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If you’re too lazy to switch to Linux like me, Windows 10 Enterprise IoT LTSC is supported until 2032 and free to download and permanently license.
As someone who is lazy, I find running Linux to be less work than fighting with Windows.
There's no struggle free OS, every OS has operations and processes that will need more detailed investigation, and hence read as "fighting with the operating system".
No design is intuitive to everyone, all the time, and in all situations. I'm sure Linux is fine, but let's be real, you know what I mean.
I'm glad that Linux is more intuitive to you than Windows. Good job finding it, and setting it all up 👍
Honestly, a lot of desktop environments are designed to feel very similar to Windows. I tried Mint on a laptop and started liking it right away. The setup was put it on a flash drive, and run the installer. It took 20 minutes to nuke Windows.
My OS struggles come from trying to get windows-specific DAWs and CAD Software to work, which will hopefully come around as more people switch to Linux. I have some alternatives that I'm playing with right now.
Linux you fight a bit when setting it up and then its like clockwork. With windows it's easy to setup, but then it starts doing weird shit you never asked for and and undoes your changes making more work forever.
Linux isn't hard to set up anymore
Basic install yes, getting all your favourite apps and network connectivity...well, it's much better than before, but still a short term pain.
Might not be a bad idea to start learning on a separate device though, so you'll be ready when 2032 hits.
(That's my current setup)
I'm going to try Steam OS on one of my laptops. See what that's like.
I suggest that you try Bazzite instead. As of now, SteamOS doesn't support Nvidia.
Oh I'm poor my laptop has AMD.
AMD is better than NVidia anyway
Bazzite also has a better package management system. SteamOS is meant for gaming almost exclusively, whereas Bazzite is meant for both.
I wonder how many "users rejecting Windows 11" are people who refuse to replace perfectly good hardware just because it doesn't meet Windows 11's arbitrary requirements.
Especially now in the NANDpocalypse, like no way I'm upgrading my hardware.
Yeah my 8yr old comp was built to be top of the line at the time and it still rips on non-current AAA games. Any upgrade aside from gpu at this point would mean a new mobo and essentially a wholesale. Fuck that
Will upgrade from windows 10 to Linux.
I did it last year after postponing it countless times. And I will recommend you do it. I know it feels like a huge step, but it is much easier than you fear and once you have done it it is such a big relief to be completely free of all of Microslops nonsense forever.
For those of you who need a longer offramp to Linux like me and maybe haven't seen this posted before:
https://massgrave.dev/windows10_eol
You can activate any copy with support at least through 2028.
Came to say this, I'll add that its is a completely safe and free option.
Benefits over official methods:
Its FOSS so the entire script can be downloaded and read before you run it if you feel uncomfortable fetching some random script from the web and running it via terminal, as I did.
I booted an old win 10 laptop the other day to see if it still worked. It has a GPU so I thought it might be nice for a few light games while I travel. Immediately started screaming about updates and all the normal windows stuff.
I booted to Bazzite from a flash drive and had it installed in like 20 minutes. Runs like a dream now. It's amazing to see what that old hardware can do without Windows choking it.
It's so easy now to run an option that doesn't suck.
I think it's more that users can't afford new hardware, even though win11 seems like a step backwards.
There's also the point that game quality has gone down significantly. If I were to build a new rig which would cost me an arm and a leg, I would still just play games that my current PC can already run anyway. I don't wanna play the newest CoD-slop or some tech-demo with MTX-shop disguised as a game. The newest games I really enjoyed were Monster Sanctuary (Unity-based monster collector metroidvania-like) and Balatro (no introduction necessary). A toaster can run these.
Obligatory, here's your sign to switch to Linux. For people who do nearly everything or everything online it's a pretty easy switch.
Still using Windows 10, but after testing out Linux on the side last year I’ve come to the conclusion it’s ready. Other than anti-cheat being in the shitter once Win 10 is officially dropped for good by games I’m moving over to Arch.
Windows11 sucks so bad. I was so excited to learn that Explorer and Notepad were getting tabs & Paint was getting layers. Only to find out that these core features weren't being updated for users, but in the process of adding slop to the OS. Explorer was the worst, my address bar became an ad. And everything was buggy and broken.
