Windows 11 or Linux?

With Windows 11 on the horizon — and also Windows 10 support end-of-life also on the horizon, it is time to be thinking about which operating system your company will depend upon in 5 years.

Because if you envision Windows 10 in 5 years, that would be a problem because Windows 10 will be EOL’ed in 2025. Entire books can be written on why running an EOL’ed Windows OS is a bad idea. Let’s just say that the black hat hacker community would love it if you continue using Windows 10 into 2026 — and they will love you a lot if you also conduct online banking or other financial transactions on that EOL operating system.

So if you are a Windows shop, you will need to plan to migrate to Windows 11. Except…. you don’t.

Windows 11 has been released as a preview, and as anyone would expect it will come with a lot of visual improvements. The taskbar will be centred instead of left-justified, the start button brings up your apps in a new, more streamlined manner, active tiles are gone, icons have been re-designed from the ground up, and Windows Explorer looks great.

The thing is, all of those things that are coming in Windows 11, have already been here for quite some time in the Linux space.

So the question becomes, “why wait?”.

I have been using Linux personally and in a business context since version 0.99 in 1993. I am a PC gamer, so that really ties me to the Windows OS. But it isn’t uncommon for me to fire up a Linux virtual machine to do my work. If there was nothing tying me to the Windows OS, I wouldn’t be running it.

Why Would I Not Want To Run Windows?

There are many reasons one might decide Windows isn’t the best fit:

• Privacy & Security – Though Windows has made great strides in increasing its security of Windows, it still cannot compete with a Linux OS. With the inclusion of Cortana, and a lot of features designed to make your life easier — and make advertising more lucrative for MS — and the end result is that many just don’t trust Microsoft. It is important to point out, that doesn’t necessarily mean people think Microsoft will become a bad actor, rather it is that trusting Microsoft carries risk because if they are breached then so is your private data. On the other hand, Linux users don’t really have these worries.
  
  
• Performance – All the features in Windows that try to make your life easier, those features take up compute resources. For example, the Windows Search service. This is a “thing” that runs and indexes your files so that when you search for files, by name, etc. the results can appear quickly because the files are indexed. But how often do you really search for files? Is it worth the computing resources that the indexing service takes? And if you also have the Search feature set to also include the ability to search by the content within the files, well, that raises s et of concerns that also fall into the Security & Privacy bucket.
  
  
• Updates – Most Linux distributions provide a package manager, which is a way of managing installed software and updating. In most Linux distributions, you can update the entire kernel operating system and all installed apps with one command, which obviously can be automated. And you never have to worry about your system not botting after an update, which brings us to…
  
  
• Stability — Windows cannot hold a candle to Linux in terms of stability. Microsoft has struggled to manage the Windows updates, with the result being that updates break some systems. By that, I mean the system no longer boots, or goes into a boot loop, etc. There was a recent Windows update that caused data loss on some systems. This just isn’t something that happens in the Linux world. Windows 10, for me, has become an OS that can be up for weeks without serious issues. But still, there are issues that appear because Windows has tipped on its side, and a reboot is necessary. Linux systems can be up for months, even years.
  
  
• Proprietary vs Open Source — For some, the decision to move away from Windows stems from wanting to move away from a proprietary OS to one that is open source. Most open-source software is free to use. You don’t have to pay $100 to get a license for a Linux OS. You don’t have to pay a monthly subscription to get your email, word processor, spreadsheet, etc. software.

How Do I Decouple Myself and My Company from Windows?

To start, you assess your needs. As I mentioned earlier, being a PC gamer will make it very hard to decouple from Microsoft Windows. If you truly need certain apps, and they cannot run on Linux and there are no open-source alternatives, then your hands may be tied. If you try to move from Windows without understanding what apps you depend upon, you could end up having to move back. So how can you be sure?

Virtualization to the Rescue

There are two virtualization platforms — oops, there are actually 3 (one is from Microsoft) — which you can leverage to test out Linux and see if it can support your business and personal computing needs.

Oracle provides VirtualBox which is free, and VMware provides VMware which is paid –though you can get a free license which will allow you to run a single virtual machine (VM). For most people, one VM is all that is needed.

To create a Linux virtual machine, you install one of these two products and then create a VM on which you install a Linux distribution. That Linux VM will work pretty much as it would if it were your PC’s only operating system.

