 If you are a normal user of a computer, chances are you sit down in front of your computer or you pull your laptop onto your lap, you open the lid or press the power button and then you open up Google Chrome and you go about the things you normally do on the internet. That's the way most normal people use their computers and there's nothing wrong with that. That's the way most people are. Most people aren't going to open up a terminal and get into them and do bash scripting. That's not what most people do. And if we're all being quite honest about it, you can use Google Chrome on any operating system you want and that's the reason why most people can use whatever operating system they want. They don't care what operating system they have. They can use Windows. There has to be something wrong with their computer in order for them to even think about the underlying operating system. And most of the time when that happens, they call their tech support guy, usually their kid or geek squad or whatever. Linux is obviously different than that and requires a highly different attitude. And that's something that I've talked about many times on this channel. Talking about learning and getting into Linux and all this stuff and how new users should approach Linux and how Linux is not Windows and all this stuff. I've made several videos along this topic. But today what I wanted to do is talk about 10 things about Linux that will make you better at using your computer. So that's what we're going to do today. So let's go ahead and jump in. The first thing that Linux will help you do and that is going to enable you to become a better computer user is that it makes you more curious about how your system works. Most people, as I said, open up their computer, open up Google Chrome and then never think about the fact that they're running Windows or they're running Windows 11 or that they're running on an Intel system or whatever. They don't have any inclination of any of that stuff even likely means. When you install Linux for the first time, it gets you thinking about how things work. If only because you have to kind of learn some things in order to actually get Linux installed like how to bypass UEFI or use UEFI or enable legacy BIOS or get into the boot menu of your computer. You may not even know what a boot menu is until you've actually decided that you're going to take the plunge into Linux. And that's just really kind of the start, right? Once you actually started using Linux, there's a lot of things that you'll learn along the way that will teach you more and more about how your computer actually functions. Now, how deep that goes really will depend on the depth of your curiosity. But for the most part, you'll at least learn some things that you may not have known previously when you were just one of those people who just used Chrome all day and didn't really care what you were doing. The next one on the list is that it will allow you to learn new things. Now, this is obviously very much related to that. And I think that it's actually required of everyone who decides to use Linux to learn new things. It's almost inevitable. You can't really even consider using Linux and then not expect to learn something new. Now, obviously this changes if you have someone set up Linux for you and you're just going to continue to maintain your use of just Google Chrome all the time. And that's all you ever do. You don't care that you're using Linux. You're not really a Linux user. You're a Chrome user. Some people are like that. My dad, for example, he uses Ubuntu. He doesn't know he uses Ubuntu. He just, you know, uses Chrome all day and that's perfectly fine. But he's never going to learn very many new things for everyone else who makes the active decision to use Linux. You're going to inevitably learn how to do a ton of new things, whether it's install applications, whether it's how to set up a VM, all this kind of stuff. I mean, there's just tons of stuff that you'll go through and learn. I've been using Linux now for almost five years. And I learned something new every single day on Linux. It's just kind of inevitable that you'll always be learning something new about how your system works, how Linux works. And that's can be very rewarding. It can be frustrating at times when you come up, you're trying to do something and you come up against a block of something that you don't know how to do. And you have to learn that stuff. It can be frustrating because sometimes you learn the wrong way of doing things and things that work. It's always a process. But once you've succeeded in learning something and knowing how something works and how to do something, that reward at the end of the journey is so good. It's a very good feeling. And I don't think it's something that can even be suitably described about how good that can make you feel. The next one on the list is that it will allow you to actually learn about file systems. Now, this is a very geeky thing, but most people, again, are only going to be interacting with Chrome. And chances are when they save something from Google Chrome, they probably save it on their desktop. Now, you've seen these people. They are the people who you go to use their computer and they have 5,000 icons on their Windows desktop. And that's where they store everything. Now, that's fine. They don't know what a folder is so that they can't even begin to organize stuff. And it's just the way they use their computer. It's not the proper way, really. I mean, it's a very disorganized way. But I suppose there's, I don't know, those people piss me off. They shouldn't do it. But the point is that for most people, they're never going to interact with their file system whatsoever. They may learn how to make folders, but they're going to download picture after picture after picture of whatever and just throw it in their downloads folder. Their downloads folder is going to be