delay wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 4:33 am
Debian is very stable, but also kind of raw, you can easily run into "we don't support this Wi-Fi card out of the box because there is no open source driver". Then you have a laptop without internet, and need a second computer to download a Debian package (or another OS.)
That is largely a thing of the past, since the Debian project has changed its stance on that. Debian since v12 is more welcoming to newcomers less aware of the issues non-free firmware pose. See
https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware .
Those are good recommendations.
If you don't enjoy solving computer issues, Windows with a
fresh start every year is hard to beat.
That's a reasonable argument to make when coming from a background with relevant experience maintaining an MS Windows setup, or outsourcing it. Outsourcing maintenance definitely is easier on Windows. Otherwise, I am not so sure:
- Maintaining MS Windows comes with its own learning curve. An annual fresh install is also maintenance, a crude form of it. In human speak: you will have issues either way.
- MS Windows and forces hardware obsolescence.
- The attack vector for security issues is larger. If not for design flaws, then market share will make it a more desirable prey.
- The MS Windows ecosystem is opulently rich in non-free software, but less so in free and open source software.
A free software system might sometimes seem to work against you, but that's never by design. I think it's fair to say it will always allow you to check under the hood and repair yourself, but that's very rarely necessary anymore.
Rereading my own comment, I feel a little bit of my proselytising energy of yesteryear popping up. I think that has something to do with feeling and experiencing how the ERE renaissance ideals and the remarkable successes of the free software world enable one another, especially in my case:
- I spend far less money and get so much more digital functionality thanks to free software. My e-reader, personal cloud, laptop, phone, home automation, my tools run free software or are built on it.
- I made so many friends and built so much experience thanks to it.
- I made considerable sums of money thanks to free software. I made over 20% of my net worth maintaining free software.
- I love to make my own humble contributions to free software, enabling others to gain from that.