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I Tried To Find Linux Users At Micro Center

I Tried To Find Linux Users At Micro Center

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1
At the opening of the Santa Clara Micro Center Adam went around asking people if they were Linux users to answer the ultimate question: is 2025 (finally) the year of Linux Subscribe to our PC hardware podcast The Full Nerd: thefullnerdpodcast ============= Follow PCWorld! Website: http://www.pcworld.com X: https://www.x.com/pcworld ============= This video is NOT sponsored. Some links may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy something PCWorld may receive a small commission. #microcenter #linux #interview
Date: 2025-06-18

Comments and reviews: 20


I am using Linux Mint 22.1 for my everything computer, now on my gaming system I use Bazzite, and on my third computer whatever version that interests me. I started with Red Hat 1.0 back around 2000 (still have it and still works), I started with CPM bought a card for my computer to use DOS 1.0, which to me was the most perfect thing that micro soft has ever done. I gave up on windows when they sent me a notice for Windows 11 to upgrade so I checked my computers and none of them where up to PAR with windows demands, the way I feel it is my computer I paid for it, and no commie corporation tells me what I have to do with my paid for computer, you want me to run your new OS then and then tell me to buy a new computer, STOP right there, U buy me the computer and then I will use your commie organization computer if I like it, and can set it up the way I want it. I am an AMERICAN I really gave up on Micro Soft in the year of 2016, now I do have a Windows 10 (legal) on a SSD drive if I run into a situation where I have to use it. Usually Government sites (the government is crazy for using windows, it is the most attacked OS in the world. Back when the military started using the IBM computers I was put into the Automatic Data Processing Security position, to control the use of data and the security. I had about 9 computers where I worked 83 others if called. DOS 1.0, Now I met Bill Gates and Steve Balmer who where trying to sell the Microsoft Office back then and a security program that you could put on your hard drive and needed a password. Well I saw from the beginning what I needed to see, It was the funniest thing I ever did see, the way to break into their secure system was just to have a disk with the OS 1.0 on it and start the computer with that. (had that on the Commodore Amiga) kickstart and then put in a work disk. Once again NO COMPANY TELLS ME I HAVE TO BUY A NEW COMPUTER TO RUN AN THEIR OS! IF THEY WANT ME TO USE THEIR OS THEY BETTER BUY ME THE COMPUTER, THAT IS JUST TO MUCH CONTROL FOR A REAL AMERICAN!
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Used Linux for almost 20 years. My years of experience with it are what got me my first job out of college even though I majored in microbiology.
I still use Ubuntu these days (24.04 & 25.10), but am searching for something more bleeding edge while still stability focused. Especially given the number of issues I've had with my 5080. It's really fun to have to reboot every time your monitors power off then on because the 2nd one starts slowly flickering off and on! I can't just leave them on 24/7.
I tried fedora with bazzite rebase, but I'm so used to how Ubuntu managed packages that I haven't got it working yet. I have a TON of apps I build .deb's for or install directly from .debs. In part to avoid PPA clutter, but also because it's the only option for some. Without those apps, fedora can't be my daily driver. I even tried installing the apps in a DistroBox container. It would have worked fine, though a bit frustrating when one of the canary testing builds of apps update multiple times a day. But no matter what I tried, no apps would launch if installed with DistroBox like guides showed.
So alas, I'm on Ubuntu for now and messing around with fedora till i figure out how it works better. Or until i find a more suitable option. Funnily enough as well, Fedorabazzite rebase performed worse than my Ubuntu install. And it started as 22.04 that upgraded to 24.04, but not without hours fixing what PPAs broke. Even then the upgrade removed ubuntu-desktop entirely which is always a treat.

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I've used Unix and then Linux for decades. It is wearying to see such silly thinking that is counter productive.
Of all the reasons to use or avoid a system, or group/company fot that matter, elitist pride is the worst. I don't believe it should be difficult, but I personally appreciate the ability to tweak and learn if needed.
I tried helping someone setup Linux, via several distros, recently. I was shocked at the grabastic nonsense I witnessed today in 2025.
Absurd UI, strange and ambiguous wording, unnecessary complexity, and confusing or contradictory approaches that required sleuthing to just get wifi to work on a live image boot.
Just works is an expectation today. If I get in my car to drive, even in an older carburater based engine, I expect itto just work and the system to handle timing, flow rates, and mixtures. Ido not expect intimate knowledge of every working part and integration point to operate normally and get me to the grocery store.
Or, said another way, I expectafinished priduct to behave as a finished product especially after more than 30 years.
Neckbeards are a pox on all that is good, productive, and bright. Make your distro good or say it is a tinkerer's toolchest. Don't claim it is something it is not so you feel vindicated, smart, and clever. Don't claim edge case for common hardware and use cases. Just stop being a monster.

