While Linux’s app ecosystem isn’t as rich as that of Windows, especially when it comes to commercial and professional software, the open-source community has filled a lot of that gap with a bunch of well-made apps.

Almost every Linux user will tell you that bloat is bad — you should go with something minimal so you can customize it to your liking. There’s also a popular belief that Linux beginners should stay clear of Arch and tiling window managers, which are reserved for more “advanced” users. Well, Omarchy is based on Arch, uses the Hyprland tiling window manager, and is one of the most bloated and opinionated distros out there. And here’s my argument for why, despite conventional wisdom, I think it’s perfect for Linux beginners.

A 4-bay NAS isn't cheap—they'll often cost you around $500 before you start including hard drives, which are now quite pricy. Even budget 2-bay NASes come in at around $200.

Linux has a reputation for being difficult or tedious to work with because it involves using a command-line interface all the time. Today, that reputation doesn't hold up. While some modern Linux distros are still very terminal heavy, many are every bit as approachable as Windows or macOS—you only really use the terminal when you want to use it.

The usual narrative is that a Windows user switches to Linux and then complains about the app gap. That said, I’ve been using Linux for over 10 years, and when I switch back to Windows, I notice an app gap, too — in both functionality and quality.

I'm a huge fan of free and open-source software. Whether it's a productivity tool or an entertainment app, open-source apps are often among the best, if not the best, solutions.

Googlebook's clumsy launch made me wish that I wasn't a product reviewer. I had to spend two weeks using a laptop with what felt like an unfinished operating system (cue the world's smallest violin), and throughout the entire process, I just kept thinking how nice it would be if Google had taken all of its biggest Googlebook features and slapped them on a mainline Linux distro instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.

Terminal-based apps are awesome, but if you’ve ever tried to use them, you’re probably already aware of their biggest annoyance: you have to open a terminal and type a command every time. They don’t show up in your dock or app launcher the way regular desktop apps do. Thankfully, there’s a quick and easy fix for that. It’ll hardly take a few minutes, and you’ll be able to give your terminal apps their own icons and entries in your application launcher.

Adobe Creative Cloud offers some of the best applications for creative jobs. The only drawback? You have to pay up to $70 a month—or about $840 per year—to access them. There are first-year promotions available, but even those add up to about $740 per year. That is a big commitment, especially considering the annual subscriptions come with hefty early termination fees.

Most of us download and install new apps and self-hosted services without a second thought, but if you do anything important on your PC, it can be a significant security risk.

Developers deserve to be compensated for their work, and "premium" apps usually offer a better experience. But sometimes, those same developers offer a way for loyal users to get their paid apps for free. No trial, no hidden paywall — just sideloading.

Almost everything I do on my PC happens inside the browser, to the point that I feel like my operating system is basically a bootloader for my browser. Now, when you have an app that’s so central to your workflow, it’s natural to get a bit picky about it. Thankfully, Firefox has been more than enough as my daily driver for over a decade. Sure, I occasionally experiment with other browsers to see what’s out there, but I’ve always returned to Firefox — that is, until now.

ArtCraft, a free alternative to Adobe's creative suite built with AI-assisted coding, is making people question whether they should pay for creative apps anymore.

While PowerToys is a fantastic open-source tool made by Microsoft, its Windows modding capabilities are fairly limited. When it comes to built-in Windows modding options, you can do stuff like bring back the Windows 10-style right-click menu (via Registry Editor), toggle transparency effects, use a limited selection of custom themes, finally move the taskbar again, and a few other things, which isn’t that bad considering they’re all available right from the get-go.

The difference between a battery-powered sensor that runs for a few days and one that runs for a year comes down to what the board does when it's doing nothing. Most DIY projects, like weather stations, mailbox alerts, or plant monitors, spend 99% of their life idle. In those scenarios, idle draw matters far more than peak performance.

Over time, most of us have accumulated a number of inexpensive subscription services that, cumulatively, add up to a significant amount of money.

There’s something undeniably cool about the way Hollywood portrays hackers at work. In fact, it’s actually one of the reasons I gravitated toward Linux in the first place. Of course, real-world hacking rarely looks anything like the movies, and Linux doesn’t magically turn your PC into a cybercrime command center. That said, if you want to recreate that cinematic techno vibe on your desktop, there are a few tools that can help. Here are five of my favorites.

I’ve been using Windows since Windows 95, and over the years, I’ve watched a lot of my favorite apps die or get replaced with more “modern” alternatives. While these newer versions are probably better, I still miss the old ones. I really liked their overall layout and aesthetics, and maybe it’s nostalgia talking, but I also think those apps just worked better and were less buggy than their modern counterparts. As such, I’ve always been on the lookout for apps that try to recreate that retro look and feel, but I never expected to find them on Linux, of all places.

Terminal apps have a reputation for being too minimal, confusing, and useful only for technical workflows. And while that might have been true a few years ago, modern terminal apps are a lot more intuitive and functional, covering plenty of everyday computing use cases. This makes them excellent lightweight alternatives to typical desktop apps. In fact, here are five TUI (terminal user interface) apps that have completely replaced GUI (graphical user interface) apps in my workflow.

Some of the best software in the world is produced entirely by volunteers and released for free. Over the years, I’ve come to rely on many of these tools to stay productive and in control of my Mac.