End of 10: Replace Windows 10 with Linux

When CoPilot showed up in my start-menu un-announced, I seriously thought about it.

When MS announced their AI Screen-recording feature, I made the leap. Full deep-end, no safety net, I backed up any crucial data to my NAS and pulled the trigger on linux mint.

No regrets. I run older hardware (2060 gpu and a Ryxen 7 2700, and I can still play most of my Steam Library at more than acceptable frame-rates.

Yes, I lost access to a few pieces of software that I used sparingly. But I highly recommend the switch.

Friendly Reminder: Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC ^{Long Term Service Channel} will be hardlined updated and supported until 2032.

You can use MASgraves to get an ISO, and registration (... also used for activation of things like this... for testing, of course).

I’ve been very frustrated with Windows lately for all the obvious enshitification reasons. But one constant annoyance that has been my soap box for nearly a decade is how bad Windows is at managing audio devices.

“Oh you plugged in your PS5 controller that you’ve repeatedly told me not to use as an audio device? Got it boss, I’ll just go ahead and disable your dedicated microphone and audio interface in favor of that.”

This alone is finally making me want to make the switch. I’m sure Linux won’t be amazing in that regard (it’s been a long time since I’ve used Linux outside of work), but I’m willing to give it a try.

I'm....a bit tepid about this sort of promotion of Linux as an alternative. Not as a user, but as a developer.

It took developing desktop software full time to realize how utterly bonkers of an idea distro-based software distribution is. As a user, it's certainly convenient. However, I feel like this extra layer of indirection creates more problems than it solves:

• I no longer have any control over the release cadence of my software. If I fixed a bug in version X, but their distro only packages version X-1, is the user just out of luck?
• What if the packaging process might break my software in a subtle way that I don't notice until someone bothers to report it as a bug?
• What if the distro links my software against dependencies that I never tested it with, or even intended for it to be used with?
• How do I stop package maintainers from arbitrarily changing the package around, such as removing functionality for spurious reasons.
• Despite all of this, the developer is expected to be the first resort when it comes to filing a bug, as opposed to the package maintainer. How are the distro's problems now assumed to be my problems until proven otherwise?
• How many packages is the package maintainer actively maintaining? What kind of quality control can we expect? If there's a problem, how soon can they fix it?
• What if the distro refuses to package my software out of principle, because I choose not to open-source it? Microsoft doesn't care if I can run open source programs on Windows, why the resistance to running closed source apps on Linux?

I would go so far as to argue that Linux's biggest successes are instances where distro packaging was circumvented. Servers? Use Docker. Games? Use WINE/Proton. Android? APK's use vendored libraries for anything beyond the basics.

IMHO, Distro packages should only be used for software and dependencies necessary for the operating system to function, plus a few low-impact utilities. People should not be installing LibreOffice or GIMP from their distro.

Thankfully, it seems like Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage are the light at the end of the tunnel we've been waiting for, but like most new things on Linux it's nowhere near ubiquitous, there are growing pains, and it has a small but vocal contingent of folks who oppose it on principle.

I have at least three computers that are used daily, which Windows 11 won't support and I've already begun the migration of one of them over to Linux; an older desktop with an i5-2500k and a 1070 and so far all the games my kids will want to play on it work very well.

That said, intend to stick with 11 on my personal laptop. I recently ran Linux Mint as my daily OS and kept encountering pretty minor, but annoying issues. I'm not sure if it's a function of being on my particular laptop (Thinkpad P1) or what, but I grew tired of repeatedly having to solve a new issue (or sometimes not at all) after the last one, especially when a lot of the stuff I was having problems with work just fine I'm Windows.

I'm thinking that Linux will go great on these other computers where I'm not so particular about things, given it's worked so well on the very old desktop like I mentioned and I'm excited to keep my various machines in service when Microsoft thinks they're eWaste. I do so many things with old hardware, it's maddening to think I'm expected to just throw it out and get a new one.

I may eventually try Linux again, but on my main desktop, given it shouldn't have the issues my laptop had with it, but I haven't wanted to make the jump yet, as it'll require a decent amount of setup and migration of a lot of data.

Once Valve officially releases a SteamOS ISO I'll install it on my gaming desktop. That's my only remaining holdout. Valve needs to strike while the iron is hot and release it soon.

IoT/LTSC Windows 10 is a thing.
Would recommend trying Linux either way, but if you have to use Windows, I'd look into those.

I've been a computer enthusiast since 1987 when our family got our first box.

I've seen a lot of change in the past nearly 40 years. I remember other times when there was great pushback against something.

I think the pushback against Windows 11 is largely a combination of those running hardware that won't support it - which is understandable - and, to a large degree, the standard online amplification of frustration.

It seems like about every other major version of Windows, there's a whole bunch of energy spent in the discussion of the death of Windows.

I don't see it happening with Windows 11.

Microsoft is, of course, a for-profit company, so they are always trying to increase money. They try things, keep what works for them, drop what doesn't. Some things benefit us users, other things don't.

That has happened for literally decades now, and will continue to happen.

In my humble opinion, Windows 11 is not significantly moreso than any other version of Windows. and I say this as someone who has used it for..... months, at least. I don'tremember exactly when I upgraded to it now.

My secondary/backup computer runs 10, and my primary runs 11. To me, there is not a significant difference. Some stuff with the taskbar, sure. Various things that change from version to version. For some things I have installed tweaks.

