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Open Source Linux

Four More Tech Bloggers Are Switching to Linux (escapistmagazine.com) 197

Posted by EditorDavid from the year-of-the-Linux-desktop dept.
Is there a trend? This week four different articles appeared on various tech-news sites with an author bragging about switching to Linux.

"Greetings from the year of Linux on my desktop," quipped the Verge's senior reviews editor, who finally "got fed up and said screw it, I'm installing Linux."

They switched to CachyOS — just like this writer for the videogame magazine Escapist: I've had a fantastic time gaming on Linux. Valve's Windows-to-Linux translation layer, Proton, and even CachyOS' bundled fork have been working just fine. Of course, it's not perfect, and there's been a couple of instances where I've had to problem-solve something, but most of the time, any issues gaming on Linux have been fixed by swapping to another version of Proton. If you're deep in online games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Destiny 2, GTAV or Battlefield 6, it might not be the best option to switch. These games feature anti-cheats that look for versions of Windows or even the heart of the OS, the kernel, to verify the system isn't going to mess up someone's game....

CachyOS is thankfully pre-packed with Nvidia drivers, meaning I didn't have to dance around trying to find them.... Certain titles will perform worse than their counterparts, simply due to how the bods at Nvidia are handling the drivers for Linux. This said, I'm still not complaining when I'm pushing nearly 144fps or more in newer games. The performance hit is there, but it's nowhere near enough to stave off even an attempt to mess about with Linux.

Do you know how bizarre it is to say it's "nice to have a taskbar again"? I use macOS daily for a lot of my work, which uses a design baked back in the 1990s through NeXT. Seeing just a normal taskbar that doesn't try to advertise to me or crash because an update killed it for some reason is fantastic. That's how bad it is out there right now for Windows.
"I run Artix, by the way," joked a senior tech writer at Notebookcheck (adding "There. That's out of the way...") I dual-booted a Linux partition for a few weeks. After a Windows update (that I didn't choose to do) wiped that partition and, consequently, the Linux installation, I decided to go whole-hog: I deleted Windows 11 and used the entire drive for Linux...

Artix differs from Arch in that it does not use SystemD as its init system. I won't go down the rabbit hole of init systems here, but suffice it to say that Artix boots lightning quick (less than 10 seconds from a cold power on) and is pretty light on system resources. However, it didn't come "fully assembled..." The biggest problem I ran into after installing Artix on the [MacBook] Air was the lack of wireless drivers, which meant that WiFi did not work out of the box. The resolution was simple: I needed to download the appropriate WiFi drivers (Broadcom drivers, to be exact) from Artix's main repository. This is a straightforward process handled by a single command in the Terminal, but it requires an internet connection... which my laptop did not have. Ultimately, I connected a USB-to-Ethernet adapter, plugged the laptop directly into my router, and installed the WiFi drivers that way. The whole process took about 10 minutes, but it was annoying nonetheless.

For the record, my desktop (an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H-based system) worked flawlessly out-of-the-box, even with my second monitor's uncommon resolution (1680x1050, vertical orientation). I did run into issues with installing some packages on both machines. Trying to install the KDE desktop environment (essentially a different GUI for the main OS) resulted in strange artifacts that put white text on white backgrounds in the menus, and every resolution I tried failed to correct this bug. After reverting to XFCE4 (the default desktop environment for my Artix install), the WiFi signal indicator in the taskbar disappeared. This led to me having to uninstall a network manager installed by KDE and re-linking the default network manager to the runit services startup folder. If that sentence sounds confusing, the process was much more so. It has been resolved, and I have a WiFi indicator that lets me select wireless networks again, but only after about 45 minutes of reading manuals and forum posts.

Other issues are inherent to Linux. Not all games on Steam that are deemed Linux compatible actually are. Civilization III Complete is a good example: launching the game results in the map turning completely black. (Running the game through an application called Lutris resolved this issue.) Not all the software I used on Windows is available in Linux, such as Greenshot for screenshots or uMark for watermarking photos in bulk. There are alternatives to these, but they don't have the same features or require me to relearn workflows... Linux is not a "one and done" silver bullet to solve all your computer issues. It is like any other operating system in that it will require users to learn its methods and quirks. Admittedly, it does require a little bit more technical knowledge to dive into the nitty-gritty of the OS and fully unlock its potential, but many distributions (such as Mint) are ready to go out of the box and may never require someone to open a command line...