huge. They're never going to see those pictures again. And obviously you can use Linux this way too, like you can. But if you are truly invested in learning Linux and actually using the full scope of your computer, being able to interact with files in the way Linux prod you to do, you will actually go through and learn the file system much better. And the thing about Linux is that everything is a file. The whole system is filled with files and directories and folders and all this stuff, whatever you want to call them, all the way down to the base system, all the way up to your documents and pictures and whatever. The whole system is like that. And if you can learn that structure, not only will you learn more about how your computer works, but also will probably tend to make you a little bit more organized because you're going to learn how to make directories and put things where they're supposed to be. Now, this is obviously not a guarantee. Some people are just disorganized by, you know, personality. But if you've learned the file system, there's a good chance that at least that you'll go through and at least keep that in mind as you go through and use your computer. Now, number four on the list is that it gets you thinking about how your workflow works and how it can be improved. So because when you switch to Linux, you're going to have to go through and find a whole bunch of new software. And we'll talk more about that later. But as you go through and discover alternatives to things that you used to use, you're going to start to think about how those applications play a role in how you use your computer. So, for example, if you are on Windows and you use notepad or whatever, you're going to go through and try to find a similar thing on Linux that you can use to take notes or whatever it is. And as you go through and do that, you can discover applications that not only do that, what you want, but also might have other features. You can think about how those features will play into your workflow, how they might make you more productive and so on and so forth. As you discover new things, you're going to constantly think about how those new things can impact how you use your computer. I'm one of those people who always enjoys thinking about how I use my computer, not necessarily the bits and, you know, technical things behind it, but more how the applications I use affect what I do on the computer. So, for example, what note-taking application do I use? Do I use VimWiki or do I use ZimWiki or do I use just a text file or whatever? I always think about how those things, how those different things can go through and make my computing experience better, but also how it can make me more productive. And that's something that switching to Linux is actually going to force you to do because you're always going to have to find some new applications in order to replicate what you're used to do. And in that process, you'll go through and tinker with your workflow to include those new tools. Now, the next one I actually think is probably the most important thing about switching to Linux, and that is that using Linux enables you to get involved with other computer users. One thing that is just not true about Windows is that there's not really a community. I mean, there are forums and stuff like that and there are people who use Windows and there are Windows fanboys, but it never feels like a community. When you're in the Linux space, you can always tell that there are communities involved. Now, whether or not there's an all-encompassing community that includes everyone is up for debate. Some people will say that there is a Linux community that includes everybody who uses Linux. Some people will say, no, personally, I'm more of a belief that there is, but it's more that it includes several smaller communities that form usually around distributions and applications. Now, this can lead to obviously other problems, which we can talk about in another video, but for the most part, that's something that you're not going to experience on Windows. And you come to Linux and you can get involved with the operating system. You're never going to get involved with developers of your operating system or applications when you're on Windows. For the most part, the developers of your operating system and programs on Windows are people who work for a large corporation and they're not really interacting with the users whatsoever. They have support systems in place for that and whatever. You're never going to interact directly with the developers, for the most part. On Linux, because everything is open source, you interact directly with the developers. In a lot of cases, when you have problems, when you want to help out and do whatever, it's just an entirely different way of doing things and it's very rewarding. I've met dozens of people in the Linux community that have become very good friends and I can have said that in the Windows community, if you can call it a Windows community. You know what I mean? You're going to make friends in the Linux community and that's a good thing, right? More friends are always cool. So the next one is something that we talked about earlier in that Linux will expose you to other applications because just frankly, every application you use on Windows isn't going to be available on Linux. We all know that. It's just the truth and it's the truth that's never going to change for the most part. You're never going to have one-to-one compatibility even if, you know, some applications do eventually come to Linux. Some of them just never will. So that means you're going to have to search out alternatives and that means being exposed to new ways of doing things. So for example, if you're moving from Photoshop to GIMP, they're not the same applications. They do things differently. That will allow you to, again, learn new things but also learn new ways of doing things, which