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1: Well, it's more secure by design for example. It doesn't dictate on your hardware like Windows 11 does. It includes thousand of programs without ever visiting a website (see 5). But in the end, the question goes to you: Why are you interested in using Linux?
2: The better approach for many things is not looking for the same application, but for software that solves your task. If you want to write letters, you don't need MS Office, LibreOffice (and some other office suites available for Linux) do it just as well. Of course, there are certain applications that leave you no choice. For these, WINE (which Valve extends and calls Proton) is what you could try. A search for WINE + your application will tell you more.
3: That's all supported just like in Windows. Plus there's things Linux has since day one and Windows added recently or not yet. :) Administering Linux is quite different, usage not thaat much.
(My mother-in-law was happy using it when I replaced Windows with Linux. She didn't even know what a "Windows" is...)
4: I do think it's more complicated at some edges. Plus, which is more important, it will be unknown to you. When coming from Windows with years or even decades of experience, what Windows does feels natural and what Linux does feels unnatural. Do expect some learning curve (like you had for Windows long time ago).
5: You don't need anti virus on Linux. Really, you don't. Just keep your software up-to-date. And doing that is way easier than on Windows, because you can update all your software with a single command/button press in an application.
6: Every Linux distibution worth using is coming with literally thausand of programs you can very easily install, yes. (And many useful programs will already be preinstalled.)
You should check out which desktop environment you want to use (do take a look at KDE) and which "distibution" (maybe Kubuntu). You can dualboot, so you've got the best of both worlds at hand.
Have fun!
Grab a distro, any distro really, and burn it to a USB thumb drive. Pretty much all of them are live so you can just boot into a working system. If you don't like it, just turn off the computer and unplug the thumb drive.
Because it's fun to mess around with the system. (at least for me)
The OS (very likely) doesn't spy on you
It's more secure
Just want to try out something different, it's ok to like Windows, yet you should be open to try out other things.
2:
Ehm, difficult. In a nutshell; everything on Steam works (mostly) flawlessly. Yet for everything else, you might have to use different software like Lutris, although there is no guarantee.
3:
Yes you can. If you use a a normal file manager like on Windows, you can name them whatever. But if you use the terminal, things making them all lowercase or not having spaces in the name make navigating the terminal easier.
4:
Well yes, but actually no. Windows is also extremely complex. So is every modern OS. It's just that windows, also of course because it's proprietary, hides that complexity of the OS away. On your average distro, you get much more control over your system with things like, replacable desktop environments, network managers, shells. And in general. A bunch of small stuff have to get relearned.
At some point, you get used to reading the Archwiki for example to get information about your software and in general. Learning more about your system.
Some distros like Ubuntu or Linux mint are of course better at hiding the complexity of the os like Arch or Gentoo are for example.
5:
Updates are done through a central repository containing most of what you likely need. Unlike Windows where every application which needs to be somewhat up to date has it's own updater. We just update our software and OS through that repository.
For example, on Arch. All i have to do is opening up a terminal, type in. "sudo pacman -Syu" and then after a few seconds to minutes, depending on your internet connection and how powerful your pc is. It's fully updated.
Same for downloading software. If you want firefox, chromium, vlc and whatnot. You can either install it using the terminal, which is of course faster and more detailed. Or you can just use a normal "app store" to get it.
Problem only arises when something you want isn't in the repo of your distro like google chrome. Then you have to get it somewhere else like through flatpaks, an Ubuntu ppa, the AUR on Arch etc. It's not a perfect solution, you can of course get the app from google chromes website in this case. But it's not recommended as it's not the "linux way" of installing software
About VIruses. Instead of not caring and just letting the anti-virus do all the job. You should also make sure that no malware gets onto your PC in the first place. Although yes, Linux is more secure, don't install stuff you don't know, don't run commands you don't understand, maybe browse the web without javascript, use firejail / apparmor and whatnot. You can do this, but in general. Linux is more secure and an anti-virus program is not needed.
6:
That is pretty much the case. If you want office, libreoffice is the largest open-source office suite out there. pdf viewsers, browsers, file managers, Steam, video/photo editing with kdenlive or gimp. All that stuff is also available over here. It's just that you lack the origin© software like Microsoft office, the Adobe suite and other professional software. However. If you are just an average John Doe like me, just writing a quick letter in Libreoffice will also work just fine. 90% of office users only use 10% of what the office suite has available anyways.
