Your Windows 10 PC will soon be 'junk' - users told to resist Microsoft deadline

That's the thing. I love to use Linux for work, but when I don't want to tinker it sometimes sucks for gaming.

iGPU+dGPU, esp with Nvidia is pretty bad on Linux. It's pretty flawless these days if you're using only one vendor and it isn't Nvidia.

Yep. And then there’s gamepass. I vastly vastly prefer working and using Linux day to day, but games, man. Man’s gotta be able to game after a long day at work and I wasted literally a week of after work hours trying and failing to get Starfield to run on Proton.

I would probably rather get a gaming console for the TV to game.

What game was it?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about banks during my time as a developer, it’s that they’re on the oldest version of windows they can get to run.

This, many businesses will consider Linux for various devices.

It'll likely start as "Oh we can use it to deploy for, this this and this, and avoid putting Windows here and here, to save X dollars" as certain applications in business are not available on Linux, but others will be. It will be a slow transition in the business world. But they will do it.

When asked to choose between convenience and security, a lot of people will choose convenience. Staying on the computer you already have as long as it seems to work fine is very convenient. I still occasionally see computers running Windows 7 for no reason other than that the owner can't be bothered to make a change.

But refusing to upgrade me to 11 is an anti-problem...

Hey, can you elaborate? I switched my couple year old Windows 11 laptop to Linux a few months back, and no matter what I can't get sleep to work. After doing research, apparently this is a common issue with Linux on laptops.

I eventually got hibernate to work, so I have it do that instead, but regular sleep would be nice...

how do you manage all your files and settings?

I don't. I just use a separate drive for /home. And since I just prefer KDE no matter which system I'm using, all my files, settings, layouts, panels, etc are exactly the same whenever I switch out the OS.

Typically your personal files and app settings are stored somewhere in your user home folder, eg under /home/bob/. Ideally you've set up your system in a way so that the entire /home/ folder is stored on its own disk or partition at least. That let's you boot up a different distro while using the same home directory. But even if you haven't set it up separately from the rest of the system, you can still manually copy all those files.

Not every single application setting is transferable between distros as they sometimes use different versions but generally it works well. Many apps also let you manually export profiles or settings and reimport them elsewhere later. Or they have online synchronization baked in.

You can have a separate partition for your files so that you change only your OS. Even with windows. This way you'll always keep your files and just need to customize your distro and reinstall your apps when you change between distros

Yeah i kept my files on a seperate drive and just wiped the one with the os. for settings i was trying a different distro and desktop enviroment so those where always a bit different and i started from scratch

arch is basic. It's just minimalise by default.

It has an amazing wiki, extremely active and helpful user forums, and an installer (i think now) or at least a massively helpfully customised shell for initial setup.

you can install arch and make it look like mint or whatever easily, then the only difference is pacman and the amazing AUR

It's not like he's compiling Linux from scratch on day one. Arch is pretty well supported and has a package manager.

Lol i hear this alot about arch users and as a newbie i dont get it. It has been the easiest for me to understand, maybe its the documentation idk i started with endavourOS as well which is a great beginner OS for arch IMO

I started with an Arch-based distro and haven't looked back (EndeavorOS. Though I guess it's kind of like Arch easy mode). I have a family member that has been daily driving Linux for over a decade, so that was very helpful during the transition. But after a week or two, I haven't needed his help at all.

My laptop that previously ran Windows 11 is faster than ever.

And yet Proton/Wine are able to handle unique fixes for some new games to make them work even better on Linux.

Just be aware, Linux is not windows.

As a funny aside, the reverse is also true. My first IT job that involved system administration I kept trying to treat the windows servers like I would Linux servers and that just doesn't work so well. Especially if you're making heavy use of powershell sessions and the administrative capabilities of powershell it can be really jarring when it works like Linux until it doesn't

Steam works in Linux, guy. The functionality of buying/downloading/playing games doesn't change between Windows and Linux. There's nothing additionally complicated about it (aside from occasionally switching from regular Proton to GE-Proton for better performance, and that's 3 clicks).

Honestly it is actually a tablet like computer which I use for reading stuff mostly, so I am not gonna pay money for something I already paid money for. I find the idea of having to pay for a new OS after I have already paid for it quite obscene (my main computer is in Linux). Imagine buying a phone and then having to pay money each time for the newer Android version, it is ridiculous. I would install Linux on it but I am not %100 sure I would be able to get some hardware such as touch screen running.

I would say its a more mixed bag for most consumer level end users. On one hand yes, no more updates. On the other hand, no more new vulnerability and day 0 exploits. I think the risk is also mitigated a bit by now using a non standard OS. Unless someone is targeting this user individually who is running anything targeting windows 8 (Most would target the biggest pool of users)?

For an organization, yeah big risk. For some person? eh, just back up often and make sure your two factor etc. is working.

🥇

yea it was overkill enough to make me look into if connect supports always opening links external so I can have my ad block lol

I'd consider myself a nerd but still prefer Windows.

Some years ago I was in a Vocational college for IT and I had to deal with Ubuntu, Debian and Opensuse. I hated every second of it. I also had to deal with iMacs but that's another story.

Just follow the handy dandy Microsoft guide to installing Linux https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/linux/install

But seriously. Yes, it's true that installing a new OS is a level of effort the average person is unlikely to want to put in. But they're going to have to start because I believe the situation this Windows monopoly is causing is far worse than it appears on the surface.

