Your Windows 10 PC will soon be 'junk' - users told to resist Microsoft deadline
Your Windows 10 PC will soon be 'junk' - users told to resist Microsoft deadline
Your Windows 10 PC will soon be 'junk' - users told to resist Microsoft deadline::If you're still using Windows 10 and don't want to upgrade to Windows 11 any time soon you might want to sign a new online petition
Or just try linux. It's pretty great
I love Linux. I have it installed on 3 machines, have been using it for over 3 years, and would install it right away if I ever got a new computer.
A couple weeks ago, I was feeling pretty exhausted and just wanted to play a game thru Proton on my laptop. I got it running, but it was unplayable because it was using my integrated GPU instead of my discrete one. I spent the night switching compositors, cables, and drivers, but none of it fixed the issue.
The next day, feeling exhausted from fruitless debugging, I tried to launch another game via Proton that I knew had worked in the past, but it crashed on launch. I spent the whole day going thru the same steps I did the day before, but also consulting ProtonDB and trying software that would force usage of the dgpu.
The next day, I installed Windows 10 to an external hard drive and spent the day debloating it. Drivers got installed automatically, I downloaded both games on Steam, and they just worked. So I guess I now dual-boot Windows just for the games that don't work thru Proton. Loading game worlds and booting up take ~75% longer, but that's to be expected because it's running on a 4 year old HDD connected over a USB cable.
As mentioned earlier, I love Linux a lot, and if all games had native binaries or Proton worked 100% I'd format that god-forsaken hard drive. But when real life has got me down, I don't need Linux to get me down further. I don't like Windows, and I feel incredibly dirty whenever I press F7 on boot to get to Windows. But when my choices are "spend 8 hours on fruitless quest to get >2fps" and "press play button", I'm going to take the path of least resistance.
That's the thing. I love to use Linux for work, but when I don't want to tinker it sometimes sucks for gaming.
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.
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.
I would probably rather get a gaming console for the TV to game.
What game was it?
I work in a linux shop.
You couldn't pay me to use Windows for development, sysadmin, backend services, etc.
But on the desktop? Hell no. We maintain a modern debian desktop environment for our users, and it's a pain in the ass. Mediocre UX, mediocre integration of mixed-bag third-party apps, and too many workarounds and gotchas you need to Just Know About. I just don't have the energy.
I use windows at home, and for my underlying work environment - and I just SSH into linux boxes for the actual tappy-tappy stuff.
Mediocre UX, mediocre integration of mixed-bag third-party apps, and too many workarounds and gotchas you need to Just Know About.
You're talking about my Windows 10 experience? The european, less spying/advertising version, mind you.
If only there was an OS with an excellent graphical user interface and a direct UNIX pedigree, where you can drop into a full zsh and POSIX user land directly after install at the touch of a button.
So… today?
I’m a Linux user. Been one for a long time.
When I’m doing dev-work, shelling into remote VMs and stuff yeah I have to get nitty-gritty with the command-line.
But on my regular daily-driver OS? I only use the terminal because I want to; or sometimes I think it’s more efficient. But I haven’t absolutely needed to for a long time now.
Linux GUI has really come a long way. It’s not at MacOS level (yet), but it’s very functional and aesthetic. Give it a try.
Hundreds of commands is just not true with many distros. Everything is gui based these days. The command line is worth getting familiar with, but it’s not necessary.
If you haven't checked out linux in 5+ years, I recommend that you check out something user-friendly like Mint. No commands needed!
The time is now then!
I mean, it won't let me. Windows Update inists my PC doesn't meet the minimum spec, and I'm not inclined to argue with it.
#GleefulCompliance
You can use Rufus to install windows 11 and bypass the requirements. It does everything for you -- downloads the latest win 11 service pack, removes the blocking requirements, and you can even tell it to automatically disable all of the telemetry and phoning home. You'll still need a license key when you install, or run it on a machine that was running a valid win 10 install previously. But I'm running win 11 on an 8 year old PC with zero issues.
