It changed a long time ago.
Back in 2002, I tried to get Red Hat Fedora running on a PC and gave up. The following year, my Windows 98 "daily driver" computer got a persistent boot sector virus and, in desperation, I installed Mandrake Linux from CDs a friend had sent me. It took me several hours to get things figured out, but I didn't miss a day of work (just a night of sleep).
Since then, while I've occasionally used MacOS or ChromeOS for periods of time, Linux has remained my go-to, and I have never been tempted to return to Windows.
What has happened is that I've bought PCs with Windows reinstalled, and gone ahead and set those Windows installations up before installing Linux as my default boot option. I've done this as recently as this year, which means I've had to mess with Windows Vista, 8, 10, and 11.
Here's the cold, hard truth:
- Most Linux distributions, especially Ubuntu and Mint, are easier to install and set up than Windows. You're asked a few questions, you click a few buttons, and boom, you're up and running. The last time I did a PC set-up, it took about ten minutes to get Linux installed, updated, and running, and about 90 minutes to get Windows -- which was already installed -- updated and running.
- Most Linux distributions update quickly, easily, and optionally. You see a little alert button letting you know that updates are available for Linux (and for the apps you've got installed on your machine). You click that alert at your leisure, decide whether you want what's being offered, tell it to update, and it does so -- in the background, in seconds or single-digit minutes, while you're still using your computer. Windows always wants to spend three hours updating, either when you start the machine or try to shut down the machine, and doesn't want to let you say "no, I'll do that some other time."
- Unless you're running very specialized proprietary software (including the newest games), Linux has the apps you use. Some of them are the same as on your Windows PC (for example, you can run Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and other browsers), some of them are basically as good (e.g. LibreOffice is a decent replacement for Microsoft Office; GimP is a decent alternative to Photoshop), and almost all of them are completely free (I've never "bought" a Linux app other than in the form of making an optional donation to the developers).
From what I hear, Windoze just keeps getting worse (apparently 11 is now implementing non-optional screen advertising).
Linux got better than Windoze at least a decade ago and has just kept getting better yet. Even Raspberry Pi OS on an ARM CPU is simpler, faster, etc. than any Windoze machine I've had the misfortune to use. The only time I boot into Windoze is if I have the urge to play an old DOS or Windoze game (I don't like Linux's emulation/virtual machine stuff), and that's usually once or twice a year because I know it will be forever before the damn updates finish and I can actually do what I went there to do.
One of those social media posts cited the archetypal "granny" and how she's just scared to leave Windoze because it's easy and Linux sounds hard.
If your granny is getting a new computer, get her to let you install Linux Mint on it. It will be easier on you than getting her Windoze set up, and it will be easier on her when she wants to browse the web, check her email, play solitaire, etc. instead of sitting there wondering why the machine has been "updating" for six hours. The screen setup will be very familiar to her from the beginning. Unless your granny does CAD work for a government contractor, she will likely never miss Windoze even for a minute. And you won't get as many phone calls asking you to go un-fuck her computer.
You're welcome.
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