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Windows 10 is EOL in October 2025

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/15988326

Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date. Existing LTSC releases will continue to receive updates beyond that date based on their specific lifecycles.

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-10-home-and-pro

dont_lemmee_down ,

I have been running Linux for some time now, still had a Windows partition for gaming. Then I switched the motherboard and windows decided I no longer had a key for it... I stopped playing most of the windows exclusive games. Since last week I can't even boot anymore, something about missing drivers. Spent a day trying to fix it.
Today I decided fuck it and I'm just leaving it behind! It makes no sense wasting so much energy on a vastly inferior OS that actively tries to fight me.

Nougat ,

Then I switched the motherboard and windows decided I no longer had a key for it

The reason for this is that Windows builds an identifier based on the hardware of the machine on which it is installed. When that identifier doesn't match, it throws a flag that says "Hey now ..." I think that you still get a couple of "honor system passes" before the installed OS enforces anything.

Once that gets enforced, you can call Microsoft Clearinghouse, "I upgraded my hardware," and they'll give you a new key to enter.

wewbull ,

Whereas on Linux I recently upgraded the motherboard on my machine from a B350 to a B550, stripping it down to it's parts and rebuilding. Different network chip, audio chip, WiFi and Bluetooth, etc, etc. 6 SSDs plugged back in in a shuffled order.

Linux booted and worked first time, adjusting which drivers it used automatically, mounting all the drives in their original locations. Similar thing when I upgraded my GPU. Admittedly the old one was AMD, same as the new one, but there was about 4 or 5 generations between them. CPU upgrades too.

I've got a real machine of Theseus here. I think my case and my heatsink is all that's left from the original.

...oh...and the OS.

Nougat ,

Windows will do the exact same thing. It'll even boot and run just fine, only telling you that Windows isn't activated. And you can get vendor support if you need it. I had a Windows system that started as XP and got upgraded and passed around among newer and newer hardware up to Windows 11 with nary a problem.

dont_lemmee_down ,

Apparently there is 2 types of Windows licences. The ones that are bound to the hardware and ones that aren't.
If you bought a PC with preinstalled Windows, it's probably the first and you wont get any new keys.

Nougat ,

I think you're right that OEM licenses are more strict on certain hardware changes, as in they wouldn't give you a pass on a single mainboard change - but you would still get a key from clearinghouse. As far as I'm aware, all retail and OEM keys are hardware bound. KMS/MAK are not.

kent_eh ,

I have been running Linux for some time now,

Same. Windows 95 was the last MS install on my personal machine.

codenamekino ,

Lemmy probably isn't the target audience for this, here's the steps to bypass the MS account requirement when setting up W11:

  • Configure your keyboard, but before you select your wifi network press Shift+(Fn)+F10 to open Command Prompt.

  • Type in the following command and press enter. Your computer will reboot:
    oobe\bypassnro

  • After the reboot, configure your keyboard and location settings, and click the option at the bottom of the page to say that you don't want to connect to the internet

  • Click the link on the next page to "Continue with limited setup", then follow the prompts to enter a username and password.

Dumbkid ,
@Dumbkid@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

If you use rufus to make a windows usb you can select to not require Microsoft account and bypass tpm right in the program, just get a windows 11 iso off the site instead of media creation tool

Hugh_Jeggs ,

Having checked a few Reddit threads by the Rufus dev, this seems the way to go!

selokichtli ,

Thank you. Now that I've showed you my appreciation, are you fucking kidding me?

LaunchesKayaks ,
@LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world avatar

Also, if you have windows 11 pro, you can do:

Sign in options
Domain join instead
Make local account

If you have windows 11 home you can:

put no@thankyou.com
Use whatever as the password
Hit next after the error message
Make local account

I do this shit at least three times a week at my job. It's the fuckin worst.

Appoxo ,

I wouldn't try it for a permanent machine as it could backfire when Microsoft trys to enforce it and could lock up the machine somehow (because bigs not because evil corpo)

DAMunzy ,

Great mini guide.

I love the weasel words "continue with limited setup" that Microsoft uses.

codenamekino ,

I agree, but I find something else even more weasel-y and annoying when I'm adding a second user to an already-configured W11 computer. If I'm adding them as a local account without a Microsoft account, I'll use Tab to navigate through the process of creating a username, password, and security questions. After the last security question, I'll hit tab to navigate to the "Okay" button at bottom left of the window, which seems like a reasonable expectation. Instead, Windows will highlight the "Back" button at the bottom right. If you aren't paying attention and hit enter or space bar, you have to start all the way back at the beginning.