Here is a good guide that explains in detail.
Mine doesn't, either. Go go gadget 12 year old processor! Who knew being a cheapskate could be so beneficial?
Just follow this guide and all of your problems will be gone
But refusing to upgrade me to 11 is an anti-problem...
Is it the UEFI security thing?
TPM. Probably switched off in the BIOS or something.
Don't care, don't like what I've seen of 11, happy to wait until I'm forced to change.
Nah fuck you, I'm staying with 10 as long as I can, then I'm switching to linux
Try it on an external drive. I did that a couple years ago just to fool around and see if I liked it, within a week it was my main OS and I've barely used Windows since.
Hahaha, no you're not
I just made this exact switch a few months ago, so, yeah, it happens.
I've been using linux on my secondary machine for a couple of years now and I don't really feel the need to use Windows anymore.
all of my software just works and my workflow is cross-platform (I don't really care about which os I'm using, i can get things done regardless); but as a software developer I'd much rather use linux than spend my time managing like 6 virtual linux/unix-like environments on windows. (wsl, msys2, etc)
All of the games I care about actually work slightly better on linux than on windows. (and a single click away from installing and launching from steam); also Steam Big Picture mode and gamepad support (dualshock 4) is much better on linux than on Windows 10, on windows some features only work over Bluetooth.
i use arch btw
Tf do you know about anybody, especially on a FOSS-leaning network?
Yes I am
Fun fact: Linux is so customizable that you can run a modern GUI and software on 46mb of ram and a CPU from 1989. Don't let Microshit tell you to throw out your old PC, it's truly surprising what's possible.
Yeah but can it run signed drm in a way that the owner of the computer can't read the keys? Checkmate atheists.
Nah, fuck it, I'm switching to Linux.
Yep. Gaming is starting to work on Linux, so I will move to Linux once Microsoft cancels 10.
11 has nothing more than more telemetry and tracking going for it. Gaming is slower, so why would I upgrade for a worse experience.
I play old games still anyways. Linux is more secure than Windows 11 anyways. I won't upgrade to 11, and turned off TPM in BIOS so 11 won't automatically install.
Next computer of mine will definitely be running Linux. Only thing I'd ever need windows for is some oddly specific software that won't work on Linux because I'm too dumb to get working properly.
Lmao. This article is junk. Yew I'm sure millions of people are going to suddenly dump their PC's because they don't get security updates. Most people don't follow this at all and don't care.
And no, they're not going to magically jump to Linux as much as the Lemmy circlejerk loves to believe. If they know enough about security they probably already have looked into Linux and decided against it.
The article is typical clickbait from the Express, that's bottom of the barrel trash.
Companies are a tad different and this could be a big problem with adhering to security and patches. It's a big problem with companies doing this engineered obsolescence (stares at Apple) and making products that work trash.
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.
Why would they decide against it? I understand security and thats part of why i switched
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.
As I Linux user I can't wait for the flood of cheap perfectly good hardware from these idiots
Bonus points is that they'll probably be the last gasp of hardware consistently supporting S3 sleep too
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...
Amen brother
People will just keep trucking on Windows 10.
I've been to the swap meet prices are already falling for older PCs.
There is no way they don’t offer extended support for Windows 10. Many PCs can’t get to windows 11. Imagine all the malware infected machines that will be out there.
I worked for a large computer company in the late 90s, early 2000s. When XP came out, they said there would be no site licensing. This meant we had to keep track of license keys for thousands upon thousands of systems, costing millions. This was before KMS or anything.
"Nothing we can do," Microsoft said. "We have no gate key."
Our server farms at the time were 40% Windows NT 4, 55% Sun systems, and 5% Linux. So we said, "okay," and called Red Hat. In a year, our back end was 60% Sun, 35% Linux, and 5% Windows NT. We were already in talks to start switching to Linux workstations for desktops.
"Oh, you mean this gate key," said Microsoft.
Asshats. They lost our server business, but let us use XP with a site license.
