Too late, already on Mint.
My desktop has been running Linux for a while now, but I finally got tired enough with the repeated flops from Microslop™ that I switched my 6 year old Surface I use for surfing from the couch over to Mint.
Not looking back at this point.
If you ever distro hop on that, let me know how a touch centric distros works on it like Ubuntu touch. Was thinking of picking one up for couch browsing. RIP in peace my hackintosh Dell mini 9.
I’ll let you know!
FWIW, touch works fine on Mint, and you can scale the UI up a bit to make it a little more touch friendly
I’m close to a similar point, my PC has been Linux for a couple of years but my old surface book has been on windows 10 (with some 6 year security update thing that was mentioned during the time Win 10 was dropped).
The main reason I haven’t dropped it is that I sometimes use it for work or uni, so compatibility and other people being familiar has been a priority but I’ve graduated and got a work laptop so it’s probably time to drop Windows outright.
You can also dual boot in a pinch, it’s not too bad to setup
Just spent the weekend moving to Kubuntu. It only took about 5 hours and my computer is snappier than it’s ever been. I have been on Windows for 30 years. Microsoft, you should be scared. You can’t compete with free competition.
The only way to meaningfully compete with freeware is a feature advantage: if your revenue can sponsor developers to focus on polishing and improving your system beyond the free alternatives, there will be a market of people willing to pay for (immediately*) better products.
It’s what keeps Excel a step ahead of Calc: between a rather clunky UX and frankly awful documentation for some features and functions, Libre just doesn’t quite have the same maturity. It’s good enough for the majority of use cases, okay for some more and I’m really only aware of one feature I miss (Power Query or equivalent) or haven’t found. But it’s not as polished, and for some, that alone is reason enough to stick with paid products.
Conversely, it’s why more people are starting to move off of Windows: between user experience improvements, smoother installation, the spreading realisation that most stuff happens in browsers anyways and Proton making a lot of gaming a lot more accessible, Windows is losing that edge in features. If the list of anti-features and drawbacks grows large enough, the familiarity alone just doesn’t hold people any more.
You can compete with free competition, but that requires an eye on the market. And performance-impeding spyware just isn’t must-have for everyone.
*as opposed to supporting open source devs to the point where they could focus on their software, hopefully leading to better products some time later, which is less gratifying and less reliable than paying for a project you get right now
Yeah, the real “Year of the Linux Desktop” only occurs when devs actually get input from UX designers and stop designing clunky as fuck UIs.
I strongly feel the only reasons Linux is actually gaining traction right now are
A) proton/wine getting good enough interfaces for regular people to start using them (steam, heroic, hopefully bottles someday gets easier to use)
B) KDE making strides with their desktop envoronment.
C) flatpaks being easy to use and fairly reliable once someone learns to prioritize them
All still have a LOT of work to do with UX, but they are close enough to good that its less of a hurdle for new people to pick them up.
Honestly there are some things I feel Microsoft and Apple do still do better and since they are UI-first considerations, Linux will likely never keep up.
For example: Apple has app packages. Imagine a flat pack to install by just dragging into a folder. Thats it all dependencies are there in the package. When you double click, the default action is to run a predefined binary within the package. It’s basically a folder whose default action is launch a binary within rather than open and browse. If you want to uninstall, just drag to trash. The OS keeps receipts and when I sees a package is sent to the trash, it handles the cleanup for you.
Flatpaks kind of do this but not really. It’s really clever and there’s no reason Linux can’t do this other than it just doesn’t face the same design pressures Apple did when they made it. Apple was GUI first, Linux had a GUI as an afterthought.
Microsoft has the plus of turn it on and it’s already there. Anymore, that’s pretty much all it has. Linux is getting much better with easier to use graphical installers and pushing themselves into a system much faster than windows does. But if a user doesn’t understand how a computer boots, that they can tell the computer to just boot something else, it’s overwhelming to get to the Linux-is-easy part. I feel like there should be a single click installer that creates a recovery partition, tells the uEFI to boot into it, wipes the original windows partitions out and installs to the computer, then removes itself, lets Linux reboot and reclaim the entire drive with a partition resize.