If your PC is powerful, e.g. not a 10-year-old potato PC, and it has plenty of system memory (16GB or more) you can expect your Linux VM to run at near-native speed. But if your system is underpowered and/or has only 8GB of system RAM, then you should expect the Linux VM to be a bit sluggish. If your PC has only 4GB of RAM, I wouldn’t even try creating VMs. You need enough memory and computing power for the host operating system (Windows 10) to run AND have enough free that the VM can run.

What If My PC Is Under Powered?

If your PC cannot provide the compute resources to run a VM, then your only other option is to create a bootable USB with a “live” Linux distribution which you can test. The problem is, that Linux distribution will run slow (because it is using a USB drive as its disk), and you won’t be able to install much onto that “live” Linux.

Another option is to turn your Windows PC into one that can dual boot either Windows or a Linux OS. That isn’t a viable option for those who are not highly technically skilled. I say that because more than likely you will need to shrink a disk partition to make room for a second OS. Also, you will have to install a bootloader which, if not done correctly, could break your ability to boot into Widows. While this technically is an option, it isn’t one I would recommend.

Virtualization doesn’t require any of these tricks and mirrors, and hence why virtualization is a popular thing.

How Do I Spin Up a Linux VM?

As mentioned earlier, you simply install either VirtualBox or VMWare. I recommend VirtualBox because it is a little more accessible to the novice.

Once VirtualBox is installed, you should install the VirtualBox extensions pack also, and also the VirtualBox Guest Additions. I’ll talk about that in a little bit.

Once VirtualBox is installed, you pick a Linux distribution and download the installer ISO image. There are literally a hundred Linux distributions, and each is designed for certain use cases. For most people, a mainstream distribution like Ubuntu Desktop will be a great choice. Especially if you can provide that Linux VM with at least 8GB of RAM (and still have at least 8GB RAM for your host OS, e.g. 16GB total RAM).

I recommend Ubuntu because it is the best general-purpose Linux, has a rich Windows-like GUI, and is user-friendly.

If you install Ubuntu Desktop, you will end up with a full OS with a rich suite of applications.

There are other mainstream choices like:

• Mint
• Gentoo
• Debian
• Fedora
• Kali
• ArchLinux
• OpenSuse

For Aged Hardware

If your hardware is aged and very limited and upgrading is not possible, that is actually another good reason to plan to transition to Linux. Because there are a number of Linux distributions that are designed as “lite” for older hardware.

Any distribution that uses Xfce as its windowing system is going to be good for legacy hardware. This is because it takes fewer compute resources to run the windowing system — less memory, less CPU, and less GPU.

Distributions that use Gnome are going to require modern hardware, and trying to run on aged hardware will be less than fantastic.

A Note About Graphics on VirtualBox & VMWare

If you install Linux in a VM, you will notice that it is a small screen that can’t be expanded. That is because the guest OS doesn’t know how to use your graphics processor. So it will be limited in resolution sizes, etc.

You can remedy that by installing the guest tools/additions. Both VirtualBox and VMWare provide drivers to be used inside a guest OS, which gives it access to your systems capabilities. Once you install those tools, inside the VM, you reboot and you will notice the graphics can now go into higher resolutions and full screen to whatever your display resolution is.

A Note About 3D Graphics “Passthrough”

Installing the VM guest tools will enable higher resolutions, but it still doesn’t allow the VM guest to “see” and use the full capabilities of your GPU.

Both VirtualBox and VMware provide features that you can enable to give the guest VM access to your “3D Video Capabilities”. If you enable that (after installing the guest tools discussed earlier) you will then notice that the VM’s windowing system is a little bit more responsive and snappy. That is because the guest VM is able to leverage some of the features of your GPU.

That said, you should not expect to enable 3D Graphics and be able to install games and apps that require a modern GPU. The 3d capabilities the guest VM will see are old, as in DirectX 9.

You won’t really be able to leverage your full 3D graphics capabilities running inside a VM. This brings us to our concluding points.

Conclusion

In this article, we talked about the benefits of Linux versus Windows, and some ways for you to “feel out” Linux by leveraging virtualization.

The purpose of virtualization, as discussed here, is to give you the ability to see what your computer would be like without Windows, without actually replacing Windows today.

My recommendation to anyone that is pondering moving away from a proprietary OS is simple. First, you stand up a virtual machine with the operating system you would like to migrate to. Next, you simply use it to see if you can do everything you need in both your personal and professional lives. Live inside that VM for an entire week — or more.

If you find things that you just can’t do without Windows, and you can’t live with any alternatives, then you are unfortunately tethered to Windows.

If that is the case for you, you can get the best of both worlds through virtualization — if your hardware is beefy enough.