this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2025
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Now is the time to spread your wings and try linux as a replacement for windows!
I've occasionally tried using Linux in the past as my main desktop, because I think Windows as an OS is inferior, and lately because Linux's UI actually seems superior, but I always got suckered back into Windows because I wanted to play certain games.
I tried again last month, and this time, it's different. The games that I want to play work well enough in Linux. Some of them have native Linux builds. Others work well enough in Proton, which is Valve's version of Wine, a Windows emulation layer that can run Windows games in Linux.
I don't see any reason that I'd ever go back to Windows again.
People who haven't tried Linux in a couple of years need to read this.
The amount of progress that has been made with respect to Linux gaming over the past few years has been astonishing.
Now if only big software developers understood this and released business software for Linux...
Depends on what you're looking for, for some fields there are fantastic options already.
The others... Well considering the trajectory I'm seeing now (as a multiple decade Linux user), I think a lot more will start building for it. Maybe one flavor to start, but I do think it will be much more common.
I'm seeing it with some of my clients already.
CAD/CAM, PLC IDEs
For me: Solidworks, TwinCAT (lol @ plc software built on top of windows....and it's one of the more open ones)
Yeah the TwinCAT situation is absurd, pretty much like with SCADAs, wtf why would you use Windows when you need a reliable OS? Luckily Beckhoff is working on a BSD based TwinCAT IIRC, and on the SCADA side Ignition works on Linux
Much of the businesses in media already do. EG: Maya was released for Linux. Its predecessor ‘ALIAS power animator’ was a Unix based program and ran on SGI.
You’d be hard pressed to find a studio involved in fx or 3D or any function of post production not running on Linux.
My understanding is that a lot of it has to do with the Steam Deck, which is Valve's handheld gaming platform. Valve wanted it to run most of their catalog, but they also decided to use Windows emulation rather than Windows, so they forked Wine and put some money and effort into improving it.
But some games are harder to run than others.
If you use Steam, it might be as easy as installing it from Steam, because sometimes the games are multi-platform. FTL is an example of this that I currently have installed. But it seems like more and more game developers want their games to run on the Steam Deck, so they release native Linux versions. (Ironically, I think FTL doesn't run well on the Steam Deck.)
Some games run simply by telling the Steam launcher to use Proton as a compatibility tool. So, the only hard part is choosing which version of Proton to run, which involves picking it from a list inside of Steam, which then downloads that version of Proton, and then trying the game. And if it doesn't run well, then try a different version of Proton and iterate. IIRC Rocket League is a game like this. On my computer, it seems to run best with the latest Proton beta. For me and my 5 year old computer, it doesn't run as perfectly as well as it did in Windows, as it can stutter a bit when there are explosions on screen, but for me, it doesn't seem to impact my play. And it takes longer to load, but I don't think it's possible for an emulated game to load faster on the same hardware.
And some games require you to look up how to install them, and you end up having to install some Windows things into your Proton runtime using something called Protontricks. Skyrim is an example. It took a lot of fiddling to get it set up and the audio working correctly. But now I can't really tell the difference between how it runs in Windows vs. Linux, except that it takes longer to load in Linux.
Yeah I'm familiar with all that... Though one correction, Proton is a "translation layer," not an emulator. Same with wine (it's right in the name).
My experience has been that, often, the Windows version with Proton works better than the native Linux version. And most of the time, it just works with "Proton Experimental" or the most recent GE-Proton release.
ProtonDB is a better resource than Steam's own compatibility rating. I've been able to install and play several "unsupported" games on my Linux laptop (like Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition with DSFix).
The majority of games will play. It's kind of crazy how well it works.
They also give a lot of money to Codeweavers, the developers of WINE, so that WINE can have enough developers to support it.
What's really wild is that not only are games good enough on Windows, but tests lately are showing a consistent trend where the two are often indistinguishable in performance, and where they're not, Windows isn't consistently winning.
If you're not into the genre of competitive multiplayer games that have kernel anticheat, Windows isn't really better for gaming anymore, outside of being more familiar for many people. Today we've reached the point where it's a few fps either way, and people should use whatever they want, but if Microsoft keeps bloating Windows, it might soon be that the "Windows tax" also refers to the performance penalty you pay for using the familiar OS instead of learning something new.
And what's even crazier about that is that Microsoft will literally make it the slowest god damn shitty OS on the planet before they even think about removing all the telemetry and bloatware.
I truly believe they would let it hit 50/50 people who use linux over Windows over not removing like two features that spy on you.
They just flat ass wouldn't do it. They know they won't die completely in our lifetimes so they would absolutely let it crumble into a shell of what it used to be before they ever start being user friendly and privacy respecting. I actually think it will eventually destroy them but might take like another 80 years
I think what you posted is great and should be read by people on the fence.
But conversly, I quit windows when XP came out becausei wanted to stop playing Microsoft's games. There were enshittifying back then and it only has got worse.
I even admin Microsoft systems for a living, have access to nearly every product that make for free, and I still will never use windows at home. Even managing azure or SQL databases or having to use products that are windows only I do it through a Linux machine. Sometimes by pushing commands, sometimes with remote desktop. But I do it because Linux just works, I can count on it. Not so much windows or Microsoft.
No shade against you, but WINE stands for “WINE is not an emulator”
But what does the WINE that is represented by the W in WINE stand for? 🤔
WINE is not an emulator
For the new guys, you'll notice a lot of this kind of thing because developers think recursion is clever.
For example, GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix"
Yup same. Was all worried I can’t play my games but then discovered the fedora everything install and the online tutorials were well written to get wine and proton going and the drivers and was like holy shit this has come a long way.
I can live with this.
I'm a Linux user since it was distributed in diskette images.
I use both Windows and Linux, mainly Linux, but I dual boot or use a VM sometimes because I need to use some programs which are not practical or just don't work with wine.
I don't see Linux as an alternative, I see Linux as different tool.
I mainly use cruciform (pozidrive if possible) screws and screwdrivers, but sometimes I have use flat.
No drama, no religious zealotery.
Linux was 100% an alternative to me, not sure why it isn't? Why isn't linux an alternative to any operating system?
I'm not saying it can't be an alternative for a lot of people.
I'm just stating my personal position, for my use case.