I hope i gave a good rundown of everything you should keep in mind.
for 1: Completely the opposite from my view. Windows uses technological borders to shrink your useage of your hardware. Did you ever wonder, why you can't use older printers or other stuff on Windows? They simply work together with the producers and cut out the driver support.
for 2: Why? There are often Linux ports availible or similar programs that offer the same or better experience.
for 3: Sure, why not? It is not that complicated.
for 4: It isn't complicated, it is just different. Just get used to it and you think the other way arround. The first difference to notice is, that you do not have one single company that delivers the OS, you have dozens of bigger ones and huge number of minor different Linux distributions. I suggest to concentrate on what you like to do with your computer and then seek for the best fitting Linux distributions to your needs. You could adopt and tinker all of them, but some offer better fitting solutions than others...which is all your own personal view.
for 5: that depends on what Linux distribution you might have chosen. I for myself use an Arch based distribution, so my system offers small updates for my installed programs nearly every day. For other distributions you might have to push/request for updates.
for 6: My personal #1 concern has been to make use of Photoshop, what made me keep Windows on a dual-boot for a long time. Right now I'm using Gimp nearly the same way, it just took me some time to learn how-to.
There are a lot of different Linux distributions offered, so you should get you an overview what you are aiming for, which UI you like the best, wether you prefer solid OS or so called bleeding-edge OS with the newest availbable versions of programs, then you have a base to make first tests.
I suggest to have a look on Distrowatch[distrowatch.com] where you could sort all distributions on your liking. Download some of those ISO's and install them on a USB-stick and test them right from that stick without any harm to your main system to get a first introduction.
Last but not least - Have fun!
trying first will answer a lot of your questions...
still, my answers would be:
1: because you always wanted to; to challenge yourself
2=6
3: ..yes..
4: its different, so it can be - know what you want and go for it
5: tell your OS to update and it will - never used AV
find an old machine and install Mint, Solus, or Manjaro and try NOT to break it;
that was how i learned..
Is Windows easier to use? Or is it just familiarity? Does it depend on usage requirements? Ever used an Android phone? That's Linux! Ever tried a Windows phone? (I've tried a Windows CE handheld before - yuck!).
IMHO SteamOS's UI is miles better than Windows for gaming. The only real sticking point is game compatibility (see www.protondb.com).
Probably, not tried, a lot of Windows programs do work fine thanks to WINE.
SteamOS or Linux general? Linux general, of course. SteamOS depends on the mode. Desktop Mode is essentially regular Linux, so yes. Game Mode doesn't use folders as such. It's all about your Steam Collections.
How long is a piece of string? It's as complicated as you want to make it. There was a time long ago when you'd never used Windows before either. I put Fedora KDE Linux on my 65yo mothers laptop, I'm not sure she's noticed.
Updates work the same as Windows from an end users point of view. System Tray says updates available, press big button to apply updates.
Don't know about AV, don't use em.
Erm, there does tend to be Linux equivalents for most things, many Windows programs work thanks to WINE. It's a computer, does computer stuff!
The link automatically created here by Steam contains the closing bracket and then is marked as possibly dangerous.
Here's the clean one meant by Retro Gamer:
www.protondb.com
Well the main reason i would like to switch to linux is because of controll. I dont like that windows gets more and more restrictive. Well yes im using windows for many years now and the last on i really liked was 7. Since than its running downhill.Wel the scarness comes from the fact that its something new and im scared that i could ruin my device if that is possible somehow.
Rest assured I know one or two things about Steam Deck. But although I'm a Linux enthusiast for about two and a haf decades, I did not feel any urge to attach it to a monitor and use its desktop mode. It's great at what it's made for: handheld gaming.
But then of course, it could give you a taste of what Linux looks like...
You're at the right place with that reason. The easiest would be what someone proposed above: If you've got an old PC for testing. Or a VM. Or a live distribution running from a USB thumb drive. Or Steam Deck, if you wish.
You're too scared. Linux doesn't break your device. I'd propose the thumb stick method. That way you could also try different distributions and desktop environments before installing. I used dual boot for a very long time (until Steam for Linux gave me enough to play on Linux, that is). It's a good way to have both.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick
Attention: Overwrites the contents of the thumb drive!
A second internal HDD/SDD could also be a good place.
The current version, SteamOS 3.0, is not yet easily available. (There's a distribution with it somewhere, but I wouldn't recommend it.)
Do take a look at e.g. Gnome and KDE (my favorite) and maybe other desktop environments, as they're the main part of the usage look and feel.