 Linux has been receiving a lot of attention lately, whether it's because the Steam Deck is going to be using Linux or because of the Linus Tech Tips Challenge or because of any other number of really good reasons, a lot of people are really interested in Linux lately. And there are a ton of videos and a ton of blog posts out there telling you things that you need to do in order to install Linux or things that you should do after you install Linux or any number of things regarding your switch to Linux. There is one huge misconception that a lot of new users to Linux have that I want to correct today. And it's really simple and really obvious. And I don't think that it's something that really needs to be said, but I think that because of the increased attention on Linux from people who wouldn't normally consider Linux, I think it does need to be said. And that misconception is that a lot of people think when they switch to Linux, they're going to be able to use it exactly like Windows. And that's not true, even in the slightest. Linux and Windows are completely different operating systems. And if you treat them the same, if you go into using Linux the exact same way you used to use Windows, you're going to be disappointed because they're not the same. They function differently. They're coded differently. They have different applications. They have different communities, different ecosystems. They're different. And I think that a lot of new users come into Linux expecting a similar experience to what you'd get if you had a Windows machine or from their Windows experience. You know, they expect the experience to be very much the same. And that's a mistake because if you come in with that attitude, you're going to be disappointed because they're, like I said, they're different. There are many facets of this problem because there are tons of different ways that Linux is different, whether it's updates, whether it's the applications that are available, whether it's the way you install applications, whether it's the way you receive help, the way you seek out help, the way you are helped from the community, the community itself. I mean, there's just tons of different ways Linux is different. So for example, on Windows, when you want to install an application, chances are you go to a website, yada, yada.com, and you install a .exe file. Or if you want to install a game, you go to Steam or you go to the Epic's Game Launcher or something. That's what you do on Windows. On Linux, some of that's kind of the same. You install Steam, you can install games from Steam, but it's not exactly the same because not every game plays on Linux. And in order to get a lot of the games to play on Linux, you have to enable Proton. And that's an extra couple of steps that you never have to take on Windows. Getting the Epic Game Launcher running on Linux is a huge hassle. And I say hassle, but it's really only a hassle when you compare it to how you would install it on Windows because there's extra steps to getting it to work on Linux that you don't have to take on Windows. And if you come to Linux expecting to have the same experience with the installation of your game launcher that has your favorite games in it, and you have an experience where you have to open up a terminal, or you have to install Wine, or you have to install a special Proton edition, you're going to consider that a bad experience because it's not the same as Windows. And it is harder. Linux is harder for new users than Windows is if you've been using Windows for ages. I mean, any operating system when you go to a brand new, whether you're moving from Windows to macOS, macOS to Linux, Linux to macOS, if you've never used that new operating system before, there are going to be challenges because the operating system you're moving to is different. Like I said, it doesn't feel like it's something that should have to be said because, of course, it's different. You're moving to a different operating system. But again, because of the increased attention on Linux, I feel like there's this expectation that people are just going to be able to switch to Linux and use their computer as they always have. And that's not true. It's just not. Now, that doesn't mean that Linux is bad. It doesn't mean that there's not a ton of stuff you can do on Linux. It doesn't mean that there aren't awesome alternatives to the Windows apps that you're probably going to be missing. That doesn't mean you can't say you can't play a ton of games on Linux, maybe not all of them, but a vast majority of them you can play. It just means that Linux is different and requires you to learn a new way of doing things that may not be as user friendly as you were expecting, or to put it another way that is just simply done differently than how you're usually doing it, because Linux requires some effort on the part of the user to learn new things. This is something that I've preached about for a couple of years now. Linux does not respect people who expect to be able to use it and be lazy about this. You have to be a participant in terms of actually using Linux. You have to take part. You have to be willing to put forth effort. You cannot be a lazy Linux user. You just can't be. And that's coming from a guy who considers himself the laziest bastard in the world. I like being lazy. It's my main hobby if I had an hobby. If I wasn't too lazy to have a hobby, my main hobby would be laziness. But as a Linux