I know that is a small dumb complaint, but when I'm setting 5 computers up in a row and tabbing through everything, my habits get the better of me, and I'll have to redo it two or three times out of the five.

DAMunzy ,

Legit complaint!

Hugh_Jeggs ,

Lemmy is exactly the audience for this, thanks!

It just seems like there are are more Linux users because they're constantly bleating about it in smug, self-congratulary comments

Hadriscus ,

Well this will be the month where I install PopOS

EndHD ,

I'd recommend doing a dual boot sooner and slowly shifting your files & apps. It took me about 3 months to find a distro and desktop environment i like, get my apps or alternatives installed, and get used to it.

If you wait until EOL, you may be overwhelmed and frustrated, increasing the likelihood of calling quits and accepting Windows 11.

Hadriscus ,

Thanks for the advice. I have run Fedora in the past so I have an idea of the alternatives I need. I will probably listen to your wisdom and dual boot

KillerWhale ,

I'm enjoying Pop_OS for 3 months now. No issues.

Willer ,

i cant access my laptops bios anymore tho after installing pop os

knolord ,

systemctl reboot --firmware-setup

That will reboot to UEFI setup instantly.

Willer ,

oh thank you i will try

nutsack ,

you wouldn't believe how many middle class families and small businesses in southeast asia are officially fucked

mitrosus ,

They will most likely continue to use win 10 oblivious of its EOL. I have seen many using windows 7 even now. Some tech-aware will install win11 in the same machine by registry hack or sth. Very, very few will consider the possibility of alternatives.

nutsack ,

the ransomware groups will be very happy

mitrosus ,

Don't underestimate the power of Normies. They don't know what a ransom is, nor the value of their own data. Any email requesting for ransom will go unnoticed or marked spam, and users will live in their normie nirvana, while their digital self will lie floating around internet, which they wont give a damn. After all, all their Facebook photos and tiktok videos are already out.

Tregetour ,
@Tregetour@lemdro.id avatar

You'll soon be able to include MS itself in that designation.

Your Microsoft account has been suspended. We'll need some additional information from you to get you back on your feet.

<Button> Provide iris scan (webcam)
<Button> Provide iris scan (Microsoft account-connected mobile device)
<Button> Shutdown Microsoft PC

bufalo1973 ,
@bufalo1973@lemmy.ml avatar

Win7? I've seen public computers still using XP.

matmarspace ,

That's just sad :(

Blaster_M ,

Controversial Take:

Windows 11 is actually decent

Kongar ,

It’s 10 with some extra BS. It runs. But I wouldn’t call it decent. Definitely a controversial take ;)

Take my upvote not because I agree, but because you are brave! ;)

applepie ,

give us 3 reasons why

FaceDeer ,
@FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar
  • Stable
  • Lots of features
  • Very widespread support
cyberpunk007 ,

The funny thing is I use Mac Linux and Windows daily. Windows 11 on my surface. This is my business computer. Mac for the employer I work for. Linux for my personal desktop. 11 crashes all the time. Start menu and task bar glitches. Random UI elements not loading properly. I frequently need to restart explorer.exe. I get thunderbolt dock issues and glitches. This does not occur on the MacBook. Or my old windows 10 work laptop.

I actually like 10 now. 11 is hot trash. I'll take 12 over it so far from what we know of it.

FaceDeer ,
@FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

Whereas I use Windows 11 on all of my machines, including one I use for my job as a programmer and regularly put through the wringer, and I don't actually know what the Windows 11 version of the blue screen of death looks like because I have never crashed the OS. I can't recall the last time I saw a bug like what you're describing, either. So I don't know what you're doing wrong with your Windows 11 install, but it seems I've somehow avoided it without particularly trying.

cyberpunk007 ,

Me neither, I have mainly Microsoft software on there. It's Microsoft's own tablet lol. It probably would help if I reinstalled but I can't be bothered. It "works".

circuscritic ,

The major problems isn't Windows 11 usability, although those issues due exist. UI and workflow issues can typically get addressed, or mitigated, by 3rd party tools.

The real concerns are the exponential increases in spyware, such as the AI recovery tool that records all user interactions, or the native advertising inside of the system itself e.g. Start Menu ads.

If native AI data collection and advertising is baked into all nooks and crannies of the system, the ability of users to mitigate those threats becomes extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible to completely resolve.

FaceDeer ,
@FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

You can turn off Recall with a simple toggle in the settings.

There's no need to switch operating systems, just turn it off.

dukethorion ,
@dukethorion@lemmy.world avatar

Do you trust that its off? Or just off for You?