is, again, always good. Now, the next one on the list is something that not everybody will care about but probably everybody should care about and that Linux makes you more aware of your privacy. Even if you choose not to care about what services you use, as you get entrenched in the Linux ecosystem, privacy is going to be more and more something that you hear about, whether it's from other people in the Linux community, whether it's through app developers, whatever. You'll hear more and more about it. Now, whether or not you choose to care more and more about it as you use Linux is going to be very much dependent on you and as you go through and expose yourself more to the Linux and open source philosophies, privacy will become something that you become more and more aware of and that's not something that you really ever think about when you're on Windows, probably for the most part, just simply because it's not something that you're exposed to that often. Number eight on the list is something that is probably very high on the selling point list for switching to Linux and that is that Linux allows you to extend the life of older hardware and this will allow you to think more about how your hardware is preserved because you're going to start thinking about if you can use your system a little bit longer than what you'd normally use it. So if you were just using Windows, if you had a Windows computer that was like four or five years old and you wanted the newest version of Windows, chances are it probably wouldn't run on there. With Linux, that system is going to stay new and fresh longer but also, and because we're focusing on what's going to make you better at computing, it will also allow you to start thinking about how Linux interacts with older systems and choosing new distros for specific purposes for older systems and because you've learned more about how your computer works, you can go through and kind of extend the life of your hardware more than what you would on Windows because chances are when your computer dies or when your computer gets really slow on Windows and it can't be fixed by someone else who knows what they're doing, chances are you just get a new computer. That's not something that necessarily always happens on Linux. Number nine on the list is that Linux gives you responsibility. On Windows, the operating system tries to take as much responsibility unto itself as possible. Every update is something that it prods you to do and eventually it's going to tell you that you have to do it. It's not going to give you a choice. It's taken the responsibility of keeping your system up-to-date unto itself and for some people that's a good thing, right? They're never going to do updates on their own so they have to be proud in order to do it but responsibility is actually a good thing for human beings and because it allows them to not only learn new things but also broaden their horizons and makes them feel a sense of ownership over their operating system and their computer and Linux allows you to go through and actually control the maintenance of your computer. You go through and you're in charge of doing the updates. You're in charge of what distro you use, what applications you install, everything along the line you're in control of and that is a good thing not only because it allows you freedom to do whatever you want but also because it gives you a sense of responsibility towards your computer and it makes you care more about how your computer functions. It will probably allow your computer to run longer it will allow you to really know what's going on on your computer because that responsibility of always controlling what's going on on your computer will just make you more invested in ensuring that it always works because it's your responsibility not Windows. Okay, the last one on the list is that it will teach you the value of open source. I'm not the biggest open source guy in the world like there are a lot more zealots out there in terms of Faust than I will ever be. I still use tons of proprietary software I'm a Google apps user because I have to for work so I'm never going to be the zealot that someone else in the Faust community is going to be but that doesn't mean that I'm unaware of the benefits of open source and I learned the benefits of open source because I started using Linux. When I first started using Linux I didn't have open source at all. I just wanted to use Linux. In fact, I don't even know prior to actually using Linux that I've ever even uttered the words open source. Once I actually switched to Linux open source became something that was more relevant to me simply because I started using open source software I started learning about the open source morals and things about why open source is important and over time I've become more aware of what the value of open source is and that it can be solely contributed to my switch to Linux and I think that that is something that will happen for a lot of other people as well. Chances are if you are on Windows you don't know what open source is or maybe you do and you don't care but if you switch to Linux all of a sudden open source is something that's going to matter to you way more than ever did before. This is the 10th thing. I know this was a very kind of rambly video I tried to make notes but as usual when I make notes it didn't work very well. Anyway, so if you have comments about this topic you can leave those in the comment section below you can follow me on Twitter at Linuxcast you can support me on patreon.patreon.com slash Linuxcast Before I go, I'd like to take a moment to thank my current patrons Today, Devon, Patrick, Al, Marcus, Meg, Lin, Jax, and I from Tool Steve, A, Sebrega, Linux, Eric, Mitchell, ArtCenter, Carbon, Dave, Jeremy, Sean, Odin, Andy, Merrick, Cam, Joshua, J-Dog, Peter, A, Crucible, DarkBand, Six, Vlad, and Primus Thanks everybody for watching I'll see you next time.