk.

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u/realmauer01 2d ago

And the infrastructure isnt even just american servers, its even european servers if its american software.

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u/Randommaggy 2d ago

Or under American ownership

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u/Kazer67 1d ago

That's literally why OVH is split into to separate society: world and US.

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u/Bakoro 3h ago

America has 99 problems and I'm not going to address that here.

Digital sovereignty is still an unsolved issue, and the EU has their own serious issues authoritarianism online, and potentially over-reach when it comes to trying to enforce EU law.

I don't have any good answers. I am an American and I don't think that I should have to be worrying about EU law if my business is entirely contained in the U.S, anymore than I should have to follow Missouri law when I'm in California.

The Internet is global though, and if a business is on the Internet, my customers could be anyone from anywhere. Whose laws am I supposed to follow? Now suddenly I have to follow EU and Iranian and Sudanese and Chinese and Brazilian laws all at the same time just because their people might be able to interact with my business?
What happens when laws conflict?

One might say "well then don't do business outside with people outside your country", but why should the onus be on me to track who you are and where you're connecting from?
And, if I have to try to suss out if you're from a particular country, or even a particular state or province in a particular country, then isn't that a privacy issue in and of itself?

This should all be sorted out via international trade agreements, but we keep running into issues that are not being sorted out.

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u/wilhelm-moan 2d ago

What if it’s just because windows fucking sucks

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u/psioniclizard 2d ago

No the problem is both sides of the house think similar things about the rest of the world. Trump is just more open about it.

America under both parties currently is about dominanting the world in someone. 

Neither side cares particularly for example that social media companies are happy to push all kinds of shit in Europe because its a mass source of soft power for the US.

Same thing with the reliance on US technology.

Thr problem ultimately is American Exceptionalism which is not jut a one party thing.

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u/punkbert 1d ago

both sides

The dems never threatened to occupy Greenland. They never went amoc on the global economy with insane tax policies. They never started hare-brained wars that massively affected world trade. The dems never tried to dismantle democratic institutions and turn the US into an autocracy. Etc, etc, etc.

Both sides? No. One side is way way worse for the state of the world than the other, and the europeans clearly recognize that.

0

u/Key-Mention576 1d ago

The Dems will stab you in the back, the republicans will stab you in the front, none of them are moral people, one is a good liar, the other is a shit liar but regardless all that comes from them are lies.

The Dems were already doing all that but they were more subtle, the republicans are also doing it but more clumsy and incompetent.

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u/BlazingBlossom 2d ago

As a European, that was the final push for me. It's in the national interest not to be dependent the #1 most warmongering country in the world

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u/Bakoro 3h ago

We learned it from watching you!

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u/TaxHazyShade 2d ago

that's largely because the citizenry doesn't get to vote on what the military does. Much like Russia.

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u/BlazingBlossom 2d ago

dw, I don't blame the people

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u/GuillotineAuChocolat 2d ago

I do. They elected the guy. Twice.

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u/BlazingBlossom 2d ago

Sure, half of them suck, but a good portion of the people in every country vote for idiots. But I also think their democracy is fundamentally flawed. Too much gerrymandering and they have this ridiculous two party system.

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u/realmauer01 2d ago

The two party system comes from winner takes it all voting system, this has as many problems as any other system, just different ones. The actual problem is with how the voting is counted there could be overall more americans for one side while the other gets voted in.

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u/Indolent_Bard 1d ago

I didn't vote for this guy!

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u/Technical_Rich_3080 2d ago

Europeans come from a blood soaked continent that's been perpetrating wars for many centuries, including two recent world wars where they murdered tens of millions of innocent people within the lifetimes of people alive today.

Europeans are the last people on the planet to have any standing to speak against anyone else.

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u/alanslc 2d ago

They chose the lesser of two evils.

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u/pezezin 2d ago

In which twisted world was Trump less evil than Kamala?

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u/Indolent_Bard 2d ago

He didn't even win the popular vote the first time!

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u/lazyboy76 1d ago

And he won the popular vote the second time, only lose to "No vote".

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u/Dr_Hexagon 2d ago

Not just Europe. China is spending billions to rid itself of dependence on US technology. Not only windows, they want to not be dependent on intel, AMD, Nividia or ARM as well.

