Microsoft has Copilot Plus PCs loaded with AI, and rumors are that Apple is all in on AI, too, but if you don't want AI in everything you do, there is another option: Linux.
“A user-friendly distribution like Ubuntu can be an excellent choice for individuals wary of privacy and ethical issues surrounding AI,” says Taylor. “It provides a robust and user-friendly environment that minimizes the tracking and data collection you’d typically encounter with macOS or Windows.”
It’s been quite a few years since I used desktop Ubuntu, but I remember the Unity DE back then being not so user-friendly, at least for someone coming from the Windows paradigm. I’ve heard (but could be misinformed) that it’s gotten even more opinionated over the years. Something like Mint is likely to be a better option for a first-time user.
Also, I wish the article had mentioned Proton. It states that you may have to be willing to abandon certain games, but that’s far from the reality these days. At least through Steam nearly everything works right out of the box just by enabling Proton.
Mint, which uses Cinnamon, or any KDE based distro. Since both desktop environments kinda have the same classic Windows layout & functionality that people would be used to.
As for games, it is mostly competitive pvp titles with their anticheat systems that don’t work, which is purely on the developers of said games. If you’re playing just regular multiplayer or singleplayer games then that’s typically not a concern at all.
I recently moved a light-used laptop to Kubuntu (after Debian bookworm would hang with hardware messages). I remember KDE being a, uh, ugly clunky power-hungry piece of shit, frankly, but today it’s none of those things (well maybe it could use a touch more polish, but it’s far less clunky). I quite like it, even.
I chose it over Mint because Mint’s Debian edition doesn’t let you (via gui) install it with btrfs + fde, which is fucking stupid, and I didn’t want to dive into hours-long tutorials. So Kubu it is.
(I use Debian for servers and I’ve been the most familiar with it, also getting the WWAN fcc unlock setup on Fedora was an exercise in futility so fuck it)
It started to really improve after I think the 3.5 update, before that it was indeed pretty bad regarding performance. The more recent updates also seems to have finally fixed a lot of the more common issues that I was running into.
But honestly, the grass is always greener on the other side. Tried Gnome recently again after many many years (pre Unity) and everything was just crashing or lacking very basic functions that I was using in my daily workflow with KDE. The only thing I liked were the smooth animations, but looking polished is not the only thing I need from a DE, especially when you rip out everything else to achieve it.
The majority of people play at least some competitive games and most of those simply don’t work due to anticheats. These game usually are also the most important ones to them.
Steam currently has 35M peak daily active users. Out of the top 10 Games by player count only 2 dont work on proton: Pubg and CoD, those two together have a daily peak of 0.7M players. At number 11 you are already down to 0.07M daily peak.
I think your definition of “most” leaves something to be desired.
Gnome is a little too minimal and ends up being kinda difficult to use because of it. Especially when you’re used to windows. I tried it again for like a week when Ubuntu 24 came out and said “fuck this shit” and installed KDE.
Ah ok that’s what I thought, I was wondering if I had it wrong.
I won’t debate your opinions on Gnome, I actually like it though I’m using KDE right now, but tbh IMO that’s a major boon for linux, if you don’t like the DE you can change it, or even to a WM, everyone can have their preference to a degree!
Great article, but:
It’s been quite a few years since I used desktop Ubuntu, but I remember the Unity DE back then being not so user-friendly, at least for someone coming from the Windows paradigm. I’ve heard (but could be misinformed) that it’s gotten even more opinionated over the years. Something like Mint is likely to be a better option for a first-time user.
Also, I wish the article had mentioned Proton. It states that you may have to be willing to abandon certain games, but that’s far from the reality these days. At least through Steam nearly everything works right out of the box just by enabling Proton.
Mint, which uses Cinnamon, or any KDE based distro. Since both desktop environments kinda have the same classic Windows layout & functionality that people would be used to.
As for games, it is mostly competitive pvp titles with their anticheat systems that don’t work, which is purely on the developers of said games. If you’re playing just regular multiplayer or singleplayer games then that’s typically not a concern at all.
Yeah, I hated KDE for like a decade but tried it again last year and was blown away. I can’t imagine I’ll switch off of it for a very long time.
And yeah, I always forget about competitive games as they’re so not my thing.
I recently moved a light-used laptop to Kubuntu (after Debian bookworm would hang with hardware messages). I remember KDE being a, uh, ugly clunky power-hungry piece of shit, frankly, but today it’s none of those things (well maybe it could use a touch more polish, but it’s far less clunky). I quite like it, even.
I chose it over Mint because Mint’s Debian edition doesn’t let you (via gui) install it with btrfs + fde, which is fucking stupid, and I didn’t want to dive into hours-long tutorials. So Kubu it is.
(I use Debian for servers and I’ve been the most familiar with it, also getting the WWAN fcc unlock setup on Fedora was an exercise in futility so fuck it)
It started to really improve after I think the 3.5 update, before that it was indeed pretty bad regarding performance. The more recent updates also seems to have finally fixed a lot of the more common issues that I was running into. But honestly, the grass is always greener on the other side. Tried Gnome recently again after many many years (pre Unity) and everything was just crashing or lacking very basic functions that I was using in my daily workflow with KDE. The only thing I liked were the smooth animations, but looking polished is not the only thing I need from a DE, especially when you rip out everything else to achieve it.
The majority of people play at least some competitive games and most of those simply don’t work due to anticheats. These game usually are also the most important ones to them.
Steam currently has 35M peak daily active users. Out of the top 10 Games by player count only 2 dont work on proton: Pubg and CoD, those two together have a daily peak of 0.7M players. At number 11 you are already down to 0.07M daily peak.
I think your definition of “most” leaves something to be desired.
Ubuntu uses Gnome now, not Unity, right? Mint would be better though I do agree.
Gnome is a little too minimal and ends up being kinda difficult to use because of it. Especially when you’re used to windows. I tried it again for like a week when Ubuntu 24 came out and said “fuck this shit” and installed KDE.
Ok whatever, but does Ubuntu use Unity or Gnome?
Gnome, it’s been back Gnome for like 6 years now.
Ah ok that’s what I thought, I was wondering if I had it wrong.
I won’t debate your opinions on Gnome, I actually like it though I’m using KDE right now, but tbh IMO that’s a major boon for linux, if you don’t like the DE you can change it, or even to a WM, everyone can have their preference to a degree!
Yeah KDE is sooo much better, I don’t understand how people use GNOME