After three months on Linux, I don’t miss Windows at all

In January I finally made good on my threat/promise to install Linux on my desktop. I wanted to see how far I could get using a Linux PC as my main computer without doing a bunch of research beforehand or troubleshooting afterwards. Since then I have booted into Windows exactly twice: once to scan a multipage document that wasn’t scanning right in Linux, and once to print a photo for my kids’ school on extremely short notice. There’s a reason it’s taken me three months to write the next installment in my Linux diary: nothing has gone horribly wrong.

It didn’t take long for my Linux install to stop feeling new and exciting and start feeling like, well, my computer. It’s not exactly like a less annoying version of Windows, though it is less annoying than Windows, but it’s been a much easier transition than I thought it would be. There are a few extra steps sometimes in finding and installing apps — usually it’s easier than in Windows, and occasionally it’s harder. And there are a few apps I still haven’t been able to replicate in Linux. I’ve also had a smattering of fun bugs, and a few genuinely frustrating moments, but the overall experience is a lot calmer and more robust than I expected. Even troubleshooting is (mostly) satisfying in a weird way.

Fortunately, everything that’s gone wrong so far has only gone slightly wrong, like a gaming mouse that only works in games, and most of it has been pretty funny, like a gaming mouse that only works in games.