KDE Encourages Windows 10 Users to Switch to Linux
KDE Encourages Windows 10 Users to Switch to Linux
"KDE for Windows 10 Exiles" is a new KDE initiative inviting Windows 10 users to switch to Linux and the Plasma desktop.
It starts off strong: "Upgrade your software, not your computer". This is a great slogan that says exactly the right thing.
That said, I do not think the message should start off with such heavy fear-mongering. "Your computer is toast" is too much. A lot of people are going to immediately discount everything you say after that as biased and untrustworthy. Too much, too soon in the pitch.
Simply start off by saying that Windows 10 EOL is coming October 14. Simple. Factual. Accurate. Potentially educational. Ask " Did you know that a new computer running Windows 11 is not the only option? Installing KDE Plasma and Linux on your current computer may be a better choice." Honestly, it should be about as long as I have written here and then get into the benefits.
The emphasis should be on selling Plasma and Linux, not on bashing Windows. That said, the "what you will miss" section does raise good points that should be much earlier in the pitch. Switching means "no ads", "no registrations", "no subscriptions", more control over updates and app choices, less spyware, and fewer viruses. Again, you do not have to directly slam Windows, just emphasize that these are benefits that Linux / Plasma user enjoy. I would not say "what you will miss". I would say "what will you get".
I think it is not only ok but important to be honest that switching will take some effort. Highlight that, no matter what you use your computer for, there are apps available for KDE and Linux to do what you need. In many cases, they are the same apps you use already. However, it will also be common that the Windows apps you use today are not available and you will need to use something new. You do not have to hide from that. But do not make it sound so scary or even inevitable. The last person that I switched to Linux used Thunderbird and Firefox as their two most used applications. Most of the rest of what they did (other than printing) is web based. For them, the switch was not about using new applications at all. A better approach may be a sister site asking what software they use now and identifying alternatives so they can self-assess how difficult a transition might be. If this is done, it should be a in a resources or next steps section at the end. Do not link them away from the pitch.
Absolutely say that many Windows games run on Linux via SteamOS and Proton. Gamers are a big demographic.
It is at this point in the presentation that I would emphasize more strongly that staying on Windows 10 is not really viable longer term. People will have to switch, even if it is to Windows 11. Do you you want to switch your operating system or your computer? Get back to that excellent tagline. I think this question hits harder after you have done some convincing that KDE / Linux might work for them. There are benefits to moving to Linux. You cannot avoid the pain of leaving Windows 10. If you are going to go through a disruption, now is the time to try an alternative. And with that thought, really drive home that the economic side of the equation. On Linux, nobody will force you to pay for software unless you want to. On Linux, nobody will force you to buy a new computer unless you want to. Time to say no to Microsoft and take control of your computer. You cannot send this strong message until you have made people "feel" why they would want to.
The "for the technically minded" should be near the end. I think it is fine to mention it. Perhaps the spin should be that you will never outgrow Linux as even very technical users will find all they need. In fact, most of the technology industry and "the cloud" are driven by Linux already. It could be spun less as "Linux is really complicated" and more "those in the know have already made the switch". Then emphasize again that it is friendly enough for everyone. And then maybe finish off with direction on how to get started and where to get help.
Overall though, great to see the Linux community trying to take advantage of this opportunity. The message will reach some people. Even the Windows magazine article slamming the KDE initiative is marketing that will educate more Windows users that there even is another alternative. Great stuff.
I love the blunt title of "... for Windows 10 Exiles", though I wonder if it will rub people the right or wrong way when reading it.
Now, don’t get me wrong, but all the hype around the so-called “apocalyptic” October 14 feels a little overblown.
I agree somewhat - the date itself is not that big of a deal, as it's just a date that Microsoft has set in order to have a spesific time to keep as a reference for when they have their last support push for Windows 10:
Windows 10 will reach the end of support on October 14, 2025. At this point technical assistance, feature updates and security updates will no longer be provided.
This doesn't mean that it will immediately be defunct or a serious security risk. But from this point on, the more time that passes, the higher is the likelyhood of security holes being found (and used), that will not be patched.
Windows 11 has proven itself to have - a - lot - of - anti-features. Being forced to choose between having to deal with those, or change the entire system which you've grown so very used to, can be a rather difficult decision for many. KDE trying to ease the transition I think is appreciated by many who find themselves stuck in this choice. Or at least to give Linux a try.
I wonder if some distro couldn't give a plug-and-play experience for people who don't want the extra security of having to use root and who don't want extra customization.
Just wall off the sensitive areas and mimic the experience of Windows, but with newer, open software.
I'd say Linux Mint, ZorinOS, and Manjaro Linux are all viable options for Windows users who want an easy transition. Although I don't think any distro will ever be considered a "plug-and-play" experience. There are varying degrees of user-friendliness, but if one wants user-friendliness like not having to do root/sudo actions even once, I think one might be better off with MacOS..? Though from what I've heard, the main reason Windows users are looking towards Linux and not MacOS is exactly because of the ability to customize more than just the wallpaper (and also the entire boycott US movement).
