This may be totally nerdy but I really don't care. I use a lot of open source products. It even feels weird calling them products, the are a labour of the spare time and effort of a group of like minded people who are unlikely to profit directly for it.

If you have been a windows user for a long time it might seem like a big jump to make to change your habits into open source options. There are many reasons why it makes sense, and there are reasons why it doesn't. I'll admit that if you are a hardcore gaming Linux possibly won't allow you to play all your games. But for your daily driver it does everything I want it to.


Operating System I use Linux Mint, I have used it for so long now and I love it. Every time it gets updated I love it a little more. It's not without its occasional quirks but really its not that big a jump. Yes you can download Linux Mint a full operating system that harkens back to the solid Windows 98 functionality, but with all the modern features. The bonus is that its not full of anything else that will suck up your data or force you to sign up for anything. In fact you can tweak the OS from the inside out. But you really don't have to it works perfectly.


Internet I lack nothing on this side. Everything you can get on Windows for web browsing has Linux alternative, the software centre Linux Mint provides has an array of more than you will ever need. I use Firefox, but there is support for every browser you can think of and some you have never heard of, including the Tor and Brave browsers.


Video Editing Okay so here it gets harder, everyone loves their favourite Adobe tools. However for my purposes I run a fairly standard laptop, and I have been using Kdenlive for some time now. I have found it perfect for smaller projects as I have been learning as I go. It feels professional and does everything I want it to.


Graphical Editing I am practically spoilt for choice on Linux. I can do some drawing on Krita, or GIMP for photo editing or more. I can use the amazing Blender software to do 3d work, or even video edit. I can do Vector images using Inkscape. There are so many options for me that I have trouble getting time to do all the things I want to do. I can even throw my photograpy efforts up for editing on Darktable.


Writing All you need for writing is a text editor. For me at least the simpler the text editor the better when it comes for writing. Editing is another matter.

If you want to get fancy there is a working version of Scrivner for Linux, its not the latest version but it works just fine. If you get sent Word documents there is Libre Office for that. Its not the most amazing thing ever, but it is sufficient for everthing I have ever needed it for.