Sell Me on Linux

I posted this as a comment in another post but when I got done I realized it would probably just be better as its own post. I’m sure I could find the answers I need myself but frankly I trust the userbase here more than most online articles.

As my username hints at, I’m a lawyer. I’m considering starting my own firm as a solo practitioner. I need a computer and/or laptop for it, and as a new business my budget would be pretty tight. I’ve mostly only ever used windows, but I’m getting fed up with the bullshit, so I’m considering going with Linux.

I assume Linux is capable of doing everything I need, which is primarily handling word documents, viewing PDFs, watching evidence videos, and online research. But my concern is that some of the more commonly used video types might have trouble on Linux, or that some of the word document templates I use in Windows might have compatibility issues.

I’m also nervous about using an OS I’m not familiar with for business purposes right away.

So I guess I’m asking a few questions. What is a reliable yet affordable option to get started? Are my concerns based in reality or is Linux going to be able to handle everything windows does without issues? What else might I need to know to use Linux comfortably from the get go? Is it going to take a lot of time and effort to get Linux running how I need it to?

For reference, I do consider myself to be somewhat tech-savvy. I don’t code or anything, but I’ve built my last two home computers myself and I’m not scared of general software management, I just don’t make it myself.

So, yeah, sell me on Linux, please.

eah,

Here's a good discussion on HN about this, including comments from lawyers.

captain_aggravated,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

I think you should absolutely download a Linux distro or three along with VirtualBox and try it out. Look at a couple different desktops, play with cowsay, have a good time.

Don’t switch to an unfamiliar operating system on a work machine without doing a lot of learning first.

Linux itself works in a very different way to Windows. The file system is fundamentally different, for one. You should learn how the Linux file system works, how it’s structured, how users and permissions work, etc.

You would be amazed the little things I’ve seen people lose their shit over. Give a small example, I saw a guy blow all the way up because Linux doesn’t use the word “shortcut.” You know how in Windows, you can have an icon on your desktop with that little arrow next to it, and it might start a program, or it might open an individual file? In Linux, those concepts are called Launchers and Links respectively. There’s a lot of little details like that. Keyboard shortcuts, what the middle mouse button does, all that kind of stuff is different as well, and that kind of thing even varies between distros.

You’ll have to learn how to administer the system, how to keep up with updates, how to take and restore backups for your files and for the system. How to secure the system.

The bigger thing is going to be the software library. The phrase “word documents” stands out to me. There are several different productivity suites and word processors available for Linux, none of them are perfectly compatible with MS Word. In college I found that LibreOffice was perfectly adequate for projects I was doing myself. MLA formatted essay? No problem at all. Group project where you have to work together on a powerpoint presentation? Functionally impossible. I’ve given plenty of talks using LibreOffice Impress for visual aids, it works fine, but it interoperates with MS PowerPoint about as well as my cat does. If you’re expected to communicate documents to other lawyers, the government etc. in .docx format…Linux may not be the best choice at least yet.

Your Word templates and such would likely have to be converted or redone. You don’t need to install a Linux machine to find that out; you can install LibreOffice on a Windows machine and try it out.

PDF support is a bit better with the exception of forms. I forget exactly why, which organization was being a little pissy diaper bitch about putting closed source components in an open standard, was it Adobe themselves or the USPS of all people (why do I remember they’re involved?), but PDF forms aren’t well supported in PDF readers and writers available for Linux, and Adobe doesn’t publish Acrobat for Linux. Typing up a word processing document and saving it as a PDF, opening a PDF and looking at it? Those work perfectly fine.

Viewing videos and that sort of thing, I’ve never run into a problem with that sort of thing on Linux, VLC is present and accounted for, and codecs aren’t the nightmare they were back in the heyday of Windows Media Player.

Affordable we got. Linux and practically the entire software ecosystem are available for free, and Linux will run very well on computers that Windows doesn’t. I’ve got a Dell here from 2012, it’s got an Intel Core i7 with three digits in the part number, it doesn’t run Win11 and feels like shit running Win10, feels brand new running Linux Mint. You don’t need to buy a brand new top of the line machine to get a decent experience out of a typical Linux distro.

You expressed some concerns about not being a programmer. You don’t need to be a programmer to use Linux, at least not this decade. It probably helped in the 90’s. I will say though, one of the biggest advantages of Linux is how close at hand scripting tools like Bash and Python are. For example, I have a script that converts .docx files to .pdf files without launching any applications, and it appears in the right click menu when I right click a .docx file so it’s convenient to run. It’s like a two line bash script with a 7 line config file that’s mostly stuff like what text and icon to put in the right click menu. This doesn’t require a degree in computer science. On any platform, you might want to look at an autokeyer, which can save you a surprising amount of time.

cybersandwich,

I will strongly second the “don’t use an unfamiliar OS for critical work tasks” sentiment.