[T]he issues I ran into on Linux were, for the most part, my fault. On Windows or macOS, most problems I run into are caused by a restriction or bug in the OS. Linux gives me the freedom to break my machine and fix it again, teaching me along the way. With Microsoft's refusal (either from pride or ignorance) to improve (or at least not crapify) Windows 11 despite loud user outrage, switching to Linux is becoming a popular option. It's one you should consider doing, and if you've been thinking about it for any length of time, it's time to dive in.
And tinkerer Kevin Wammer switched from MacOS to Linux, saying "Linux has come a long way" after more than 30 years — but "Windows still sucks..."
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Four More Tech Bloggers Are Switching to Linux More

Four More Tech Bloggers Are Switching to Linux

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  • Switched to Linux about 5 years ago and never looked back.

    • Same here, but in my case it was about 21 years ago.Since then, the only time I've used Windows has been to play games at a private club I belong to.
      • I always used Unix or Linux since early 90s; only at work I have been forced to use Windows. Unfortunately, our IT and software development companies are filled with MS entrenced engineers, who will not change as years of useless Windows skills will be useless.

      • I use Windows, via Virtualbox, exactly 2 times a year:

        1. To back up my Kindle books via Kindle For PC (except I didn't buy a single kindle ebook in 2025 so I guess not needed?)
        2. To run TurboTax Small Business and TurboTax Premier. Literally no online app supports digital nomads living in 10+ countries a year and run small businesses in various countries.

      • About 18 years for me. I tried Ubuntu 6.06, but it didn't work quite well enough yet, so I stuck with Windows XP. I tried again with 8.04, and I've been using it ever since.

    • I've been on Arch Linux since 2016 (after ditching Gentoo (8+ years) for Linux Mint (~2 years).

      First it was Antegros, then when that project died, Anarchy Installer, then when THAT project died in 2022, I switched to CachyOS and haven't looked back!!

      CachyOS seems to get EVERYTHING right.

      I was spending days and days trying to get Nvidia drivers working and installed ... and then I just installed CachyOS and it got everything right! Switching from one arch brand to another that works is a no-brainer.

      And Arch

  • You're a "tech blogger" and *now* switching? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @06:39PM (#65915360)

    Hand in your geek card, and hang your head in shame, sir!

  • What Does It Mean (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @06:41PM (#65915368)

    What does it mean when four articles(blogs) post glowing reviews of an OS that you've never ever heard of, despite having been neck deep in Linux for decades?

    It means that CachyOS is spamming the fuck out of the blogs in an attempt at guerrilla marketing.

    ll I can say is, stop trying to make CashyOS happen. It's not going to happen.

    P.S. That shit looks like Windows XP, the Fisher Price OS FFS.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 )
      Apparently it's an Arch-based distro for gamers. I don't have any problem with it.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Tailhook ( 98486 )

        There do appear to be a suspicious number of "influencers" dropping the CashyOS name.

        However, if it's a choice between the perpetual dominance of Windows, and CashyOS and whatever marketing spend they have finally causing Linux to break out and capture significant normy desktops, I go with the latter.

        • However, if it's a choice between the perpetual dominance of Windows, and CashyOS and whatever marketing spend they have finally causing Linux to break out and capture significant normy desktops, I go with the latter.

          Not gonna happen.

          Windows survived Windows Vista.
          Windows survived Windows 8.
          Windows looks like it will survive the EOL for Win 10 despite the significant hardware requirements its successor (Windows 11) has...

          It's been a quarter century since Linus put up his "World Domination. It's just the first step" slide at Linux World in 1999, and still the 'normies' are clinging to their Windows OS...

          • Never say never. You can never predict the precipitating event that causes a downfall. Look at Intel. Look at Kodak. Look at Xerox. Look at RCA. Look at GM (now pretty much recovered, but still a shadow of its glory days). The latest W11 requirements for "better" machines is colliding with the reality of increasing machine prices due to ai buying all the memory. Being able to use that old machine with Linux may be the precipitating event.

    • ll I can say is, stop trying to make CashyOS happen. It's not going to happen.

      Yeah, it's not gonna happen and I am not running it on the computer that I am using to post this response to you right now or enjoying using it either.
      It's also not showing as number one on distrowatch at the time I am writing this message.

