As someone that is always trying to push Linux, I am the first to tell you that there are many obstacles along the way for switching to Linux. Many of these obstacles can be overcome but there is some confusion about when you should not switch to Linux. I am writing this article to tell you the rare cases that you should not switch to Linux.
- Hardware not yet supported. In some cases the hardware in your computer may not be compatible with Linux. The most common form of this that I have seen is video cards. I actually have two computers myself that Linux has a trouble with the video card. Both of these computers have AMD-based video cards for higher end graphics. I actually have found some proprietary drivers that will work for for these computers so that Linux can run smoothly.If you are wondering whether or not a computer is compatible with Linux then you should find a live disk version of Linux and boot off of it. If everything works fine in the live disk then you know that your computer hardware is compatible with Linux.
- Hard-core gamer. If you are a hard-core gamer then you will find that Linux is not for you. Many of the games are just simply not available for Linux. Of course there are always workarounds such as WINE and a few other things but you will just not be happy with Linux as a gamer. Linux has been getting better with gaming and even Steam has been released for Linux. You can always do a dual-boot system and use Windows for gaming and Linux for everything else also.
- Proprietary software that you must have. There are some cases when you must have a specific program that only runs on Windows. Most examples of this would be work related software. If you are in the digital printing and publishing industry then you might run across some of these types of software. With this in mind you should always check to see that an alternative is not available in Linux. An example of this is an alternative to Photoshop is GIMP. You can also consider dual booting in this scenario also.
I hope you found this article helpful and it helps you to decide whether or not Linux is for you. If you have any questions about your specific scenario feel free to leave a comment below or contact me directly on the Contact Page. If you done this article helpful please like and shower so that other people may find it more easily.