I assume eventually they'll drop the UEFI security requirement, which is why 90% of the "can't" cases occur.
Uefi isn't the push, the push is tpm 2.0, which I think is a much much larger percentage of "incompatibilities". tpm allows for drm that is much harder to bypass, since the random number generator operates securely in hardware. It's for their benefit not yours.
My Windows install is still in compatibility mode. It's the sole reason I can't upgrade to 11, not that I want to. I can't be bothered to reinstall Windows on UEFI when there's no point anyway. I'll happily stick to 10.
Microsoft products are all about getting infected with malware. That's the whole point of this company.
Dude what ad ridden hellscape is that site, ublock pinged 45 ads on that page just on load lol
Oh that’s just the start menu
🥇
Third-party scripts disabled and it loads instantly, no ads. Funny that.
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
The day i had ads on my start page i immidiately uninstalled windows. I installed some linux distro its been like three years and ive finally settled on arch. it was hard but fuck ads on the start page and i feel smarter for it
When you swap distros, how do you manage all your files and settings? Do you just save your files externally and start from scratch every time you change a distro?
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
I was already using Linux a lot of the time when Windows 7 was out, and seeing Microsoft push ads in the start menu, as well as all the other trash and pointless changes that they included with Windows 8+ just confirmed my decision to leave the Windows ecosystem.
ive finally settled on arch.
What are you, some kind of Linux prodigy?
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.
Once ALVR becomes even remotly usable on Linux im wiping my windows partition and going full Linux (I'm already using it for everything exept VR)
The next Steam OS device is supposedly aimed at VR. I can't imagine it launching without ALVR.
It sounds like they have beta support for Linux, so it seems like it's getting there.
A bit clickbait'y. Windows 10 will still work just fine for another decade at least, even without support.
In the Enterprise we ran 10+ year old PC's with XP still on them because the CNC program only runs on XP. No issues but of course you wouldn't use the internet on that machine.
Does having support really make a massive difference, especially if you're running AV anyway? A good AV suite will still be updated for years to come.
The government sector like hospitals etc will pay for extended support so not to worry.
It's only Enterprise that might have an issue because they want patched systems but may not be able to afford Win 10 Enterprise. Especially small to medium business.
As for the home user, it's not a massive issue.
Personally I don't care because I run Linux exclusively. I only gave win 10 running in a VM for printing. Canon said on the box that the printer supports Linux, then after I bought it, officially stopped all Linux support on their site. The original Ubuntu driver only support black and white. So I'm forced to use Windows in a VM for printing. But it's not connected to the net so it will fulfill this role forever.
If you're a regular home user and don't use any special proprietary software like Photoshop, I highly recommend you try Linux Mint. It will also breathe new life into your machine
Not having security patches on a system you do things like go to your banking website on is actually a pretty big deal, and I don't think it should be dismissed lightly. Also AV is mostly snake oil, and is in no way an adequate substitute for a properly patched OS.
Hi, someone that worked on banking stuff in the past.
You are not safe, nothing is even half as secure as it should be and you are most likely just using a web based front end puppeteering a much much older system. The browser you are on is normally the second weak point after your own dumb self and I have not even heard of one case (not saying there are none) of a OS related vulnerability with online personal banking.
It's not as big a deal as you think because most banking hacks are done via browser vulnerabilities rather than OS vulnerabilities. The exception being if you've somehow managed to install a keylogger, in which case the issue is the user and a decent AV should detect and block the keylogger.
As long as you use a browser that gets the latest updates (Firefox, Vivaldi, Chrome), run a decent AV, and don't install dodgy software you downloaded from some dodgy site, you should be ok.
AV is definitely not snake oil. I worked in Enterprise IT and a robust AV alongside other security measures is a must and does catch alot. More than the built in Windows security catches. Plus the AV normally incorporates a virus/malware removal tool which tends to be better than Windows built in tool.
