'Bad for consumers [and] bad for the planet,' PIRG says of Microsoft's decision to end support for Windows 10 in 2025, even though an estimated 1 billion PCs can't upgrade to Windows 11.
As a gamer, proton/lutris still isn't quite to the point that I am ready to make the jump. It's very close though and I'm going to make the switch probably in the next 24 months.
Typically, imo, most people who aren't ready to jump to Linux are there because their top couple of games are ruled by arrogant devs/publishers who balk at the idea of ticking an "enable proton compatibility" checkbox with their anticheat.
From what I've seen Proton has hit a quality of compatibility that the games will just run, and typically better than Windows. If it doesn't run it's usually because it's too new and proton needs a patch, or the devs/publishers did the aforementioned "no, i won't tick the checkbox, it's too hard." bullshit.
Basically, if your waiting on a game to be supported for proton, it may need to wait until Linux adoption hits around 20 percent before the devs/publishers get that bullshit idea out of their head.
I have Linux on all my machines except one crappy old laptop that had Windows 10. When they EOL Win10, I'll have to buy another one like that for those rare occasions when you need to run something that just won't work in Linux.
You’re right in that this isn’t true of your typical working folks who use Microsoft 365, Sharepoint, or specialized design software.
There are a lot of folks who just use their computer for a web browser. When you tell them that their hardware, some of which is as young as 2017, will lock them out of security updates in two years, they’re pretty receptive to alternatives like ChromeOS or Linux.
For some of the older population, the simplicity of such options is a huge perk.
The year of the Linux desktop is upon us. The prophecy has been foretold by the sages of the code. A new dawn is on the horizon. A new era of freedom an power approaches as more and more disks are cleansed by the mighty forces set free by Stallmann and Torvalds. No more shall the users be enslaved by proprietary software and restrictive licenses.
The Year of the Linux Desktop is upon us, and nothing can stop it.
Man, I'm just going to say it... I'm sick of all the Linux people saying it's the solution to all problems in computing. Can we not talk about anything else here on Lemmy? This article is about Windows.
I mean, this is platform which runs on Linux and embodies the same spirit which drives Linux forward - the collaborative power of opensource software. Is shouldn't come as a surprise that there's a heavy skew of Linux and opensource enthusiasts here. If you're sick of all the Linux talk here, feel free to move to a propriety forum, perhaps one with a red alien logo.
This article is about Windows.
The article is about Window 10 becoming EOL, and given how many people are put off by Windows 11, suggesting Linux as an alternative is a reasonable comment, IMO. Feel free to argue otherwise if you feel so strong against it.
100%. I'm very happy for the people in the Linux community who have collectively supported a free and open source operating system that is effectively as good or better than the two leading OSs with massive billion dollar corporations behind them. That's unfathomably impressive, deserving of all this praise and, of course, should have wider adoption.
However
I've spent my entire life on Windows, my professional career on Mac OS, and the last dozen or so years with my phones running Android. I absolutely do not have the patience and free time to become fluent in another fucking operating system. And I've tried. On at least two occasions, I've attempted to run a media server on Linux. The experience was utterly fucking miserable and made me want to give up on technology and live in the woods. I have no doubt that I'd have a different outcome with better resources or more time to learn properly, but I'm done. Hopefully the successes of Linux drive change for the better in the other two. Linux doesn't need 100% adoption to make an impact on the way Microsoft and Apple develop their own systems.
You just need to realize that Adobe doesn't release their stuff on Linux, not because it doesn't allow them to, but Linux desktop market share is too small.
It's a chicken and egg problem. Once Adobe would release their stuff, magically there would be a massive movement to improve HDR support, color accuracy etc.
And you need to realize Microsoft achieved such a giant market share thanks to illegal monopolistic practices in 90s, that still have huge impacts today.
Well, someone could develop a new OS or a mainstream-friendly fork of Plan 9. The problem is literally over-reliance on privately-owned, proprietary software during an era where enshitification is the norm. GNU/Linux is the most mainstream-friendly OS that is not* proprietary.
*Some bits that are regularly used are obviously proprietary. See: RHEL
I'm strong on the Linux side and just swapped over my last PC from Windows. Long time it's been needing it.
But I completely agree with you. 95% of consumers would most likely have difficulty just getting it installed. Basic usage, maybe a greater number could be fine using it but once something goes wrong, no one wants to use the terminal.
Sorry but the answer is Linux. It's got great support for devices and is open source. If adobe and a few other companies would port their software for Linux there'd honestly be no reason to use Windows or Mac except for a few that prefer it.
If bsd was more popular than the answer would be that. We just need to have an open source OS as the norm
I remember Microsoft saying that Windows 10 would be the last version they would ever release and everything moving forward would just be iteration and improvement. Knew that was a lie immediately.
Microsoft never said that. Its a myth that refuses to die. A single developer on a conference mentioned something as a sidenote, the press misinterpreted it and the internet took it and ran with it.
My system significantly exceeds all the performance requirements for Win11, but it doesn't have the Trusted Platform Module 2.0...and therefore cannot run Windows 11. It's disappointing that my system can run circles around a lot of newer devices but can't upgrade because it's running on an older motherboard. It's dumb that Microsoft made TPM 2.0 a deal-breaking requirement for Win11.
IIRC if you use Rufus to make your installer USB it has a preset for Win11 with no TPM. Again, not that you'd want to go out of your way to install it but doing it that way is pretty seamless.
I'm curious what CPU you have that is on the supported list but doesn't support TPM 2.0 in firmware. Or are you just assuming the CPU support list is decided by TPM 2.0 availability?