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u/PlatinumDotEXE 1d ago

Arm is actually a British Company...

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u/Dr_Hexagon 23h ago

now Japanese owned, but still subject to US export controls if the US decided to ban ARM from licensing new cpu designs to china then ARM would comply.

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u/Indolent_Bard 2d ago

Not influence, dependence.

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u/No_Librarian_2161 2d ago

O Brasil já deveria ter feito isso. Uma pena que meu País adora se rebaixar aos outros...

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u/chiphead2332 2d ago

Teve uma puta iniciativa liderada pelo Sérgio Amadeu no começo dos anos 2000, mas grana de lobby correu solta e o Brasil perdeu uma chance de ser referência mundial em software livre.

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u/neoronio20 2d ago

Muitos sistemas no Brasil já funcionam no Linux, era só trocar =(

Mas só de ver as provas de concurso cobrando coisas específicas do windows, Microsoft office, da um desânimo

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u/MotionAction 2d ago

Do they have in house support to delve into open source and are there service providers in European countries have to support Open source for businesses?

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u/PlatinumDotEXE 1d ago

OpenSUSE is maintained by the German company Suse and Ubuntu is maintained by the British Canonical. Both sell Support for their distros.

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u/Silent_Bite_5892 1d ago

That's definitely happening, but it's not nearly enough to make a dramatic difference in global market share. I'm sure it's mildly irritating Microsoft and some commercial software makers.

There also aren't "lots" of European countries just switching their whole shit to Linux. There's a handful going that way and some city/state/regional governments in the EU making that switch.

But, the ones who are doing it now will prove the feasibility of the strategy and others will inevitably follow.

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u/Ferthura 1d ago

Yeah, true, "lots" is quite an overstatement. However, I do believe that those discussions push Linux more into the mainstream. I have read several articles about some of those decisions that weren't at all directed towards tech-savvy people. Those folks might have heard about Linux for the first time because of this development. That's why I do think it is relevant in the current trend.

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u/AnDe2 1d ago

And lots of American citizens trying to get away from US influence

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u/Jepser0203 18h ago

This. Europe is actively working on developing own technology. Own chip manufacturing, cloud, payment systems, AI etc. Also more and more people are becoming aware of privacy, which also actively pushes people towards Linux.

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u/papashazz 3h ago

Linux has been around for thirty years, so if there was serious interest in getting away from Windows solely for nationalistic reasons it would have happened long ago. I think the changes to Windows 11 that effectively are breaking it and forcing hardware changes for perfectly good machines are driving people who either never had an interest or used it before are now giving it a second look.

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u/SuperGNUser 2d ago

Ahahaah it's so cute you believe this.

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u/batmanallthetime 2d ago

Having options ready & 1 foot out of the door is enough to make someone behave rationally. Risk & redundancy is not have all eggs in one basket. Samsung did that successfully with Tizen in last decade.

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u/xcorv42 2d ago

They will come back when democrats will come to power again

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u/immoloism 2d ago

Why would they?

Neither party is exactly European friendly and they have put into action a plan to no longer rely on the US.

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u/Pentasis 2d ago

As a European I sincerely hope not.  One thing we learned from this shitshow is that we need to make sure we become less dependant.

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u/GarbanzoBenne 2d ago

As an American, I agree. There’s only so much we can do from the inside. We need to learn we don't run the world from the outside, too.

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u/xcorv42 2d ago edited 2d ago

We will see in the coming future if europe develops it’s messaging apps, it’s video app, it’s smartphone’s, it’s operating systems, it’s cloud, it’s cpu, it’s gpu, it’s memory, and on and on. And if they buy european weapons only and not american.

I hope they don’t turn to china or back to russia or any dictator just to avoid USA

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u/FuckFuckingKarma 2d ago

Even if the next US government does a 180 on foreign policy all the former allies have to concede with the fact that in another 4 years the US might backstab them again.