FaceDeer ,
@FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

I trust that Microsoft fears the lawsuits that would ensue if they were caught lying about it, and that they wouldn't derive any significant benefit from lying about it. Why would they?

dukethorion ,
@dukethorion@lemmy.world avatar

Because legal fees and fines are the cost of doing business for Big AdTech

circuscritic ,

Even if you trust that one feature will actually be disabled, that was just one example.

Do you really believe you can disable and remove all of the numerous data collection and spyware components that are baked into all aspects of the OS?

I'm not saying no one should use Windows 11, but they should be honest with themselves about the trade-off they're accepting.

FaceDeer ,
@FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

Even if you trust that one feature will actually be disabled, that was just one example.

The other one mentioned was the start menu ads. Those can also be turned off with a simple toggle in the settings. Finding this was as simple as Googling "turn off windows start menu ads", it was the top result.

Do you really believe you can disable and remove all of the numerous data collection and spyware components that are baked into all aspects of the OS?

Yes. Because Windows is used by a lot of big giant corporations that would sue the hell out of Microsoft if it wasn't possible to disable those features.

ricdeh ,
@ricdeh@lemmy.world avatar

First of all, there are specialised Enterprise distributions of M$ Windows. Furthermore, what ground would any company have to sue M$ on what the latter put in their own operating system?

FaceDeer ,
@FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

I work for a big giant corporation and plenty of its computers don't run Enterprise Windows.

A lawsuit would come in the case that Microsoft was lying about whether you could disable those features. Microsoft has put toggles for them into the settings, if it turns out that those toggles don't actually disable the things they claim to disable then that's where Microsoft is going to face legal issues. Do you really think Microsoft cares enough about the tiny portion of their customer base that's going to change the default settings that they would risk that sort of lawsuit to "spy" on them?

cyberpunk007 ,

Yes. Just like you can turn off a bunch of the windows 10 crap with registry keys and tools. Why. Why does a user need to go to such lengths to make their OS they paid for not soy on them and deliver them ads?

"Oh it's not that bad!" You'll say. Ya. Windows 10 wasn't THAT bad for it. Then came 11. Then 12 will come. Inch by inch it will turn to shit more and more, and that is the point.

FaceDeer ,
@FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

But this really isn't a registry key or tool, though. Did you click my link? It's a simple on/off toggle in the system settings menu. You just open the settings and click "off." I don't see how much simpler they could make it.

cyberpunk007 ,

You need to consider the bigger picture. Not this specific thing.

FaceDeer ,
@FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

I haven't had to edit the registry in as long as I can remember. Not just for this specific thing. What stuff are you talking about?

DScratch ,

You can recommend what you like. As soon as Windows 10 can’t play the latest games I’m off to Linux.

Eat my whole ass, Microsoft.

Bahnd ,

Come on over, the water is fine. I switched to Pop_OS a few months back for the gaming rig and Proton+Steam works almost flawlessly. Older titles sometimes have hiccups, but so far ive only been blocked on one title.

mesamunefire ,

Yep it's pretty easy and my computer runs so much faster than Windows on the same machine.

metaStatic ,

Windows running on a VM under linux runs faster than windows on bare metal ...

JackGreenEarth ,
@JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee avatar

Not for me, but that might have been a slight exaggeration.

fartsparkles ,

You joke but it actually boots faster in a VM for me than on bare metal. And that’s with fastboot enabled. Would love to know why!

metaStatic ,

the best jokes have a kernel of truth.

The VM is optimised for the OS, the OS is usually a fresh install with just that 1 program you need to use instead of you're entire life scattered across the desktop, it can be a snapshot of the system in an optimal state right after running an unfuck windows script that removes default system malware which doesn't let it reinstall, it has less system resources to deal with for the simple fact it can't use them all at the same time as the base OS.

catloaf ,

Probably a BIOS that has a very well known hardware configuration. It doesn't have to worry about weird legacy shit, it's only ever going to be the VM hardware. (Plus whatever you pass through, but I imagine the BIOS doesn't care, or if it does it'll slow it back down).

DichotoDeezNutz ,
@DichotoDeezNutz@lemmy.world avatar

I just switched from W10 to Pop_OS and have had lots of trouble. I'm trying to stick with it but from audio glitches to many games not running unless I find a random CLI arg that someone mentioned on Reddit, to my UI freezing, it's not been an easy switch.

Nevoic ,

Any chance you have an nvidia card? Nvidia for a long time has been in a worse spot on Linux than AMD, which interestingly is the inverse of Windows. A lot of AMD users complain of driver issues on Windows and swap to Nvidia as a result, and the exact opposite happens on Linux.

