Switching to Linux

I used Windows my entire life. My first computer (a silver VAIO laptop) had Windows XP and I loved it (well, I was like 7 or 8 years old) and my second PC had Windows 7, which was even better in every regard. That was also the time I started to play games on the regular and let's be honest: back then, Windows was unbeaten in that area (more on that later). My friends used Windows, in school we used Windows and at my first job they used Windows on desktops and on every of their servers. I skipped Windows Vista, Windows 8 was garbage, 8.1 was okay (I still use it in a closed VM which is not connected to any networks) and Windows 11 is a nightmare (in my opinion, see down below).

For excactly 10 years I used Windows 10 and it was close to perfect and kept me trapped. It worked for a long time and I was happy with it. But now it has to retire, because it will go end of life (EOL) this year and I refuse to pay for updates, just to delay the inevitable. So I started to think about what to do next 🔍. Upgrading to version 11 or do something else?

1. The easy way: Windows 11

Don't worry, Microsoft has you covered: Just upgrade to Windows 11 (even though they created the problem in the first place 🤑).

In my case, I also had to upgrade my hardware. At first I didn't want to do that, but my last CPU was attackable via Spectre (even though patched and not exploitable anymore in my case) and was already a bit old by now. So I bought a new Mainboard, CPU (I was lucky that I could reuse my RAM 🍀) and PSU. A PSU? Yes, I had to replace that one too, because the newer CPUs do sometimes need some extra juice and my old one could not deliver that extra 12 volts ⚡.

You could argue that upgrading your rig is a good thing since you should replace old parts like my CPU at some point, but I think that you should not be forced to do so. My old setup was more than fast enough for everything I did and could have lasted another 5 or 6 years without bottlenecking me in any way. I don't want to know how much hardware will be thrown away because of this stupid and random decision by Microsoft (you can't even tell why some CPUs are supported and some aren't ; and no, it is not just about the instruction sets of the processors ; let's skip the TPM discussion at this point). I sold my old parts and got some cash back so it wasn't a big deal, but still inconvinient.

After doing so (reluctantly), I tried Windows 11 on my new rig and it was terrible. I was very glad I didn't buy a new license yet (I had an OEM license for Windows 10 and my hardware changed dramatically, so my free upgrade went down the drain).

