August 03, 2021

How to make Windows 10 compatible with Linux

 Most users have the understanding that they have to decide between Linux which is open source and Windows which is not. The users think that have to remove the existing Windows partition from their harddrive otherwise they can't become part of the Linux movement. A more softer transition is described in the following blog post.

Instead of arguing for or against certain operating systems the better idea is to investigate the software which is installed. A typical LInux distribution is shipped with preinstallation of the following software: gcc, python3, firefox, Libreoffice. What Linux users are doing is not interact with Linux itself but they want to run these programs. The reason is that the mentioned software is powerful and comes free of charge.

What speaks against the attempt to install these programs in Windows instead of running LInux? Right, it works great. All of the software plus extra programs like gimp are available in a windows 64bit version. It can be installed with a simple mouseclick. After the software was installed it will run the same way like the Linux version.

What most users are interested to do is not to switch to open source but they want simple become python programmers. Let us describe the idea behind Linux in detail.. Linux is a layer between the GUI and the hardware. Usually not the end user decides about this layer but the hardware vendor. A certain company decides which bios a computer get and which hardware drivers are working fine. Does it makes sense for ordinary user to quetion the decision of the hardware vendor? It is a rheotrical question beause in case of doubt, the hardware vendor has more experts.

Let us go a step backward. It makes sense that user1 recommends user2 to install the python3 interpreter or the libreoffice suite. Because they are normal windows programs and after they have been installed the computer will look the same. The only difference is, that the user gets another icon on the desktop. In contrast the recommendation to remove Windows in general over Linux is way too much innovation. Such thing can't be undone and most users won't be happy with Linux. Linux and open source are two different things. open source means to use software tools like gcc under Windows. While Linux means that the user is replacing the entire Windows partition with something else.

the interesting point is, that the advantage of Linux is low. If python3 and libreoffice was installed in a windows environment they user won't get any additional value if he is switching to Ubuntu or Debian. But he will loose so many things for example the ability to run Windows software. Let us try to describe the situation from a different angle. Suppose, microsoft would prohibit that a user installs programming tools like notepad++, a text only browser, or a c compiler. The explanation should be that the user is not allowed to run these advanced programs. Under such constraints it would make sense to deinstall the windows OS in general and search for something which is more open. But in the reality the user doesn't has these restrictions. He can install as many open source software under Windows he likes. Because it is own computer and he is the administrator.

The main problem with Linux is that the system isn't backward compatible. That means, the software industry is producing Linux apps and the hardware industry has no PC for Linux users. Instead of trying to change the situation the more realistic approach is to regonize the situation and try to question if Linux might be wrong.