I ask, because I saw a video that was uploaded in 2011 and the the person who ran the channel, who was a techie himself, wouldn't recommend using the Linux OS as a desktop daily driver. It just had too many quirks.

So, I'm wondering in the 8 years after he uploaded his video, are his comments still relevant?

Thanks in advance,

Pen guin

I work on linux for years, day by day, week by week. I can only recommend it.

Not saying that I'd necessarily watch it, but no reference to this video doesn't help.

Suggest you just try Linux and not lend credence to an 8 year old video. I will grant that in the history of Linux, it grew in capabilities and therefore became far more capable of a desktop OS.

But you should judge this on your own. Try it, use it as your everyday desktop and ask questions about software you feel you need where you can't find it for Linux.

Been using Linux for 15 years. Even a rolling release like Arch is stable. Can't imagine having to use windows as a daily driver. Now android, that's a different story. I guess that it is technically Linux,...I don't like it.

Totally agree!

I've been using it as a desktop OS for years now, and it's only gotten better and better. There really isn't anything I can't use Linux for as a desktop OS. That's with several distributions and applications too.

That is totally up to him (and his lack of knowledge).
I've been used Linux as a desktop, both privately and in a corporate environment, since 1994 and compared to "some other alternatives" it's been mostly rock-steady (and when it was not we could easily fix that).

Thanks guys, I appreciate the information, and hearing about your experiences.

This is highly subjective... If you are using an application that is Windows only, and you are familiar with it, then moving to Linux can be a challenge.
If you are mostly using browser for your daily things, then on almost every Linux you can get Chrome, Firefox (and other browsers).
So, first, you should identify what you will be doing on the machine, is/are there any application(s) that is "must have"? Then check to see if there are Linux equivalent?
As for which Linux distribution, you have many to select. Also, if there are "must have" applications and they have one for Linux, then check which distribution will that application run on, and download that distribution. You can run the Live CD, and give it a try before installing?

Hope this helps!

Well now, I've been using Linux, & occasionally BSD, as my desktop computer since 1999, & it's been a much better experience than some other O/S that I could mention.

1 members found this post helpful.

I remember when I used Windows, I was always getting crashes (the blue screen of death) and freezes. Mind you, that was a long time ago; it might have improved since then. In Linux, I've had the occasional freeze in graphical mode. I had a run of them lately, always while using the vivaldi browser. I gave up vivaldi and there were no more freezes. I would say that, compared with Windows, Linux is very stable indeed.

I first started using Linux for self-hosting a web site in 2005 because someone told me I could do that.

I put it on my personal laptop in early 2006 and it's been my desktop OS ever since.

I've been using Linux on a personal basis solidly since 2003. (I'd tried it on a borrowed laptop around ~2001 as well.) I also use it in my capacity as a Network Engineer - much better for configuring and troubleshooting IMO. I only wish Windows was as reliable.

I recently replaced the Windows 7 installation on my Asus Notebook with Manjaro Mate. Everything works, everything is stable, even after getting a ton of updates. LibreOffice will open all my docs, though I needed to download some fonts and make changes to the default settings. This is not the Linux of 2001... So yes, it is good enough for most uses and most people, provided the user is willing to learn something new. And, I think most people are ready for that idea considering they've probably used things like iOS and Chrome at some point and see they can get things done on something other than Windows.

Why the switch? Well I tried Windows 10 first and it was nothing but frustration. The start menu is a nightmare of "where-the-hell-is-this-or-that". It's memory hog, a disk hog and a cpu hog... All while just running a web browser. The quality of this thing is terrible, my laptop got stuck in a reboot loop after a "quality rollup" broke something low in the software stack. (.SYS segfault) Note: this happened on a completely fresh install that had no third-party software installed.

Today, there are a lot more people developing Linux than Windows. This includes companies and professional system programmers. Think about where that is taking things down the road. Think about what a shift that is compared to where Windows and Linux were in the 90's. Linux was being made by a few hundred free software geeks in their spare time and Microsoft was this billion dollar juggernaut paying thousands of systems programmers full time to work on Windows.

Meanwhile, MS has changed its business model. They've stopped making things like Service Packs for these "rollups" that break things in ways both big and small. They got rid of that huge and experienced Windows QC team and turned it over to the Office people. They're abandoning Windows 7 users and, for about the last year they haven't really cared if "rollups" break this OS. The Windows 10 interface may look pretty, but it's functionally terrible. They're putting advertisements in the start menu, force installing third party applications, and trying to create a closed ecosystem like Apple with the Windows store. On top of all that, they're slowly but surely turning the OS into a spyware platform to rival Android. This is a company on its way out... Not because "lol MS sucks, and Linux is awesome!" But because, the tide is turning against Windows... I'm talking about the mind-share of people like: Developers, IT Personnel & End Users (Ubuntu/Mint?) When this rate of change hits the required critical mass, the avalanche will begin...

I haven't noticed it on the high street! All the laptops on display in the shops are running Windows. It may be a lousy OS but it's still what you get unless you make strenuous efforts to get something else. If you want Linux, you must either buy online from someone like Zareason or install it yourself. My guess is that Microsoft has sacked most of its IT developers precisely because, once you have such a stranglehold on the market, you don't need quality any more so why bother to pay for it?

Didn't say it was going to happen tomorrow. The move away from Windows is starting upstream from retail. College students, businesses, IT people, gamers, etc. Just get on youtube and see how many people have made videos about switching off of it.