~ 90 days ago my Windows computer system crashed and burned. Microsoft pushed an update that corrupted the system and rendered it unrecoverable. I had back-ups so reinstalling the operating system and restoring the files would have been an adequate solution, albeit a pain-in-the-ass. I didn't go that route though. I was irate and didn't want to be a Microsoft Windows user anymore.

I have always been a Linux “tinkerer” and keep an extra Thinkpad with one distribution of Linux or another installed. The most recent was Pop!_OS from System76. I was so impressed by the system that I often thought, could this be a daily driver OS? I decided to answer that question when my Windows 10 system crashed and burned. Not just on a spare computer, or in a virtual machine, but on my main computer, as my everyday operating system. Will Linux work as my main computer operating system? Is 2021, finally the “Year of the Linux Desktop”?

Pop!_OS is a fantastic operating system that lives up to the hype-slogan “it just works”. Pop!_OS is sleek, polished, and aesthetically pleasing. It functions flawlessly on my Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon (5th gen) and displays accurately on an external monitor. System76 actively develops the distribution and provides fantastic support to users and the community. The few problems I've had with configurations or installations have been easily solved by System76 support or documentation published by the community. Most importantly it has been stable. I have not had a single crash or unexpected system shut down and System76 has never forced the system to auto-install updates. The Pop!_OS user experience is good.

But, I must return to Windows.