Nvidia is getting much better on Linux though, and Wayland+explicit sync is coming down the pipeline. With NVK in a couple years it's quite possible that nvidia/amd Linux experience will be very similar.

Lemminary ,

I wish I still had my AMD card but it decided to brick itself for no apparent reason after it made horrible humming noises whenever it chose to ever since I bought it. I have an Nvidia card now and haven't had a single issue on Windows yet, but maybe my days are counted to the moment I switch to Linux.

DichotoDeezNutz ,
@DichotoDeezNutz@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah I'm on a 3070, I thought Pop had improvements for Nvidia stuff which is why I chose it.

metaStatic ,

it's not a drop in replacement and anyone looking for one will be disappointed by literally anything available.

You're learning an entirely new operating system, don't think of it as an upgrade, this is a time sink. You'll be under the hood more than on the road for the foreseeable future, but what's the alternative?

DichotoDeezNutz ,
@DichotoDeezNutz@lemmy.world avatar

I get that, and I love Linux, it's just annoying to see people say that they switched with 0 issues and trying to sell it off like people won't have problems.

InFerNo ,

I don't understand why people can't simply believe that someone could actually have very little issues with performance or settings after switching.

What About™ people who have issues when installing windows, as if that never happens.

I put both kinds of operating systems on a myriad of computers and sometimes it's smooth sailing and sometimes it's like stepping on rake after rake.

DichotoDeezNutz ,
@DichotoDeezNutz@lemmy.world avatar

Its not that I don't believe it, rather they are "selling" Linux as if there won't be any problems, but whoever is making the switch will have to learn about troubleshooting. That's a good thing, but something that they should be aware of.

InFerNo ,

I don't really have a problem with "selling" Linux. You gotta take all things with a dose of skepticism.

Has anyone ever recommended a product of any complexity as an OS and then also listed all of the common issues people might encounter? When people talk about a product they like, of course it will highlight the positive things, but anyone who has ever touched a computer, hobbyist or not, knows these things might sometimes shit the bed in unexpected ways. I think that's common sense.

Windows is said to have less problems, but the cryptic errors and non descriptive "wait while we do something" message without any other output actually makes solving problems harder. It has more users, so luckily that means someone out there probably has the issue documented so solutions are easier to find.

I use both, at home primarily Linux, at work primarily Windows. I had troubles in both that caused serious headaches, but generally they both work without too much problems.

This might have been a bit rambling 😅

SidewaysHighways ,

Try bazzite? It's been cool with my setup. Intel processor with GTX 1660 ti.

Mint has been cool too! on a laptop with a 1650 on it

Statlerwaldorf ,

I did the same a few months back. No problems so far. Some older games require switching up the compatibility layer occasionally but no deal breakers so far.

kakes ,

I've seen a lot of people recommending Pop_OS lately. Out of curiosity, what's the benefit over something like Mint?

natedog526 ,
@natedog526@lemmy.world avatar

Curious about this too. I was gonna spend some time trying some different distros. Both mint and PopOs are on my list.

HeyMrDeadMan ,

I'll try to offer an answer to both you and @natedog526.

Pop came heavily recommended for a while because it's relatively light-weight for a modern desktop, had some fresh UI ideas with its COSMIC plugins for Gnome, and ships with some nice bonuses for gamers like built in Steam and Nvidia setup scripts.

Unfortunately, it's become pretty stale lately. I still use it daily on my main desktop, but lately it's becoming harder and harder to keep from hopping to something new. A few pain points include Pop shipping older version of some important software like the Kernel, Wine, and Mesa, persistsant audio bugs like the other user mentioned, and basically no support for Wayland at the moment.

A lot of these are because System76 has been heavily focused working on its COSMIC desktop, which should function a full standalone desktop environment instead of Gnome with duct tape. It's looking forward to seeing it which has so far kept me from switching, but with no release date and other distros offering what Pop offers, it's harder and harder to stay put.

Defaced ,

Running OpenSUSE Tumbleweed right now and it's great!

rdrunner ,

If iRacing and my other sim racing gear worked with Linux I'd make the switch asap. I already have popOS on another hard drive and everything other than iRacing has worked well

HeyLow ,

Looks like iRacing is working on proton experimental as of 3 days ago
At least according to a user on protondb

poleslav ,

Yup, similar boat but with planes instead of cars. Most inputs Linux can support on a single usb device is 86 or so, my throttle alone has well over 150 buttons on it. Add in all the stuff for my sim cockpit (probably around 1000 buttons), my haptic feedback chair, and then VR… as much as I’d like to use Linux, I don’t think it’d be possible for the foreseeable future for me to switch.

kennebel ,

I switched to Pop!_OS about 3 months ago and have been loving it! First Linux distribution that just worked for me, and every app works better than any other Linux or Windows 11 on the same hardware.

