5 Reasons Ubuntu Is Not the Best Windows Replacement

Switching to Linux? Many will say to check out Ubuntu. Factor is, in the event you’re after a Linux distribution much like the Home windows desktop you already know, Ubuntu won’t be the one you need.

1

Ubuntu Has an Unfamiliar Interface

Home windows has modified through the years, however there are particular issues about it that folks anticipate to be true. There’s a taskbar on the backside that shows your open apps and perhaps a couple of of your pinned favorites. The Begin Menu sits to the left of these icons. The system tray and clock are within the bottom-right.

This interface is so ubiquitous that Chromebooks perform the very same approach, as does the Samsung DeX interface that comes with many Samsung telephones and tablets.

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Ubuntu does not. Ubuntu apps are organized alongside the left facet of the display as a substitute of the underside. There is no such thing as a Begin Menu. The app launcher seems to be extra like a pill’s than that of a Home windows PC. The clock is within the top-center. Standing icons seem within the top-right, and do not name that space a system tray. In truth, you will want to put in an extension to make it perform like one.

For many people, these modifications are trivial. For individuals who just like the muscle reminiscence that they’ve constructed up with Home windows, these modifications will make Ubuntu really feel like an uncomfortable place to land.

2

Your Destiny Is Nonetheless In Company Arms

If you wish to depart Home windows since you are bored with being beholden to an organization, Ubuntu will not precisely set you free. Ubuntu is a corporate-backed mission. Whereas it’s constructed overwhelmingly utilizing free and open supply software program that the broader neighborhood supplies, the particulars in regards to the Ubuntu distribution are decided by Canonical, a personal firm primarily based within the UK.

Which means as an Ubuntu person, you’ll nonetheless see your desktop change in methods you won’t like for causes which might be primarily market-driven. Prior to now, the Ubuntu desktop used to ship with Amazon integration enabled by default. There was even a preinstalled shortcut to Amazon in your dock.

Canonical spent years growing its Unity desktop interface with business ambitions in thoughts, then scrapped it when neither different companies nor different supply communities confirmed a lot curiosity. Now Ubuntu makes use of the latest version of the GNOME desktop environment as a substitute.

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3

There’s Nonetheless Some Minor Telemetry

In case you are leaving Home windows since you are fed up with Microsoft’s monitoring, you’ll completely have a extra non-public expertise utilizing Ubuntu as a substitute. There is no comparability, actually. But Ubuntu will nonetheless request some details about your system.

It is comprehensible, actually. Canonical desires to get an thought what sort of {hardware} individuals are putting in Ubuntu onto, in order that they know what to develop for.

You may select to not ship this info whereas putting in Ubuntu, and you may disable it later in System Settings. In contrast to Microsoft, there’s nothing sneaky or shady about it. But in comparison with different Linux distros, even this quantity of telemetry was sufficient to fire up controversy. On Linux, it’s normal to not collect any information about you in any respect.

4

Apps Come In A number of Totally different Codecs

There are a lot of alternative ways to put in software program on Microsoft Home windows, however for probably the most half, there’s one bundle format that’s actually dominant: EXE recordsdata.

On Ubuntu, the story is slightly bit extra advanced. If you happen to search for software program, there are three codecs you possibly can anticipate to come across. Snap packages are the default choice that Canonical is pushing most closely. Earlier than snaps, Ubuntu used DEB packages, and a few apps will nonetheless are available that format, particularly in the event you set up them by way of the terminal utilizing the Superior Package deal Instrument (APT).

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The more and more dominant format throughout Linux extra broadly is Flatpak, which is the default on the Steam Deck and on distros like Fedora Silverblue, which I personally prefer over Ubuntu. You may install Flatpak apps on Ubuntu as effectively.

A brand new Home windows person might encounter quirks and suppose an app is busted when the issue is definitely because of the format as a substitute. For instance, the file picker within the Flatpak model of an app might not have entry to all the system on account of its tighter safety settings, whereas the DEB model works as anticipated. What newcomer would suppose the issue lies in how they put in the app?

5

There Are Ubuntu-Particular Bugs

There are some points it’s possible you’ll encounter on Ubuntu that you do not encounter on different Linux desktops. It is because Ubuntu usually makes modifications to the software program that the broader neighborhood develops, and points can come up from these modifications.

For instance, Ubuntu has points with contact screens on two-in-one laptops. You would possibly encounter these quirks and suppose that Linux is not prepared. The truth is that different distros, like Fedora, supplied a superbly easy expertise nearly a decade in the past. Ubuntu introduces bugs because of the extensions it has added to make its desktop look the way in which it does.

As a long-time Linux person, it is comparatively simple for me to grasp and search out the reason for these points. I would not anticipate first-time Linux customers to stroll away from the expertise with any understanding deeper than the concept that Linux simply is not prepared. Ubuntu could also be dominant, however that does not imply it supplies probably the most steady and bug-free expertise.

If Ubuntu is not the most effective distro for Home windows customers, what’s? When I first switched from Windows to Linux a few years in the past, I explicitly wished one thing new, however I heard it stated then, and I nonetheless hear now, that Linux Mint remains the best Windows replacement.