I went to Linux because it was free and available. I used Linux Mint 22.1 Ubuntu and I didn't find it easy.
I think it would be helpful to have a central resource with docs and forums tied in to an AI, so you could type in the problem and get an answer without having to resort to search engines - which are getting worse and worse.
I think people are more likely to give up the security of not having constant admin access if they could get the same software they do now.
As I said in the wall of text above, going "oh, by the way, all your software won't work, but you will find alternatives" is a massive dealbreaker. It's one thing to bring people over to Linux, but trying to do that AND transition people to a full open source environment is a crazy overreach. A Linux distro focused on being Windows-like by offering closed software out of the box and better options for a click-and-play Windows compatibility layer would be way more appealing to many. You can work on their open source bona fides once they are inside the ecosystem.
Isn't this possible with an atomic distro?
Ten years ago, an employer gave me a Windows desktop and I did my earnest to make it my work laptop. I think I gave up when I realized the OS didn't allow me to use custom hotkeys and I "needed" a tool for it that will be running, capturing my keystrokes ;).
KDE is fantastic, not as lean as other desktops, but very stable and feels as premium as a MacOS equivalent, but way more customizable. It has the same pitfalls as Gnome, with some kwin scripts, widgets and extensions jeopardizing your stability and becoming memory hungry hippos, but also being harder to spot than their equivalent in Sway or others. But IMO it lacks the issues I faced with Gnome with each upgrade (I miss a stable PaperWM).
How exactly do they plan on getting this message to the people who need to see it most? It's not like Windows has KDE installed, and your average PC user isn't checking out the latest KDE news. So how are they going to see it?
The ad writes itself: NO ONEDRIVE.
I don't begrudge KDE for fishing for converts. It's a perfectly reasonable idea and hey, already more structured marketing than most Linux initiatives ever get around to deploying.
The page does highlight some of the contradictions in the W10 EoL being the great big hope for a major Linux transition for average users. For one thing... yeah, it won't seem like all those computers keep working, they will keep working. Indefinitely. Having to explain to people that their perfectly working computer is actually not working despite all available evidence is a bit of an issue.
The whole page is a who's who of flawed arguments Linux advocates keep impotently making at Windows users. It may be more useful as a guide for the things Linux contributors should be focusing on fixing than as an outreach tool.
Just for a few examples:
Yeah, who the hell is out there SSHing into their web server "to update their blog" but needs to be talked down like a toddler to convince them to try out Linux? This is a mythical beast of an user that does not exist.
Right, that's a big red flag right there for any normie or semi-tech literate professional with a set workflow.
Nobody wants to ask any questions. Users want to be hand-held by their interface, not a community. Definitely not the Linux community (see the inevitable set of comments soon to materialize below this as an example).
This is a massive dealbreaker for a whole bunch of people, for understandable reasons.
This is simultaneoulsy an over and understatement. You can very likely access your old Windows drives from Linux, but it's janky enough that this piece of advice makes sense. Plus you're very likely to squash a bunch of your storage when installing Linux anyway. And when you think about the idea of pulling a couple of terabytes out of your machine just to copy them back over to the exact same drive this seems like a bit more of a hassle than presented.
I haven't thought about this particular issue in a while because I'm set up so it doesn't matter much to me when I install either OS, but... yeah, someone should find a better solution to this.
However, every single tutorial and guide you read will tell you to update all right at the top with the compulsive zeal of a puppy who has just smelled a hidden treat. You may not grow to be as annoyed by this as I am... but if you do, know that I see you.
Again, I am on board with the initiative. I just think there is a bit of denial about both the upcoming demise of Win10 and about how viable this transition process is for the types of users stuck in Win10 at the end of 2025. The entire document is an accidental admission of the gaps that still exist and I would love for it to become a roadmap of things to improve more than a pitch at this void Venn diagram of hypothetical users. If the caveats they list here get fixed it will take remarkably less coaxing to bring users over next time.
At least it's honest. I really dislike when linux is presented as a drop in replacement for windows where everything will just work how you're used to, because it does require re-learning new software and workflows.
Agreed. It serves as a bit of a backlog for that reason, and that's a more honest approach than pretending everything is sorted already.
To be fair, a lot of the things you listed are impossible for KDE to fix. You can't make every single windows program work on Linux, you shouldn't make KDE have exactly the same workflows as Windows, KDE isn't gonna make it easier/better to install Linux on NTFS, and they have no control over tutorials that instruct people to update their software - How could any of these be used as a roadmap?
Alright, so add that to the top of the pile of issues, then.
