Why we run a site about Linux
Since the end of August we have been running a second site that, at first glance, has nothing to do with our day-to-day work: sexy-linux.org. It is not aimed at administrators but at people who use a computer and are slowly getting the feeling that the computer is using them.
One thing up front: the site is in German. It was written for the people we actually get asked by – in Germany, in their own language. This post explains what we built and why; the site itself will only be of use to you if you read German.
The occasion
Support for Windows 10 ran out in October 2025. Private users in the European Economic Area still get extended security updates until 12 October 2027 – but that is an extension, not a state of affairs. At the end stands the same question: a new machine, because the old one is supposedly too old for Windows 11? Or something else?
There is plenty on that question online: English-language forums, posts from 2019, and recommendations that end with “just install Arch”. What was missing was a German-language starting point that tells someone without prior knowledge honestly what to expect – including the places where it does not work out.
What is on the site
Thirteen distribution portraits. Not as a ranking, but as an attempt to explain who each variant is meant for, with pictures so you can see what you are letting yourself in for.
A Linux finder. A few questions about your own use – old laptop, gaming, office work, as little relearning as possible – and a suggestion with reasons at the end. Not a quiz, but an attempt to reproduce the conversation you would otherwise have with someone who knows their way around.
Alternatives to Windows programs. For each entry the one or two programs that have proven themselves in practice – and the points where they are weaker than the original. Adobe’s Creative Cloud does not run on Linux, and anyone who needs it professionally should know that before the switch, not after.
“Does it run?” The part that matters most to us: hardware, printers, games, programs. The answers do not come from gut feeling but from databases kept precisely for this – ProtonDB and AreWeAntiCheatYet for games, the WineHQ database for Windows programs, OpenPrinting for printers, linux-hardware.org for devices. We show the current state and say where it comes from.
Why we do it
Partly because it is how we work ourselves. Our own products are open source, our servers run Linux, and the reasoning behind that is written down on our Open Source page. Running a site that smooths the path there for others is the consistent continuation of it.
Partly because alternatives need support, not just approval. Free operating systems, free office suites, free image editing – all of it has existed for decades and is good enough. What it founders on is rarely the technology. It founders on nobody explaining, in your own language, what the first step looks like and what comes after it.
And thirdly, quite practically: we will be asked this regularly – by customers whose machines are getting on in years, and by people who ask us privately. A site we can point to is worth more than any answer typed out for the third time.
Taking part
What the site still lacks are first-hand accounts. Anyone who has the switch behind them – privately or in a company – is welcome to get in touch: what worked, what did not, what would you have liked to know beforehand? Those answers are what give a site like this its credibility, and they are exactly the ones that cannot be invented.
The site is in German, free of charge, with no account and no advertising: sexy-linux.org.