Linus Tech Tip's Video on Windows 10 Customization PROVES Why Linux is Better For the Every Day User.
Tags: linux, opensource, privacy, windows10
Published: 2020-09-13 17:49:30

Honestly I never wanted to make another Windows 10 VS Linux comparison article as it tends to get me a ton of hate from ignorant people who aren't even part of the community. This video and the complexity of the actual methods insults me. Now, I can 100% understand people's issues with software compatibility, which is a reason Linus gave to doing this instead of jumping to Linux. Linus does what is called amelioration. There are some easy methods to ameliorate a Windows 10 installation, including AME, a bit of software I will be using to further insult the idea.

# The Reasoning to Do This
While my goal is to prove Linux superiority, there are good-enough points made by LTT. Some distros of Linux are harder to jump to, and some bits of software has issues. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for wanna-be Linux users. First is the issue with Adobe. Adobe is famous for not running on Linux, but at the same time I cannot really argue for those who stay on Windows because of the Adobe suite. To name just-as-good software to each bit of the popular 10 applications from Adobe that CAN run on Linux (one form or another):
- Photoshop: GIMP, GLIMPSE, PHOTOGIMP (which is a better fork of GIMP for Photoshop lovers)
- Illustrator: Inkscape, more than usable for anything you want to do. Learning curve exists but from experience it works better.
- Dreamweaver: Any code editor, plain text editor, and HTML IDE's. Not much of a reason to use it.
- Premier Pro: (FOSS) OpenShot, Shotcut, Kdenlive. (Native NOT FOSS) DaVinci Resolve. (Non-native, works with WINE) Filmora (7.5, latest is not working well).
- LightRoom: Darktable, I can see this one being an issue though
- InDesign: [Whole list on Alternative.to](https://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-indesign/?platform=linux)
- Acrobat; [Whole list on ADDICTIVETIPS](https://www.addictivetips.com/ubuntu-linux-tips/best-adobe-acrobat-alternatives-for-linux/)
- Muse: [Alternative.to list](https://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-muse/?platform=linux)
- Audition: Audacity, [+ more on Alternative.to](https://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-audition/?platform=linux)

I love Alternative.to, use it for Linux software when switching to Linux. However, understand that if you play games with certain anti-cheat software (especially EasyAC) you will need to at least dual boot. Online games from Valve like CS:GO and TF2 will work without a hitch and are native, but others might present issues.

# Amelioration is Insultingly Difficult
The LTT team use [AME](https://ameliorated.info/#) for their amelioration project. Now the project removes... a lot and can be dangerous of what they remove. Removing:
- Windows Update
- Cortana
- Windows Activation
- Microsoft Edge
- Windows Media Player
- All .appx UWP
According to the LTT video. They also make it very clear that it is complete removal from the system, giving you 2GB more space to get almost any ol' Linux distro installed even in a virtual machine.

Of course these needed replacements, and in all honesty it's not a great set. Classic shell being the replacement for the damage removing Cortana does. No DirectX 12 because of Windows Update being gone, and speaking of Windows Update you gain privacy over security. While the issue may be "less important" to Linus, to me I find it utterly insulting. The important bits of software people like me need (media player, browser, and desktop email client) are solved with decent alternatives. Firefox being the browser, Thunderbird for email, and VLC for media. This is honestly good, but is already default on most Linux distros (except VLC, but only in some situations), but I digress. We will get to why using Linux is better in a bit. OnlyOffice is the office software of choice which is okay, I would prefer OpenOffice or LibreOffice but the office software is not lackluster or Linux default so actually good enough for me. File Explorer is replaced with OldExplorer, which isn't bad but Nautilus on Linux better in many ways, and it is the most hated Linux File Manager in existence (as far as I can tell). The settings app is also now ultimately limited and legitimately depressing. Leaving in the things people use but not really can do much with. Windows Tab also is weird, but I always use Alt+Tab so not much is lost (I never even knew Win+Tab was a thing until this video).

At the end of the video, even Linus thinks this isn't great for day-to-day. So let's compare to Linux, and even show how AME can save your butt for a different reason.

# Linux Is Better
Remember the list of what we removed from Windows 10? Well, 
- Windows Update
- Cortana
- Windows Activation
- Microsoft Edge
- Windows Media Player
- All .appx UWP

Let's take it one by one and see why the list of items you removed/replaced is bad, and why Linux defaults are better.

