Ever since this Webmaster got fed up around June 2017 with constant Windows 7 updates — adding more and more bloat to my fast EliteBook 2570p lappie (slowing it down!) — I decided to revisit Linux which I have used on and off since 1998.
Thanks to Linux Mandrake, Corel Linux, Ubuntu (Gnome 2), Linux Mint, Point Linux, LXLE, most recently Netrunner (Daedalus), and now the amazing MX Linux (which has literally come out of no where to number 7 on Distrowatch with an average user rating of 9.58 out of 10), I have been fortunate to experience the very best of what the open source Linux community has to offer.
Are you at the point of no return – yet?
In regards to tech, I’m sure there comes a tipping point in many users lives when they’ve had enough of their desktop PC or laptop frustrating the living daylights out of them. This is mainly due to updates that wreck their systems, viruses, poorly written bloated apps or everything just running slow on their hardware (well below the speed capabilities of their powerful Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors).
Well folks, I’m here to say that I have never felt so relieved in all my tech life by not feeling that I’m at the mercy of the always changing and unpredictable Windows ecosystem — grinding my laptop to a standstill in terms of performance.
If you, dear reader, feel that you have come to a point of no return in your relationship with Windows (7, 8, 10+) or Mac OS X, don’t hesitate to burn a Linux ISO image onto a USB stick, boot into live mode, and take a highly rated Linux distribution for a test drive — all without affecting your hard drive or anything installed there.
Go on, give it a try! You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Linux makes practical economic Sen$e
If you’re a market research company, a government department or a student who wants to maximise your purchasing power, then Linux is a powerful weapon that will help you save money since it is 100% free and open source software backed by passionate users and big business.
If you ever log into any Google services (GMail, Maps, Search, Google+, YouTube, etc.), Yahoo Mail, Spotify, Amazon, FaceBook, Yandex, Alibaba, Telegram, Instagram, Uber, Taxify, or booked an airline or hotel ticket online, well, you’re definitely using Linux. You just didn’t know it. And that’s the point – Linux is truly versatile and adaptable.
One final point I should mention. Because of the open source nature of Linux — with many eyeballs viewing its free programming source code — you’re far less likely to acquire a virus or malicious and annoying “big company” software updates that wreck your system in comparison to Windows or OS X.
Linux loves your hardware
For MacBook and iMac users, I keep reading positive reviews about Ubuntu Mate on all things Apple. You should be ok with Linux Mint too.
4 of the Best Linux Distributions for Mac Users
For Windows users, I can humbly recommend MX Linux. But you should be ok with Linux Mint or Ubuntu Mate for solid reliable computing. However, I truly believe MX Linux will be more reliable since it does not use the hotly debated SystemD startup daemon which is a very divisive issue for many purists in the Linux world. Anyhow, you won’t be disappointed!