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u/xcorv42 2d ago

If we could get someone smart like obama it would be better for europe it was a better time

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u/Dazzling-Paper9781 1d ago

You have betrayed our trust twice; I really do hope that we European citizens won’t be so foolish to follow you again

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u/xcorv42 1d ago edited 1d ago

I’m not amarican lol 😂
I just think that european politicians likes american money so much that they could change their mind easily

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u/Dazzling-Paper9781 1d ago

Sorry mate, I misinterpreted your comment. Unfortunately, I have to agree with you: the current European political class is made up of people who prioritise money over dignity. And if we look at the parties on the rise (such as the AfD in Germany or the RN in France), the situation is set to get even worse.

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u/jomara200 2d ago

It's cute that you think that the traitors haven't taken power forever.

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u/xcorv42 2d ago

what cute ?

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u/Alive_Beyond_2345 2d ago

No it's more to do with the US not spending Billions subsidizing European defense any longer.... we aren't picking up the tab so the EU is mad, sorry no free healthcare when you have to build Ships, Tanks, Planes and missle systems....

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u/gogliker 2d ago

Jesus christ, I like how uneducated magats are. Dude, your medical costs are on average 50 percent larger per capita and you still don't get universal coverage and your life expectancy still lower than in e.g. Germany. The budget for medicine in USA irc is 4 trillions I think, while military is 1 trillion.

So yeah, there are absolutely no reason why you cant have free healthcare or why we cant have both military and healthcare. Your healthcare system just sucks, sorry, that is the reason.

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u/Alive_Beyond_2345 2d ago

Well none of that matters in Western Europe now that it's been invaded by 3rd Worlders, was in Paris, Berlin and Belgium a year ago and it's horrible.... Suicidal Empathy ridden Liberals have destroyed those nations....

And I sure hope you're a Woman and not a Guy... Liberalsim at its core is feminine.... only limp waisted men are liberals

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u/gogliker 2d ago

Intetesting pivot, however, Ill take this as you conceding the healthcare and a military point.

And what does being liberal has to do with this? Your founding fathers called themselves liberal. Are they feminine or what?

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u/Alive_Beyond_2345 2d ago

I'm a Sys Analyst for a Hospital... the Vast majority of new drugs and research is in the US, the Quality of medical procedures in the US is the best on earth... why is that? Profit.... Why do wealthy Europeans come to the US for life saving surgeries? Like cancer care etc. Who cares about free healthcare if it's shit and I have to wait forever, I have a good career and insurance.

Liberalism/Socialism never wins.

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u/gogliker 2d ago

Its not an argument. Like fine, I give you that acute outcomes are better in USA, however, anything preventative is worse. Europe is better in managing chronic conditions, life expectancy, child mortality and so on. If you need cancer treatment, yes, the USA is better but if you want to catch cancer early Europe is much better.

And jfc, what is the hate towards liberalism? Your country is literally a liberal democracy, whats your point? Do you hate America or what?

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u/Alive_Beyond_2345 2d ago

America has Never been a Democracy, it's a Constitutional Republic.

And yes the Jeffersonian Liberalism type is cool, it's the whole Anti White, 3rd world loving, Feminist Liberalism that sucks...

But that is coming to an end, especially in Europe, before the Liberals there are able to commit cultural suicide, rational heads will prevail, but it will be ugly

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u/gogliker 2d ago

You are pivoting again, we talked about liberalism. America is a liberal country, yes, even under trump it stays liberal country. It is also democratic constitutional representative republic. Its representative democracy because you vote for your representatives, like senators, and these senators represent your state, that is part of republic. So there is literally no contradiction, these are not opposite, it can be both republic and a democracy.

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u/snail1132 2d ago

Liberalism and socialism are completely different

Glow harder

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u/Additional-Sky-7436 2d ago

And Social Media influencers talking it up.

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u/bankinu 2d ago

I think it reached the critical threshold the moment influencers who have nothing to usually do with Linux started making videos on why switch to Linux.

We're taking off.

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u/Additional-Sky-7436 2d ago

We're taking off... right up until all the "influencers" suddenly and inexplicably start making videos titled "Why I'm going back to Microsoft Windows".

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u/terminalrythm 2d ago edited 2d ago

the grind is real, "Everything That Is Wrong With Linux!" is also content. 😅

Edit: Typo

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u/Additional-Sky-7436 2d ago

And it always comes down to "No Adobe software."

