Linux (Mint), the simple and long and short of it, switch?
So much has been written about: how awful Windows 11 is for privacy, and what a cynical, bloated and AI heavy OS it is & how it is bad for the users. How it is generating a mountain of E-waste consisting of millions of perfectly fine computers. And how millions more new computers will be bought to replace those ""obsolete"" ones. Rather redundant to talk about all that. Simply do a search on YouTube and you will find a hundred or more well-researched video's with very concerning facts and information.
Just in case you are not aware of all the above, this video is simple and great overview:
Stressing the importance of switching and the many benefits, is also a bit trite and obvious at this point, commenters and content creators have done all that so well already.
Instead I will write a few thoughts for those still fence-sitting or who are having FUD:
Is it easy?
Yes it is! I have always been the person in my family, and among many of my friends, that is rather good with OSes and I have used many, since I was nine years old. That list of OSes includes Linux for about 25 years, yet I am very far from a Linux expert or command line guru. I just use it for Desktop computing, doing much of what almost everyone does on their computer. Common, necessary and simple tasks. I don't tinker!
You certainly can do everything you want or need to do with the GUI, just point and click with mouse, just like in Windows or OSX.
I have also installed and used Apple OSX quite a bit and Windows a lot, including concurrently with Linux. For a while it was my job to install and administer some higher end OSX machines. Truthfully: Linux is extremely easy and fast to install in 2026. It has been for some years! It certainly was not, eight years ago, never mind twenty.
I find Linux (Mint) easier and faster to install than OSX and WIN, no question. And I think anyone that watches a few short videos most likely will have a very similar experience.
Will my hardware work?
Very likely. Hardware support has gotten great in last years too. From printers to GPUs to peripherals of all sorts, many work. Even for vast majority of gaming and games, Linux is very viable as a daily driver now. Also, you can easily try out all your hardware with a USB stick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_USB and it will take little time. You can do that without committing to anything much less losing or erasing your current OS.
Will I be able to use Software XYZ?
Likely. Slack, Office, all kinds of messengers, browsers, VLC, Minecraft, Torrent software and so much more run natively on Linux. For the very few programs or utilities that have no native Linux port (yet), there are two good solutions:
Run it in emulation/a virtual machine or compatibility layer, this is truly not hard. For gaming this is a good short guide: https://itsfoss.gitlab.io/post/running-one-of-my-favorite-windows-game-on-linux-heres-how-it-went/
Find an alternative or similar program, some of those will be better than what you are used to, a number of them will be worse. But often there are many choices and almost always you can find something that will work for you. At the very least most of these Linux programs are Open Source & free and won't be enshitified or become subscription based (Adobe...) etc.
There are so many Linux names/variants/"distro's", which one to use?
Just start with Linux Mint! Great community, totally free and by far the easiest to run and install. I have installed at least 80 distro's, of which I daily drove quite a few for a week or two or many months. I still keep up with distro's, watch comparison video's and try some things out now and then. I always come back to Linux Mint. It is an absolute joy to use. It just works, I don't mess with it, I simply get my things done in office, e-mail, with movies, music, downloading and in my browser (I like Librewolf which is extremely similar to Firefox but more private and open source). Brave is nice too.
The consensus online generally seems to be that Mint is the best one to start with, especially if you do not have Linux experience or are coming from any other OS. Why not set yourself up for success and a nice time? You can always branch out or try out others Linux variants later! Or not. Besides easy, it is free, private and most importantly: fun!
