Linux is getting better and better.

20 years ago Linux was a free replacement for UNIX.  There are many more features than Windows.  Lower cost.  Plenty of programs to run once you install Linux.  If you use Windows and go online you need an anti-virus, unlike Linux.  Then you have to purchase programs to run on Windows unless you get the same open source programs that are on Linux.  

With Linux you have several office suites (yes, Windows has a couple as well)  But gaming is where everyone is on Windows.  Linux could not do games.  But, that was 20 years ago.  I know about 5 years ago I could play plenty of Windows games on Linux.  Since that time it is almost 100% of games on Windows can be played on Linux.  I just saw a news story of how Linux once used Wine to run Window programs on Linux now there are a few more that are added to allow the user to run Windows only programs on Linux, including top name games.  In some cases Linux runs it faster than Windows can run it.

Now the best part of Linux.  There are several variations of Linux.  Debian (the most popular with home users) is the version that has zero proprietary software, you can add the proprietary software so you can watch videos and listen to music.  Red Hat that IBM purchased had a usage plan, you can use Red Hat for awhile but other users created a completely free version of Red Hat call CentOS which IBM got rid of.  This was the biggest business version.  There are plenty of users working on a CentOS type OS, for the business community.  Fedora is the testing version of Red Hat.  Fedora has a Gaming distro.   There is about three Distros that are "Gaming" distros so you can play Windows games.  I am seeing more and more people moving to Linux.   Unless you are older and refuse to learn new thing, Windows might be your bucket you throw money in.  If you get regular Linux like MintLinux it is one of the distros that many window users migrate too.

One of the few things I like about Linux, after you install it, many distros will automatically find your printer and download and install the driver.  If you have other devices connected to you computer Linux in most cases will find it and install the drivers.  The best thing about Linux is no bloat.  Secondly, most of all of Linux is open source.  Thirdly, is there are a bunch of desktop environments, Gnome, KDE, Xfce.  Here is the site you can research 24 desktop environments for Linux.  

https://www.linuxbash.sh/post/24-linux-desktops-you-should-know-about 

Linux is great just to surf the internet.  You can play games, and do office work on Linux.  You can also attach several keyboards and monitors to one computer and have several people running off one computer.  The other thing I Like about Linux is the Server side of the distro.  You can create a small server at home and put movies, music and documents that everyone on the network can watch, listen and read on their own screen.  This is where the text screen works best for users.  

 You have many programming languages available to work on under Linux.  Not only the popular but some very obscure languages can be done on Linux, and almost all are FREE.  

If you think there are only two or three internet browsers out there, think again.  Most are free, some charge.  When looking at the free versions, think does this do something much more than my free browser does?  Can you use other programs with your browser to get the same thing done?  

If you are looking to save a ton of money while using your computer and that is the most important part of that statement, "Your Computer".  With Windows you have to agree to the terms of use which states Windows has ultimate control of your computer.  Linux does not have that kind of term of use.  When you start using Linux, Linux allows you to be in charge of your computer.  Ultimate control.  You could be in text mode and type in the wrong command and erase everything on your computer.  That is why Linux has lines of usage.  Being a root user, gives you all the power to destroy your data.  That is why you should and always be a regular user and only be a root user to do important things like adding programs, deleting files.  You have to know what you are doing before poking around.  The other thing to do is backup.  Backing up your data on a regular basis helps you if you accidentally erase your drive.  If you back up religiously, you will cut your down time considerably. 

Is Linux for everyone?  No.  But, if you want to put fun back in the using of YOUR computer, then yes. With the new programs available for Linux allowing you to play Windows Games as if you were on Windows, you no longer need a Windows machine and a Linux machine.  

 There are many, many other features of Linux I have not touched.  For one I am not very familiar with these features, like I have never set up a server.  I learn more and more everyday I use Linux, and I am no where close to being a Guru but a am learning.

If you remember DOS, imagine batch (.bat files) from windows on steroids, you wind up with bash.   I think Windows 98SE and Windows 2000 were some of the best Windows OS's I ever used.  Windows XP got rid of all my 98 software and I had a lot of 98 software.

There is so much to learn on Linux, if you don't want to learn anything, just download a Linux distro and just surf the internet and do some home stuff, spreadsheets, writing documents, make up presentations.  The more you explore Linux the more you will love using Linux.  The many things you can do on Linux minus the cost of using those same things on Windows alone will save you bunches of money.  Now it includes gaming. 

Notice not once did I mention Apple.  Apple uses a crippled version of UNIX.  

Things I have noticed.

