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I Tried Going Linux-Only—Here’s How It Went
I’m pretty comfortable with macOS, Windows, and Linux, switching between them as needed. I mostly use macOS at work, and my personal laptop is usually a dual-boot Windows/Linux machine. But when I recently bought a Framework laptop, I had the choice not to pay for Windows.
Could I do it? Could I get by on Linux alone?
If the experiment was a failure, I knew I could cheat and just use a couple older machines I have lying around. There was no reason not to give it a try.
Things That Work Everywhere
Anything that runs in a browser works on any modern computer. Linux runs Firefox, Chrome, and even Edge. That means Google Drive and Microsoft Office Online are no problem. You can GMail and Meet to your heart’s content.
Many other apps are distributed for all three operating systems. Zoom, Slack, Spotify, Dropbox, and Skype are all available, along with many more. If you’re a developer, Linux has all the IDEs you want, including VS Code.
These days, it’s worth checking for your favorite app; it might just be on Linux waiting for you.
Things That Have Alternatives
There are no Linux versions of Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Office, to name just a couple. You can use the online versions in your favorite browser, or you can take a look at some of the Linux-native alternatives.
The browser-based versions of these tools aren’t perfect. I tried opening a very long Word document in the online version of Office, and it didn’t work. I could view it but not edit it. I was able to open it in LibreOffice, which is available on almost every desktop Linux, but it just isn’t the same. There’s basic compatibility between LibreOffice and Microsoft Office, but some features don’t quite play well with each other. Edit history, comments, and other review features don’t always translate from one program to the other. Still, for most purposes, one of the three is likely to do what you want: Google Drive, Office Online, or LibreOffice.
Linux offers ome alternatives to Adobe products. For PhotoShop, you can use GIMP, and for Illustrator you can use Inkscape, for example. But anyone who is using Creative Suite for…