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It will never be the Year of Linux in terms of a ton of people switching. Linux is just not user friendly enough. It's too much trouble to get Linux to work.
I hear Linux is the core of some of the gadgets out there, but I'll leave that up to the programmer guys out there to do that. I'm a hardware nerd, but not a software or coding nerd. I don't have the patience for coding and software modding. I've tried to do coding and modding, but it's just too tedious. I like beta testing for others though. That's kinda fun. I beta test in terms of telling them what works and what doesn't and telling them in detail when the program has issues, but when they try to teach me a little coding, it's just too difficult. About the only coding I do is changing .ini files in game folders as long as I have step by step instructions on what to do.
At the about 7 minute mark, he gives the answer of the true expert - 'It depends'. What people ought to do or how to do it really does depend on so many things that one can't give a simple, pat answer to so many questions.
Man, I wish I had a Micro Center near me! We used to have a Fry's. I even worked there for a while, but it's closed now. Sure, I can order stuff, but it's always better to check things out in person.

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That first guy sounds like me. The real reason that most people are gnashing their teeth about Windows these days is the user interface, sadly. I hear about it every single day. How the mighty have fallen. Most people simply grit their teeth and complain about how bad the UI has gotten for Microsoft products (not just Windows, New Office, SharePoint, Azure, Intune).
And that's weirdly enough the strength of Linux these days. Clean UIs ready to go out of the box, crisp and clean, accurate search, functional free applications.
If you have hardware that is a few years old, definitely Mint Cinnamon is the best distro to dip your toes in. Super simple, super clinical, works right out of the box. If you have new hardware and you're looking for a gamer focused box, Bazzite is the one everyone talks about. I use Nobara on my gaming PC and Mint on my laptops.

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I've been a Linux user for 4 years and I would like to add just a few things regarding Linux. With Linux, you will have access to tens of thousands of FREE apps, which are mostly fully compatible with Windows apps (For example, Only Office or Libre Office that are compatible with MS Office, to name just a few). But if you really need to install a windows app, you simply use the WINE to be able to install Windows applications into Linux OS. And the Linux update You can update your Linux while using the computer as opposed to Windows that you have to wait for update to finish before you can use your computer which is very inconvenient. So I highly recommend that you try Linux either on another computer or another storage drive. You will love it.
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IMO, the OS is a tool and there are certain tools that are better for certain tasks. I personally use MacOS, Linux, and Windows every single day, depending on what Im doing. Daily driver and this comment gets typed on MacOS, because it simply is my favorite laptop and Apple Silicone is great. Work stuff gets done on Windows, because Windows clearly leads the market for workstations and has the most productivity software. Server hosting gets done on linux because it's incredibly stable and easier to host on linux than it is Windows. I would never use Linux as a daily driver and I would never host services on MacOS, unless it's a rare task that requires me to do so.
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I actually partially switched to Linux to curb my addiction to the multiplayer game Paladins which I have 3k hours in. They always said Linux support would be too hard even though it worked sometimes when they screwed something up after an update. Of course I still played it a couple of times on GeForce Now. Recently development got shut down because they overhired like everyone during the pandemic and they just turned Linux support on.
The fault clearly lies with the executives that prefer kernel level anticheat.
Hopefully they change their mind with the rise of handhelds and more systems make use of AI that detects if you're aiming at hidden bots.

