Quitting MacOS for Linux
A normal person working on Linux
Perhaps I was bored or cynical. Perhaps it was both, but recently I’ve been trying to get away from the Big Two operating systems: Windows and MacOS. I have used Windows on work computers for as long as I can remember and have been a MacOS user since 2013. Recent changes to both operating systems — an emphasis on AI, excessive tracking and a general feeling of bloat — got me looking at Linux.
I’m going to be honest, up until earlier this year, I thought Linux was either incredibly technical or too unreliable to be an everyday operating system. I didn’t give it much thought. I thought Linux magazines were for coders doing obscure things; I was frightened of any online forum that had ‘Linux’ in the title and I didn’t know what a ‘distro’ or ‘desktop environment’ was. I’d heard the word ‘Ubuntu’ before, but didn’t really know what it was. I listened to a few podcasts, but recoiled when I realised that I wasn’t a gamer or someone who could see the funny side of a Star Trek reference.
In trying to revive an old laptop, I stumbled on Linux. I then played with the Microsoft Surface Linux project and actually did a lot of professional work on the latter machine for several months. I had an inkling that I might be able to use this system full time, but I was anxious about moving away from the support of…