Last winter I ripped my DVD collection to my NAS. Problem: Neither my current daily driver laptop or desktop have optical drives. So I hauled out my father's OLD Dell XPS. This thing has a Core i7 with three digits in the part number, I think it was built in 2008 or so. Felt like absolute sluggish crap running Windows 10. It feels perfectly modern running Linux Mint. And I have the old box a pretty hot supper ripping and transcoding all those DVDs all winter, but it did it.
Computers don't slow down, Windows does.
I'm running windows 10 on a first Gen i7-930. I've upgraded my ram and video card over the years but still on a crappy hdd. Windows isnt lightning fast by any means. But it's not unbearable. Perhaps my mind will blow when I finally upgrade.
My pc isn't eligible for upgrade to eleven. Guess I'm sol then.
Great story 👍. Amazing
The daily express isn't exactly known for it's accurate insightful reporting. The headline is mostly about scaring people, mostly elderly (their main readership) that their computer is about to stop working.
Have you tried installing CUPS ? And setting up your printer using the web UI ? Worked for me perfectly for every printer I threw at it.
AV cannot fix it all, unfortunately. But Linux is the way.
My machine running Win10 LTSC is getting updates until 2029. I also have machines running Debian. There is no way I am installing the regular version of Win11. Its trash made to pander to greedy shareholders. If they take the garbage out for LTSC, I might run it.
As an individual, how do you get the LTSC version legally, and how much does it cost?
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
You can't unless you form a small group like a non profit organization or a business. You can cheat the system legally going the NPO route as long as you find a way to fulfill legal requirements, but you need friends (it helps to know someone in law school too) and you have to do the legal paperwork and share all the cost. You could make a gamer NPO for example. The price to do this will vary depending on where you live. The price for the volume license can vary a lot depending on where you get it from. Where your group is located effects this. In my local it is about $200-400 USD per person.
Your other alternative is the grey market. Its grey because it is legally ambiguous.
Well, your best option is to switch to Linux
Just in case you don’t want to go to the tabloid hell that is the Express Petition Link pirg.org
It’s such an awful site, and always surprises me when I see it being used/shared. Surely when it comes to tech there are better resources than a tabloid for it.
Sounds like a good time to give Linux a try!
Your PC will soon be be junk if you do not want to try out Linux.
Your PC is already junk if it runs Windows. But you can easily fix that by installing Linux.
In line with many folks' suggestions here, I'm ALL for switching to Linux full time after playing around with a few distros... BUT, I use dxo Photolab for photo editing which doesn't run on Linux, yes, even through wine etc.
Also yes, I know the are a bunch of great Foss alternatives. I've tried them all. Nothing touches the results from my current program unfortunately.
I would be stoked if anyone could enlighten me as to how I could get that working.
I can highly recommend either using windows as a VM in virtualbox, or simply dual boot. I'm using Linux 99% of the time, but I still boot into windows occasionally for some firmware updates or software that does not work with Linux.
Your best bet is virtualization. I use that for my CAD software, games that dont run under linux and Microsoft office
This allows me to only use Windows that 10% of the time I need my software and be using linux for all other stuff.
Only issue is that it requires some effort to get it going and some additional hardware if you want to run both at the same time.
You have a W10 license, so just run up a VM, and install your software in that. Whilst it will be marginally slower, it will be 100% compatible and run on your host OS (this is not good for gaming in general, but if the VM software you use supports passthrough, mainly for GPU, then its pretty negligible).
Keep the Win10 VM off the WAN, and who cares how out of date it is and lacking in security updates.
Lots of people suggesting VM, but you can also consider dual boot.
I use Linux for everything except for the very few things were I can't (specific games for example). That way you have the best of both worlds.
I even have it set up in different drives and use the MOBO boot menu to choose, so no worries about Windows breaking stuff
I often play old games that have compatibility issues with windows 10. Most recently FEAR required a .dll from a site for a stable framerate.
People keep saying "gaming works" on Linux but are they talking about modern games? Do old games "just work?" I have very little free time to fart about with fixing too many issues with an old game. How well does this stuff work?