NRay7882 ,

We need a successful replacement to DirectX for this to happen.

Look how desperate they are now for their web browser, imagine when people start abandoning Windows because there are other options that work just as well. I can't wait.

impure9435 ,

We need a successful replacement to DirectX for this to happen.

Vulkan?

NRay7882 ,

Definitely, I'm not saying that there aren't any viable candidates out there now, but the title base for games that support Vulkan seems to be not even 1/10th of what DirectX 11 can support. It needs more acceptance I guess is what I mean.

Enoril ,

Honestly even the as-is directX with Wine is already quite good. With Vulkan, game over :-)

MentalEdge ,
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

Wine doesn't do DirectX. A wine environment set up for gaming uses DXVK or VKD3D to translate everything to Vulkan.

vividspecter ,

Wine does do DirectX as well (and did well before DVXK and VKD3D-Proton were a thing). But it translates to OGL instead of Vulkan so it was always relatively slow and has issues with compatibility. There's also some other built in work to translate to Vulkan (including the original VKD3D), but they are behind the third party projects too.

MentalEdge ,
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

Yes, that was WineD3D, which still has to be used in some cases.

But that's still not DirectX, what I was saying is that you don't actually run DirectX in Wine. You have to translate it to Vulkan or OpenGL.

Not that this stuff isn't part of Wine.

MentalEdge ,
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

We already do?

DXVK and VKD3D have been translating DirectX 9-12 to Vulkan for a while now, allowing DirectX games and applications to run on hardware and/or operating systems that don't support DirectX.

Intels ARC GPUs don't even support DirectX on a hardware level, like it's just straight up not there. Intels drivers instead just translate it to Vulkan, and their at times insane FPS boosts from driver updates was due to them improving that translation and getting closer to 1:1 performance.

NRay7882 ,

At times, yes. But at most times, no. Certain games can capitalize on ARC and I was just as enthusiastic as everyone else when it first started making the rounds. But theres a reason the cards haven't caught on and most people seem to rely on them more for offloading things like streaming and AV1 encoding/decoding

MentalEdge ,
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

They're new.

I didn't claim they're worth recommending yet. AFAIK they're pretty great now, and with more issues worked out on the hardware side, Battlemage has great potential.

Enoril ,

Switched to arch linux last november, didn’t had to launch my backup VM Win10 at all.
I even managed to play at StarCitizen with better performance than under Win 10...

Just wow the progress of Linux, Wine & co since my last linux try (Ubuntu, around 2010).

I just need now to find a linux way for my music stack and all the VST (my steinberg usb card is recognized and play properly oO) and Windows will be history at home...

Dablin ,
@Dablin@kbin.social avatar

Yeah ive also had s Star Citizen running in Arch. My setup didnt support game updates though so every update needed a complete redownload of the entire game which got old real fast.

Also had Microsoft Flight Simulator running very well too which is peak irony. At first there was issues with satellite terrain and imagary as the networking was broken but a Proton update actually fixed that.

Im incredibly impressed on the type of heavy duty window games ive got working in linux, some working very well others with slight occasional issues.

Linux gaming isnt perfect but windows has never been either. Ive had plenty of experience over the years with some games just not running properly or at all in windows even though they should.

Ive found many older games generally run better in Linux now in respect to modern windows, despite the compatibility layers.

misk ,
@misk@sopuli.xyz avatar

It's funny seeing this every couple of years. People get up in arms about something with Windows, some switch to Linux because they outgrew Windows and the time was right. By now I think you guys could be primary source of Linux users.

DScratch ,

Yeah, I’m guilty of this tbh.
It’s just the massive unknown of leaving something you’ve been so close to for literally the majority of my life.

It’s scary!

imecth ,
@imecth@fedia.io avatar

It's little grievances that eventually pile up and one day you'll just have had enough and switch.

blind3rdeye ,

Yeah, for me it is the ads. No one likes ads, but I hate ads more than most people. So when Windows started putting more and more 'recommendations' into various places... I've been building up a list of registry tweaks to turn it all off - but as more ads got added, just couldn't tolerate it any more. I installed Mint with dual boot (defaulting to Mint). I thought I'd be booting into Window every so often for one reason or another, but as it happens - the only reason I ever loaded Windows was to check that the dual booting was working.

cosmicrookie ,
@cosmicrookie@lemmy.world avatar

Linux can play most games nowadays. You can check if your games are compatible and to what extend they are not here https://www.protondb.com/

neutron ,

Why not start today, man? It's good to practice.

