When I initially heard of Linux, I didn’t really understand what it truly was; I thought it was a website where you enter prompts into a bar with a penguin and it makes the screen do different things. As ignorant as I was, I had never really owned a PC myself; I always shared one with a family member, or even used a phone to watch YouTube - (I got my first personal computer in November 2024). I couldn't have been more wrong about Linux. An hour after the Windows update very courteously interrupted my class, I was watching YouTube, scrolling through the home page - until suddenly, I noticed the Windows 11 logo on a thumbnail. It wasn’t, however, your typical cobalt logo - it was blood red, and was being attacked by a penguin shooting lasers at it from its eyes. As comical as it sounds, I pressed on the video, where I was promptly met with a heavily bearded Scottish person complain about the exact same issue I had with Windows - another “scheduled” update made him miss a business meeting with people from Microsoft themselves (the jokes really do write themselves). I was hooked. I watched the full 44 minute video, of him not only demonstrating the issues with Windows, but of him giving a tour of Linux. By the end of the video, I had realised multiple things. Firstly, Windows wasn’t the only desktop operating system. Secondly, Linux isn’t a website with a penguin and a bar. And lastly, Linux actually looked usable for the everyday user, i.e me.

Within 3 days of watching that video, not only did I install Linux (Fedora KDE, to be precise) on my laptop, but I also migrated 95% of my workspace features to it; the ones that wouldn’t run, like Adobe Photoshop and Premier Pro, I found open source, privacy-respecting alternatives (GIMP and Kdenlive). The installation process was surprisingly straightforward; you don’t need another PC or 14 cables trailing out of your room. Instead, all it requires is a USB stick and common sense. The distro-specific help articles guide you on all the key features and points you need to know. Within 1 hour of booting into Fedora for the first time, I was already (mostly) fully migrated. The learning curve (for me) was minimal. I got comfortable with navigating KDE Plasma within a day, especially since it has a familiar face to Windows. Even if you’re not tech-savvy like me, the extensive help articles on the distribution’s webpage will guide you through everything; chances are someone had the same problem 3 years ago.

Below: My current KDE setup

But some problems, unfortunately, are irreparable. Linux has flaws, just like Windows. My first problem with Linux came 6 months after using it as my main OS, which is surprisingly 6 times what I expected. Printer drivers: they simply wouldn’t cooperate and communicate between the printer and my PC. Yes, it printed, but it would disregard the settings, like whether you wanted to print it double sided, to use draft ink instead of normal ink, or orient it landscape or portrait. The fix didn’t exist. Canon (the company of the printer I use) offers very few drivers or applications. 3rd party workarounds exist, but they're tedious, outdated, and often don't meet system requirements. Unable to find a solution, printing, for me, was a no-go on Linux. If I want to print double sided papers using draft ink (which I rarely do) I would have to switch to Windows and print from there. Inconvenient? Slightly. Once I got used to switching back and forth it didn’t bother me otherwise. Another issue I had was with gaming. With the scarce free-time I have, I typically play video games. Whilst the support for games on Linux has exponentially increased, some parts aren’t really ‘authentic’. To run on Linux, most games use a compatibility later, called Proton, to run just like how they would on Windows. The performance gap isn’t noticeable; in fact, you would actually have more performance, as Linux is lightweight and doesn’t eat up as much RAM as Windows does. But not all games work. Some break, and some are simply unplayable: that’s the harsh part a gamer has to admit to. For me, I didn't have to admit to anything. Minecraft, Rocket League, and BeamNG all ran smoothly - Rocket League needs Proton, but even that runs fine.

So, after a year of using Fedora KDE as my daily driver, I simply cannot go back to Windows. I am pleased to say I do not regret the decision of switching. I have now migrated everything to Linux, am familiar with the “scary” terminal, and have learnt multiple skills along the way, such as comfortably using command lines, troubleshooting using the terminal, and making my desktop environment truly mine.

My PC is, quite frankly, mine.

And the answer’s brutal. In short, no. ‘Your’ laptop, the one you paid £1200 for, is not yours. The preinstalled software, Windows 11, monitors every single thing you do. Keystrokes, search queries, file metadata, clipboard contents: the list goes on. That ‘Welcome! Let’s get you signed in’ screen, isn’t a polite prompt to get you to sign in; it’s Microsoft’s way of collecting your data. They force you to add a Microsoft account, send data back to Microsoft, and make you wait multiple hours for updates that should’ve already been completed. Even after all this, the surveillance doesn’t stop. That ‘Congratulations’ screen after the setup isn’t congratulating you because you setup your PC; rather it’s congratulating you for falling into another one of Microsoft’s data harvesting traps. But it’s not just Windows itself, despite them being the biggest culprit. The preinstalled apps are all surveillance tools too. Edge, OneDrive, Copilot - they’re all feeding your precious data back to Redmond. Then there’s 3rd party spyware - HP software, Lenovo utilities, even some antiviruses - all work with each other to spread your data as far out as possible. Your new £1200 laptop isn’t only being watched by your own two eyes, rather dozens of others sitting in Microsoft’s headquarters.

And you know what else there seems to be dozens of? Preinstalled apps. Candy Crush, Spotify, shopping apps, weather widgets; even apps you didn’t know exist exist on your PC. They take up all the space on your quick start menu, clog your system with unnecessary processes, and eat up all your RAM. And the best part: you can’t uninstall half of them. Wonderful. Every time you boot up your laptop, you're waiting for these apps to load. Every game you launch, your frame rates dip because bloatware's consuming your GPU in the background. Try to uninstall Candy Crush? Windows tells you it's a 'system app' - untouchable. Try to disable OneDrive? Good luck; it comes back after every update. And it’s not just OneDrive. Windows update? It’ll restart right when you have an assignment due in 20 minutes. Copilot? Constantly searching your files. Teams? Bundled in and running by default. And then there’s the Xbox app, Microsoft Store, News, Weather, all launching on startup, all eating your RAM, and all demanding your attention. You didn’t want any of this. You wanted to just play Counter Strike at a buttery smooth 240fps. Instead, you got a bloated system that benefits only Microsoft. Congratulations!

So what now? If you're tired of Microsoft owning your machine, it's time to switch. And yes, it's easier than you think. Clearly Windows isn't the best option. To most people, it seems like the only option - besides Tim’s glossy arcade. But there's a third way. A solution that's running everywhere: servers, phones, embedded systems, even NASA computers. Linux powers 90% of the world's infrastructure. It just doesn't come preinstalled on your gaming laptop. Yet. It’s free, open source, and easier than ever to install. The setup process doesn’t require you to give away your data to tech giants or sell your leg to afford the OS - everything is stored locally. Linux respects your privacy in ways Windows never will. Telemetry, keylogging, data collection? All non-existent in the mind of the penguin. Your files stay on your machine - they’re not synced to a corporate server. Your searches stay local. Your activity stays yours. And because Linux is open source, anyone can view and edit the code. If Microsoft hides something, you’ll never know. With Linux, transparency is built in. You control your OS. Hell, you can even uninstall it. The choice is yours. All of it. Your laptop should work for you. Not the other way around. Linux makes that possible.

Your laptop, your choice. That's Linux.