I mean, I get that content creators kind of live in a bubble, like everyone else, but not everyone on the planet uses Adobe software.

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u/Indolent_Bard 2d ago

No, but everyone uses professional software that isn't available on Linux.

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u/ekmanch 1d ago

In their personal life? Definitely not even close to all people. Tons of people just game and do some web browsing.

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u/Indolent_Bard 1d ago

Good point, for personal computers that's less of an issue.

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u/Candid_Country_8369 1d ago

Most people also don't game on pc

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u/ekmanch 1d ago

It was an example, my man. Most people don't use professional tools on their PCs. Most people use web browsers, maybe Spotify or similar, some light MS Office tools etc. And yes, some people game. A lot more people game than use professional tools on their personal PCs.

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u/Indolent_Bard 2d ago

Linus seems pretty penguin-pilled now. He's literally going into other channels chats and talking about why they should use Linux instead.

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u/ShowMeYourPie 1d ago

Penguin-pilled! 😂 Shut up and take my upvote.

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u/Lv_InSaNe_vL 2d ago

I mean, "media creator" is one career that has a long way to go for Linux. Like yeah you have DaVinci resolve, but you don't have any of the Adobe stuff or Premiere or anything like that.

And no. GIMP is not a Photoshop replacement.

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u/eegah1968 1d ago

Agreed. I have played with Linux for ten years and it’s still not a Windows’s replacement for me. I want it to be.

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u/lazyboy76 1d ago

At least someone might try Linux, a lot will comeback, but some might stick around.

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u/Apprehensive-Unit188 1d ago

Yeah like switch and click

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u/Omer-Ash 2d ago

Gaming in particular has brought a lot of people to Linux, including my brother. He's happily using Bazzite KDE.

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u/Far-Note6102 2d ago

Its because microtrash consumes almost 16gb of my ram

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u/Maeyhem 2d ago

I love Bazzite as well.

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u/AssistingJarl 2d ago

Proton is definitely doing a lot of work. This might be a filter bubble thing but most of the uptake I've seen has been in gaming. Enthusiasts who didn't mind tinkering with a computer anyway, and were the most likely to have to make a conscious choice about what OS to install.

That last point is the kinda critical one. I don't think the average user knows they have a choice, per se; the machine shipped with Windows, so if the computer company tells you that it can't be upgraded, you either buy a new computer to get Windows 11 or you keep using Windows 10. I really don't know how (or if) that mindshare problem gets resolved.

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u/primalbluewolf 2d ago

I doubt its going to. x86 is getting replaced, and whatever takes over, there's no incentive to allow end user controlled bootloaders. 

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u/AssistingJarl 2d ago

Depends what you mean. If you mean "for the consumer who browses the web and has an occasional video call" then yes, x86 has actually been replaced for going on 12-15 years now.

The rest is way more speculative though. I don't see x86 going anywhere in the next 10ish years at least, even if it is worse at everything it does than the alternatives. Even if it weren't for the efficiency gains that Intel keeps trying to claw and scratch out of their low end N series (not sure what to call it really; they end up in a lot of mini PCs) to the point that they're almost competing with the Apple devices for performance per Watt, I just think that there's too much momentum behind it for a pivot to happen quicker than that. Even if we pressed a button and stopped making new x86 hardware tomorrow there'd still be devices out there under support contracts until at least 2031, and that would have to guide a lot of software choices, don't you think?

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u/primalbluewolf 1d ago

If you mean "for the consumer who browses the web and has an occasional video call" 

I feel that's essentially context here, yes? Discussing how or if regular users will discover that Operating Systems exist, and that you have a choice of which one to use?

The folks who aren't "the consumer who browses the web and possibly has used a video call before" already know that. 

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u/AssistingJarl 1d ago

Oh, I don't know. I feel as though there is a bit of a market in between. When I wrote that comment I was really thinking of my mother (who does everything but taxes on an iPad these days), but I think some people who are still using computers professionally, but aren't necessarily gamers tinkering with PC hardware, must exist too. People doing video or music editing, digital artists maybe, that sort of thing. I don't really know what to call that potential audience, but I feel like that's the crowd that could benefit the most from Linux in the long run, and currently they're mostly served by Mac or Windows

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u/Trigus_ 2d ago

Also LLMs making slightly more advanced Linux usage easy for the masses.

