About a month ago I switched to Linux mint from windows 11.

The first thing I noticed was mint being faster and less bloated than windows 11.

I also liked having actual control over my settings without a corporation being able to undo them at will.

Another thing I noticed was not having to add extensions to text files to run as a program instead having the option in properties.

For certain windows programs and games I was able to use wine which was great because I like to use gamemaker 8.1 which was made before they added linux support.

I tried different wine environments starting with bottles then trying Steam proton and Lutris. With Lutris being the one I ended up using due to it being the only one that I could get to run every program I needed.

The ms paint alternative called drawing took some use to due to it automatically cropping out parts of the image outside of the line when pasting in a screenshot from the clipboard.

Although I do still miss ms paint but that is mostly nostalgia.

Fortunately there is an option to save the screenshot after taking it.

Migrating from windows I appreciate the SUPER key bringing up a menu on the bottom left which brings up some apps and the search bar. Which always searches on the OS unlike windows 11 which sometimes searches the internet instead.

Another detail I noticed is if you type paint or notepad in the search it brings up drawing and the text editor which is nice for people transitioning to Linux.

Being able to move the panel or add new ones was also a breath of fresh air from windows 11 making the task bar more restrictive.

Having the option of deb packages and flatpacks is really useful as well.

I also no longer have to worry about telemetry or microsoft trying to show me ads or pop ups.

TL:DR Mint is a way better experience than windows 11.

  • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I’m not fucking with you. I tend to stick up for “the underdog”. Even on Lemmy I rarely see a list of 15 obscure windows issues, and imo that would be extremely fair to see.

    There’s an idea that just won’t die that Linux is extremely difficult to use/maintain/troubleshoot. It’s certainly often a lot easier than windows, so it just gets to me to see that idea propagated. It’s friggin’ annoying to see ideas spread that just aren’t truly accurate, while the obvious issues in everyone’s face (windows being 100 times worse than it ought to be) are ignored most of the time.

    It especially annoyed me on a post trying to spread a positive message about a linux variant. You make some fair points, but yeah that was my psychology here, in case it matters.

    • hedgehog@ttrpg.network
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      6 months ago

      There’s an idea that just won’t die that Linux is extremely difficult to use/maintain/troubleshoot. It’s certainly often a lot easier than windows, so it just gets to me to see that idea propagated.

      Pretending it’s all sunshine and rainbows isn’t realistic, either. That said, I had a completely different takeaway - that the issues are mostly kinda random and obscure or nitpicky, and the sorts of things you would encounter in any mature OS.

      The issue about PopOS not having a Paint application is actually the most mainstream of them - and it feels very similar to the complaints about iPadOS not including a Calculator app by default. But nobody is concluding that iPads aren’t usable as a result.

      Teams having issues is believable and relevant to many users. It doesn’t matter whose fault an issue is if the user is impacted. TBH, I didn’t even know that Teams was available on Linux.

      That said, the only people who should care about Teams issues on Linux are the ones who need to use them, and anyone who’s used Microsoft products understands that they’re buggy regardless of the platform. Teams has issues on MacOS, too. OneDrive has issues on MacOS. On Windows 10, you can’t even use a local account with Office 365.

    • BURN@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It’s only easier than windows if you’re used to using and fixing Linux. Windows doesn’t require maintenance and troubleshooting for the most part. If something doesn’t work, you just restart and 99% of the time it does.