The Only Thing Stopping You from Switching to Linux Is Your Mindset

linuxiac ^ | 12 October 2025 | Bobby Borisov

[ShadowAce]

[OL Hickory]

Been on Zorin for yrs now
have no desire to go back to windows

[Lockbox]

I had dabbled with Linux years ago and thought interesting. Windows 11 convinced me to find an alternative so I chose Apple which was also my first computer, an Apple II. Linux was my back up plan. It still maybe down the road. Also I really don’t trust Chrome and their vacuum cleaner business model. I almost refuse to use Google search engine.

[Tell It Right]

Is there are free powerhouse relational database engine that runs on Linux like MS SQL Express for Windows? That’s the #1 barrier for me going to Linux. The other thing is I haven’t seen a software development tool comparable to Visual Studio, and my 2013 copy is paid for. LOL But to be honest it’s been a few years since I looked at alternatives.

[ShadowAce]

10 Excellent Free and Open Source Linux Relational Databases

[bak3r]

For databases I exclusively use PostgreSQL, there are however a few others. DbBeaver if you want a graphical admin tool for just about any database. VSCode or VSCodium (VSCode without the Microsoft) is available. However it’s not the full blown Visual Studios bloatware, compatibility may depend on your workflow.

[ShadowAce]

Microsoft Visual Studio Alternatives for Linux

[Tell It Right]

MySQL is severely lacking IMHO. MySQL didn't do user procedures/functions well when I tried it. And there was an awfully limiting row size (seems like it was 8KB). Compared to the 12KB per row I get in the telemetry from my home solar inverters (which I import into a SQL Express DB so I can query the stew out of it and sometimes run programs to simulate recreating my past 12 power bills for the different rate plans my utility offers).

Is PostgreSQL any better?

[Buttons12]

I learned on Windows before I was 5 years old. I’m fluent in Windows.
Go to a mac and everything takes more time and attention. Linux would take even more, I believe, since I’d need to select compatible programs and install them, as well as getting used to them. What for? Is there something in Linux I can’t enjoy in Windows? (Besides privacy.)
For that matter I often wish we could all go back to pen and paper, books you can sniff and fondle, maybe an old word processor and printer.
I quit gaming when I was around 12. I use the internet for news, and educational vids on youtube. Never use cloud. Never turn on a tv.
There are still books I haven’t devoured, and tourist attractions I haven’t visited.
Sometimes I get peevish about Win 11, like when their update slew Wordpad and I had to fix that. Plus, Win 11 is not as good as 10 which is not as good as 7.
But restoring Wordpad didn’t take all day and learning Linux would take longer by far. And it doesn’t do Wordpad!
Guess I’m a stick-in-the-mud, as my granny would say. I just don’t see the return for the effort it’d take to go Linux.

[SmokingJoe]

Most people use Linux anyway when they use Android on their phones and tablets and laptops.

Grok:

Yes, Android is based on the Linux kernel. Specifically, it uses a modified version of the Linux kernel as its foundation, along with other open-source components, to create a mobile operating system optimized for touchscreens and embedded devices.

[larrytown]

“Don’t give up”

That seems to be the linux mantra, from watching a co-worker that has been on this train ride for quite a long time. He was always showing off the latest ‘cool stuff’ that he had set up that ‘was better than Windows’.

We would sometimes run a pool to see what week there would be the inevitable driver update that would break some or all his latest creation. Usually a video driver update/change would automatically happen and grind it all to a halt.

There’s probably some way around those sorts of issues, but the annoyance pain still appears to be much higher than my interest level in self-aggrandizement.

[Buttons12]

One thing’s for sure—on your Linux journey, you’re going to run into all kinds of challenges

Yes, but, it's a tool. Tools are to make tasks easier, not to present you with challenges.

[ShadowAce]

Yeah--from the article:

The Only Thing Stopping You from Switching to Linux Is Your Mindset

And you just proved that.

That's fine. You do what you need/want to do. But it's not a technical issue that's stopping you. I actually think you'd find Linux is easier than you think, given your use case.

[butlerweave]

You only thing you’ll have trouble with is the windows game that companies refuse to make work in Linux , everything else is the same . Updates take a minute and everything gets updated even browsers and windows updates can take an hour or more

[Buttons12]

Are you drawn to the freedom, the independence, or the idea of being part of a huge community of open-minded, free-spirited people?

Then check out ham radio!

[Crusher138]

...and the weird compulsion to have my computer actually work.

I have been in computers since 1984. As I recall, I was taught UNIX at the time. Gotta love those 8” floppy disks.

Anyway, I must have tried to commit to adopting Linux and telling Bill Gates to shove it a dozen times. Pretty much every time I was stopped by the lack of a driver, the inability to install a driver, or the inability to get a program to run that should run.

Oh, I’ve spent hours, days even, going through user forums and the like, reading instructions from people with only a passing knowledge of English, trying to find someone with the exact problem I was having who could actually give me clear instructions...

Phooey.

Linux is for masochists. If you want to spend your time trying to get it to work, more power to you. I know, I know the propeller heads will come out of the woodwork and claim that it works just fine for them. Bully for you. When I need to make a Brother GTX-Pro work with Corel Draw in the Linux environment, and the tech supporting this $26K monster I just purchased says they don’t support it, I’m out...again.

[Bob434]

Its not the onky thing ho,ding me back from complete switch- linux still can no5 run windows programs as well as windows can. Emu,a5ion isnt powerful enough to run certain heavy programs, and there are no alternatives.

I don5 touch windoww UNL3SS i have to run one of the windows only programs which rely heavily on gpu processing.

When there is an easy way to do gpu passthrough in virtual machine, ill switch to linux entirely. It is possible righ5 now, but Right now its far too c9mplex and riddled with bugs to try fo4 someone like me.

Winboat and other “solutions” are not sokutions yet. They still lack gpu p4ocessing for windows programs

[Bob434]

LOL. Why go so sophisticated? Ch3ck out crystal radio kits

[kvanbrunt2]

Is there are free powerhouse relational database engine that runs on Linux like MS SQL Express for Windows? That’s the #1 barrier for me going to Linux. The other thing is I haven’t seen a software development tool comparable to Visual Studio, and my 2013 copy is paid for. LOL But to be honest it’s been a few years since I looked at alternatives.>>>. I’m windows os but i use mostly open source software. I think the MySQL was a great product now it’s MariaDB and i went Java years ago so netbeans works. The office suite is Open Office which has quirks but i would never pay for Microsoft software. I tried Linux many moons ago. it just ate up too much time fiddling with simple stuff like graphic display drivers, etc.