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u/batmanallthetime 2d ago

Yes quicker technical support, but ironically many users are escaping the "AI Everywhere" push Microsoft did on Windows 11. Credibility has tanked since privacy risks taken in recent times appear unprecedent to end users

  • filesystem access
  • analyzing all user actions
  • Recall screenshotting
  • on-device AI models
  • in-built NPU

I bet >70% users will be happy having old school OS & Office suite that is completely offline & mechanical.

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u/Swizzel-Stixx 2d ago

Being able to choose when I need AI help is far superior to having it shoved down my throat all the time.

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u/CassiusThundercock67 2d ago

And the one being shoved down our throats is fucking Copilot.

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u/lazyboy76 1d ago

Yeah, should've shove Claude down my throat.

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u/rataman098 2d ago

You overestimate the amount of giving a shit the majority of users have about their privacy or rights. >70% of users don’t care about either of those as long as it’s easy, convenient and free. Most people just use Google Docs over offline office suites.

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u/Unquietgirl 2d ago

I've been using libre office for years. Copilot and the screenshot thing they tried to push for a minute, made me really ultimately jump off windows to linux. I had used it on a work computer but not ever put it on a personal computer. It's honestly getting easier and easier for your average person to just use it

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u/cornonthekopp 2d ago

Microsoft shoving copilot down my throat on windows 11 was one of my motivators for switching to mint just recently

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u/MirrorNegative7989 2d ago

Libreoffice has been easy, convenient and free for me to use for a number of years now. And unlike Google Docs, it can't decide to suddenly turn off access to my documents if it doesn't like what I'm typing.

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u/rataman098 2d ago

Again, that’s YOU, the average user doesn’t give a shit

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u/dst1980 2d ago

The average user is starting to care. When they are actually impacted by the issues, they very quickly start to care.

Many don't care YET, and some will never care, but we're seeing more average users starting to care. If someone only really uses an office suite for work, they will use whatever is provided. With many schools providing pre-configured computers for the students, there is much less demand for an office suite at home. And, once again, people will use what is provided/required if they don't have to pay for it.

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u/rataman098 1d ago

Nope, the average user is not lol, the average user is daily driving ChatGPT or Gemini and sending it pictures of them, their families and children to make Disney-style drawings, which is a big indicator of giving zero fucks about privacy.

The above-average might be, but again, I think you’re overestimating the average user.

0

u/Indolent_Bard 2d ago

And unlike Google Docs, it can't decide to suddenly turn off access to my documents if it doesn't like what I'm typing.

What the fuck are you talking about?

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u/F9-0021 2d ago

And then there's the humble notepad/Kate/nano user.

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u/GoogleDisDick 1d ago

You're not wrong but I think there's a limit. I think recall went way past that limit. It was literally screenshotting and analyzing everything you did. If anyone other than Microsoft made that it would've been added to Defender's definitions as spyware. And let's be clear it is spyware.

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u/jajajajaj 2d ago

Yes. It's an escape from all-around  corporate enshittification. 

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u/antichain 2d ago

Imo the problem here isn't AI, so much as it is "AI in places I didn't want it." I'm happy to spin up a Claude Code instance to help configure something or debug nix's impenetrable error messages. But then I close the window and the AI goes away.

For some reason, this is too abstract a concept for Microsoft to grasp though

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u/Particular-Poem-7085 2d ago

the windows issue isn't AI everywhere per se, it's the inconvenience they introduce with extra logins and frankly ads for their services at every step. Nobody would care if it were an option in the background that you never touch.

I'm also escaping windows but privacy was never my first concern. I am however able to achieve things I never dreamed about before with LLM help. Like dailying arch and hosting my own services via docker on a tiny debian machine, I script, I rice, I've created my own kwin plugins.

Not once did I need a dedicated copilot button to do it.