Old games are likely to work better, as new games are likely to use new features or behaviour which aren't yet handled properly by Wine/Proton.
And yet Proton/Wine are able to handle unique fixes for some new games to make them work even better on Linux.
Check protondb for reports on whether a specific (steam) game runs.
In my experience, pretty much everything that doesn't have anticheat works. I can't remember the last time a game didn't work fine, from stuff so old it stopped working in Windows Vista to day 1 AAA titles. Even DOS stuff is playable with DOSBox.
Just be aware, Linux is not windows. If you try to use it like windows, you will only experience pain. It's not hard, especially with mainstream distros like Ubuntu or Mint, but you really should invest at least a bit of effort into learning how the system works and how to use it properly.
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
Proton is amazing. There are several games I've played on my Linux laptop that have Linux versions, and they don't run as well as playing it with Proton.
Check out protondb
As long as the game isn't a title thats using something bleeding edge, it will work day one. And as long as the game isn't using an non proton compatible anti-cheat, it should work. Unless said devs arbitrarily decided not to tick the "proton compatible" box cause of some hard-headed bullshit.
I would say old games work better also get Steamtinkerlaunch which makes fucking around easy
If the game isnt steam just add as non steam game and bang steam will handle the rest
I had great experiences with old games on Linux. Mostly they work better than on a modern Windows system. For Example Neverwinter Nights 2. Under Windows movement is jittery on fast CPUs. There is a community patch for that thankfully. Under Linux it just works with WINE (the patch is advisable for other reasons there too). Also loading times are blazingly fast under WINE and Linux. On my HDD PC 1 second vs 50 on Windows. Now with a NVME SSD, Windows also only takes 2 seconds.
Of course Wine/Proton is not perfect, I still have a dualboot system for that. But I boot to Windows very rarely these days. When I do I am hit with so many slow updates, that I don't get to my game. Maybe I should stop doing them and cut of its network access.
Really old games tend to be more difficult. For a relative I set up a VM with Win98 as the performance impact won't hurt the games, some even benefit. (I believe the games where Safecracker and Theme Park) Even older than that DosBox and ScummVM work perfectly.
)leave aside old games , despite what Lemmy Linux Community have you believe, even new version of many s/w don't work with Linux , package managers are crap and "everything is easy with terminal" is a lie. I am not fan of MS either but Linux just does not work.
That petition and a nickel is worth about 5 cents. Go get a better OS.
Which is almost anything else at this point.
That just means more cheap, used hardware available for us Linux users in a couple years.
...and then a complete absence of it a few years after that, once Microsoft finally finishes boiling the frog to cryptographically lock new hardware to run only Windows.
... until the EU and maybe even the US rolls around and slaps Microsoft with an antitrust lawsuit. Sounds like a best case scenario :D
Wait I have a Windows 8 computer which stills works fine?
It does, but it's no longer receiving security updates and therefore if there's any vulnerabilities, especially critical ones, they will not be patched.
If it remains offline you shouldn't really have much of a problem but it's advised that you move to a more modern OS sooner rather than later if that's online.
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.
Unfortunately most users will just keep using 10 even after security patches are no longer released. Eventually they'll just get new hardware. Eventually.
At this point I'm mainly still on Windows because it is the easiest thing to do - I know how to use it and it is already installed on all my PCs. At least 3 of my PCs are eligible to upgrade to Win11 (2 are not), but I have no plans to ever upgrade. So, when security updates stop, that will be my motivation to give Linux another try.
Give me back my custom taskbar location and then we'll talk.
Yeah there's so much missing in Win11 that they straight up haven't delivered yet, it's infuriating. Feels like a beta version. It's incomplete.
You can customize your taskbar as much as you want on Linux
Does windows 11 still require secure boot?
well, I guess I am staying with windows 10
These people... "please, let me continue being a Microsoft slave!".
Free yourselves and install Linux.
I'm so sick of hearing this and I use Linux on a daily basis
Installing Linux for us nerds is just something we know how to do. Asking a computer "normie" (which is, basically everyone else) to change their operating system is just not happening.