I feel like there should be a single click installer that creates a recovery partition, tells the uEFI to boot into it, wipes the original windows partitions out and installs to the computer, then removes itself, lets Linux reboot and reclaim the entire drive with a partition resize
Most linux installs are easier than Windows. It’s not a Linux issue, it’s an “already installed” issue. I wouldn’t want installations to be any easier than they are because the steps you’re involved with are steps that someone needs to give input or you risk destroying everything you had. Any OS installation that isn’t OEM, linux or Windows, starts with the assumption that there might be something important that it shouldn’t touch. Linux has OEM installations that from the perspective of the user receiving the computer, are identical to starting Windows for the first time.
How the hell do UX designers contribute?!
Every year I look how I could give a few hours a week, but I leave bewildered (seems like every projects wants you to fork ans submit changes). Do you or anyone know of arrangement more like “here’s a ticket, punch in, do it, punch out”.
seems like every projects wants you to fork ans submit changes
I think that’s just how software devs tend to work: a main “trunk” of code, from which they branch off for a feature or change, then when they’re done writing the new code, merge it back into the trunk. That’s the mode we’re used to, the only tool we know for managing parallel code development.
How else would we do things? Or rather: how would you do things? This isn’t a rhetorical question: I genuinely admit I don’t know how you’d prefer to operate, or what you mean by punching in and out.
If you’re asking for specific tasks, projects may have an issue tracker of some form where you can find stuff other people found, but other than that, FOSS often is a “see something that needs fixing, go and fix it” thing. Particularly if the devs themselves don’t notice a problem, because they know what that confusing icon means or how that tool works, they won’t create a task they don’t even know needs doing. Even if they know something is bad, they might not know how to make it better.
If you’re using or trying to use a program and notice something has been done poorly, is too complex for an entry-level user, whatever it is you think could or should be improved, talk to the people making it, or look for a contribution guide.
Even if you can’t contribute code, it might be helpful to share your skills and knowledge by opening issues, explaining specific problems and offering ways to solve them.
Great points.
The way I’ve worked is usually: onboarding, identify work to be done, tickets (part of that forking), review/done.
So if the onboarding, identifying wtbd and then the work is done by me independently… that seems like weeks of work to submit a suggestion… you know?
UX design work needs a lot of research, understanding and alignment to stick.
Am I missing something?
No, I don’t think you’re missing anything. That’s the issue at hand here: creating proper, usable software takes time and effort. FOSS-developers tend to prefer pouring their time and effort into functional code, with the UI primarily shaped by their own needs rather than a thorough analysis of what other users could want. Often, tools are the result of someone building something for themselves and figuring they’d share it with others.
To properly design for a broad audience is an extremely selfless ask, and for all that these devs donate their time to the public, they only have so much to give. I think it’s fair that they’d prefer working on things they benefit from too, but that means sacrificing general usability for personal expediency.
And that’s why so many tools are clunky: they’re “good enough” for the developer, and nobody cares to also make them good enough for the rest of the user group.
Confirms what i thought, thanks. Maybe we need to make a better process for this, or champion it if there is always one.
Windows has different design pressures. They have painted themselves into a corner and can no longer afford to manage it. If they make sweeping changes they break the number 1 rule of windows, maintain legacy compatibility wherever possible. If companies have to buy new, it’s a harder sell for Microsoft because there are better, cheaper options out there they can’t compete with. Their own ecosystem is holding them back and they cannot do anything about it.
Windows 11 literally broke legacy compatibility deliberately, it refused to install on older hardware. So probably not rule #1 any more.
It broke legacy hardware compatibility. Sorry I should have been more specific. They need to maintain software compatibility.
They might care when Windows is their cash cow again. Even enterprise windows is a drop in the bucket now.
Win 10 LTSC IoT edition already has security updates until 2032, and if you activate Win 10 with MAS you’ll almost certainly be activated with this version automagically.