I got a MacBook for work, before I had ever used mavOS before and it was absolutely infuriating and anxiety inducing because I couldn’t get my actual job done.

The OS was in the way. And it was small simple things. I shit you not trying to just use the “delete” key made me almost throw the MacBook out the window.

captain_aggravated,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

And if I may expand upon this, I bet you don’t think this is MacOS being objectively terrible. There are lots of Mac users and they seem to get along with it just fine, and in fact they look at you weird for fussing about it.

I’ve often pointed at an LTT video where they had iJustine on as a guest, and Linus and Justine swapped platforms, him on a Mac and her on a Windows PC, and they were given a series of tasks such as “install Slack. Take a screenshot. Save that screenshot as a PDF. Save that PDF to a thumb drive. Attach it to a Slack message” etc. And both of them hit points where they said “Oh, you’re going to struggle with that.” Apparently the keyboard shortcut to take a screenshot on a Mac makes no intuitive sense, and at least at the time Windows 10 didn’t ship with software capable of saving a word processing document as a PDF. They both struggled, and they both hit things where they thought someone unfamiliar with the platform would struggle.

Just as you will encounter culture shocks transitioning from Windows to MacOS, you will encounter culture shocks transitioning from Windows to Linux. The time to get used to a new OS isn’t when a client needs some important documents right away.

Do not get me wrong, OP. I would love to see your independent law firm running open source software rather than relying on the megacorporate duopoloy. I think you can do it, but I want to be clear that you will likely need retraining and experience in the new platform.

I do strongly encourage trying a distro or three out in VirtualBox, right there on your Windows machine. Give it a look, play around, follow some tutorials, have some fun. Install VLC and LibreOffice on your Windows machine and see if they’ll do the work you need them to. I also strongly encourage you to come tell us how it goes.

hottari,

Use whatever software your peers are using, the way they are using them. The importance of software compatibility cannot be overstated.

MimicJar,

This is hugely important. Since Windows is what they use now, I’d start by seeing if any peers are using macOS. See what issues, if any, they have. If you can find someone who uses ChomeOS, ask them too.

Linux will likely have a solution to any sort of compatibility problems, but I imagine folks who have already moved off of Windows will share similar problems.

danielfgom,
@danielfgom@lemmy.world avatar

Linux is about protecting your freedom as a pc user. It means the software should always work for you, never against you, and you should have the right to inspect the code, modify it at will, and even sell it on or give it away for free

There are no licence fees, no tie in, and it runs faster on your pc then windows. It doesn’t spy on your nor force updates on you.

It should run on most computers but occasionally you may have to install additional WiFi or graphics card drivers but it’s not that common anymore.

You should definitely test it first, and try do everything you do on Windows, on Linux. To do this you can either install it alongside Windows or on a separate test pc or Intel it in a virtual machine on your pc

You can also use a live usb which lets you see it in action running off a usb stick but you can’t install additional software so it’s a limited experience.

I unequivocally recommend Linux Mint over any other Linux. I’ve seen the other comments but this is by far the best best Linux distro and the one you’ll feel most comfortable on. There are other advantages as well but you’ll learn that.

Linux Mint: linuxmint.com

Virtual box(software for running vm’s): www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

As for Office you have several choices:

  1. If you pay monthly for Office you can access the full suite online via a browser. It should do everything the desktop version does.
  2. Install Office alternatives that exist for Linux. There are 2 good choices to try:

A) OnlyOffice: www.onlyoffice.com/desktop.aspx

B) WPS Office: www.wps.com

In both cases you’ll need to download the deb file to install it. Deb files are like exe but for Debian and Ubuntu based Linux, think Mint is. They are the most widely available format.

I wouldn’t bother with the built in Libre Office as it’s not quite there yet. OnlyOffice can also do some PDF handling as well. You typically won’t find free PDF software for Linux as it’s proprietary software and companies like OnlyOffice likely pay Adobe some licencing fees to offer PDF edit functionality.

It might sound difficult but it’s not, especially if you enjoy computers. If not, ask an IT or nerd friend you might have for help.