DScratch ,

Uncertainty, really.

What distro works with my setup:
3700x and rtx 4090?

7U5K3N ,

Folks will say arch.

But honestly any modern Linux system with 3rd party drivers will work.
Mint pop_os arch Manjaro Debian Ubuntu etc

I'm running a 1660 and an i5 64xx on kubuntu 24.04
Granted that stuff is older but you'll have the same experience.

Unless you're running the absolute bleeding edge... You'll not have a lot of problems.

*Ymmv of course but majority of folks won't have issues.

HeyMrDeadMan ,

The the Arch software repos are incredible and the Arch Wiki is, quite frankly, a work of art that should be celebrated with the same reverence as the Mona Lisa or David's uncircumcised cock.

But anyone recommending Arch to a Linux newbie needs a psych evaluation.

I've lost count of the number of times I've read stories to the effect of, "yeah, a regular package update bricked my desktop, but I just rolled my face across the keyboard and recompiled the offending software and got back to work, no big deal."

Cool. I'm so glad you can do that my guy, I really am. But how the hell do you expect average computer user to figure that out? The first time a software update leaves them at a command prompt with some cryptic GDM error message or a Nvidia kernel panic or something, they're going running back to Billy Gates' warm walled garden embrace. Shit, I like to think I'm half competent with Linux and I'd shit myself if that happened to me.

EDIT: Sorry, @7U5K3N, I didn't nessicarily mean to direct any of that to you specifically, it's sort of just my standard copy pasta whenever I see Arch reccomded.

7U5K3N ,

Haha I agree arch is the meme recommendation. It has its benefits like you've detailed out.. but it's not for a windows convert. I've ran it, it can require more fiddling than some of the other distros. Tinkering that newbies can't do.

Me I'm an apt man. So I tend to suggest distros that center around that package manager.. it just so happens that they are some of the newbie ones.

I once installed mint on my ex father in laws machine and it ran perfectly for ages for him (with auto updates)
They were spending $$$s a quarter on windowa system cleanup due to viruses. As he was an online slot machine / junk flash game player. So of course he would get all the viruses. Once he went mint, he had 0 issues (with the os) the issues he had was more user error with online behavior.

Anyway. No problem for the gruffness of your reply, as I agree with what you've said. :)

Assman ,
@Assman@sh.itjust.works avatar

I haven't touched my Windows PC since the steam deck came out. If you only care about games you don't need Windows.

AdamBomb ,

That was my choice too. I made the jump to Mint earlier this year and couldn’t be happier. It took a little effort to get updated GPU drivers, and my games sometimes need an extra CLI argument added, but those things have been pretty quickly and easily found on the Mint forums, Ubuntu forums, or ProtonDB comments.

PotatoKat ,

Give pop-os a try if you're running an nvidia. It was very much plug and play with my laptop and it works great.

Moorshou ,
@Moorshou@lemmy.zip avatar

You made my day!

Tregetour ,
@Tregetour@lemdro.id avatar

If you had any real intention of making the shift, you'd have done so already. Protip: You know I'm right!

anas ,

Genuine question, what’s the point of this comment?

Tregetour ,
@Tregetour@lemdro.id avatar

The 'as soon as Windows 10 can’t x I'm off to Linux!' refrain is so routine in our circles it's practically a meme. All someone says when they pontificate like this is that their true priority is can kicking rather than action.

anas ,

I feel like someone who likes Win10 and is used to it would want to use it for as long as they can, before having to change to Linux.

MTK ,

WiNdOwS 10 wIlL bE tHe LaSt WiNdOwS

matmarspace ,

It will tho ;)

merthyr1831 ,

the last functional windows.

dumpsterlid , (edited )

Well yes because customers will be sunsetting support for Microsoft products with the end of Windows 10 :P

I feel like most people at Microsoft must know it and don’t care, the upper execs are either out to lunch or they are pre-emptively throwing away away the consumer desktop market because they just don’t value it anymore for whatever reason.

I think for the richest and farthest looking powerful people at Microsoft, the desktop battle is over, desktop OS software has become commodified (even though… it hasn’t actually yet by the numbers just by the practicality of the alternatives) and it isn’t worth investing seriously in maintaining their operating system long term as anything but a skin for their particular corporate flavor of Linux.