Yep, that’s why every Microsoft game (even on Steam) now relies on “gaming services” to authentic.
It’s not about piracy, Foza gets pirated a lot and always has. If you’re pirating it, you can get around it. But if you have a legit copy, Microsoft uses that as an excuse to ID your computer and tie a name to it.
I really think it’s gonna be a big thing, they just kind of slipped it in without telling anyone. They’re gonna fuck around trying to constantly increase profit margins and lose their monopoly.
I’m so surprised I’m able to use my 2026 Win 11 laptop with local account.
Are you from EU perhaps?
Yes, but I doubt that’s the reason. After all, I had to unplug the internet modem during initial setup 😆
After switching to Linux (CachyOS) over a year ago now, I think I’ve booted my still existing windows installation twice. Both times was at the very start to get some settings from installed software to migrate and to sync some data or something, I barely even remember. That has also been over a year ago.
Ever since I’ve switched, I stopped noticing I even have an operating system. I just use my PC. Unbothered by popups, updates and bloat are (re)appearing pinned in my start menu (no I didn’t want to have candy crush installed). Literally everything just works, and I’m mostly using my PC for gaming.
I regret not switching much sooner.
I switched whenever it was that I woke up and Copilot was installed on my computer without my consent. 2 years ago? More? Idk. I bought new drives because I didn’t want to dual boot, but also wanted to keep Windows “just in case.” Well, I haven’t booted from those drives once in that time. I did plug them in to get some files off them a few months ago, but they are back to collecting dust again. I think it’s about time to finally wipe them and put them back to work.
I have a Windows drive on my current machine. I boot it every six to eight months just to see what people are talking about in forums. So I shake my head and boot back into fedora.
In theory, I’m keeping it in case I bring my oculus cv1 out of storage. In practice, I’m pretty sure I’ll have bought a steam whateveritscalled long before that happens.
It’s been literally years (possibly more than ten by now) since I’ve had to use it to run a game.
When you say gaming, mostly indie titles and singleplayer?
I’d love to switch over, but a lot of games don’t run on Linux (especially multiplayer games with anti-cheat). Yes, it’s mostly on the developers, but it’s annoying as hell.
You say “especially” when it’s more like “almost exclusively”. Almost all games not bundled with malware (kernel-level anti-cheat) work with zero or minimal tweaking. It gets a little harder if you like to play with mods, though.
Linux gaming has come a long way. Back when The Witcher 3 came out, there was no Proton and running a game with Wine involved a lot of tweaking. Even then, I got better FPS than in Windows but it was hard. Now, I don’t even think about it. I just assume it’ll work.
That’s changing ATM as well, but i wouldn’t say a lot.
It’s like about ~10 of the biggest multiplayer games that’s unsupported because of kernel level anti cheats. P much every other games work.
If you’re in doubt about the compats of a specific title, check protondb :)
Everyone should be able to enjoy their life without the curse of microslop and the hauntings of it’s pharaoh Gill Bates
Not who you asked but I’ve played Sims 2 and 4, stardew valley, Minecraft, grounded, Ark, Alice Madness returns, and something I’m blanking on right now. I’ve only had linux mint installed for 3 months now so I’m sure I’ll try more games. I’ve had no issues. Well, I used issues with extras for as 2 but that was a simple, I didn’t read directions lol.
For me it wasn’t alot, pubg would be fun to play every once but the developers basically killed it with the bots update anyway. Rust has a nice but sadly small linux community and alot of other shooters like squad and the finals should just work. Rocket league just needed a line in the start options to work after the anti cheat update. Overall i was positively suprised how many games still run.
Huh, cool that The Finals work, seems like developers can enable EAC for Linux. Bit dumb that not more do it.
I’m hoping with the Steam Machine getting more popular that we get even more of a shift in the future.
I made the deliberate decision years ago not to play multiplayer games even though having almost exclusively played those. It was just to get away from all the toxicity and competetiveness.
So from then on I have only played singleplayer games, and it have been such a positive change for me. Much more entertaining and no stress at all. And the bonus was of course that it made switching to Linux gaming so much easier, since I didn’t miss out on anything I wanted to play.
