Even back to the Vista days, I always knew that once computers (and networking) get better and faster that we will end up with a bloated Operating System, doing things I don't not want it to do. Of course, nobody really gives a p00p because we all agreed to the End User Licence Agreement.
Here we are, now, with Windows 11. Where people are sticking to Windows 10 and, some, are willing to move over to Linux if/when they have to!
This is why I have always been a HUGE supporter of software freedom. Sure, some things may not be the "modern" way of doing things but at least it gives me FAR BETTER control over my computer than the p00p I see in the land of Windows.
I am not perfect and I dont always practice what I preach. I can be just as hypicritical as the next person. I have a laptop running Windows (upgraded to 11 over a year ago) only to be used for my current job. I handed by resgination today.. and I can assure you.. when that job is finally over I am replacing it with Debian!
Other than this one instance of using Windows, my other machines have all been Debian for many, many years!
I hated getting back onto Windows (10) when I purchased that laptop. The amount of p00p is an absolute joke!
I really hope we see a big spike in GNU/Linux in the coming years!
No you wont. You'll buy some hardware or software that doesn't support 10 one day and be forced to upgrade.
I've seen a company stay on Win2K for good reasons. They managed to stay away from windows XP, but they had to test each and every printer driver, even if PCL6 compatible. Then they landed unprepared in the worst of the Vista mess because nobody tested windows version N-2 anymore.
Here to put in my love for Linux plug. Manjaro XFCE for older machines is nice. Manjaro KDE if you have a decent machine with lots of RAM. Rolling updates, so as things are new, you have them. Install from community repos (AUR) and installs straight from Github for latest.
MX Linux is debian (remember debian is 5 versions behind but stable, and audited repos). Lightweight, makes a decent little hacker station.
ZorinOS is great for the casual user. I've previously found myself in "flame wars" here for saying it before, but I think the most Windows-like distro -- and even the one that takes it upon itself to (reasonably) auto-install packages to make it happen -- is very important to advocate for in this age of enshittification for the Windows product.
ZorinOS is/has:
- a familiar interface to Windows users;
- an easy installation process;
- several pre-installed softwares out-of-the-box;
- a storefront for auto-installs of packages and softwares;
- out-of-the-box support for Steam, Lutris, and Wine;
Off, for now... Until a future windows update post-install nag screen uses dark UX patterns to turn it on, probably as part of some other "yes, shut up, let me use my computer" button.
Despite years of random github hacks to disable forced updates, yesterday a 200GB+ file transfer was ruined by a forced Windows update I specifically said no to 30 minutes earlier. Today I'm trialling PopOS and have resolved to never install windows on bare metal again on my machines. The forced update garbage is a tipping point I'm sure now after almost 10 years.
I found the fragmentation of desktop environments frustrating, with lots of gotchas that I felt likely to lead to problems later on. A couple of days later after trying out maybe 10 distros in vmware, I eventually settled on ZorinOS. PopOS looks like it might be good with the cosmic desktop in the future. If I was going all-in on linux for work, I'd probably end up with arch and hyprland or something, but what I was looking for in the desktop environment for secondary general computing needed to be a bit more well rounded.
Tried out GhostBSD with Mate for a while, but as expected the hardware support makes it more work, e.g. USB wifi and missing drivers.
I’ve used Linux for 20+ years (on servers) and have never been satisfied enough to switch to it for my desktop PC. This move would make me seriously consider a switch for my work PC if we weren’t so dependent on Office.
My advice to young people would be to (try to) build your businesses with as little dependence on Microsoft as possible because everything is commingled to the point that switching is nearly impossible once you’re trapped.
MSTeams and outlook work perfectly online. I use libreoffice, mostly calc and writer as excel and word replacement, but must admit there is not much VBA to deal with.Nobody complained yet that a document was mangled - a huge difference compared with older libreoffice. Teams also includes office components too, but I've ignored them for 2 years now.
The one remaining nasty is msaccess. I mostly manage to avoid it, but use a terminal server if I really can't avoid it for 1 last 'application'.
So this! Office is literally the only thing keeping me on windows at this point. And its not as simple as "just use X". There is a lot friction keeping me from switching, a main one being that all my colleagues and collaborators use ut.
It's definitely pretty decent for most things... I switched my personal desktop a couple years ago, when ads in the start menu on insiders first appeared. Haven't really looked back. I'd prefer to use it for work.
I just want to highlight that this is very much an opinion. Many people switch to Linux to avoid pains that Windows inflicts on them.
Ironically it is power users that I tend to see having the most "problems" with Linux. I helped switch over several nontechnical family members to Linux, and tech support burden on me is almost nonexistent (yes, this surprised me too).
Just purchase well-supported hardware (plenty of resources online these days to determine this before you buy), and install one of the user-friendly distros such as Mint or PopOS. Never open a terminal and tinker with things. It's rock solid.
That opinion happens to be supported by large scale social experiments such as facebook. Time and time again, important aspects, such as privacy, were worsened, but their users stayed. People (as a whole) are lethargic, not masochistic.
To make things worse, Linux isn't for the desktop. You would first have to convince people that they really don't need all that Windows software, and then make Linux PCs (with a super user-friendly distro) a commodity. In the mean time, people are ditching desktop over mobile/tablet, and there is a lot of "niche" Windows/macOS software that isn't available for Linux. It just isn't gonna happen.
> Ironically it is power users that I tend to see having the most "problems" with Linux.
This is because things like web browsing, email, and light word processing are well supported by the software that's out there. The moment you get into applications for any creative endeavor except maybe programming, you run into a "Photoshop vs. Gimp" problem. The polish for the Linux apps just isn't there.
After 30 years of using and developing for Windows, the last straw was the repeated full screen ads pushing Windows 11. A couple months ago, I took the plunge and built an AMD desktop w/ NixOS. Goodbye forever Microsoft.
Now I get to look at the continued enshittification from a distance. It's still sad but at least it's no longer my problem.
How would that help? Hardly anyone cares for windows the OS, instead they care about "it runs MS office, autocad, muh gamez, photoshop, active directory, powertoys, ...".
At best you will get the same situation as with android: Manufacturers will ship skinned versions of windows with some extra features. Actual forks are almost non-existent except for amazon and maybe the Chinese market. All the actually important stuff will still be closed source, e.g. google play.
This is almost already a thing with ~~Android~~ Google Play Services and google services in general. They know where you where, when, what apps you used during that time, what notifiactions you received, how you get there and probably a lot more.
Even back to the Vista days, I always knew that once computers (and networking) get better and faster that we will end up with a bloated Operating System, doing things I don't not want it to do. Of course, nobody really gives a p00p because we all agreed to the End User Licence Agreement.
Here we are, now, with Windows 11. Where people are sticking to Windows 10 and, some, are willing to move over to Linux if/when they have to!
This is why I have always been a HUGE supporter of software freedom. Sure, some things may not be the "modern" way of doing things but at least it gives me FAR BETTER control over my computer than the p00p I see in the land of Windows.
I am not perfect and I dont always practice what I preach. I can be just as hypicritical as the next person. I have a laptop running Windows (upgraded to 11 over a year ago) only to be used for my current job. I handed by resgination today.. and I can assure you.. when that job is finally over I am replacing it with Debian!
Other than this one instance of using Windows, my other machines have all been Debian for many, many years!
I hated getting back onto Windows (10) when I purchased that laptop. The amount of p00p is an absolute joke!
I really hope we see a big spike in GNU/Linux in the coming years!