- Windows Update: You control updates on Linux, some updates can even happen live-kernel style (as in, you are still booted and running normally as updates run). 
- Cortana: Removing Cortana removed a horrific amount of functionality, even needing to use TWO alternatives. Lucky you, Linux has no Cortana-like issues. Even if a Cortana-like program exists, going around it wont kill the functionality of the desktop, file manager, settings, etc.
- Windows Activation: Linux is free in most cases, but even then the "you are not a pirate" checkers on Linux also don't phone home more data, and still keep you more or less completely private.
- Microsoft Edge: We all know you replace Edge, and luckily there are ~40 browsers available for Linux that I could find (many more exist) (will be listed for fun at the end of the article), including but not limited to: Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, Vivaldi, Opera, Waterfox, Tor, and a million bajillion others.
- Windows Media Player: VLC exists on Linux, as well as maybe a billion defaults. Plus the existence of FFMPEG gives you almost 100% of the files you need, if it wasn't pre-included on your distribution of Linux already.
- All .appx UWP: We do have those. We don't need them.

Amelioration of Windows is useless on a machine you use, if you want to have day-to-day functionality with your Windows 10 install not spying on you. But... you need Windows because of something like the Adobe suite. Maybe the list of alternatives don't work for you. AME might be insulting to use to fight Linux, but what about AME *along-side* Linux in a VM?

I feel like LTT's video was miss-scripted. They made it being an alternative to Linux but not a friend of a running Linux system. While their conclusion was "give up" or "run Linux," the idea of running Linux and AME at the same time skipped them. Here's an idea, use AME Windows in a virtual machine. If you REALLY need that Windows software but keep your privacy, here is a short form tutorial:

## AME Linux VM
1. Pick a distro, any distro. For new users, Linux Mint is probably what I recommend, but my Arisblu project will also be decent. Use whatever you want.
2. Open the CLI and use your distro's package manager to install QEMU. For Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, Pop!_OS, or Arisblu, the package manager to do this is APT. `sudo apt install qemu-utils qemu-system-x86_64 -y`
3. Download the AME ISO from [ameliorated.info](https://ameliorated.info/#)
4. Create your image: `qemu-img create ameVM.img 20G`. Feel free to change `20G` to whatever size you need/can logically support. G means Gigabytes and is required as "G" not g/gb/Gb/GB/gB.
5. Run the QEMU image: `qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom /path/to/ISO_IMAGE ameVM.img`
6. Use at your own will. 

Optional Things:
- Link VM to custom BASH script.
File: amevm 
```
#!/bin/bash
qemu-system-x86_64 /exact/path/from/root/to/ameVM.img
```
chmod +x ./amevm

- Make custom script a command
`sudo mv amevm /bin/amevm`

# Conclusion
AME takes 2 hours to build, and is complex. It makes your system overall harder to use, but it gives you access to stuff you might need when your both privacy conscious but need Windows software. This won't fix ALL issues, but it will help you with adopting Linux if you so choose.

# The ~40 (actually 37) browsers I promised
All work on Linux.
- Based on: Browser name
Based on being the browser group it is in (Chrome/Firefox/Other), and the browser name being what you need to Google to get it. In no real order, just as I found/listed them.
    1. Firefox: Firefox
    2. Firefox: Dot
    3. Firefox: Waterfox
    4. Firefox: Tor
    5. Firefox: GNU IceCat
    6. Firefox: LibreWolf
    7. Chrome: Chrome
    8. Chrome: Chromium
    9. Chrome: Opera
    10. Chrome: Vivaldi
    11. Chrome: Brave
    12. Chrome: SRWare Iron
    13. Chrome: Ungoogled Chromium
    14. Chrome: Iridium
    15. Chrome: Superbird
    16. Chrome: Lulumi
    17. Other: Midrori
    18. Other: NetSurf
    19. Firefox: PaleMoon
    20. Other: Gnome Web
    21. Other: Falkon
    22. Firefox: Basilisk
    23. Other: Seamonkey
    24. Other: Links
    25. Chrome: Breaker
    26. Chrome: Yandex
    27. Other: Otter Browser
    28. Other: Min
    29. Other: Qute
    30. Chrome: Dissenter
    31. Firefox: Konqueror
    32. Chrome: Slimjet
    33. Chrome: Liri
    34. Other: Seilo
    35. Other: Sushi
    36. Other: Servo
    37. Other: Dooble