linuxmemes

Let me try to answer your question with a recent experience. I have a old laptop that I use to only watch YouTube. It was running windows 10 just fine but here and there, there would be stutters. Sometimes the laptop would hang at lock screen. When I logged in, there will the same notifications from the same apps informing me stuff like 'network drive didn't connect' or 'anti virus licence update failed'. I know it's not sure annoying and can easily be taken care of. But I wanted a breath of fresh air.

So, I decided to install Ubuntu on it (just going for a safe choice). After installing, I realized that I wanted only two features - one to control volume with a four finger gesture with the trackpad and the ability for the laptop to hibernate to conserve battery. After installing Ubuntu, I started searching for these solutions. I found a software called Fusuma which applies setting via a config file (that needs to be manually created and pointed to), needs to started via command line and manually added to startup. A normal user would not want to go through this process. Many would rather go without comforts of touchpad gestures. And because of gnome, I had some troubles getting my volume to work. But when it worked, it worked like a charm. The config file allowed me change everything. What each gesture did - 3/4 Finger sweeps in all directions, send keyboard shortcuts, change volume, change brightness of screen/keyboard backlight. One can even configure swipe gestures when combined with some key press - for example 4 Finger swipe up/down changes volume but if I do that with shift key pressed, it can change brightness or keyboard backlight with alt pressed. This was a totally new concept that I never heard of.

These are Power User Features that usual people usually don't wanna get into. They get it when the company decides it. With Linux, the possibilities seem endless. You can do what you can imagine with the hardware. But you need to work for it. This is why I could relate very well with the meme. Once you become an expert of one OS, windows and mac would start to seem boring but Linux will keep opening new doors for you. This rabbit hole is deep!

You don't have to buy a new pc just to continue using the internet. (Windows 11 forces a PC to have a modern motherboard with TPM, Windows 10 will reach End of Life and the person is fucked when certificates expire) You are not forced to have candy crush automatically installed on your machine. Your search actually can show your files and programs instead of redirecting to bing. Greatly reduced attack surface, since malware can't go living off the land. Actually faster file transfer over the network. Full telemetry with no possibility to turn it off

The list is a bit random and examples are not that hard to find. Although, almost everything is tuneable and switchable on Windows, which helps it a lot to adapt and reduce pain points mentioned above.

The main actual problem is that it's a corporation controlled, and they don't have your interests prioritized.