    • It could also mean that you're not the target for that distro. CachyOS (Arch derivative), same as Bazzite (Fedora derivative) focus on the gaming experience, which is why gaming people switching from Windows tend to cluster around those two.

      > P.S. That shit looks like Windows XP, the Fisher Price OS FFS

        so what? Is it usable and does it work?

      • > > P.S. That shit looks like Windows XP, the Fisher Price OS FFS

        > so what? Is it usable and does it work?

        I agree with the sentiment. But, I find it odd that they would choose a desktop environment that was ridiculed by Linux and Windows users when so many better and more modern options are available.

    • You should try CachyOS. I have tried Antergos (5+ years), EndeavorOS (it's successor but I had problems with nvidia), and Ubuntu in 2021-2025 and CachyOS is hands down superior in so many ways. I don't understand why anyone chooses Manjaro over Cachy.

  • Hardware bloggers moving to weird stuff (Score:3)

    by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @07:08PM (#65915384)

    So this seems to be the consequence of consumer hardware releases slowing to a crawl due to everyone shifting to data center AI for R&D.

    So there's nothing interesting to review. Expect more of these sorts of stories.

    And honestly, if you want linux to get better, support these people. Because they're the ones who may actually drive linux improving and being more accepted on desktop. Not by much, but every little bit helps. Both if you want linux on desktop to be successful, and if you want "agentic OS win 11" shitshow to actually have an alternative.

  • Extra Extra! Read all about it! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Local ID10T ( 790134 ) <ID10T.L.USER@gmail.com> on Saturday January 10, 2026 @07:17PM (#65915390) Homepage

    FOUR tech bloggers move to Linux!

    Somebody ought to make a blog post about this...

    Film at 11

  • The Year of Misery (Score:3)

    by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @07:26PM (#65915394)

    All but one of my workstations have run linux for the past 19 years, and even before then I'd run Linux as my primary workstation for years. It'd be fair to say that I've spent the past 25 years on Linux. And let me tell you something... This first year is NOT going to be "The Year of Linux" for those people. It's going to be a year of pain, hard realisations and a very steep learning curve. But then, if they persist, things will get better and they'll never look back.

  • I'm switching too. No more Malicious Stupidity for me.

  • Microsoft was wrong, they peed too much in the lemonade, and fewer people want to drink it.

  • A real and present problem (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @08:08PM (#65915448)
    I teach emergency communication classes. The students use computers interfaced with their radios - their radios squack AX.25 protocol audio encoded signals, with data that ends up in places like the Red Cross.

    In previous years, it would take one or two classes and everyone's system is up and running - then we can work on the details of the programs we use.

    Most of what we do works great on the Mac, great on Linux, but on Windows 11? Getting everyone running is a nightmare. The BOHICA updates alter sound settings, and change other things around, so that every week it was starting over.

    This is a FBP. These are systems that need to be running, and Microsoft screws them up. There are also the OneDrive issues that cause people to delete it. Some have claimed that an update reinstalled it. I use a Windows laptop for the classes. It sometimes doesn't see the BT mouse, so I have to reconnect - but it doesn't always see it unless I reboot, then reconnect.

    Terrible unprofessional not always functioning Operating system, I'm embarrassed that Microsoft puts out a failed product.

    The next class will be having people who don't want to have a shitty malfunctioning system that randomly sends them down a troubleshooting rabbit asshole will be teaching them how to have a dependable system, based on Linux. I have a nice fast Linux laptop ready to go.

    Sports car fans might get this - Windows is the Lucas Electric of OS' . As dependable as your drunk uncle that lives under a bridge.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Computershack ( 1143409 )

      I teach emergency communication classes. The students use computers interfaced with their radios - their radios squack AX.25 protocol audio encoded signals, with data that ends up in places like the Red Cross.

      Most of what we do works great on the Mac, great on Linux, but on Windows 11? Getting everyone running is a nightmare.

      I do amateur radio including doing similar to that and don't have an issue. Methinks you need to update your knowledge.

      • Re: A real and present problem (Score:4, Interesting)

        by troff ( 529250 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @10:44PM (#65915620) Homepage Journal

        Reading these comments, I've seen three inflammatory, low-content comments, in response to people giving specific details about their old and new attempts at getting Windows to solve their problems:

        > Bullshit Broadcom wifi anyone?
        > Somehow I think you're bullshitting....
        > I do amateur radio including doing similar to that and don't have an issue. Methinks you need to update your knowledge.

