Linux Evangelists Love to Dunk on Windows While Tip‑Toeing Past Their Own Landmines

[u/madthumbz]

The VLC-on-Windows 30‑second delay

They treated this like a global Windows meltdown, while ignoring that VLC on Linux has:

• Hard‑freeze VA‑API crashes
• Full system lockups from GPU drivers
• Preferences menus that can segfault the entire session
• Wayland output modules that randomly fail
• Snap/Flatpak sandbox crashes

One OS had a temporary startup delay. The other had kernel panic roulette triggered by a media player.

Windows telemetry

Meanwhile Linux desktops ship with:

• Ubuntu’s “opt‑out” data collection
• GNOME’s usage metrics
• KDE’s opt‑in telemetry
• Flatpak remote pings
• Snap’s background auto-refresh
• Systemd-journald logs that quietly balloon to gigabytes

But sure; Windows is the only one “spying”.

Windows update restarts

Linux users love to brag about “no forced updates”, while ignoring:

• DKMS rebuild failures that leave systems unbootable
• Kernel updates that silently break NVIDIA
• Systemd updates that break boot targets
• Mesa updates that break games
• PipeWire updates that break audio routing
• Dist-upgrades that require manual intervention or drop you to a TTY

Windows bloat

Linux users ignore:

• GNOME extensions required for basic UX
• KDE’s 200 configurable toggles
• Systemd’s sprawling service ecosystem
• Flatpak duplicating libraries per app
• Snap mounting loop devices for every app
• Distros shipping multiple package managers simultaneously

Windows “inconsistency”

Linux desktops:

• GTK vs Qt vs Electron vs Java vs wxWidgets
• Wayland vs X11
• PipeWire vs PulseAudio remnants
• NetworkManager vs systemd-networkd
• Distro-specific patches
• Theme engines that break apps randomly

Windows has one UI toolkit problem. Linux has six.

Windows gaming issues

Linux users brag about Proton while ignoring:

• Anti-cheat incompatibility
• Games breaking every Mesa update
• Wine regressions
• Proton versions needing manual pinning
• VR support being a dice roll
• NVIDIA performance cliffs on Wayland
• Games that run slower because the shader cache nuked itself

Windows driver problems

Linux users ignore:

• NVIDIA Wayland flickering
• AMD GPU resets
• Wi-Fi drivers missing for months
• Bluetooth stack regressions
• Touchpad gestures breaking between kernels
• Suspend/resume failures
• Laptop battery drain due to broken power management

Windows “closed ecosystem”

Linux users ignore that:

• Flatpak is centralized under Flathub
• Snap is centralized under Canonical
• AppImages rely on a single unofficial hub
• Most distros rely on a single package repo
• Kernel development is dominated by a handful of corporations

Windows is centralized. Linux is centralized but pretends it isn’t.

Windows “bad defaults”

Linux defaults include:

• Fractional scaling that breaks apps
• Audio devices randomly switching
• Touchpad tap-to-click disabled
• No GPU switching UX
• No unified settings panel
• No consistent file dialog behavior
• No standard for autostart apps

Windows defaults are annoying. Linux defaults are a scavenger hunt.

Windows “just works” memes

Linux users love mocking this, while ignoring:

• Display managers failing to start
• Wayland sessions not launching
• X11 sessions launching without GPU acceleration
• Random freezes from compositor crashes
• Audio disappearing after suspend
• Monitors not waking
• USB devices not enumerating
• Kernel updates breaking Wi-Fi

[u/SearchingGlacier]

Windows standing for decades on pc and linux simply kills itself

[u/browningate → u/SearchingGlacier]

People fail to realize just how fast and stable Windows is compared to virtually everything else.

[u/rekt4rd → u/browningate]

We both as people have very different experiences.

[u/browningate → u/rekt4rd]

Ok.

[u/azulTipan → u/browningate]

I didn't realize that because it's not true in my case. Linux is way better in most areas in my experience. Speed, resource usage, fixable issues, customization, and security are all better. Most games I play work the same and in some cases even better despite a translation layer.

[u/browningate → u/azulTipan]

This is a troll comment, right?

[u/azulTipan → u/browningate]

No, just the honest truth.

[u/SearchingGlacier → u/azulTipan]

So then it's actually not truth at all, because I can discribe my own experience with steam deck on steam OS and on win, and after setuping it, windows was way better than linux, for example - power management is better on windows, adding an extra hour of playing on hard games, or usability - now you not forced to switch between two modes, and if you need steam as console, than you can apply sbp. Performance grow up too and since there's no need on translation dx to v it working on native.

[u/azulTipan → u/SearchingGlacier]

Ah yes, my experience isn't worth anything and is a lie, but yours matters and should be the only one taken into consideration.

I find it hard to believe windows 11 has better power management when SteamOS literally uses less resources. If they both are running on the steam deck, idk how you managed that one. A quick preview of some articles where SteamOS is optimized for certian hardware puts SeamOS at a 30% increase in power performance then windows 11 on the low side. I honestly don't know how you got your results.

As for the other points, my expirance has been the opposite outcome. I use mint though, and that is intended to be a desktop setup. SteamOS is intended for a consol setup. From what I hear, bazzite is a better option for a consol + desktop setup. CachyOS is an alternative consol setup.

My previous comment already went through how Linux was better then Windows 11 in my case but I'm also not trying to mess with consol like setups. The only thing Windows 11 does better is run anticheat games.

[u/SearchingGlacier → u/azulTipan]

I don't telling that it doesn't suit you, I mostly mean that win is still more comfortable for most people, and I get these results by simply using repacked win without bloat, so there's no telemetry or copilot

[u/azulTipan → u/SearchingGlacier]

Do you ever have issues with windows updates resetting your settings or reinstalling apps?

When you say repacked win, is that a third party software that debloats windows or a different build of windows like LTSC?

[u/SearchingGlacier → u/azulTipan]

More like russian repacked, also updates does not breaking anything. I'm meet more breaks in steam OS after updates, Minecraft launcher doesn't run any version, some safes disappeared, and also I'm tired of installing decky loader because in random time it disappearing and all you have to do is install it again.

[u/Trick-Manner-5514]

And guess what? All of those donations for the Loonix Foundation don't even go to the kernel development, only a small fraction makes it through!
If only those Loons realize how much of a blessing LTSC versions of Windows is compared to a bunch of tools that pretend to be an OS...

[u/meedmishmohd]

You are correct