• Hardware: I just discussed that ⬆.
• Online accounts: You have to FORCE Windows 11 to use a local account by disconnecting the network plug and using the commandline during the setup. I am sure that this will be impossible at some point and you have to use an online account (be warned, you read it here first).
• Bloatware par eccelance: I have never seen so much garbage I will never use, no joke. Games ⁉, the Office stuff paired with OneDrive, AI assistant and other stupid 💩. We are talking about the official ISO from Microsoft, not some OEM!
• Spying: Everybody heard about Recall (even though it is only available on Copilot+ PCs at the moment), but you should take a look at some YouTube videos on how much Windows is talking in the background to M$. It is not funny and will only become worse (if that is even possible). Ads are placed inside your OS and M$ changed their terms of service so they are allowed to analyze your files created or managed with their software (just like Adobe using your creations to train their AI).
• Unwanted AI features: In particuar Bing Desktop and Recall. Why is this activated by default? Make this optional (well, with Recall, they did)!
• Other unwanted features: Desktop-Widgets (I prefered 8GadgetPack on Windows 10), new (and worse) start menu, new (and okayish) explorer, new (and worse) context menu (right click), new (and worse) settings... and the list goes on and on, I guess you get my point.
• Inconsistent menus: You have the old control panel and the new settings app. Where do you find what? Good luck finding what you look for (that was already a problem in Windows 10, and after so many years they didn't manage to fix that). There are a lot of other old GUIs that have not been converted to the new system yet (that has been an issue for years). It feels wrong using them but sometimes they offer more functionality than the new ones. Get it done already, especially if you want money from us!
• Drivers and Kernel: Drivers most of the time don't work (at least in my experience) and have to constantly be updated to keep working (for example my keyboard's RGB: simple thing but the drivers constantly crashed or didn't work after a system update and you had to wait for an update from the manufacturer to adapt to the "new" conditions). You can also take a look at the "Crowdstrike desaster" that took down half of the world (it even has a Wikipedia article).
• Design changes: This is a personal one, I don't like the new design. You might like to always adapt to a new design (in regards of the look and feel), but I don't. New Icons, new layout, new colors... I like it modern and fresh, but I want a constant.
• Lack of design options: You can propose a new design to me, but if I prefer an older or different one, let me choose. Yes, you can change the style of Windows, but it is not really supported by Microsoft. You have to find workarounds and it is not easy for the average user (which I am not, but it is still a concern for me).
• Money/Costs: I had to upgrade my rig. I would have to buy a new License (or you buy a very expensive permanent one, which can be activated at one PC at the time). Good things do cost money, I understand that, but it is still a hurdle you have to jump over. At this point, you could just buy a Mac and be done with it, because you'd have everything you need (hardware and licensed software).
• Security: Windows always had and probably always will have to deal with this. Most malicious software like viruses, trojans and ransomware is still targeted at Windows systems because of their popularity, but also because it is so damn easy to attack. Everything is executable from the get go and the OS itself has more vulnerabilities and open holes than the titanic.
• Closed Source: We will never see the source code (except for the few occurences like the XP leak). We can never be sure, what we install to our hardware and use on a daily basis (tbh. I didn't really care about that until a few months ago, but it is still true and concerning). Computers became more than just machines that do calculations for us and show information, they became an integral part of our lives. You should care, what they do and don't do! Who knows what secrets your file system holds, that you try to hide from us 👀.
• Crappy system management: After some time you will notice that your machine takes longer to boot (even if you have a NVMe), your main drive that holds your OS piles up and suddenly has less storage space available and you might experience your explorer crashing from time to time (or not start at all). Updates take longer, refuse to install or stop to install entirely (search for articles covering a bug that made you reinstall Windows 11 if you used an ISO from a specific period of time. At a certain point, updates could no longer be installed anymore because M$ messed things up big time). These are just some of many examples that should demonstrate how bad Windows is at managing itself. You should or need to do a fresh/clean install after 2 or 3 years (at the latest), otherwise you will get less out of your time, energy and money while working. That has to do with caches that are not emptied, updates that don't clean up after themselfs (or that are just broken) and just some random stuff Windows does in the background, you have no control or insight over. It is very bad and to keep your peace of mind, don't think about it, while you use Windows.

There are probably more downsides I missed in my list, but I think this is a good start. After considering each and every of these problems and headaches, I wanted to switch to a different operating system. This whole situation will become only worse in the future and you have to draw a line at some point. You should not turn on your PC and shed a tear at the good ol' times or become aggressive if nothings seems to work anymore.

2. Become a vegeterian and start using Apple: macOS

Many things that are true for Windows, are true for this one:

• Hardware: The hardware is very pricy and the OS is bound to that hardware. Yes, you could try to build a Hackintosh, but you would have to be very precise about the components you pick and you have to pray after every update, that your PC still boots to desktop. That is not a stable and reliable solution in my opinion.
• Spying: Apple might do that, but from what I have heard, not to the extend M$ does (but still a bit).
• Unwanted Features: Not to the extend (at least until now).
• Lack of design options: I am not aware of any options to change the look and feel (like icons, skins and alike ; correct me if I am wrong). You are also way more dependent, what Apple does.
• Money/Costs: You have to buy new hardware every now and then, because at some point, the new OS releases simply won't support the older models (you paid thousands of dollars for). Kind of like Windows. but with more "service".
• Closed source: Yeah, we have no idea how Apples does things... And they do everything they can, to prevent you from finding out even the smallest details (take a look at the legal dispute with Corellium).

Considering these points, you can only take this route if you are fine with the price (you have to pay every few years) and the hardware you get (that you are forced to use). That is not my cup of tea, so I ditched that option.