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u/Manuel_RT 2d ago

You can search and learn from AI, that’s different from having AI slop built into the system

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u/Spitfire1900 2d ago

Agentic tool harnesses also perform better on Linux and make less mistakes

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u/Key-Tumbleweed3799 2d ago

Why? Haven't heard this before

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u/lordnacho666 2d ago

Likely because there are a lot of examples of Linux configs in text, whereas windows config is often opening a GUI.

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u/A_Harmless_Fly 2d ago

Not to mention, windows 11 has half it's GUI settings split between 'control panel' and 'settings' and then nested in a million 'advanced settings' submenus. It's confusing even when I flow chart it out.

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u/ARTIFICIAL_ARGUMENT 2d ago

Because it’s open source, meaning the AI can access everything at any level down to the binary seeing exactly how it functions. As opposed to working through windows 30 year old pile of forced and closed pipelines 

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u/calinet6 2d ago

Yep. The whole OS and all documentation is known. An LLM can use, control, or recommend actions on Linux pretty reliably.

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u/Logical_Display9221 2d ago

I watched a YT channel with millions of subscribers effectively recommend Arch based distro to first time Linux users, showing how to let LLM agent make all tunings and fixes. I was speechless at first, but now think it may turn out ok for at least some.

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u/darkcathedralgaming 1d ago

Was that Omarchy Quattro?

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u/PoL0 2d ago

love how LLMs get credit for everything when it was already available one search away.

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u/TomNooksRepoMan 2d ago

Nah, it just doesn’t work that way for newbies. The command line is much less intimidating when an LLM helps you along. The Linux support you’d find on forums before LLMs was rude and difficult at best.

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u/empty_other 2d ago

Jup. Documentation is way too often straight up outdated too. And so are people.

An LLM can find the repo and just read the open code... Cant get any fresher than that. I like open source software.

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u/halfmanhalfespresso 2d ago

Wow thats made me think, you are right, AI beats forums because its polite!

5

u/McGuirk808 2d ago

I've been using Linux since 2006. At that time for me I was trying to get Debian working and I could get neither a graphical desktop nor functional Wi-Fi out of the box due to proprietary driver issues.

I did a lot of learning with manpages and help output for commands. I still think that's a great way to learn if you want to understand how things work.

The major benefit of using LLMs to help troubleshoot is that you don't have to take time to understand everything. Sometimes trying to understand how something complicated works requires reading several different manpages that'll link to each other to have a better big picture understanding of how the pieces all interconnect.

That's absolutely fantastic if you're an enthusiast or professional, but if you're not interested in it at all and just trying to get things working, offloading the understanding portion to an llm is an enormous time saver and huge benefit.

Personally, I really enjoy learning how it all works, but I also understand that's not how everyone likes to interact with their computer either. Different people have different needs and AI can bridge the gaps as desired.

1

u/smasm 2d ago

This is my experience too. I've used Kubuntu and similar a few times over the past 20 years, but have never had the inclination to really learn what I'm doing and I've always drifted back to Mac or Windows. I've been on Mint for two years now and help from LLMs has meant that I've actually stuck with it this time. Before, I couldn't always find what I needed to do by searching, I didn't always feel welcome asking questions in forums, and I simply had other things to do with my time.

I know there are good reasons for being cautious, but it's working for me and my uses. I like the idea of learning it, but I like the idea of learning lots of things, and I've got kids and a busy job so it just isn't going to happen.

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u/Overlord0994 2d ago

LLMs *have* made troubleshooting Linux issues easier. Searching for a fix to an issue on the arch forums and stack overflow is a much longer process than asking an LLM most of the time. There are exceptions where LLMs will hallucinate false solutions but You’re in denial if you think otherwise.

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u/Jarngreipr9 2d ago

Man I set up for hobby a home lab. I used to check stack exchange or Quora or manuals or forums, but I have a full time job and it took a huge amount of time to have little success. In less than 2 days I had most of my system up and running including ssh access. I'm now hardening the security before going online. And that thanks to Copilot, ironically

1

u/Lv_InSaNe_vL 2d ago

Yeah sure but LLMs don't act all snobby, trash on beginner comments, DM you hate mail, ban you from forums, give you conflicting information which starts flame wars in the comments, hit you with a "RTFM", or just straight up tell you that you aren't smart enough to understand.