Good luck.

electric_nan,

If your budget is tight, get a used/refurb, but recent model Thinkpad (T or P series) from EBay. Install Linux Mint (I say Debian Edition, since that is Mint’s future). It comes with LibreOffice preinstalled. You may want to install standard Microsoft fonts, which aren’t included for licensing reasons. You can search for how do do this.

TrickDacy,

Debian edition? Never heard of this and apparently neither has their website… Is it replacing Ubuntu as the base with Debian?

electric_nan,

www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

It’s a version of Mint they have been maintaining in case Ubuntu ceases to be a desirable base for the distro. With things like over reliance on Snaps, and advertising paid security updates in the terminal, it seems like it won’t be very long until that point is reached. I love Mint, but dislike those specific aspects it brings from Ubuntu, so I have found LMDE to be the perfect solution.

TrickDacy,

Thanks so much! This is a really cool idea. I may have to try it out sometime

Kidplayer_666,

Regarding the tools, you must take into consideration the fact that you do not have Microsoft apps on Linux (unless you run them through wine or online, which is not ideal). However there are several alternative tools, either open source (libre office-imperfect compatibility, Onlyoffice desktop-better compatibility, incomplete feature set) or closed source (either WPS office or FreeOffice). PDF is an annoying one as unless you feel comfortable with libreoffice draw or you want to do more basic editing, tools for PDF on Linux are kind of lacking

mateomaui,

In addition to using virtual machines, remember that once a virtual machine is installed, you can use 7zip (or any zipping program) to archive the whole folder containing the vm files, so if something screws up on the vm, you can reset by deleting the folder, restore it from the zipped archive, and trying again without having to do the whole installation process over and over. You can make as many of those archives as you want as you get a vm install to different milestones.

h3ndrik, (edited )

You need to try it. Don’t just roll it out in your business. Try it yourself before. Get an old/secondary computer and install it, try your templates and workflows. See which version (distribution) you like. Get your E-Mail connected and so on.

I can tell you Linux isn’t Windows or MacOS. For me, it works very well. I can do lots of things Windows users can not do or that are very cumbersome there, and I don’t have any advertisements or privacy issues. It respects my rights and freedoms as a user. And I’ve had way less issues with my printers and stuff than my windows-friends. I’ve never had a virus on my machine. I can’t tell you if it works for you.

I also don’t like selling it. It’s (arguably) better, faster and more user-friendly than Windows in many ways. But you need to find out if you can make use of it. One big factor against it would be familiarization with a different product. Except for that, I invite you to try it.

mateomaui, (edited )

I’m also nervous about using an OS I’m not familiar with for business purposes right away.

Install the latest version of VMware Player (17.5) on your current OS, then install linux distros on virtual machines to figure things out first.

If you settle on any you like, make a full disk image backup, before repartitioning to install linux as a dual boot setup and try it on hardware that way.

Keep the Windows partition around, if nothing else just for games or apps that don’t work on linux, or as your backup working profession setup.

edit: some will recommend VirtualBox instead, but for me (on Windows at least) it always resizes on startup incorrectly and obscures part of the desktop, so I have to manually resize on every VM boot. VMware does it properly each time for me without issues.

das_monk,

If you’re looking for something to buy, look elsewhere… Linux is FREE

Sage_the_Lawyer,

Oh I’m aware the OS is free. The affordability I was asking for was for the actual computer to run it. I guess that part wasn’t Linux-specific. Mostly just looking for a good option for a work computer that will last a while. Will probably just get some kind of refurb laptop, I’ve always had good success with those.

But if someone has a specific recommendation I’m all ears.

Nyfure,

The Lenovo Business Laptops always were super strong for me.
A bit on the heavy side (at least on the older models), but build like a tank and has an awesome keyboard.
But any halfway decent Laptop will run Linux fine.

UnexploredEnigma,

If you are ever going to bring a Linux machine to display evidence, I would suggest going in and testing beforehand. Should be fine but always anticipate failures is my takeaway

0xtero,
@0xtero@kbin.social avatar

I’m also nervous about using an OS I’m not familiar with for business purposes right away.

Keep using what gets the job done. That's what computers are for. Do not switch to Linux.

nfsu2,
@nfsu2@feddit.cl avatar

Linux is usually light compared to windows, and no nonsense bloatware and faster to run. Plus is customizable.

If you are a lawyer I assume you are looking for stability and prefer simple over complex. So my guess is that Debian(since is the most stable rock solid distro) would suit you, and most importantly is the desktop environment, if you are looking something similar to Windows I would choose KDE Plasma and if you like MacOS interface then Gnome. Both of them are very different but customizable, I find Gnome is simpler and less busy and Plasma is full of features but busy IMO. Oh and Cinnamon desktop environment is best of both worlds I think. If you are concerned about security and encryption then I’m afraid I can’t advice you on that. Finally I recommend looking up in “distrowatch” if you are looking for something most specific, most distros come with Libre Office as some of the comments point out. There are some distros specifically made for business wich I would recommend if you go big.