3. Freedom over everything: Linux

Now we are looking at the elephant in the room. There is simply no other (good) alternative, you can use on desktop. I have used many and still use some distros inside VMs, nameley: Ubuntu, Kali Linux, debian, Fedora and some others I don't remember the names of. I also owned a Raspberry PI 3 Model B for a few years and all of my servers run on Linux, so this territory wasn't new for me at all (which definitely makes it easier).

I chose Mint, because it is known for being very similar to Windows (in a good way). It is a great start for people that want to take a look at the world of Linux. You don't have to deal with the console at all and the UI is very close to Windows 10 (or 7 for that matter). It is free (of course), supports every hardware you can think of and you can set it up the way you want (as it should be). You can customize it and keep a constant look and feel (if you like). The choice is yours, which can be overwhelming at first, but you don't have to take a look at anything if you don't want to. That is true freedom ✊.

Everything worked out of the box for me. I always used FOSS software anyway so the switch was easier for me (your results might vary). I use GIMP, Thunderbird, Firefox, VirtualBox, WireGuard, VLC, Audacity and so on an so forth on a daily basis. Each one of these projects offers an executable for Linux. Some are even included in the installation, which could be called "Bloatware", but at least they are very easy and painless to uninstall. For example the Libre Office pack, which I don't use, can be removed by one simple command.

My graphics Card from NVIDIA has native drivers for Linux, my 15 year old printer worked just fine (just had to plug in the USB) and even my RGB keyboard (which only has drivers for Windows) can be managed with OpenRGB. You can even install a RDP viewer like Remmina and still access Windows hosts remotely, like nothing changed.

It just works, sometimes even better than on Windows. That is very impressive, considering the past (it was very different a few years back). You should try to switch, really. Setup a VM inside your favourite hypervisor and start trying, that's how I did it. It took me 2 weeks or so and after that I had everything planned out. I found alternatives for Windows-only software (in my case only a few) and started to try out everything that was important to me. You can also find lots and lots of tutorials on YouTube on how to plan your migration and take a look at all the alternatives (maybe you favor a different distro).

A brief word about gaming: There is no difference anymore compared to Windows. Actually, you might find that (especially old) games, thanks to Wine, Steam and Proton, might work better on Linux now 😂. They did a great job offering a compatibilitly layer to Vulkan. The only problem you might come across are online games that use kernel based anti cheat (eww 🤢). This can't be replicated on Linux, because this OS is not stupid enough to give any "trusted" third party drivers access to the kernel 😇. That is not the fault of Linux, that is just game developers being insane but that is a topic for another day.

I don't regret anything (only that I waited so long). It is easier and frictionless than ever. Almost any "special software" you use (which is probably pretty old at this point) can be replaced by a modern alternative or you could use a VM with Windows to keep your must-haves around (or you simply develop your own replacement 😉).

4. Become a true outlaw: Use something else

At this point, if you can't get along with option number 2 or 3, you will become a true unicon. Almost nobody does that and that is for a good reason:

There are alternatives like Haiku OS, ReactOS, FreeBSD or Plan 9. But all of them are not very popular or widely used. If you have any trouble with it, you won't find a lot of (if any) help both online and offline. There is also a very, very, very small chance, that you'll find your favourite software or any good alternatives on these platforms. Some of them don't even support modern codecs or even webbrowsers, the interfaces work totally different (or there are no GUIs at all) and you will have to adapt to a lot of gotchas.

They are cool, not gonna lie, but they are not very suitable for a daily use imho. Good luck with that approach, you will need it.

Conclusion

You don't really have a choice at this point. You either switch sides to the Unix world, meaning Linux or Apple, or you have to reside in the Microsoft camp.

I learned a lot from this experience but the most important one is this: Things do change, you have to reevalutate on a regular basis. Back in 2015 or 2020 I would have never guessed, that Linux would become such a strong competetitor in the desktop segement. Many people are sick of Microsoft's shenanigans and want to be left in peace. That's why there are currently so many videos on social media, especially YouTube, were people show their migration to a different OS (mostly Linux btw.) or start to ask the question, if it is time to do so.

Try it for yourself and see if the time has come to make the jump. For me the time was now and I safely landed on the other side. Maybe your time to switch comes later down the road but I am sure, it will.