sasabottle But what are the benefits of this Solus operating system? I found this thread because of the Sennheiser headphones I want to buy, and it’s an unexpected discovery for me. Is it better than Windows? And how compatible is it with most of the software an average person uses on their PC?
Solus is an independent distribution (that is, developed from the ground up and not based on other Linux distributions) of the Linux operating system. Solus is designed for desktop (as opposed to server/network/development) use, and is specifically targeted at the "ordinary home desktop user". Solus, accordingly, is remarkably clean, efficient, stable and useful for the target audience, and that is why most of us have adopted it as our distribution of choice. That is not to say that Solus is "better" than other Linux distributions, but only to say that Solus is a "better fit" for most of us than other Linux distributions. Other Linux users might find other distributions a "better fit".
I suspect that the real question you are asking, though, is how does the Linux operating system compare with the Windows operating system for "ordinary home desktop users".
The answer is that Linux shines in some areas, Windows in other areas. Although there are objective differences between Linux and Windows as a desktop operating system, subjective differences are also important. As is the case with Linux distributions, the question is not so much which is "better" but instead which is a "better fit" for a particular user.
You will find a variety of opinions on various websites about the question. Most were written by Linux advocates, because Windows has so large a share (about 75%) of the desktop operating system market in comparison to Linux (about 3%) that few write about Linux versus Windows from the point of view of a Windows advocate. I mention this because you should keep authorship and point of view in mind when reading opinions about the question. Advocates have a tendency to promote the good and gloss over the not-so-good.
I think that you might find this blog post helpful as a starting point. The post is recent and strikes me as reasonably balanced.
As background to my comments, I use both Windows and Linux as personal desktop operating systems. I've been using Windows for 35-plus years and Linux for 15-plus years, running in parallel on different desktops and laptops, mix-and-match, using one or the other during different parts of the day on different computers. I don't have a strong preference for one or the other, and have set both up to use identical major applications (e.g. office suite, browser and so on) and to have a similar "look and feel".
The decision is, in the end, a mix of objective and subjective considerations. For me, both Windows and Solus are a "good fit". For my husband, embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem with Microsoft 365 and other applications, Windows is a "good fit" but Linux would not fit well at all. It all depends on the user's needs.
My bottom line: If you are happy with Windows and the applications you are using on Windows, and you have no compelling reason (for example, your hardware is older and no longer runs Windows efficiently) to switch from Windows to Linux, take a look but think before you make the jump. The jump isn't trivial.
