We have been talking about Linux and Windows on how these are different from each other and how where Linux is and provides open-source software, Windows tends to lock down everything in its code to make it unavailable to the general public.
We saw how Linux has so many distributions like Ubuntu, Pop! OS, Linux Mint, Manjaro, Arch, Debian that there is always something present for some. If you are a beginner, you can use simple Debian Based distros like Ubuntu, Pop! OS or Linux Mint. If you want to go to the bleeding-edge side of Linux, you can try out Arch-based systems like Manjaro, Endeavour OS, or even pure Arch, if you have courage, patience, and bravery inside you to set each and everything up from scratch!
Most of the software out there for Windows is either already present for Linux, or their quality alternatives can be found.
Limitations and Drawbacks of Linux
Even with all its distributions and open-source alternatives, Linux, like any other thing in this world, is not perfect. It has its limitations, which refrain many people from shifting full-time to Linux, even though they want to.
Let us briefly go over some of the limitations and drawbacks of Linux -
The one thing which is the benefit of Linux for some people can also be its drawback. We are talking about too many distributions. On one hand, where many distributions give choice, they also overwhelm many newcomers who might not know which one to choose. They might choose something based on Arch Linux, which would further complicate things and it would be too complicated for them to start their Linux journey from an Arch-Based system.
This is a very big issue, but I have seen very few people talk about it. The video playback of browsers in Linux is not good at all. Instead of using 'Hardware Accelerated Video Decode' out of the box (which means your system uses the GPU for Graphical tasks rather than the CPU, thus freeing up a lot of CPU usage), the Chromium-based browsers, as well as Firefox, use 'Software Video Decoding', which puts immense pressure on the CPU, increasing its usage to as high as 90-100%. You can of course enable these browsers to use Hardware Video Decode, but it's still not a perfect way and it is a hassle to set up, which might be a very big point as video playback is a major part of normal browser tasks.
People new to Linux might get uncomfortable using the terminal. The terminal is a Command Line Interface for Linux, which makes it a lot easier most of the time to do something in Linux by just giving a command rather than doing each and every step through the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Do not get me wrong, if you use a Debian-based system like Ubuntu, Pop! OS, or Linux Mint, the GUI is so mature that for most of the tasks, there are ways in the terminal as well as GUI ways. So you do not have the compulsion to use the terminal at all! But it is always nice to learn some basic commands of the terminal so that you become quite familiar with it, as it is a very nice tool to get work done quickly. On the other hand, for an Arch-Based distribution, you can't proceed without learning the terminal as it is the only way to do some tasks and install some software. That is why it is always recommended for beginners to use Debian-based systems for their first use.
There are of course other drawbacks too. But for the sake of this blog not becoming a Wiki guide on Linux and scaring half the viewers away, let us end with these three main limitations.
If you are going to use Linux, you need to keep your cool till you become familiar. You must have some patience inside you! It will be overwhelming at times. You WILL get frustrated over things like too many distributions, Video-Decode, system breakdown, or the terminal. But if you keep your cool, you will surely start to love Linux!
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