However after using WSL for ages then deciding to go back to my Linux roots I haven’t looked back was on Ubuntu (with Omakub scripts applied) but it has Microsoft’s hands on it and just didn’t give me the freedom I wanted, switched to MX Linux for a while (great OS) then finally took the plunge am now working my way through an Archcraft setup (based on Arch Linux, not for the feint hearted its old school Linux all over again).

I realised something in this time I haven’t once missed Windows in fact I don’t remember it much now I have everything I need a decent developer platform, containers, VM’s, gaming via Lutris/PortProton/Steam and just overall performance that you can’t get in Windows and you also discovered just how bogged down your network is in Windows when you switch to Linux the performance is way better.

If Microsoft have any sense they will promote WSL to a first class citizen make it the Windows core and then let a MAUI based Windows Window Manager become the desktop aka Linux style architecture its the only way they will expand and grow in a world where Linux is being used more and its all about cloud and containerisation aka small light footprints.

Windows is old, bloated and needs a refresh and this can be done with a *nix architecture and core with Windows running on top.

I get paid, like a great many people, for finding things on the Internet then pasting and editing them in a word possessor, a spreadsheet or presentation software. I also get paid for reading and answering many emails in my email client, and doing what those emails tell me to do which usually involves pasting or typing something into a web based application.

I am interested, like a great many people, in keeping my job and not in customizing or learning too much about my operating system. Every 6 months I do a clean install of the newest Ubuntu release and immediately type just one command into the terminal “sudo ufw enable”. After that, I live by the Gnome GUI. All the applications I need (browser, email client, word possessor, spreadsheet and presentation software) are included when I chose the “full” install rather than the default minimal installation.

Ubuntu with Gnome is much cleaner, simpler and easier than Windows! Any competent Windows user can adjust to the differences quickly. The task bar is a dock that hangs out on the left side of the screen instead of at the bottom, and I could move it to the bottom just by making that choice in the GUI. One click brings up all my icons I do not even need to navigate a menu tree. Ubuntu does not tell MS or anyone else everything that I do, it is more secure and more private. I does not have pop-ups telling me the weather report or trying to sell me anything.

I tried to moving upstream to Debian but getting the third party codecs to play videos required more effort than just clicking a checkbox during the install so i lost interest in Debian. My perspective is that you do not need to know more to use Ubuntu than to use Windows and everyone should make the switch for security’s and privacy’s sake.

But remember, Fedora is upstream! Not backed by RH as is.

I find the Desktop environment just as important as the particular OS.
Windows XP and 7 lovers, stick with traditional Desktops, Mate, KDE, Cinnanom or Xfce.
Win 8 Gnome or Unity.
Win 10 and 11 lovers, a modified Gnome like Zorin, and I know there are a few other like that, just not sure of the names.

The second thing a new user might want to consider is newbie friendly forum. I think Ubuntu Mate and Zorin excel in that area. Avoid Debian for sure where the majority of answer are RTFM. I have heard PC Linux can be a bit hard on newbies too, but don’t know that from personal experience.

Me too. I have used various Linux OS’s over 16 years and almost never use the terminal. I have a cheat sheet for when I need to use it. I am old with a poor memory and an even worse typist. All the ‘you won’t be able to use it because of the terminal’ is always to discourage new users. I used the terminal more on Windows to fix the stupid self destructive registry than I have ever used the terminal on Linux.

Mint yes; Fedora KDE yes. But, NOT Ubuntu.
Snaps are annoying and dangerous, and Ubuntu’s increasing reliance on them has sullied their distro and its derivatives (which, thankfully, Mint is no longer among).

Had to say that openSUSE’s decision to propose BTRFS by default looks like is a bad joke, agreed once with this default and it wasn’t so long to realize that something is wrong with the system that appeared some btrfs automatic “scabs” or whatever that affected performance significantly, in result reinstalled system on classic ext4, it could be not so friendly for a new users.

Holy War, I vote for openSUSE, started to use as a work system from ~11.3 and upgraded it through 15.5 Leap (then dropped that system and have a more fresh install on new another), it was and still the Best for me. I tried time to time something else but always returned to openSUSE as a main system best suited fro me.
From KDE based stable and reliable system perspective it is the BEST, was at least from previous experience (and it requires years to have it, some others failed pretty quickly).

Not a perfect, from a new and Windows user perspective maybe there are other considerations that others could do better out of the box, like support of x264, maybe Games (never really tried hard way apart of some with native support that was fine), native support of some non Open Source software,..?

I’ve never was afraid of Konsole but not sure why openSUSE may require more console work than others, for me it looked opposite (with YaST, that is going to be removed?!) but long ago, something has seriously changed in this area that make others better (require less console that is already not much required)?

What is this “command line” of which you speak? 😉 I’ve been using OpenSuSE for over 2 decades, and I can’t think of the last time I had to open a terminal and type in a command line. I can’t say the same for Ubuntu. How often have I seen articles suggesting I have to “apt get” ….
Don’t get me wrong, Ubuntu is a fine distribution, although I prefer Mint over Ubuntu. And either of these offers “Live” downloads (for either DVDs or USB memory sticks) that allow a user to try Linux before installing it.