Here is a post I made of my desktop with Gnome so that you can see how it look and feels.

feddit.cl/…/39b62b9a-ebfa-4d4e-a944-4a58cc765357.…

poddo,

Youre a lawyer just get a mac lmao

anon_8675309,

Nope. Try it and be your own objective judge.

IHeartBadCode,
@IHeartBadCode@kbin.social avatar

I’m also nervous about using an OS I’m not familiar with for business purposes right away

Absolutely STOP. Do not go with Linux, go with what you are comfortable with. If this is business, you do not have time to be uncomfortable and the learning curve to ramp up to ANY new OS and be productive is something that's just a non-negotiable kind of thing.

If you've never used Linux, play with Linux first on personal time. For business time, use what you know works first and foremost.

All OSes are tools. You do not just learn a tool when your job is waiting for a bed frame to be made or whatever.

TL;DR

If you are not comfortable with Linux, do NOT use it for business.

mayoi,

If you don’t have a cheap throwaway laptop to try doing business with Linux, you have no business doing any business.

mateomaui,

🏆 for the dumbest comment, congrats

mayoi,

If you’re really this poor, give me your address and I will mail you a thinkpad that noone will buy from me for more than $20.

Isoprenoid,

My brother in Christ, this isn’t about the money. This is about meeting business deadlines. OP can’t be using time trying to figure out something on Linux when his clients are waiting.

His first clients are also going to be where his solo practice either sinks or swims.

Seasoned_Greetings,

This guy is a troll. He spends his time picking fights and deflecting anything that conflicts with his fragile world view. Check his profile.

Just thought you should know. He doesn’t really care about dispensing advice, he just likes feeling superior

Sage_the_Lawyer,

This is good advice, I appreciate it. But I should clarify, I definitely won’t be launching my practice before I’m comfortable with the OS. I’m probably going to take some other user’s suggestions and do some test runs on my home machine to figure things out. I’m not launching tomorrow, there’s no real rush. My current contract runs until May 2024. So I’ve got 6 months ahead of me to figure things out.

hillbicks,
@hillbicks@feddit.de avatar

My advice is try using existing documents with Libre office. You can install it on windows as well.

I use Linux for over twenty years now and installed windows on a vm last week to Wirte my resume. Libre office is fine, you run into problems when opening and editing existing ms office documents. At least that is my experience.

But give Libre office on windows a shot, see if you like it.

fushuan,

I’m going to nitpick your comment because we are Linux users and it’s in our blood.

Heard about LaTex? You don’t really need to use Word to write resumes. In fact, I’d advise you against it. It’s easier to go to overleaf, download an existing template and generate a usable pdf that won’t break.

grue,

Switch to Linux at home now. In six months, you’ll have a much better idea if you want to use it at work.

d3Xt3r,

In addition to the other comment re. LibreOffice, I’d also recommend trying out OnlyOffice - generally, it has better compatibility with MS Office formats compared to LO, and the UI is very similar to MSO which may make it easier to use.

constantokra,

PDFs might be your sticking point. I’ve not found any software that will handle all the different things you can do with acrobat in an easy way. But I have to heavily modify PDFs from time to time, and you may not have nearly the needs I do.

I’d suggest checking out libre office, and see if you can find a PDF application that satisfies you. The app store on pop os is really good, as is the interface, and if you don’t like tiling window managers, you can turn it off.

Another suggestion is to recognize you’re a novice. If you read something that sounds like a perfect setup, but it’s a little complicated, put it off. You don’t want to get in over your head, because linux distros will not keep you from breaking things. The defaults of any large distribution are a pretty safe bet.

cmg,

Agree here.

Spend your time making sure you are protected against ransomware with good offline backups and able to recover your practice. Keep your payments separate from your comms machine.

Your job is going to have lots of shady things to click on/invoice/etc

Plan for it so a malicious client/infected evidence/mistaken click doesn’t take down your practice.

I’m 25y into this as a technologist and still make mistakes on “oh this will be quick”. Make sure your time sinks are 100% aligned with your business. Think of automation / value and you’ll have the right mindset.

If you find the tech side fascinating, there’s always demand for good tech lawyers and lawyer comms are entryways into technology management.

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