        After the third one, I go back to find them and see what-a-surprise they're all from the same user. Which means I think you're the one who is bullshit just like your knowledge.

        I'd give my anecdotes about diagnosing Windows hardware problems with Linux, or using Linux/Cygwin for fixing software problems, or the lack of driver problems I've had in the last one-to-two decades, because I started using computers in 1986 and started using Linux around 1997 but you don't strike me as some kind of blind shill rather than somebody open to trafficking in real non-dogma data.

      • Too many hams want to keep running Win 7, because their 10 year-old Panasonic toughbook is still running fine, LOL.

        I'm involved in several Amateur Radio clubs in my area, and I've never seen any group effort be impacted by everyone running Windows. In fact, each club runs windows for logging software at club operating events, It Just Works.

    • Terrible unprofessional

      Yes, using a home OS from students for any professional work is unprofessional. In the meantime places like the Red Cross will be using Windows to receive those signals (mainly because these days major vendors like Motorola only offer Windows based solutions even though their base radio controller still run some linux/unix variant) and have no problems at all because Windows used in professional settings most definitely are not at the whim of Microsoft every month (I honestly don't know how you're getting c

      • Terrible unprofessional

        Yes, using a home OS from students for any professional work is unprofessional. In the meantime places like the Red Cross will be using Windows to receive those signals (mainly because these days major vendors like Motorola only offer Windows based solutions even though their base radio controller still run some linux/unix variant) and have no problems at all because Windows used in professional settings most definitely are not at the whim of Microsoft every month (I honestly don't know how you're getting configuration changes every other week, are your students in a beta program?

        It is a different student every time. So it all depends on when the update has been pressed on them. Get 10 students, get ten problems and different times.

        As for the Windows professionals not having issues, I had the occasion of a BOHICA update on Windows 10 Enterprise that occurred during the middle of one of my working events. Subsequent investigation and dispensing of hell, it was a forced update that the respective IT guys claimed they had no control over Yes, there are some Windows only "solutions"

  • Like Any New Environment, Linux Is an Investment (Score:5, Insightful)

    by organgtool ( 966989 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @09:29PM (#65915554)
    Any new environment is going to come with frustrations. Even migrating to something as polished as macOS will likely require doing so research to get something to behave in the preferred manner you took for granted in your old OS. However, with Linux all of the pain is front-loaded. Once you get past that, each release is usually as good or better than the last. That's actually pretty consistent with open source software in general since it's developed for the love of the game and is therefore less susceptible to profit-driven enshittification.

    Compare that to Windows where you spend every non-consensual upgrade with a puckered asshole wondering what fresh hell awaits you on the other side of the next boot. Will it be ads in standard Windows apps? Broken drivers? Will it even boot at all or will it spend a shitload of time reverting to a previous version? Each Windows update brings more pain and frustration when you could just front-load that pain now and invest in an OS that respects your settings and privacy instead of constantly fights to dominate your hardware.

    • with Linux all of the pain is front-loaded

      This is very well put! On the negative side, due to this front-loading pain, I personally find the idea changing distro very daunting, because there has been so much pain setting my current ones up (VSTs/Bottles I'm looking at you)

  • What I get from the article citations... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PhantomHarlock ( 189617 ) on Sunday January 11, 2026 @12:42AM (#65915736)

    Linux on the desktop continues to be a hobby in and of itself rather than a tool to get other things done. There's no way I'm spending the time and frustration that he did to get basic things running. That cascading failure mode of package dependencies and "it all works great except this one little instance when you combine these two pieces of hardware or software together) is just maddening. I've dabbled in and out of it for years. It takes far less time and frustration to effectively neuter Windows 10 to do your bidding and stop leaking your information. The future is uncertain as M$ attempts to remove local accounts, but as long as there is a way around I will continue to use it. Besides, a lot of the software I use just isn't available for Linux. I wish it was, I truly do. But it seems to be a perpetual chicken and egg problem. Maybe something will tilt that balance away from M$ someday, but it doesn't seem to be happening soon.