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If you install VirtualBox you can try out any of the Linux distros. If you want bleeding edge then try Fedora, Tumbleweed or Arch. If you want something that has fewer updates try Opensuse Leap, Mint or Debian. If you want Red Hat compatibility then it's Rocky or AlmaLinux. For fun try installing GhostBSD in VirtualBox - it's FreeBSD with MATE. MATE was originally Gnome 2. Flatpak applications runs on Linux (including lots of free games) but it doesn't run on FreeBSD. Somehow I think people will stick with Windows like they always do. With VirtualBox installed you can even install a virtual Windows 11 and find out just how bad it is.
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I been using Linux since 2007, started with Ubuntu, then Linux Mint, from LM to PCLinuxOS, from PCLinux to openSUSE, from openSUSE to the now defunct Antergos Linux, from Antergos to LMDE, from LMDE to Debian and from Debian to MX Linux and that is the one I still using today on my main PC and Laptops, on my secondary PC I have Windows 11 because I use some tools that only works on Windows and on my third desktop that is a little old and underpowered I use Bodhi Linux as an Emergency PC with a lot of Linux ISO's images and tools to work on Linux, cheers!
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truth is linux just works rn, it has all the drivers you need, installation of packages is really easy and arch is.. well to me at least, super user friendly if you know what you're doing. which takes a bit of reading a little less of spoon feeding but i think that kinda autonomy is important given where the world is heading right now with automations and AI so.. do yourself a favor, wipe your cloud shit if you can, store them on drives, ditch windows, or mac and just get know your computer better. don't lose your autonomy to comfort.
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My advice to anyone is to pick up a used PC on marketplace, anything under 10 years old/a cheap ex office machine HP/Dell and try Mint Cinnamon. Perfect for a basic media consumption computer. Even now there are a couple of things I need a Windows machine for; several games although I don't game much... Linux is so easy to set up & use, more responsive and actually nice to use; it doesn't fight you. Yes it has photo editors, BUT being an idiot, I still like 'Picasa' for speed and ease of use and it's the main reason I use Windows.
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Everyone complains about the mandatory updates in Windows, but before they made it mandatory Microsoft gave people the option to update or not for 20 years. What happened People never updated their computer, so as someone who has been in IT for a long time making the updates mandatory was one of Microsoft's best decisions, because before they did that it was always Oh you're having problems, well let me start by installing the 102 updates you've been saying Maybe Later too for the past year I will die on this hill, I know, I'm weird.
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My first Linux was Mandrake 9.2 20 years back which I dual booted with Windows XP. I liked what I saw, but didn't use it much. I installed Linux (Ubuntu) in 2018 in a older laptop which I used as travel laptop for browsing the internet and checking email. Since 2021, Fedora Linux GNOME is in my main personal laptop replacing Windows 11. The UI and touch experience is so much better. I can do everything I want to do and some light steam gaming on the go too. Started with Fedora 35, now Fedora 42. I still use Windows 11 at work.
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In general, just going out to a computer store to get hardware, Linux users do not engage in evangelical speech about it. We are there to buy our hardware need. I do hate that the stores only carry computers with Windows preinstalled, or Apple machines exclusively. I do wish that the either carried no OS machines, or a few Linux boxes/laptops. But the no OS would be preferred as there are a lot of Linux distributions and different desktop interfaces that can be installed. No telling which one would suit a specific user.
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I feel bad for people having to use Windows because the software they pay for is made incompatible with other systems.
I have to use it at work as the whole corporate infrastructure is based on M$ products.
My workstation is pretty beefy but the performance just isn't there as OS hogs a lot of resources.
Excel - absolute garbage & Outlook - constantly lags & freezes. All that on i7 13th gen, 32GB RAM and NVMe storage...
Meanwhile Linux is faster with more software open simultaneously running off of a SATA SSD.

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I'd love to see Rohit randomly return as a host for a video or a column writer for PCWorld, if he wants to.
I've tried several times over the past 20 years to move away from Windows and am loving Endeavor. I'm not running into any of the issues I ran into before, and kinda figured out the 'secret' to using Linux: Don't treat it like Windows.
I'm way done with the BS in Win11 and I've been a staunch MS Office user my whole life. LibreOffice isn't as bad as it used to be, but it still sucks in comparison.

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I use Linux Mint as my daily driver. Been using it as the main since EOL of Windows 7, couldn't get into Windows 8 tablet desktop, it was really too late when they hurried up and came out with Window 8.1. I use it for simple video editing, all my music storage of mp3s, home pictures and web browsing. It was a pain in my butt to wake my CPU up on Windows and be forced to restart because it's running slow online to find out it has downloaded a huge update and it's going to take 15 minutes to be ready ....
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Let's see. I installed my first distro in... 1997.
2025 the year of Linux Depends on your point of view. If you're going to limit yourself to private desktop/laptop OS, probably not. Maybe a little boost as Microsoft tries to force millions to buy a new machine in October. Go wider though and there are hundreds of millions of Linux users already, far more than Windows -- every Android user. And don't even start about servers (corporate/data center/cloud) -- Windows server is basically a joke.

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I found the answers interesting, but one point came up short for me: macOS is often forgotten, although it is a valid alternative to Windows and Linux, especially for developers, creative people or people who simply want a stable and well-integrated system. Incidentally, it is based on Darwin, a Unix system with FreeBSD influences - so it's not Linux, but it's still closer than many people think. You don't have to be in the Linux or Windows camp - there are also shades of gray in between
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