the clown bunker

I'll start with the cons, as there are fewer of them:

While things have generally improved a lot, there are still issues with compatability in some areas. A lot of times, this isn't Linux's fault, but rather that of software developers that don't consider it and thus either don't make Linux versions or let their Linux ports sit with problems for a long time. My partner ran into an issue with Twitch that refused to let him log in that had been a known bug for years. Discord still has a lot of problems regarding streaming with audio, and while this can be kind of mitigated by using a Discord client, it's still unnecessarily fiddly. And if you rely on Adobe software for anything, you're kinda just SOL and will need to find an alternative or run a dual-boot system. Most games are fine through either Steam, Wine, or their own launchers, but things with kernel-level anticheats (like Fortnite or LoL) will not work. While I've found these issues are pretty few and far between, you might need to be ready to find some workarounds for certain programs.

This one does depend a bit on your hardware and distro of choice, but be aware that certain combinations of GPUs and distros might require more work on your end to get their drivers up and running. If you have a AMD GPU, you're generally set for whatever, but Nvidia can cause numerous problems thanks to pretty much needing its proprietary drivers. Some distros (like Ubuntu and its derivatives like Mint) have built-in support for said drivers and GUI managers than make things a lot easier, but for others you'll have to install them manually. And even when you do, it can still cause problems with certain window managers. This is not insurmountable (I use Debian with an Nvidia card and am able to manage okay), but it is something to be aware of. I already hated Nvidia for its stupid app that showed me ads on Windows and I hate them even more now.

Small issues have become a bit more common. Nothing big or system-breaking, but just the occasional little quirk that might be annoying for a bit. These errors are much less catastrophic than Windows, but it's something to keep in mind. Also, the more """advanced""" your distro, the more random dependencies for programs you might be missing and need to go track down to download.

Now onto the positives:

To jump off of that last point and go more into detail about something I mentioned in my original post, even when errors do happen or something is missing, Linux makes them much easier to actually fix. There is no "oopsie woopsie we did a fucky wucky uwu" with no elaboration like Windows does. You can access exactly what went wrong through easily-accessible system logs or the terminal and find the solution with minimal fuss. Linux is completely transparent about what it's doing. When you tell it to do something, it will do it and not constantly fight you like Windows does. It's also much harder to irreversibly break. If you have access to the TTY, you can get out of pretty much anything.

Because of the former point, this also means that Linux is much lighter than Windows, both in its base install and in how it runs. Linux only has as much telemetry and bloat as you tell it to have and will never sneak in more behind your back. Some distros will have more up front than others, but all of them are light as a feather compared to Windows. This is great to get the most out of any system, but it's especially good for old hardware. My laptop, which is only about five years old and has a pretty decent 12g of RAM, was chugging and struggling trying to do anything under W10, but runs like a dream with Debian. Even if you don't use Linux for your main computer, if you have any old laptops, it can be great for giving them a new lease on life. As someone who's never been on the cutting edge of hardware and has had to wrestle with Windows bloat slowing down these systems for years, the lightness of Linux has been a godsend.

And now to the point that I think most people bring up with Linux: complete control over your updates. No more having your computer just randomly shut down and update in the middle of things and not even having the courtesy to tell you what it's doing, no more having all your settings reverted and a bunch of shit you don't want installed behind your back. You'll get alerts when updates are ready, but you can install them at your leisure, and they are completely transparent as to what they do and what's in them. If something goes wrong, it's also very easy to revert it and wait for a fix. You are always in control with Linux.

PACKAGE. MANAGERS. Holy shit, how did I ever live without package managers. When you get used to them, Windows not having a meaningful software management system feels so primitive and inefficient. All the software you need in one place, easily searchable and verified to be free of malware, all able to be updated at the same time. No more having to constantly go to sketchy sites to download stuff. If, say, apt doesn't have it or work for something, use the Flatpak version, or whatever else. It's so convenient and easy that it's hard not to just make this section sound like I'm advertising but it really is just that good.

Customization. This is something that drove me crazy about W10, and the reason that I didn't like it at all while some other people consider it a "good" Windows version. There's been this frog boiling effect since W8 where gradually, more and more options are either removed or deeply hidden from users. I definitely noticed how much harder it was to make any changes to W10, and to get the level of customization that W7 and earlier had, you usually had to get third party software like Rainmeter do to it, which of course just eats up more resources. Linux doesn't hide anything from you, and has a number of different desktop environments to choose from. Some DEs are more customizable than others, but all of them have their options up front and clear as day for you. And this isn't even just about customization. Just basic settings and accessibility was like this, too.

And, of course, I gotta mention that all the bullshit that W11 is pulling is completely absent. I already mentioned the updates and telemetry, but: No ads, no AI that you don't go out of your way to download, no user accounts that send your data to who-knows-where, no FUCKING Onedrive that your files are routed onto without opting in and that can be revoked from you at any moment without warning, no ads, no chugging because your system is weighted down by seven tons of bullshit you don't want, no ads, no dicking around with the registry to remove said bullshit only to have it reverted by the next opaque update. And did I mention no ads?