I actually got rid of windows instance entirely, I just realized one day that I hadn’t booted it up in 6 months, thanks Linux.
I’ve also only booted mine twice. Both times because apparently you can’t update an Xbox controller from anywhere but windows or an Xbox and all I wanted was to Bluetooth connect my controller to linux so I could get an extra cabin in stardew valley 🤣
The current Xbox is still a decent emulation machine if you want to play old 360 and some OG Xbox games plus it does have access to retro arch so you can even play everything below 7th gen consoles. Not a bad system if you can find one used.
Oh that’s great to know. I have hardly used mine.
It will play a good amount of 360 and a few original Xbox games even with just the disc which is nice! It does need internet to work though since it’s a download.
In my experience, I use Windows 11 pro and don’t get any baggy pop ups like that besides when I need to update the OS or update other programs I installed myself. Maybe it’s different on the other versions? I dunno but it’s never been that big of a deal for me but I disable a lot of shit on it so it doesn’t do that to be fair.
People usually have different tolerance level for pop-ups and distractions based on their neurobiology.
I have heard autistic people say pop-ups hurt and overstimulate them, ADHD people say they can’t ignore pop-ups, while neurotypocal people say they don’t even notice the pop-ups.
So both experiences can be true at once. You have no issues with pop-ups, while for someone else physically can’t tolerate a single distraction without stressing them out.
CachyOS is arch right, is that regular work to keep it running or gaming?
I run CachyOS on my gaming PC. I installed the OS, installed Steam, and the only regular work I’ve had to do since then is clicking the “upgrade now” button every couple weeks.
Anything break along the way?
Once the bluetooth stack updated and both steam and the OS were fighting for which one was doing the controller emulation for the nintendo switch pro controllers. I just went in and turned off the OS controller support in the bluetooth settings.
That’s literally the only problem I’ve had in… 9 months of this setup?
Interesting, quick solve too.
This has convinced me to try it out. Pretty impressive. Now i’ll try CatchyOS to replace windows.
Bazzite has been awesome while I only wanted to game.
Yeah, it was kinda frustrating cause I was trying to start a group game. BUT, I just clicked around a bit and figured it out, took maybe 5 minutes (of people watching me).
Before that I used Windows for my console PC, and I can honestly say that CachyOS is easier to use than Windows, and less likely for an update to break something.
Troubleshooting with an audience is never fun haha.
My only disadvantage seems to be my nvidia 4070 super…. But i haven’t seen a big issue with it in Bazzite. All im seeing and hearing are wins
I literally called this when they announced that they would only do it for a year. Of course it was going to fucking backfire.
We’re in an economic crisis, the AI shit is pumping tech prices through the roof (literally Microsoft is responsible), and they want people to get new computers? Fuck off, dipshits
I already switched my devices to Kubuntu.
Too late. I’ve already switched to Linux Mint and am never going back.
Same, almost a year and couldn’t be happier.
Bring back windows 2000… Being forced to upgrade to XP just to get wifi integration was saddening, and the point where I jumped ship.
This is the thing that bugged me about newer windows. I grew up with windows starting from 3.1 and each version had some fundamental improvement (removing ram limitations, WiFi integration, plug and play support, and just a bunch of shit) that would make you want to “upgrade” and even stinkers like ME still did somethings well. Now? Fuck me if I found anything better after 7 with the windows experience. I still boot up 7 in my living room for my media PC, and its to this day still better then 10 and certainty 11. In fact its the last windows device I even have now.
Like really, what is the rational in going to a new windows product in the last 10ish years? Broken features? Forced bullshit? Co pilot? Having the search be replaced by a Bing/co pilot eldritch horror? Its not security, windows has not been secure for a long while.
I agree with everything you’re saying here besides security. Windows 10 and 11 have received hundreds if not thousands of additional security patches that 7 never will receive, which would be crucial to using the internet safely today.
However, 11 (and to a lesser extent 10) has horrific privacy invasive features built in, so it’s very much a trade-off there, making Linux the only option to have both security and privacy.
