Mildly Infuriating

To be clear, I've been using Windows since I was literally in diapers [3]. Only this summer did I take the plunge and actually start using Linux as a daily driver. I generally know my way around a Windows system because of Googling things I don't know.

My concern is because I have been using Windows as a "home" user, e.g. on non-enterprise systems, there's going to be a whole bunch of stuff that I don't know that I have no chance of finding unless I happen to know an experienced sysadmin.

IMO, Googling [1] things is often how I solve computer problems, but it's a very strange way of working if you think about it. Shouldn't our software tell us how to use it? At the bare minimum, software designed for use by the general public, including those who aren't familiar with computers

It's a bit of a strange response, "go to company A for information about company B's products". And yet, it is the response I unfortunately have to choose time and time again because Microsoft is too protective of their secrets, including apparently how to use their OS. Microsoft, who as a reminder is a business trying to convince me to keep buying their product, should be the primary source of information about their product.

Microsoft does have some online support, but they don't have it at the level of detail that Linux does. What has really amazed me about Linux is that the various developers actually tell you how to use their software [2]. If there's something not in the manual, they probably don't know enough about it to have finished the documentation. In those scenarios, you can go make an issue on GitHub. As complicated as Linux has been to learn, it's been a lot less "Google [1] it" and a lot more "read the docs".

If you feel some discomfort while using Windows, know that there's always a way to make something easier and simpler, you just have to find it

Well...no, actually. For example, if I want to replace the user interface, you cannot do that. You can change it cosmetically, and there are a few registry entries you can fiddle with, but if you want to throw out the whole thing and use a completely different desktop environment, you're out of luck. I installed my copy of Debian with KDE Plasma, but I also installed LXDE as an option for the rare cases when I need all 16GB of my RAM. I also tried out XFCE and LXQT to give them their fair shake. The default for Debian is actually GNOME, which I knew from prior experience was not for me. Actually, I wouldn't use a system where the only option is GNOME, so the freedom to choose a desktop environment (or none at all; e.g. window managers or the command line for the brave) was a precondition to my adoption of Linux.

Every single part of my system can be swapped out for something else. Even the kernel need not be "pure" Linux. For example, I do a lot of real-time audio computing, so I've been "shopping for" the best kernel for real-time audio. There are a few patched kernels specifically for real-time applications, although the default Linux kernel is quite good.

This is far from the only area where Windows locks you into a choice. Actually, it's a lot worse than that; Windows (more accurately Microsoft) continues to lock me into choices because I have to limit my choices to those that work with Windows installations. They could add Linux compatibility to their systems (because the whole ecosystem is open source, they don't need to reverse-engineer anything; just copy the Linux stuff!), but they choose not to do so, and instead insist on proprietary formats.

[1] I don't use Google search anymore. IMO the only use case for Google search is when you are somehow required to use it. In the example above, I would never allow company A to be Google, because based on Google's history it is clear that Google ought not exist. I often allow company A to be DuckDuckGo or an amalgamation of stripped results from SearXNG, but even then I think that the usage of company B's products should be the domain of company B.

[2] It's not perfect, but systematically it seems like more than an attempt has been made to document the various FOSS software components. For example, some of the more obscure KDE software have holes in the docs, which I have actually been running up against in the past few days. The rest of the KDE software has excellent documentation, and if you're a Plasma user, it's probably already on your computer. Remember, this is coming from a largely volunteer development force; compare that with the power and professional workforce of Microsoft.

[3] I have worked and played in every non-enterprise Windows OS from Windows 95 to Windows 10. I have used Windows 11 a handful of times but I'm not very familiar with it, besides the baseline familiarity that comes from working with NT systems in general.