 I remember as a kid of the 60's and 70's how great the food was.  There were a lot of good fast food places and restaurants that are no longer around.  In almost every case where they have gone under was due to money,  either it was greed or the "middle men" kept charging too much and couldn't keep the prices down.  I remember when you could get a great burger, fries and a drink for under $2.50.  Today you can't even look at the menu for under $5.00 for one item.  One of the biggest reasons is Government, taxing everything.  What you made, what you buy,  what you sold.  That dollar you paid 15% tax on when you earned it, to go to Social Security, Medicaid, that the government has stolen from many, many times, than that same dollar is now being taxed if you save it in a bank, and the banks decided to charge you an activity fee, so if you don't touch that money for a while they can charge your account until it is empty.  Then you get taxed if you buy food, that would be from the store or from a eating establishment,  housing, renting or buying, electric, water, tools, appliances, cars, gas, roads, schools, property not to count the city, county or state you live in.  They all want part of that dollar you earned.  Now it's down to about $.07 cents on that dollar you earned you get to take home.  

They say you don't need a car, you can take public transportation.  That's a big NO.  The transportation you pay to use you already paid for with your taxes, now you have to pay to use it.  If you have a car, you have to have insurance on it, then the government lets in millions of criminal illegals into the country and give them drivers licenses so they can drive without insurance, vote without being a citizen and drain our tax dollars by giving them housing, medical, food stamps, money, phones all on our tax dollars.  Besides that they get maximum in almost all those payouts where Americans who have been paying in all there lives get the minimum.  

Then you look at the government, Congressmen and women, Senators, some barely living paycheck to paycheck now are multimillionaires of a $175,000 yearly salary.  Tell me how does that work unless there is a lot of stealing from the American taxpayer.  We found out that, that statement is true.  The democratic party have been stealing elections for years, some people voting more than once, dead people voting, people voting in different states.  Then you have the USAID program which was set up to help people in other countries.  It wound up stuffing the pockets of politicians, a prime example of this was when DOGE found out the fraud, waste, and abuse that was going on and President Trump stopped funding USAID, the very next month the Democratic Party filed for bankruptcy.  The insider trading by the politicians, Martha Stewart did the same thing and wound up in prison but Congress exempted themselves from that law.  Just like they exempted themselves from ObamaCare otherwise know as the affordable care act.  Which was never affordable.  

So let's look at some of the things government has done over the last hundred and twentyfive years ago or so.  It started off with putting our hard earned cash into a private banks and calling those banks Federal Reserve to make people think it is part of the government, when it wasn't, they were banks owned by politicians.  The creations of the IRS, an agency to monitor how much money you made and how much you have to pay the government, much like what some churches do today.   To end the states from selecting Senators to represent their states and having citizens vote for Senators who no long are there to represent the state or its citizens.  Then we had Social Security placed on us.  More taxes, this was stated as a life line for older citizens.  How quickly that got raided.  Politicians seem to think that the government funds Social Security, it doesn't it is all tax money from the hard working Americans.  Then the government raids it to build a bridge to nowhere, or an airport nobody uses.  In 9 out of 10, maybe 10 out of 10 programs the corrupt politicians make up to support something or somebody, it never makes it to who it was to help, it just ended up in some politicians pocket.  You are not seeing how $175,000 salary can produce multimillionaires.  Travel along a few more years and you had a big baby boom after World War II.  Businesses popped up everywhere, whole housing tracks were built by crooked builders.  Charging top dollar for the cheapest materials they could put in a house, like asbestos, lead paint.  The cheapest items charging the most for.  Look where asbestos ended up, the leading cause of cancer.  Lead paint left kids brain damaged.  Somewhere in that time, big corporations started messing with our foods.  Now most processed food is chemically changed to cause cancer or some other side effect like obesity.  When I was a kid I almost never saw a fat person, today seventyfive percent of the American population is overweight.  Direct result of stripping things from our food or adding to our food.

Then you have big pharma.  They are NEVER looking for a cure.  When they find one they purchase it and hide it so you will continue to purchase their patch which hides but never cures.  

Have you noticed that all the countries that politicians took guns away from its citizens go in and murder millions which do not like where the country is heading.  How many times, then the democrats in this country have tried over and over again to ban guns in this country.  Most of the cops around act as if you are a terrorist if you Constitutionally carry a gun.  That is a different story, corrupt cops.  

Now they want to move Social Security and all government agencies to private sector or AI.  Social Security moves everything to AI on March 7th and your case might no longer be in the state you live in.  You might have a problem, you can no longer go into the office, you have to make an appointment that might be 2 to 4 months before you will be heard by an AI.  No real person to take care of you, no real person to review your case.  I see this as being one step away from closing Social Security.  Pay attention people, you pay for Social Security, and now they are working on getting rid of it.

The best thing for you do to is to vote out every democrat in every level of government, same with Judges, Sherriffs, school boards, that is every elected position on the ballot.