Returning to Windows From Ubuntu, Twice. Why?
First of all, let me give you a little background about myself. I am a Software Engineer Student, mainly focused on working with mobile applications using Flutter. I usually use VS Code and Android Studio as my main tools for developing mobile apps. It works just fine with Ubuntu, for a short amount of time until I changed my mind.
Now, about my main Operating System. Since the first time I have a laptop, I have already used Windows for the OS. Well, you don’t need to ask the reason behind my choice. It’s just because I’m too lazy to learn about another OS out there, and obviously because Windows is pre-installed in most of the modern laptops (including all of my previous & current ones).
My first laptop is a Lenovo IdeaPad 120s with Intel Celeron N3350 and 4GB of RAM, lucky for me this laptop came with an SSD. But, the turndown is this laptop’s RAM. It only got 4GB of memory capacity, and it is non-upgradable. In the first semester of my school, I have a class that teaches us basic programming with C++. And in the middle of that semester, I installed Ubuntu on my laptop. So I chose to use it as a single boot laptop, without Windows as a secondary OS.
For a short amount of time, I have no problem using Ubuntu. I can handle docs easily with Google Docs and Libre Office, as an alternative to Microsoft Office. For the programming part, Linux has bigger support for the tech I used at that time rather than Windows. But, a problem occurs in the second semester.
In the second semester, I have to face a new class called desktop programming. My teacher uses VB.Net for that class, and we have to use it as well. I found out that Visual Studio has not released any version for Linux OS. And when I searched for an alternative, none of them seems to work easily. I need to configure a lot of things, which at that time is overwhelmingly stressed me out. So, the last option that I chose is, you already know the answer, go back to Windows. And I keep using Windows for approximately 10 months until I found another problem.
After a normal 6 months of using Windows, I bought a new laptop. This time, I have a decent spec for my mobile apps development. It has an Intel Core i5–8265U processor with 8GB of RAM and NVMe SSD. And I started learning Android with that laptop. At first, all of it looks like working just fine, but after a month, I found out that the Android emulator that I run on the laptop is kinda laggy. Soon after that, I came up with an idea to use Linux again.
Because I have already used Ubuntu before, I wanted to try something new. I search for other Linux distributions that fit me well. And I found out about Zorin OS. I like the minimalist design that it gives, also the OS only consumes a few of my resources, unlike Windows. And obviously, I install Zorin right away after I discovered it.
This time, I install Zorin alongside my Windows. So I created a dual-boot OS on my laptop. Everything works just fine. Android Studio is running well, VS Code got no problem at all, and my emulator is running slightly better than Windows. But, I found a little downside in Zorin, which is the Bluetooth function is sometimes not working. It kinda annoys me, because I use a Bluetooth earphone. But, I keep on using Zorin for my development environment.
Right after the Covid-19 pandemic hits my country, I got bored with Zorin. I want to try something new, so I replace Zorin with Kali Linux. The reason behind this choice is kinda stupid because basically I just want to look like a hacker with that OS. But, Spotify doesn’t run at all in my Kali, and I got no solutions for this issue, neither is the internet. So, I switch back to my old OS. Yep, Ubuntu.
This time I chose Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. It got a refreshed look from the previous version (18.04 LTS), and also I already used Ubuntu before. In this version, I got nothing to worry about. There is literally 0 issues for me.
So why did I chose to get back into Windows?
Well, after all the struggles that I’ve been through with experimenting with differents Operating Systems, I came up with one conclusion. My main priority is an OS that can handle all of my needs, without the need to waste a lot of time trying to configure the OS itself. Also, because I play some games and use Adobe apps on Windows. And Windows is just a perfect answer for that.
Then, what about the performance issue I was facing before in the Android emulator? I handled it just by upgrading my RAM to 12GB and using VS Code, which is a lightweight text editor, compared to Android Studio.
And, that’s it! That is my whole journey of wasting my time searching for a perfect Operating System. Although, in the end, I came back with the first OS I used in the past. But, one thing for sure, the terminal in Linux is a whole different experience compared to CMD or Powershell in Windows. I already tried WSL2, but looks like it doesn’t give me a lot of benefits. So I just chose to use Windows as it is.
So what do you guys think about my post? Please give me feedback, so I can improve it in the future. And I’m thinking to write another story about Flutter next time. So, see you guys in the next stories!