Internet Explorer to Edge but repeated with Windows.

Good riddance I say, but the complete divestment from giving a shit is pretty shocking, I don’t know where they think the on-ramp for customers is going to come from that will bring people fed up with Windows 11 onto friendly Linux distro where they can still use Microsoft software and services. I think it is more likely the bulk of people will just stop using desktop operating systems and…. Microsoft lost the battle to have relevance on mobile years and years ago?

It is weird because it feels like if Kodak saw the digital photography revolution coming 5-10 years before it happened and pre-emptively gave up on the entire film photography market and started releasing crap film and film related products and invested all their money into R&D for digital cameras… except that because Kodak was by far the biggest player in the film market before Kodak could develop a decent digital camera (if they were ever going to do that) the personnel photography market collapsed, fed up customers left, and there wasn’t a market for Kodak to sell personnel cameras of any type by the time they finally got their shit together to make a good one.

Digital photography in this metaphor is a consumer computer market where most people run a Linux based FOSS operating system with proprietary Microsoft services bolted on top and thus Microsoft finally can truly tell its customers to fuck off when they demand their operating not be trash (not that linux is trash). Certainly many many people are going this route, the year of the Linux desktop is no longer a joke these days and I am hyped, but it will be nowhere near enough for a company the size of Microsoft.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod ,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

monkey's paw curls a finger

Imgonnatrythis ,

This one is particularly harsh since win11 has ridiculous artificial hard stops on installation based on made up hardware requirements. Also it sucks.

Creat ,

This also makes it easy to block Win 10 from upgrading to 11, just disable tpm in BIOS. From where I'm sitting, that's kinda convenient.

Imgonnatrythis ,

Ok, but where will you be be sitting on Oct. 15th 2025?

cm0002 ,

That's a Oct 14th 2025 me's problem

Creat ,

Dunno yet, sounds like future me's problem. Mist likely some version of Linux unless win 11 drastically changes course (unlikely).

scottmeme ,

That's where you grab a W10 Enterprise LTSC iso which has support until 2032.

Already got a surface running it.

JamesFire ,

Where would you... find one of these? For a friend

scottmeme ,

There are a few copies floating around torrent sites.

Usually it's sku conversion changes so it's not an eval mode.

Or find a friendly neighborhood n3rd who might have one. 😉

Also you can entirely uninstall edge!

Imgonnatrythis ,

Hol up. So m$ is still making the patches they're just not releasing them to anyone but enterprise users? The whole end of service thing doesn't actually free up any of their resources its just a soulless push for upgrade purchases?

scottmeme ,

Yep! 100% on the 👃

daikiki ,

I imagine they'll have backtracked on this decision long before then.

Khrux ,

I have a PC I built that was absolutely top of the line 9½ years ago, that still plays most games in high to max settings. It's a little powerhouse for its age, I often use it for rendering video and it still smokes everybody I know 's devices.

Windows 11 is too powerful for my PC according to Microsoft and I've been so pleased about that. If it wasn't for the fact that I have no issues with my current windows 10 setup, I'd put in some time to jump to Linux. I'm just too lazy to give it the weekend it would take to learn, set up and move my content over properly.

Creat ,

Well to my knowledge there are (or at least were) workarounds to get win 11 to install anyway. It of course worked fine, despite saying it needed a TPM and/or specific minimum CPU.

From an eWaste perspective Microsofts decision to force literally millions of PCs into fake obsolescence is obviously horrible. And I honestly have no idea what their motivation even was for this.

As for trying Linux, these days it really isn't even a weekend. Sure if you want to tinker and learn, you can invest a weekend. But if you want to just use the PC just pick any of the commonly recommended distros and just go. It's installed in minutes and you can honestly just use the PC for whatever you used to use it before. Just backup/move your data off it and you got nothing to lose but like an hour, if it really doesn't work as you need it to.

Chev ,

I've the newest AMD hardware available and I'm not able to upgrade. No idea what they want.

Imgonnatrythis ,

Hopefully you bought your fully assembled pc with an official Microsoft sticker already on the case right?

Chev ,

I've built the pc myself.

kingshrubb ,

Microsoft won't let me upgrade with an i7 6700K

refalo ,

they want you to buy a new pc So they get their license fee

Deway ,

That thing must be as slow as a Pentium 3, it obviously can't run a features packed OS like Win11.
Go install Windows XP you dirt poor person. /s

Bakkoda ,
@Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works avatar

Same exact cpu. It's a tpm issue. You might be able to "solve" it with some simple bios setting but some would consider it already fixed. I have.