And I know this isn't just the Linux fanboy line because Microslop themselves had to apologize and walk-back some of the Copilot obnoxiousness.
By 2027 I have transitioned to fedora or another variant of Linux. I am on Linux mint now.
Nah, I'm good. Switched to Linux, and there's no need for me to go back
Install Linux, Problem Solved.
This is for the ESU version, not the regular one. I think this should be mentionned in the title.
I jumped ship over to Linux just in time then. 10 was bad, but serviceable and it got more stable in EOL. They're going to ruin it even more with slop
Gat dayum Microslop fucked up.
They fucked up so hard, they still don't know how bad they fucked up. The done goofed. Done screwed the pooch.
This desperation ain't nothing. Give it time. It'll just get tastier.
There's never going to be a "Year of the Linux Desktop" where there's some critical inflection point like a lot of people think. But Microsoft has fucked up here in assuming that consumer trust is a linear relationship and it's not. They broke the trust, the cracks are there, and users will keep bleeding. They'll keep a certain percentage of users through apathy or complacency, but the momentum is flowing in reverse now.
What it takes for any one person to cross over is going to look different, whether that's Linux getting up to speed on a feature they were looking for or Microsoft crossing yet another unacceptable threshold, but despite all my anger and personal grievances aside, I truly believe Microsoft as a company is incapable of correcting this problem.
Their goals are entirely misaligned, they believe they can dictate the market at the consumer and their revenue is dependent on that. They're bleeding more money and talent through this AI debacle and that's making them even less capable of facing and addressing the issues. Unfortunately I don't think they'll ever fully implode, but just like Chrome eventually ate IE's market share and now won't go away, so it will be with Linux.
Bonus points: I'm calling it, I truly do believe that in ~5 years or so Windows will cease to be its own operating system and start shifting towards a Linux distro with a bespoke DE (again, see Chrome/Edge). They don't want to have to keep maintaining an OS like this and one of the biggest arguments for doing so has been the backwards compatibility, but everything is cloud and SaaS now and they want to push more business customers in that direction anyway. Server will be a thorn in their side for awhile, but consumer facing Windows distro will be the perfect testing ground. Mark it, ~5 years ... EEE
ohh thank fucking god. I hate windows, but not having a huge portion of the population ready to be infected is a good thing for everyone
Gotta use a MS account on your computer though, so this is not a viable option for a lot of people
I recently upgraded to Windows 11. I've been putting it off, but there are a few apps I need that simply do not work under 10 anymore. Bleah.
I've been using it on a work machine for several years, but I am still surprised at just how much it sucked to switch from 10. My personal setup has been heavily customized over many years to suit my particular needs and wants. More than half of that customization is no possible under 11. There are workarounds for a few pieces of it, but even those are unlikely to remain stable and functional for very long. Microsoft is constantly changing things that cause unsupported features to break.
So I now have a slower, less reliable, less versatile, and less configurable software environment. It also conducts far more surveillance and sends even more information about me to Microsoft. There is not one single way in which this could be considered an upgrade, except by Microsoft's shareholders.
I'm going to set up dual boot with Zorin. That will allow me to boot into Windows 11 for the few things I need that will only run in that environment. The remaining 99.9% of the time I will just run Linux. (I already know Linux pretty well, I just haven't run it as my primary desktop.)
I suspect my next project will be replacing my Android phone's OS with something less invasive.
As the RAM apocalypse continues to plague all of us, it’s only fair for users to continue using the more efficient Windows 10, instead of the memory-hogging Windows 11.
Win 10 isn't even that memory efficient and still slams the heck out of plattered disks. Not that I recommend an HDD over an SSD for boot drives, but it was usable up to Win 8.1, and even today with Linux.
Windows 11 is synonymous with installing Linux.
Honestly, Microsoft may be full of arseholes, but moves like this at least one sane human works for the company.
It takes balls to admit you fucked up , and this is one employee showing some balls.
That's one way of seeing it. Another is "if we kick them out of 10 and they are not willing to go to 11, they will switch to Linux or go Mac, we'd rather have them on 10 than not at all"
Weird, who doesn't want to buy a new computer because reasons, in this economy