They’re leaky like a sieve and we just saw a few weeks ago bitlocker has a built in backdoor.
Its broken by design.
I am in no way disagreeing that Windows 11 is a shit show, and wildly less secure than Linux, but realistically as bad as it is, it’s still going to have less open and known vulnerabilities than Windows 7.
lol, for every vuln they patch, they add two more. One by accident, and one for the fed.
They absolutely do put on government backdoors, but most people aren’t going to be personally targeted by that, but they are likely to get hit with non-fed malware, like keyloggers to steal accounts, botnets, identity theft, etc.
Not that it justifies it, fuck Microsoft, but you get what I mean?
Patches are not in themselves security. You are conflating updates with safety, like they want you to. Neither 7 or 11 are secure in any way I would put my weight behind.
I was the only person I knew at the time with 2000. Everyone was either holding on to 98 because millennium sucked out when xp came they went right to that.
Yeah, sorry Microslop, you lost me years ago with Windows 8 and the absolute shit-show that was a tablet/touch GUI shoved onto the desktop for no good reason. XP was where Windows peaked. Windows 7 was the last one I actually used. Windows 10 and 11 are literally malware.
Xp failed to much imo, 7 was better
I don’t remember writting this comment…it sounds like me, but…Hey! That’s not my account!!!
Wow. I have a mental doppleganger! Neat!
Hehe :)
I need a browser extension that removes “quietly” from headlines.
Why
Well, if there are headlines about it, it isn’t actually all that quiet.
But it was quiet before that. It just means there wasn’t any sort of announcement. Which is important context, don’t you think?
The “quietly” is aimed at Microslop. They didn’t grandly announce it on every platform like they do with everything else.
It is perfectly fitting in this context.
Jokes on them, if you have a shitty enough computer that’s doesn’t meet the minimum requirements, you get to stay on Windows 10 forever!
They gatekeep windows 11 from older devices, what did they think would happen? I tried Linux on my thinkpad yoga, and the drivers are so shit i had to switch back to windows on it, and no, I’m not throwing away a perfectly good laptop!
My Yoga 370 runs great with Fedora KDE
I’ve had this happen on a thinkpad yoga before. Honestly just keep windows on it and run an antivirus because you’ll definitely not be receiving updates for windows defender anytime soon as that is tied to windows update.
You could also be like me though eventually and hack the bios to not be absolute trash and get Linux working on it anyway.
Out of curiosity, what Linux did you try on it? Relatively new and you tried Mint maybe?
I ran mint on an hm110 with an old as balls nvidia and the only bug i had was tracking down the 330 drivers so i could shut the godddamn fan up. (And then had to compile a Kodi build from source yay thanks muppets)
Linux isn’t as transparent as windows when it comes to legacy drivers, it’s always been an issue
Not to sell your experience short, that sucks, but that’s on Nvidia for being the worst company in the world for driver support.
Yup, two prongs on the same fork.
Fedora
And is the laptop quite new I wonder?
X1 yoga 3rd gen, so around 2018ish. The stylus and thunderbolt are broken. And the mouse lags. I already wasted a lot of time troubleshooting it. I’ll try again in a few years, maybe it’ll be fixed.
Well I’ll be. Didn’t know the Yoga line had abnormal hardware for things like trackpads/etc, as Thinkpads in general are considered to be so good generally for Linux. If you should tinker in the future maybe try something with a much more modern kernel 7+ like CachyOS. Either way nice chatting have a good one.
Jumped ship to Fedora three years ago.
I been testing it out for about a month and it is a nice OS, and been enjoying the HDR support. Did wonder why videos didn’t play initially though when I didn’t have trouble on Linux Mint and Ubuntu until I found out I had to install RPM fusion. But, after that smooth sailing so far.
Microsoft is like a nepobaby that has inherited their status and continues to make bad decisions to piss it all away without any severe consequence.
And that’s not even including the fuckups going on at Xbox!
Ha! Suck it, every computer tech that told me I had to move to 11.