Because most of the CPU support list is actually about hardware-accelerated virtualization features like MBEC/GMET and the performance penalties of having to emulate them when not present -- up to 40% performance loss using kernel virtualization without MBEC/GMET in particular.
assuming the CPU support list is decided by TPM 2.0 availability
This was me before I checked the compatibility app. Windows never bothered me with Windows11 update so I thought It didn't have TPM2.0+. I got curious and used the compatibility checker.
The laptop had TPM 2.1, but CPU is not compatible. oh well…
We had petitions for everything, Windows Phone, you name it a decade ago. That won’t do jack shit unless it somehow comes with some large sum of money (how much? who knows) for Microsoft or some bean counter decides “hmm, maybe the environment shouldn’t take another for the team” and gets the company to change course before they are canned.
In the meantime, let’s continue to plot our off-ramps.
A nonprofit group has sent a petition to Microsoft, urging it to extend the end-of-support date for Windows 10 beyond 2025 to prevent “the junking” of millions of PCs.
I've been using Windows 11 for a while now and honestly I don't understand the hate. Who needs personalized functionality? Who needs to be able to move their bar from screen to screen? I do. I'm moving to Linux.
Nah, I'm sticking with Win10. I wish I could've stayed with Win7. I have a huge backlog of games that will play great on Win10. Enough to last me for years (thanks steam sales.) And to be honest, I didn't pay anything for my current Win os. I'm just tired of Microsoft drastically changing the os when they shouldn't.
Trouble is, to upgrade I'd need to do a mobo upgrade, and I'm not doing another mobo upgrade any time soon.
Windows 10 wasn't great compared to 7, but I bit the bullet on that one because security updates are essential these days, and my workplace is microsoft-centric.
Windows 10s death is going to force a lot of poorer folks to consider alternatives - and let's be honest, it's going to be Linux. The majority of hardware out there in the world can't run 11, let alone a proposed 12.
Windows 10s death is going to force a lot of poorer folks to consider alternatives - and let’s be honest, it’s going to be Linux. The majority of hardware out there in the world can’t run 11, let alone a proposed 12.
For the more technically strong people, I can see that happening but I very much doubt the general public would do that. They probably don't even know what Linux is.
Yeah less savvy people are going to do what they always do, just keep running their old system but now with even more vulnerabilities due to lack of security update availability.
My dad recently asked me to help with his laptop, which turned out to be running windows xp.
After a lot of hair pulliing I got it kind of working but am gonna give him an old windows 10 (upgraded from 7) laptop, but he's probably going to be on that indefinitely.
You make a good point - it wouldn't be a landslide since Linux does form a comparatively small share of the market. However, with the hardware gating, might we not see more companies shifting, which could at least boost public knowledge of Linux?
I join you on this. Nvidia support in Linux is shitty. I kept getting crash with it and proton on GPU intensives games. And you see the games running on and flawlessly... I regret picking a Nvidia card.
I've been using Nvidia cards for decades. They work perfectly fine and I'm able to play without a hitch. Sorry to hear about your experience but it's not the norm.
Well, looks like it may be time to try and see what Linux is all about. Any good recommendations for a relatively Out of the Box experience?
I mostly just browse the web and play games (both single player and multiplayer, mostly AAA but also the occasional indie). On occasion, I also like to do some video editing in Davinci Resolve.
Very user-friendly and has a straightforward installation process, also comes with strong NVIDIA graphics driver support out-of-the-box if you are using nvidia gpu. Another advantage is the Pop!_Shop, which is akin to an app store and makes software installation easy for newcomers. The GNOME-based user interface is also intuitive and somewhat similar to Windows, easing the transition.
I'm experimenting with Pop_OS on a laptop as my daily driver after playing with different distros in VM environments over the years. There's definitely a learning curve, but so far so good.
Garuda Linux. It's based on Arch but has some extra features to make gaming and graphics setup easier. It also uses an installer so it's pretty easy to setup.
Everyone will give you a different answer and honestly it's all Linux, just find one that clicks with you and your workflow.
A couple recommendations are
fedora (workstation or KDE spin)
Open suse
Pop_OS
Vanilla OS (once 2.0 comes out of beta)
I've used all of these and they're all decent. I ended up sticking with fedora just because I had to tweak it the least to get my workflow how I want it.
I wish I could've stayed on Win2000 Pro. I got it from my brother. XP and 7 were awesome too. I've seen it posted elsewhere, but Microsoft would put out a crap os every other version. Remember win millennium edition? Vista was an abomination.
I would switch to Linux anyway. Does any one knows if SOLIDWORKS and Rhino can work in Linux? I know Maya can, and I only use that as a pipeline to convert NURBS to polygon whenever it is needed.
Krita should get better selection tool for foreground extraction, and it would be very easy to forget Affinity/PS as filters are easier to make with C++ there. No plans to use GIMP, so don't bring it up.
Also listen to all these comments about how "hurrr Linux desktop soon brother" No, it fucking isn't. Burden of usage is too heavy for most people. You know what will happen though? People will buy more devices that use Linux over Windows, like the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck made Microsoft and other vendors outright PANIC and it accounts for a fraction of users.
At least Mac's are a user-centric experience. You pay an absurd premium for pretty good-but-overpriced hardware and the software is designed to give you a good experience with limited choices. Windows actively antagonizes users with ads while charging users for the pleasure, and now they want to add a subscription fee!
What even is the value proposition for Windows these days beyond "it's what you're used to". And even that is less true than ever.