Theharpyeagle ,

I'm dreading what will happen at work. I even paid for the Win11 upgrade on my personal desktop, used it for a month and then installed Mint and never looked back. Not being able to move the start bar is such a minor thing, but it's a great indicator of how locked down that PoS is and how little they care about what users want.

Beebabe ,
@Beebabe@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve decided I’m gonna have one crapbox prebuilt just for the windows things and nothing important or personal, but my work laptop and pc will most certainly not be windows going forward. I have a lot to learn but I’m over it with the ads and the privacy stuff is a genuine concern for work related items.

refalo ,

unfortunately the games I like to play require bare-metal windows and a beefy gpu.

Zacryon ,

Which ones?

refalo ,

many teknoparrot games for example. some do work on wine/lutris/etc. but many do not.

matmarspace , (edited )

Are you sure? You checked them on ProtonDB or you checked them on your hardware?

I have just bought a modern AMD gpu (rx 7700xt) and now I am very surprised how almost every game works on Linux (I miss you rainbow six siedge, but I know it's the developer's fault who just chose not to enable anticheat support on Linux 🥲). Before I had Radeon R9 380 so it was quite old at this point but performance wise it wasn't really as bad but I noticed that performance on Linux compared to Windows was trash or games even didn't work at all. Now I guess it was due to how old and unsupported my old gpu was. Now everything just works and I'm shocked. Hardware is unfortunately important on Linux 😭. It doesn't need to be beefy but it needs to be somehow modern. (At least for games... Everything else worked just fine even on my old hardware)

refalo ,

yes I'm very sure

ulterno ,
@ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

I’m gonna have one crapbox prebuilt just for the windows things

I did that too. For older games.
Then I went ahead and installed Linux on that one too.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Oh fucking great. My daughter's online school requires her to run "Windows 8 or greater," but we got her a used laptop that can run 10 to make sure it can keep up with security updates. I don't even know if it is powerful enough to run 11 because I didn't even consider the possibility when I bought it. Now we're going to have to buy a new one in a couple of years?

Fuck you Pierson and Microsoft.

barsquid ,

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    If I could afford a lawyer, I wouldn't be concerned about having to buy a new notebook for her.

    737 ,

    Pirate Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC for support until 2027

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Thanks, I'll look into that. I appreciate it!

    Killer ,

    You can use massgrave to activate it, microsoft support has been caught using it to activate windows on customers computers.

    frostmore ,

    massgeave activation is new to me.

    is that paid?

    Tixanou ,
    @Tixanou@lemmy.world avatar

    It's free!

    Dougtron007 ,

    Most laptops that ship with windows 10 are capable of running 11. I recommend finding out if the schools provides a license. When I was attending Phoenix online a couple years ago they supplied me with a windows 10 education license through Microsoft.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    It does not unfortunately.

    Dark_Arc ,
    @Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg avatar

    Do they actually require it or do they "require" it.

    A lot of things that are browser based "require" Windows or Mac but don't actually require it.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    I don't particularly care to risk my daughter's education by trying to figure that out.

    Dark_Arc ,
    @Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg avatar

    Oh christ...

    refalo ,

    lmao

    bufalo1973 ,
    @bufalo1973@lemmy.ml avatar

    Get a live-USB and check it. Maybe you get a surprise.

    bufalo1973 ,
    @bufalo1973@lemmy.ml avatar

    Get a live-USB and check it. Maybe you get a surprise.

    MystikIncarnate ,

    If memory serves me, they usually do 5 years of extended support after they retire an os, so, I'm just going to wait and see.

    TachyonTele ,

    Supposedly they're not doing that this time. That's part of the reason people are making a big deal out of it.

    VerticaGG ,

    Its the Data harvesting that's irking me. Not that data harvesting is new; but that i have a dreadful sense of M$' "AI" scheming just crosses a rubicon of data harvesting.

    I'm backing away slowly. Dont care what games or executables i wont be able to run. Get ready for the accusations that im the "radical arch-loving myopic lemmy elite": it's finally time to run *nix as host.

    CCF_100 ,

    Soon, you'll be saying "i use arch btw". It's only a matter of time. >:D

    skulblaka ,
    @skulblaka@startrek.website avatar

    Dont care what games or executables i wont be able to run

    Between Wine and Proton that's basically a non issue anymore, go ahead and make the switch. The era of windows exclusive software is pretty much over.

    Woovie ,

    I switched to Arch a month ago because of Microsoft forceful integration of their shit AI tools into 11. Easy switch.

    Valmond ,

    So that is what it means, people wont support w10 anymore after oct 2025?

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