The fact that the current development structure producing Linux and its distros/DEs can't solve those issues doesn't justify the issues. End users won't give Linux a pass, they just want this stuff to work.
Yeah, the fact that you have to use different software is the main reason people don't switch.
People making an informed choice about linux vs windows are a minority, the majority just don't realize switching is even an option let alone have the technical know-how to go through with it. As long as windows comes pre installed, nothing will touch its hegemony.
Agreed. I’ve recently switch from Win10 to Gnome 3 briefly (LOL) then to KDE.
Some stronger selling points would be:
Hah. I don't know if you want to point at the display drivers as an advantage yet. Would be nice, though.
And hey, what's wrong with Gnome? I use Gnome right now. The endless arguments about how Linux is so customizable but whatever customization choice you made is clearly wrong are definitely part of the issue.
Windows 10 going EoL, Windows 11 having spyware and not supporting legacy BIOS options (so I didn't upgrade sooner) were all three big reasons I am on Linux now on my primary desktop computer.
Cool, mr. Unicorn. You are a small minority of a small minority, though. I do have lots of questions about whether you would have upgraded to 11 given the chance, or about when you intend to get a new PC, and whether you'd switch to Win 11 then, or about why you didn't try the workarounds for the compatibility issues, or why you aren't trying the options to extend the support on Windows 10, or whether the spyware thing would have been enough and so whether you'd have switched regardless. Because you sure sound like a guy who would have tried Linux before. "Why I am on Linux on my primary desktop computer" is... very specific wording.
But taking you at your word you're still 2% of 2%. Of 2%, given that you're on Lemmy. Except you seem to be on programming.dev, so... of 2%?
People that do these sorts of remote work via GUIs exist. But yes, the switch is likely pretty obvious to them. I for one used to do it with Minecraft server stuff, I had FileZilla; Dolphin pretty much replaced that instantly for me. MUCH later, scripts replaced Dolphin.
Is it though? They'd face the same issues switching to MacOS. There's no point in lying that some of their favorite programs may not work. I still miss Paint.net though GIMP has grown on me a lot.
Nobody is going to leave their old Windows files on their OS drive AND install Linux unless their goal is to dual boot (and that's clearly not who this is for).
The entire file system needs to be replaced in the process of installing Linux, so there's no "somebody should find a better solution to this." The only way to do it would be to relocate and resize partitions as files are copied ... and that's incredibly dangerous. Not to mention attempting to guess what files are important to the Windows user has a high probability to fail.
This advice is good. You should regularly copy stuff you care about to an external hard drive and ideally use a backup program anyways. SSDs don't fail as fast as HDDs did, but it will happen someday (or very well could).
Yeah, I've never liked this as an argument for Linux. People should update software (at least when there's a security related issue) ... for the exact same reason they should ditch Windows 10. However, as you said "Having to explain to people that their perfectly working computer is actually not working despite all available evidence is a bit of an issue."
Many people prefer to roll the dice with those issues.
They exist, but they already know that Linux is an option. It's not a selling point, it's a bit of an echo chamber about how it's possible to do the things you already know every OS can do. If you're messing with those things you've been in a million tutorials with segments on how to do stuff in Win/MacOS/Linux over the years.
If GIMP has grown on you a lot you probably should check with a doctor about that. Because ew.
I think it is. The scale to which you'll have to swap software solutions is way larger in Linux, which is why nobody is writing the same advice for Windows or Mac marketing. I'd argue Mac-to-Windows will lose you more options, but either way the expectation is that the software will be there for you or that you'll have a better alternative that is an actual selling point. "Come over and see if you can find a viable alternative to all your work software" is a huge dealbreaker.
Isn't it, though? I mean, I get why you wouldn't float that option when you're trying to push people to move over entirely, but... that's definitely an option.
Well, yeah, but you're describing the problem, not a solution. Let's say that there is no technical solution to preserve a data drive across OSs (there is, but hey). That's an inconvenience, at best, a major problem at worst. In a world where Windows will update you without messing with your partitions and even a clean install will preserve your separate data drives (which Windows has encouraged splitting from the boot drives for a while), this is a reason why you'd be discouraged to take on the more finicky, annoying process of moving everything over to Linux. Especially if you don't know if you're going to like it and may have to move everything back.
Yeah, I've always been torn about Windows' approach to updates because of this. I do want automatic updates. I don't want to have to remember to manually check for and fire off updates. Especially when the longer you wait the more of a gamble it becomes that something will have broken after you're done.
This became a meme on Windows because their early implementations of Windows update were insanely blunt and annoying. Nobody wants their computer to reset in the middle of a presentation or a game. I'd say that an automated reminder to update or an update scheduler are not inherently a bad thing, though. For big sysadmins that will only update what's strictly necessary you want the option of manual updates, but for desktop users who typically will want to be on latest for everything? Just letting their computers update overnight or on every reboot isn't the worst idea ever.