LinuxLinks has kindly given me space for a semi-regular blog about open source, Linux, Windows and whatever else catches my attention. The views and prejudices are my own.
The new installation looks lovely. Then you open the spreadsheet your employer actually uses, wake the laptop after a meeting, or try to join your friends in the game they play every weekend. That is when you find out whether the switch is going to work for you.
I use Linux by choice, and it irritates me when real problems get brushed aside because somebody else has found a workaround. A fix that suits one person may be completely impractical for another.
Many of these problems are down to Microsoft, Adobe, hardware makers and game publishers. They deserve criticism for their part in them. But the person with a deadline still needs a machine that can get the job done. Here are the five weaknesses of desktop Linux I am least willing to shrug off in 2026.
1. One application can stop the whole switch
We’ve all heard the answer: use an alternative. ONLYOFFICE, GIMP and Krita are excellent, and I am glad they exist. But if your employer relies on a particular Excel workbook or a client expects work done in Photoshop, you may not have any say in which software you use.
The browser does not always rescue you either. Excel for the web cannot create, run or edit VBA macros. Adobe’s own comparison shows that Photoshop on the web lacks desktop features including actions and smart filters. Those omissions might mean nothing to you, or they might prevent you from doing your job.
What bothers me is how quickly a discussion about a missing application becomes an argument about whether someone really needs it. They may have spent years working with that software. They may have colleagues, customers and established processes to consider.
Changing an organisation’s workflow might be a fine ambition, but it is precious little help when the file is due at five.
2. Booting once proves almost nothing about hardware support
Installing Linux on a laptop and reaching the desktop is a start. Now close the lid, wake it a few times, connect a dock, reboot after using Windows, try the fingerprint reader and check how the firmware gets updated.
I would rather hear how a laptop behaved over a working week than how quickly somebody installed a distribution on it. Problems often appear after the ten-minute installation test is over.
My previous article explains the distinction between Linux compatible and Linux supported. I wish more manufacturers made it too.
There are practical ways to take support seriously. Canonical’s Ubuntu certification programme runs more than 500 compatibility tests, including checks on firmware and power management. The Linux Vendor Firmware Service gives manufacturers a way to deliver firmware updates on Linux.
I don’t expect a manufacturer to test every distribution. But if it advertises a PC as Linux supported, I expect it to say which configurations it supports and take responsibility when those fail. Simply sending the buyer to a community forum and leaving them to it is not support; it is unpaid outsourcing. Nor is letting a support forum fill up with spam, as Orange Pi has done.
3. Proton cannot make a game publisher let you in
Proton has done wonders for Linux gaming. Games I would once have written off now run with remarkably little fuss. Then you try to join friends in Destiny 2.
Bungie says it does not support the game through SteamOS or Proton and warns that trying to bypass the incompatibility can lead to a ban. Its stated route for playing on Steam Deck requires Windows to be installed and running. That puts a rather abrupt end to Friday night’s plans if you were expecting to play on Linux.
Valve’s documentation says Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye can work with Proton when support is enabled or configured for the game. Kernel-level anti-cheat solutions are not supported through Proton. These distinctions matter, but none gives the player a switch they can flick.
Where the obstacle is a publisher’s decision to block Proton, changing distribution or trying another Proton version won’t resolve it.
“Play something else” sounds reasonable until you remember that people often play games to spend time with their friends. Those friends are unlikely to abandon a game they enjoy because one person has changed operating systems. That is a real cost of switching, and we should acknowledge it.
4. Installing one app can require far too much homework
Search for an application and you may find a distribution package, a download from its developer, a Flatpak, a Snap, an AppImage and a community build.
Which one does the developer maintain? Which one gets updates promptly? Why can one version open a directory that another cannot?
Experienced Linux users often have their own preferences. Someone who has just switched operating systems is still trying to work out what the choices mean. They should not have to spend an evening investigating several versions of the same application before installing one.
There are good reasons these formats exist, and Flathub’s verification system helps identify apps published by their developer or an authorised party. But software stores still need to make the publisher, update source and relevant access restrictions clear where the install button appears.
I like having choices. I would also like newcomers to understand what they are choosing. Calling a row of near-identical options “freedom” is a bit rich when the consequences only become apparent afterwards.
5. Wayland’s handover still has work to do
Plasma 6.8 retires KDE’s X11 session. I think moving on is the right call. It also raises the stakes for anyone who still depends on an X11-era workflow. X11 applications can continue through Xwayland, but that does not mean every way of controlling, capturing or reaching a desktop is covered.
In August, KDE developer David Edmundson described remote desktop as one of the weaker parts of the transition and explained the improvements being made to unattended access. He also discussed the work still needed for other uses, including multiple concurrent remote users. That willingness to acknowledge the gaps is welcome.
The difficulty is that a relatively unusual requirement can still be essential to the person who has it. If remote access is how you reach your work computer, you need to know whether your setup works before losing the fallback you rely on.
It is fair to ask people to test replacements and report problems. It is also fair for them to say they cannot switch yet. That does not make them opponents of progress.
Closing thoughts
I will keep recommending Linux where it fits, and I will keep saying when it does not. PC makers can test their machines properly. App stores can explain what they are offering. Desktop projects can address the gaps that still send people hunting for workarounds. Microsoft, Adobe and game publishers have decisions to make as well, even if the Linux community cannot make those decisions for them.
What gets under my skin is blaming the person who tried to switch. If the answer to their problem is “use another application”, “buy another laptop” or “play another game”, we have moved the goalposts. They have already given Linux a chance. We ought to take the reason they went back to Windows seriously.
Have your say
What Linux problem are you tired of being told to work around? Tell us in the comments.
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