In addition to a few annoyances, I see many improvements. I mean, not ground-breaking stuff, but some things that make things a little easier.

And while I could think back to the leap from 3.x to '95, I think more people will remember Windows 8 and the task screen, or whatever they called it when the start menu took over your entire monitor. That really frickin annoyed me, although I got a bit more used to it, and I did like some things about it. If they have tweaked it some more, I think it could have gotten better.

Although frankly, currently use a PowerToy tool (which I have previously used third party software for this functionality) such that I hit ALT-SPACE and start typing the thing I want - programs, documents, open programs - andit'll switch to it or openit. For me, that's just the incredibly quick way to accompish that task. So I don't care much what the Start menu looks like anymore. I don't use it.

So anyway. To me, the annoyances are a constant bit of noise - I'm not calling them invalid, just saying they are not significant drivers of people seeking alternatives. And those who can't run 11 - those numbers will drop as hardware is replaced.

Now, all THAT said, I'm all for efforts like this. I personally love Linux. I have run it as my desktop from time to time over the years, and it continues to improve. For the last decade, it's been pretty darned good.

I keep running into reasons that Windows works better as my daily driver.

but I'm almost o the point of having both my machines running here on my desk, and I plan to dual-boot my secondary once I get my primary fixed and running again; and I will run Linux on the secondary, just keeping Windows around if my main goes down.

I don't think Linux is ready for everyone, but we're getting closer to that being possible. I do think we're well past the point that for grandma, it's perfect and better as long as kidlings or grandkidlings can come reset things when they break.

And I hope more people play with it. I love many many things about Linux.

but I also really like many many things about Windows. Even Windows 11.

And I understand that the annoyances people have with things are truly annoying. Sometimes to a small subset of users; sometimes to a large subset of users.

So I applaud this. But it will not be the end of Windows.

I switched to Linux mint last summer. It’s been working fine so far except I tried a dual boot for a while which didn’t work out.

I have a question for someone who has been using Linux for at least a few years. Do you notice problems with the hard drive after a while? I know someone who switched back to windows after a few years and noticed a performance improvement. He thinks it’s because Linux didn’t manage disk fragmentation properly. He may have been wrong, but is it common to need defrags like we used to do on windows years ago?

While I appreciate the sentiment, the best they can do is capture a chunk of the home user market. I'd even go so far as to say that gaming is the final holdout, and that's falling. I can promise you that absolutely no corporation is looking at switching from Microsoft to Linux on the desktop, for reasons I've shared before. Small businesses with small IT needs can do it (and should, to save a ton on the Microsoft tax), but not big firms with large scale networks. Microsoft still has a lock on their cash cows.

I had been considering making the switch for a while, but I had this idea in my head that my setup was already pretty duct-taped together. I imagined trying to get things working in the way I wanted on Linux would be too much of an ordeal, and put it off.

I came into an old laptop recently. It was about 10 years old, running Windows, and struggling. For a lark, I thought I'd try installing Linux Mint on it and seeing how it went. The laptop was still pretty chuggy, so I swapped out the old HDD for a new SSD, and now it's a perfect little web browsing device. More importantly though, Mint proved easier to set up than I expected.

Emboldened by my recent successes, and having seen posts like this, I figured I'd try setting up a partition on my main computer and seeing how it went. I wasn't able to spare much space for the partition, though, and struggled to find games I could install to really test it out. Spec Ops the Line worked, which was heartening?

At this point, I figured it'd be about as much effort to just back up what I needed (lucky I have this new old laptop), wipe the whole drive and jump in. So that's what I did, and things for the most part have gone really well.

I had a lot of false starts trying to figure out if my gamepads would work, but have seemingly got them working pretty well. I even got them working in Minecraft Java Edition, much to the relief of my children.

Pretty much every game I've tried has run fine with minimal tinkering. I can't crack Final Fantasy VII Rebirth though, which is a bit of a bummer, because I've still played barely any of it.

Honestly, I feel a bit like the 'I have no idea what I'm doing' dog still. But I keep plugging away at things when they don't work right away, and they mostly end up working out -- even if I have no idea what I've actually done. And it's pretty satisfying when you manage to overcome an obstacle.

Start of 10 didn't make much of a dent and that was when MS really visibly started on this path.

Linux was very usable then and nowadays I consider most of the problems with Linux something that it can't fix. For example I don't think installation can physically be easier without it being literally preinstalled as Windows is but it is a massive barrier for most people for some reason. The idea of places to do the installation for the user may make a dent in that reason if there are enough of them(not currently), they are visibly trustworthy and they are willing to take at least limited responsibility for the installation(massive pain for them).

My wild guess is that there would have to at least more than 10% of desktop Linux marketshare for there to be visibly increased support from third parties, be it hardware vendors or software developers which is currently one of the main barriers for adoption. So maybe this latest push from MS will mean it gets closer to that or maybe we'll have to wait for 12 at which point I don't consider safety net like features or hw locks likely enough to not be present, increasing friction further.

I’ve mentioned it in other threads, but I really believe that the fact that there’s no DE that tries to be a 1:1 Windows analogue everywhere except the command line is seriously dampening the number of switchers. You could even cash in on the nostalgia angle by offering compatibility with XP and 7-era msstyle themes.

Furthermore I believe that a Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora based distro that comes with this DE preinstalled would make big waves and potentially even go viral. It essentially creates a button to install modernized XP/7 which a lot of folks would hit if such a thing existed.