It's estimated that around half of PCs in the world won't be able to run Windows 11 https://www.computerworld.com/article/3657628/more-than-half-of-pcs-cant-upgrade-to-windows-11-report.html

Sure, a good chunk of those machines probably can't even run Windows 10. They'll still be on earlier versions of Windows, even going back as far as XP in some cases.

Because of the "latest Windows" benchmark PCs depreciate only slightly slower than bananas. Part of the reason I got into Linux as a young and poor nerd was because it could run on much older and significantly cheaper hardware. But most people and organisations aren't going to bother trying to resell their computers for the measly sum they'd get when they bite the bullet and upgrade, adding millions of still perfectly usable machines to the ever building toxic soup of e-waste and using more resources than necessary when creating new Windows compatible devices.

On top of that those who are unable or unwilling to upgrade end up with an OS full of more holes than swiss cheese that diminishes cyber security for everyone.

At this point, not switching to Linux (which is really the only viable Windows alternative) and getting the longest lifespan possible out of your hardware in a safe way is frankly irresponsible.

Nah fam, mint's a gamechanger

The installation has always been easy enough for me, but what I struggle with is updating drivers and installing new software. Granted, I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, so there's that. I did really like the insane variety of distros and all the needs they cater to. Like if there's something specific you need your OS to specialize in, there's probably a Linux distro for it.

I switched from Win 10 to Ubuntu this year. The Ubuntu installer was easy as hell. I'd argue easier than windows.

It got tricky when I needed the non-latest CUDA drivers for pytorch fun, but most folks won't be doing development.

Also, most folks don't install windows. They'll give it to their nerd nephew or their local Compu-Hut.

My biggest gripe is Snaps can make for confusing permission bullshit when saving files or using the clipboard, but this isnt a debate about snaps... the installer is great

I disagree with this because for 20 years both the Ubuntu and Debian GUI installer ran like a practical joke from hell. Even Linus himself said he couldn't get it to work. Only Debian really improved while Ubuntu continues to somehow explode every time I try it

Every other distro besides hardcore ones like Gentoo and Arch have pretty basic installers that greatly outshine the crappy windows 8/10/11 setup screen.

Fedora has an auto installer tool so all you really need is a USB and not some magic funky thing called rufus.

There's even entire DE setups dedicated to looking and functioning exactly like windows to the point that the average person wouldn't even recognize nor care to know the difference.

Yes actually getting someone to replace an OS is hard no matter how easy you make it because it involves doing something unknown or new. But by the same token, we used to run DOS and install windows from floppy disks like it was no big deal back before windows owned the desktop market. Talk to anyone who was a college student in the 90s and they'll probably recognize the word UNIX, even in unrelated non CS fields.

Installing Linux has been painless for over a decade, its as easy as clicking next. You're telling me Windows users can handle all the stupid bullshit Microsoft throws at them, but a couple different icons and a different name is really gonna stop them from understanding the basic desktop metaphor that has been in use since the 90s?

It's actually not a big lift for "normies", and I'm considering switching my parents to Linux after Win10 support ends. They don't really know how to use Windows, so I just have to pre-install a Linux that looks similar (probably Mint) and then put Firefox, Libre Office and VLC shortcuts in the same place they expect. As long as Firefox still can get them to youtube and facebook, it doesn't really matter what the rest of the OS can do. I'll have to find an alternative remote support solution though.

https://github.com/hakuna-m/wubiuefi

My 11 year old son does his homework and research on Linux Mint. After that, he sometimes plays some Minecraft or Valheim with his friends or does some drawings on his graphics tablet and listens to music or audio drama on Deezer. What else does your mom, that she cannot use Linux Mint?

What do you mean bro? Linux runs a shit ton of games and some even better than windows.

Are you stuck in 2015?

My fiancée's games all run much better on Debian (with KDE) than on Windows.

Not until game companies embrace Proton(-GE) and Steam Deck.

The only modern games I've ever had issues with were a few select DX12 games (and that's due to my GPU). Outside of that, some old games outside of Steam game me trouble, but that's usually just a matter of fiddling with some settings in Lutris. Even then, those are usually games that also have trouble on modern Windows versions, and they often require less tweaking on Linux to get them running.

Or anyone reliant on Office for their job

K

Imagine trying to get Windows legally lol. This provides a much better solution.

Can you ping me if they tell you? I would also like to know

It was regarded as good in the beginning, at least in comparison to Windows 8. In the beginning it ran leaner than Win7

Then update after update it got more and more bloated and unstable, more crammed with ads, etc. Windows 10 aged very poorly imo.

I still had plenty of frustrations with it. I ended up switching to Linux finally last year when it became clear Microsoft was going to force my pc to update to 11.

It shouldn't be accepted that any version of Windows was good

90210 beverly hills

I wish wine would work and as for running a vm it would be a pain on my shitty laptop. My best sollution would just be to get more torage but I a broke bch

I think I am. Microsoft software is low effort low quality shit from a near evil company that people actually pay for. I think they should switch.

So if you're using Windows, install Linux. Not only will you objectively behave a better system, it will be free and you won't be sponsoring a fucked up company.

How is that for adding tot he discussion?

Yup, i run a 9900k with a rx6900, perfectly fast computer, can't upgrade to 11.

That is a problem absolutely. Anything older than 8th gen Intel or 2nd gen Ryzen is cut off, which will be less than 10 years old in 2025. I get why they're doing that, but for a lot of people that is nothing but a hassle.

One amongst many fixes is to install Linux and have a great computer

Windows 10 came out in 2015 and eighth gen Intel and 2nd gen Ryzen came out in 2018. So it would be 7 years of support unless you bought an older computer then.