user, you can't be lazy. You have to be willing to look up tutorials. You have to be willing to go into forums when you have problems and seek out help. That's not something that Windows trains you to do. When something goes wrong on Windows, chances are you call your IT guy or you call your nephew or something who knows a lot about computers or you call Microsoft. You don't go into a forum and get help. Now, some people will. I mean, the more technical minded of those people who are joining the Linux community are somewhat used to going into a forum and maybe getting help or googling it at least. But Linux takes effort. And that's something that I've talked about before. Windows takes no effort whatsoever. You get on there and you just use it. If it breaks, you go buy a new computer or a new can pave maybe. I mean, chances are that's probably what you do. You just erase the disk and reinstall Windows. Your level of interaction with fixing any problem is that's it. With Linux, you can do that if you'd like. I mean, you can always new can pave on Linux. But that's not really the point. The point is when you start to use Linux, you have to put some effort into it. Because not only are there new things to learn and new ways of doing things because Linux is different, but also Linux has an expectation that you are in control of your computer. Every bit of the Linux that you just installed on your machine is yours. You own that thing and you are in control of its maintenance, of its updating everything. You're no longer having your hand held by Bill Gates and Sacha Nadella, you know, to update your computer to reboot it whenever you have to reboot. They say you have to reboot it to all these things. Windows very much holds your hand through a lot of that stuff. And as payment for that hand holding, you send them your data and all that stuff. Obviously, there's a ton of stuff to get into there. But the point is once you move to Linux, you have a responsibility for all of that stuff. And if you don't know what you're doing, which you don't as a new Linux user, and you're too lazy to look up how to do it, then Linux just isn't for you. Because you're going to have problems. You're just going to continue to have problems until you learn that Linux requires you to put forth the effort to understand that your new operating system not only has things that you don't know, but also just does some things differently and maybe in a little weird way. That means sometimes you may end up having to open up the terminal order to do something. It may mean that you discover sometimes that there are bugs like the Linux tech tips tutorial or challenge when he tried to install Papa West. That was a bug that affected a lot of people. And it's unfortunate that he happened to have shine a spotlight on Linux during a time when Papa West had this steam bug. But bugs happen in Linux, bugs happen in Windows. The difference is in Linux, the community takes care of the bugs. And we're responsible for helping the developers who are developing our distros to fix those bugs. Whereas with Windows, they have an insider program. It's very much like the Mafia, or I assume it's like the Mafia. If you don't do things the way they're supposed to be doing, they whack you. I'm just assuming. I mean, that's the way things go, I'm sure. Anyways, long rambly video short, or not so short, Linux is not Windows. Don't treat it like Windows. Don't go into your new Linux install expecting things to work exactly like Windows does because you're just going to have a multitude of problems because you can't control alt-delete on Linux. You just can't. That's not a solution for anything. The only thing you get when you hit control-alt-delete is nothing. It literally does literally nothing on Linux. I wonder if there's a distro out there that does do control-alt-delete. I've never heard of one. I was going to try it now, but what if my distro did happen to do some of the control-alt-delete? I don't even know. I mean, seriously. The point is, again, Linux requires responsibility and effort, and that's not something that Windows has trained new users to do. So just don't treat Linux like Windows and be willing to learn. Be willing to go out and put yourself forth and get help because, guess what, there's an entire Linux community. The best damn thing about using Linux isn't Linux itself. It isn't the free and open-source software aspect of it. It's not any of that. The best part of the Linux experience is the community that you'll find yourself. And now, yes, there are the fringe assholes out there. Every community has them. We don't talk about them. We just push them off to the side and put them in a box. But the vast majority of people in the Linux community are very helpful, and it makes it a wonderful experience to use Linux. But you're never going to experience that if you don't put yourself out there and accept the responsibility that you have for your new Linux install. So that is it for this video. If you want to get in contact with me or if you have things to say, leave them in the comment section below. Make sure you like and subscribe, all of that stuff. You can support me by going to patreon.com slash linuxcast. You can follow me on Twitter. At the Linuxcast, you can support me on Mastodon and all those social media networks. Those links will be in the video description below. Before I go, I'd like to take a moment to thank my current patrons.