Microsoft

This company has been in cahoots with the NSA since Late Windows 95 and have been spying on you ever since.

Windows

As of now GNU/Linux is a great alternative for Windows for most tasks including gaming. The only field I think it needs a little work in is Adobe compatibility. While they do have great tools for design, most people are taught to use the Adobe Suite from a young age. Brainwash 'em while they are young and they'll remain loyal customers, something Microsoft has also done by providing free tools for students. To use the Adobe tools, one could use WINE. It's worth noting that you may have different results based on which version of WINE as well as the version of the Suite you are using, which you can see here.

For Gaming specifically, Valve has done a wonderful job bridging the gap. On Steam, it now has a large number of Linux native games. For those that are not native, you could use the built in Proton tool, which is based on WINE.

• Pop!_OS
  • They have done a lot of heavy lifting in trying to make driver installation and hybrid graphics (like nVidia Optimus) a lot easier to use
  • Based on Debian (which is what Ubuntu is based of) so you will have a lot of software packaged for it already
  • Aimed at Linux beginners tho' a little more targeted for Laptops that have hybrid graphics but still great on the Desktop
• Ubuntu/Mint/Kubuntu/KDE Neon/Elementary OS
  • Very user friendly
  • Based on Debian, so you have all the apps already packaged for it
  • The 5 are "same same but different but still same" and aimed at Linux beginners
    • Elementary OS is a great Mac OS like alternative complete with those gestures they like to brag about
    • Kubuntu and KDE Neon use KDE which is a little Windows like but on steroids and can be themed to look like Windows 7 or anything your heart desires. KDE Neon is by the folks at KDE and would have the latest and greatest that KDE has to offer. Kubuntu is Ubuntu with KDE slapped on it
    • Ubuntu is Ubuntu, its made by Canonical, and they can claim FIRST! to bringing Linux to the mainstream
• Manjaro
  • User Friendly
  • Based on Arch Linux, so you have all the apps packaged for Arch Linux which is pretty extensive and has just as many applications packaged for it as Debian derivaties
  • Built with the KISS principle in mind, being based on Arch Linux

The 3 above are aimed at being easy to setup and use for Linux beginners, and don't force you to use the terminal except in certain dire circumstances.

Below are some GNU/Linux operating systems that put you into the deep end of Linux and force you (and thus show you) to use the terminal.

Disclaimer: Using the terminal at first can be daunting, but eventually you realize it is a lot more powerful than its GUI counterpart

• Slackware
  • My personal favorite
  • Very Unix-ey
  • Tries to stay away from Systemd
  • Focus on Stability and KISS principle
  • Limited number of apps in the official repository compared to Debian and Arch and though a respectable number of user submitted via SlackBuild
    • Though SlackBuilds provide an easy framework to create packages from source
• Arch Linux
  • Rolling Release
  • Uses Systemd
  • Focus on bleeding edge and KISS philosophy
  • Lot of apps in the repository, official and user submitted via AUR
    • Has an easy build system to create packages from source

Office

Use LibreOffice. It may not be as "pretty" but you can get the job done with a little relearning of certain tools.

GitHub

Everyone in the open source and FOSS movement died a little when Microsoft bought GitHub. GitHub was huge, it was the place for any Open Source and FOSS project out there. This was Microsofts plan to support the Open Source Community and proclaim their undying love for them. End of the day though, it is still Microsoft, the company known for its EEE tactic. It stands for Embrace, Extend and Extinguish and has been a ploy of theirs since 1995 at least, where they tried to kill HTML by extending it. This is mainly why people in the Open Source Community still have a hard time welcoming Microsoft. I have a problem with them being in the board of the Linux Foundation. If they are embracing some open source project you can bet your money that they are going to extinguish it soon. With Github the main selling point is GitHub Actions, which to me looks like how Microsoft saved their investment into Azure. You see how they embraced GitHub and then extended it with GitHub Actions, which is basically Azure in a monkey suit. At this point it is up to us to ensure that do not extinguish other similar services.

Some alternatives are:

• GitLab
• Gitea (the community fork Forgejo was created in 2022 over governance concerns)

These are two good alternatives that can and should be used instead of Microsofts GitHub. If Micro$oft is coming for a project you love you better duck and cover because they are going to ruin it all.