    • > no way I'm spending the time and frustration that he did to get basic things running

      yet you spend time and frustration to get around how MS fucks you?

      > M$ attempts to remove local accounts, but as long as there is a way around I will continue to use it.

      interesting take.

    • There's no way I'm spending the time and frustration that he did to get basic things running.

      One of them was trying to get linux working on a Mac. The equivalent of getting Windows to work on a Raspberry Pi
      If you want things to Just Work, you get a laptop with linux preinstalled, just like your Mac or Windows laptops came with their OS.

      It takes far less time and frustration to effectively neuter Windows 10 to do your bidding and stop leaking your information.

      That's not true, it takes more time to to neuter Windows 10 on a laptop that came with windows 10, than just using a linux on laptop that originally came with linux where no tinkering is needed.

  • It's the apps, stoopid! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Gavino ( 560149 ) on Sunday January 11, 2026 @12:43AM (#65915738)
    Yeah I use Linux for my servers, Dockers, plus networking equipment: routers, firewalls, switches (mostly hardware-embedded) and mobile phone (Android), but for Desktop OS, it's the apps, stoopid! I've been using Linux since the original Yggdrasil and Slackware but have yet to pull the trigger on the desktop as I do amateur photography and am anchored to Lightroom, some Photoshop, and color calibration of my monitor using a hardware device. I also game, but am happy to have a separate full-tower rig just for gaming.

    The thing is - people don't like to go backwards. The change to Linux has to be an upgrade, or at least a side-grade, but not a downgrade. If 100% of their old functionality is not replicated, it just feels like a downgrade. The challenge is that EVERYTHING has to come across, in terms of functionality. If you can't do that, it's a downgrade. For me the holdout is the photography stuff. Sure there's GIMP and Darktable, but they aren't on the level of LR and PS, in terms of features and integration. For other users, it might be pro audio software, or gaming or MS Office suite.

    My crazy idea is that in future, Microsoft make enough money from cloud service subscriptions, that sales from OS bundling doesn't mean shit in the general scheme of things, in relation to their spend on developing the OS, and that they come out with a Microsoft Linux, and really push the top tier software vendors to make their software compatible with it. Then have a long-term strategy to sunset Windows. Linux, will of course remain open source. We can then choose to run the Windows flavor (good for the masses) or some other flavor (people like us) and have all the current software available.

    Microsoft, at the end of the day, is a publicly-traded company whose sole purpose is growth and returning value to shareholders. If the numbers stack up that it's easier to just Microsoft-ify a Linux distro and push that, instead of maintaining a small city's population worth of devs working on "legacy" Windows, then it's not as crazy as this sounds. As more people switch to Linux, the less return they get from Windows for the same (or growing) amount of devs. This is especially true in the context that they've squeezed the Windows lemon for as much juice as they can.

    It might not not be a whack fever dream - it could happen within the next 10 years - who knows. By 2040, I wouldn't be surprised that we look at Windows the same way we look at AmigaOS and OS/2 Warp now - a relic of the past. All great empires have their rise and fall. In fact, the more I think about this, the more confident I become, that it will eventually happen.
  • Whether is it a new shiny ultra-hyped CachyOS, or Manjaro, EndeavourOS, Omarchy, or a plain Arch, unless you want to spend most of your time configuring it, troubleshooting broken packages or unbootable OS, I (as a desktop Linux user since 2002) highly recommend to look elsewhere. My personal preference is openSUSE Tumbleweed with Plasma desktop for the following reasons:
    • Rolling distro, always up to date
    • Stable via their automated OpenQA testing system
    • Built-in snapshots with easy rollback in case of update

  • So? (Score:3)

    by allo ( 1728082 ) on Sunday January 11, 2026 @08:19AM (#65916082)

    Do we get a new article for every tech blogger who tried Linux now? There are only like a few million of them. What's next? News for podcasters mentioning Linux?

  • The last Windows I used for anything important was Windows 2000. The last Windows I ran into was at my current job with a few beginning weeks with a standard issue laptop for regular non-IT employees. It was basically unusable.

    Windows is an anachronism. Anyone using desktop Linux for a few hours will notice this and likely will want to switch.

  • "On Windows or macOS, most problems I run into are caused by a restriction or bug in the OS. Linux gives me the freedom to break my machine and fix it again, teaching me along the way."

    Who is this dipshit?

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