Let's not act like getting information out of the Linux community is "easy" or "accessible" haha. And I say this as someone who has been daily driving Linux since like 2010.

0

u/PoL0 2d ago

I never was harassed for searching the web, it's way worse to post anything showing skepticism against LLMs in today's reddit by far.

also, chatbots do provide conflicting information very frequently. and they sometimes make up stuff.

1

u/Lv_InSaNe_vL 1d ago

Are we seriously going to sit here and try to rewrite the decades of "hostile Linux forum users" history?

It's been the single biggest roadblock since... Forever lmfao even Linus himself is a pompus asshole haha

0

u/PoL0 1d ago

yeah there's assholes in the internet. and elitist pricks in almost every specialized domain.

but you don't need to interact with them directly. just search through the web, answers are usually out there.

12

u/General_Problem5199 2d ago

Also the general enshittification of gaming consoles. PlayStation in particular.

6

u/kaplanfx 2d ago

I also think as more stuff has moved to the web/cloud there aren’t a big bunch of gaps in application support. This has really happened slowly over the last decade or so, actually good “web” applications. The two main Linux desktop environments are pretty good now and you can get a competent browser and get online easy now.

1

u/Run-OpenBSD 2d ago

Absolutely correct! I can run basically anything these days on firefox on openbsd which is irrelevant because the power is in the browser

1

u/czenst 1d ago

Exactly, Windows stopped mattering for Microsoft at all the real money is in the cloud.

They couldn't care less if you have Windows or else if they earn money on cloud stuff, as long as you can have a browser and pay for ChatGPT, cut of that and loads of other things goes to Azure.

Windows product management is now in bad position so they pull all kinds of spyware crap on users to make up for themselves as focus is on cloud and AI.

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u/BrokkelPiloot 2d ago

I would also say influencers are a huge part. Someone like Linus has a huge following. Hij finally taking the plunge and genuinely being excited makes a lot of difference.

Even non tech channels like PewDiePie are praising Linux. Do you have any idea how many subs and followers he have?

That and our Lord and Savior Gabe!

14

u/Ok-Guitar4818 2d ago

Governments around the world are switching as well. France, China, Germany are noteworthy examples. They have switch substantial portions of their infrastructure to GNU/Linux. US Department of Defense uses Linux for much of their intranet infrastructure (which is substantial).

Windows just can’t compete on the freedom power users have in GNU OSs. Incredibly capable IT professionals just have to sit back and watch Windows annoy the shit out of every single one of their user, every single day while they are intentionally prevented from fixing the issues because it’s a walled garden. With Windows, Microsoft is the admin. With GNU, you are.

It’s 2026. No one needs the handholding to run their IT anymore. If first year comp sci students can home bake a Linux-based OS as a summer project, I think it’s safe to say we’ve reach a point where we can take it from here.

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u/nononoitsfine 2d ago

I disagree with your last point - there are a LOT of younger kids entering university and the job market who can hardly use a non-touch screen device, let alone do any sort of tinkering and troubleshooting, which is necessary on any desktop OS IMO

1

u/Ok-Guitar4818 2d ago

You’re saying computer science majors, in the summer before their sophomore year have difficulty doing things much more technical than using a smart phone as any typical consumer might?

This does not track with any experience I have. Most kids learning comp sci are motivated to learn comp sci and therefore become competent quickly.

3

u/sekh60 2d ago

I only did first year comp-sci and it was a mess. Much of the class didn't know where their files were saved, and this was like 2004-2005.

1

u/Ok-Guitar4818 2d ago

First year is where all the ratio of bad to good students is the highest because the worst ones haven’t been culled yet. But all the good ones are also there. So I don’t doubt there are bad ones. How could there not be?

We’ve been hiring summer interns for a long time. They’re more capable than you’d think if you can recognize the bad ones and avoid them.

5

u/jonasbw 2d ago

I would like to add "Recall" on that list, together with people are getting more concerned with surveillance from big tech and the government.

3

u/gintoddic 2d ago

TBH steam deck pricing is unreachable for a lot of the younger crowd. I think it's def Linux gaming compatibility (proton), and yea windows just getting worse every year.

