{"id":287831,"date":"2026-07-09T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/09\/im-a-windows-user-who-installed-linux-for-the-first-time-heres-how-the-experience-changed-me\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T00:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T04:20:07","slug":"im-a-windows-user-who-installed-linux-for-the-first-time-heres-how-the-experience-changed-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/09\/im-a-windows-user-who-installed-linux-for-the-first-time-heres-how-the-experience-changed-me\/","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;m a Windows user who installed Linux for the first time &#8211; here&#8217;s how the experience changed me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/windows-user-installed-linux-for-the-first-time\/\">I&#8217;m a Windows user who installed Linux for the first time &#8211; here&#8217;s how the experience changed me<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/windows-user-installed-linux-for-the-first-time\/\">https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/windows-user-installed-linux-for-the-first-time\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-07-09 21:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.zdnet.com\">www.zdnet.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">Jack Wallen and Elyse Betters Picaro\/ZDNET<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Follow ZDNET:\u00a0<span class=\"c-commerceLink\"><span>Add us as a preferred source<\/span><\/span>\u00a0on Google.<\/p>\n<h3>ZDNET&#8217;s key takeaways<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>I installed Ubuntu on an old Dell laptop to see if Linux could really replace Windows. \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>I had difficulty installing the OS, so I had to troubleshoot.<\/li>\n<li>Once fixed, I enjoyed an OS that was cleaner and simplier than Windows 11.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Back in 2023, Microsoft announced it would formally end support for Windows 10, seemingly to push more users onto Windows 11. The tech giant has softened that stance a bit by offering\u00a0purchasable updates through October 12, 2027. But the fact remains that Windows 10 will soon be a thing of the past. Some users have made the jump to Windows 11 while others opted to extend the life of the OS through third-party services like 0patch. A growing number of people, however, chose a different path entirely: leaving Windows behind in favor of Linux.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also: I&#8217;ve tested many portable Linux distros, but PorteuX is the one I keep on my USB drive<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To me, Linux has always felt like an operating system reserved for programmers, IT administrators, and hobbyists &#8212; something niche. But as Microsoft steers users toward Windows 11, Linux has started to look less gimmicky and more like a legitimate escape route. In 2025, Linux broke the 5% threshold of the desktop market. That&#8217;s huge because it means an ever-increasing number of people are adopting the system, and the number continues to grow.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve always been curious about Linux. So after years of procrastination, I finally decided to install Ubuntu on my old Dell Latitude 5400 laptop and see for myself what the experience was actually like.<\/p>\n<h2>Why I chose Ubuntu<\/h2>\n<p>With the dozens, if not hundreds, of Linux distributions available for free download, which one should you get? I settled on Ubuntu, primarily because of its reputation as a very beginner-friendly distro. People have praised the system for its approachable interface and supportive community.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also:\u00a0Inside Canonical&#8217;s plan to make Ubuntu 26.04&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/windows-user-installed-linux-for-the-first-time\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m a Windows user who installed Linux for the first time &#8211; here&#8217;s how the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":287832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/d730f18e567ee58b3137e3771ed93181ed47241c\/2026\/04\/13\/275c5ae0-fb62-450f-bd76-4da5283b783c\/ubuntu.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&height=675&width=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[71,79],"class_list":["post-287831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linux","tag-linux","tag-ubuntu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287831"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287833,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287831\/revisions\/287833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}