Linux in the air
Linux has been in the air lately. For example:
- I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too
- I replaced Windows with Linux and everything’s going great
- Four More Tech Bloggers Are Switching to Linux
- Linux Market Share Remains Above 3% for 3 Months in a Row (January 2026 Report)
- etc.
It's been on my mind as well, primarily for two reasons. First, Microsoft seems to have flubbed the Windows 11 upgrade path. In my case, Win10 told me I couldn't upgrade, but wouldn't tell me why, and offered to help me find a place to "recycle" my PC's parts. This was laughable, as my PC is a fairly high-end build from late 2020 (Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, RTX 4070 GPU, etc.). Not the latest and greatest by any means, but if it can run Baldur's Gate 3 on a giant widescreen monitor at high detail without skipping a beat, it can probably handle MSFT's latest crappy OS.
After spending a few hours trying and failing to walk what I assumed was the path of least resistance — begrudgingly paying Microsoft for an OS I didn't even want — I gave up and installed Fedora. It's been great.
Second, Apple's got a black eye over macOS Tahoe, which many consider to be the OS's latest slide away from its former UX prowess and into software mediocrity. Thanks, Alan Dye.
With Microsoft and Apple shitting the bed, Linux can't help but grab more attention. And since Linux offers a fairly polished experience these days, it's making headlines as a solid alternative — not just for neckbeards, but for normies, too. These headlines, and the myriad similar blog posts and other comms, are breathing life into the sentiment that Linux offers us users real choice, free from any C-suite-driven agenda.
That sentiment energizes me. But I gotta say, the timing is not great for yours truly, who's just trying to be happy with his Macs, dangit!
Because I have one more chill day before work shit properly hits the fan, I fired up my Linux box to write this blog post. This is my gaming PC (the one Windows turned its nose at), so it mostly collects dust. I cracked my knuckles, installed the latest Fedora updates, and launched Obsidian.
But it wouldn't open. The flatpak was crashing. Obsidian just released a new version, so I thought maybe the latest flatpak was bugged. I eventually figured out that it's because I updated to Fedora 23, which now uses Wayland by default. Some searching led me to run this, which fixed it:
flatpak override --user --socket=wayland md.obsidian.Obsidian
So, like I said, Linux offers a fairly polished experience. 😉 But I love the momentum it's building! I expect to be doing non-gaming stuff on that gaming rig more often, if nothing else, as a vote in favor of a proper alternative to the behemoths (and a dose of fun).