I couldn't imagine trying to step my mum through installing Linux if I stood next to her, and I wouldn't class her as stupid.
I maintain that for Linux to obtain mass adoption it either needs to be preinstalled or make it no different to install than a regular Windows program (which is damn near impossible).
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.
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
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 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.
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?
That's a shitty response.
It's not that simple for gamers.
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.
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.
Not until game companies embrace Proton(-GE) and Steam Deck.
Or anyone reliant on Office for their job
Dude I still have a windows 7 up and running.
i hope it's not connected to the Internet
Its gonna be exciting to see penguins outside windows.
Wait windows 10 was not junk before? Since when?
I think you're probably in the minority on this one. It was generally accepted that Win10 was pretty good.
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
I mean, when you compare it to Windows 11...
What about MiniOS or Linux?
I really wish I could just switch to Linux but certain programs I have for school don't have a Linux version, as well as my art program that I laid for the license.
God damn it, my dads computer is very old actually and he is running windows 10. There is one program which is not available for Linux which he uses to access his CCTV cameras so moving him to Linux might be difficult because of that.
(I’m EXTREMELY green with Linux)
Could it be run inside of a windows VM?
My dad lives in Germany and I do in Korea. The really good thing about Linux is that it's easy to remotely administrate it. The bad part is that we live in very different time zones so if something doesn't work it would take a lot of time before we both have time at the same time so I can show him how to do things.
Yeah, you can basically run anything in a Windows VM. I even use a Windows VM with GPU and storage passthrough for gaming, works surprisingly well.
Have you tried running the CCTV software in Wine? It doesn't sound like it's likely to be a particularly complicated bit of software, so hopefully Wine will have it running with a couple of clicks.
You soon might want to install Linux and get a nice computer.
You're not contributing to any discussion here, especially on Lemmy.
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?
Why is that a "big worry"? Windows 10 was released in 2015. So 2025 would be over 10 years of support. That's a more than valid amount of time to support an OS.
The big worry is that most computers running Win10 don't meet the requirements to run 11. If they drop support for 10, then a huge number of computers that are functioning just fine suddenly start becoming increasingly less safe to use and the only fix is to throw them away.
Or install some other OS
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
Hell, I'm still running windows 7 on a machine. 10 is my newest and I just installed that a couplemonths ago.
I recently learned there are unpatched vulnerabilities in Paint 3D in versions of Windows 10. Christ knows what they’ve neglected to patch on Windows 7.
Have you tried a Linux desktop distribution on that windows 7 box? I can’t imagine you’re gaming on it.
Nope. Got too much it's used for to spend the days and days it would take me to rebuild it, then fight through the headache of setting up Linux, and finding replacements for everying it does.
This is the barrier Linux acolytes just can't understand. I have decades of experience, was working in IT before Linux existed. Had my Unix classes in college. And I can't be bothered, I've got other stuff to do. And I know the risks I'm dealing with.
Now let's ask a regular user. They see no advantage and lots of headache to switch.
My music box is win7. Only reason it doesn't run on a Linux distro is the shitty lack of good audio under the hood of linux, and the annoyances of getting musicbee working right.
It's the only thing keeping anything of mine on windows. Wellllll, I did set up my laptop dual boot, and it came with 10 pro, but I haven't actually booted into that in ages.
And yes, for whoever is thinking "I hope that win 7 box is air gapped", it is. Transfers are from an external hdd.
Most people will not stay with 10.
People still running insecure win7 shitboxes are the smallest minority i can imagine. Most people already upgraded to 11 as its free.
I'll just go back to Windows 7. Lack of security updates don't mean much if even the malicious stuff has moved on to 10/11.
I already installed Linux on my Surface.
reactOS. Go check it out and see whether it'll work for you NOW vs Linux later.
ReactOS is horribly unstable and glitchy on real hardware. Any linux distro with wine is a much better and reliable experience.
Also wasn't it backed by the russian government?