3

u/jldevezas 2d ago

And also the obvious one: Linux is awesome!

2

u/MD90__ 2d ago

Sadly user privacy being to followed won't be a thing down the road with flock, ai, and all these data centers but as far as things go in desktop and laptop land (if you can still afford them), Linux is the way to go! I will say that don't be surprised if computers become a rented space on a server down the road with a subscription 

2

u/Merjia 1d ago

This. All these.

1

u/LtCodename 2d ago

Good roundup.

1

u/EatSleepCodeCycle 2d ago

Microsoft trying to jam AI into everything and ruining everything…

1

u/rjm3q 2d ago

You forgot to mention the recent story of how every Windows install has a super unique ID that can be traced back to you no matter what you try to do

1

u/night0x63 2d ago

Windows recall... Screenshots every n seconds... Crossed the red line. No going back. Even if they say you can turn off. Duck that. 

Also Windows bricking your computer every month 

1

u/sacheie 2d ago

Plus the exploding backlash against the tech oligarchy

1

u/SmackDownFacility 2d ago

Ok, I draw the line at Windows NT jabs.

Windows NT is where real users live.

1

u/classyraven 2d ago

Also the explosion of subscription-only software has people turning to open source alternatives, which Linux is inextricably linked to. We don't like being nickel-and-dimed.

1

u/gozunz 2d ago

Both Microsoft and Apple AI'ing all the things

1

u/Kazer67 1d ago

And the last one is the Linux priest: "I kept this old laptop/desktop because I didn't have time to throw it away, we can't use it anymore right?".

Don't know, you only do browsing and e-mail right? We could try Linux on it.

Then word of mouth and I gave myself more unpaid work by mistake...

1

u/lazyboy76 1d ago

Year of desktop linux.

1

u/agingnerds 1d ago

I have been slowly migrating to Linux but was holding out. Then my computer crashed twice in a day and I booted up Ubuntu. Windows 10 was not perfect but it didn't feel gross. 11 is bad and feels bad. 

1

u/Arizon_Dread 1d ago

Yeah Windows is not keeping up good with their technological babysteps along with them crapping right in the os with all the forced connections to their cloud services and AI, their buggy and slow UI, their old settings stuff being unchanged since win 7. At the same time Linux is taking great strides in modern, slick and effective UI’s as well as great compatibility, and the great flora of distros to choose from. The more the word spreads about how great, stable and modern the abundant flavours of Linux is, the more people will ditch Windows in favour of the superior os we all love.

1

u/Comprehensive_Bite92 1d ago

Don't forget poorish people like me who can only spend 200-300 euros/pounds for a good second hand laptop that runs better with any linux distro on those 16GB ram.

1

u/AmbidextrousTorso 19h ago

Also AI making it easier to diagnose and fix issues even for Linux newbies.

1

u/bristow84 16h ago

I would also say that the recent series of Linux Challenge videos from LTT helped/is helping quite a lot too. Like him or hate him the man has a large channel and following.

1

u/yaycats88 2h ago

Also youtuber influence like makhir, samtime, zeibytes, bog, piarsquare,exitable and yeah and windows 11 has copilot too much

1

u/chunkly 1h ago

I'm not seeing Windows 11 getting worse. I'm seeing Linux, macOS, and Windows 11 all getting better over time. The only OS I'm seeing getting worse, in some ways, is Google's Android mobile operating system.

1

u/Aggravating_Fun_7692 2d ago

Windows 10 didn't die though. Most of us are still on LTSC until 32

1

u/sofloLinuxuser 2d ago

Yeah that's true but I guess both y'all didn't hear. This year is the year of the Linux Desktop! It's finally here. It only took 35 years but we can rejoice boys!!

0

u/czenst 1d ago

Windows became irrelevant for MSFT it is not money maker anymore. Nowadays everything making money is cloud.

Windows product management has to pull all kind of crap to keep their head above the water.

So good part is that OS war is over — unfortunately not because Desktop Linux is so good but because Microsoft lost interest in fighting that war and they let Desktop Linux become better. If they would want to keep on fighting they most likely could get a deal with Valve or suppress their progress in whatever way they did that earlier to competition.