Windows 11 keeps trying to install different stuff, notifying you about how great edge is, requires new hardware, and more. Windows 12 is rumored to be cloud only with a subscription?
What will do you?
W11 works fine for me. I’ll update to 12 if there are no major issues with it. Same thing I’ve done with every Windows update. Like it or not, Windows still wins in software compatibility, and that saves me the most amount of time.
I bet you’d be surprised at what saves you the most time. Sure, short term sticking with what you know may be faster, but I switched to KDE Neon the other day and it’s great.
One thing I didn’t consider that’s an amazing QoL feature is updates to software, including the OS, are all handled mostly in one place. I can view all updates and install them all with one button press. With Windows you need to launch the application (assuming it’s set up to check for updates, if not you have to check manually), wait for it to check online for updates, go to the web page to download the installer, run installer, relaunch the application. It sucks. Theres many other features Linux just handles more elegantly than Window’s pile of shit software. Windows functions but it isn’t good or fast.
Assuming 12 is terrible, that’s probably when I’ll make the switch to Linux. Hopefully by then, it’ll be even smoother for newbies, and work even better for gaming than it already does
I tried out Garuda Linux for a while (had to switch back to Windows because of an automotive ODB II program), and I can confirm that it worked better for Remote Play than Windows. With the runaway success of the Steam Deck, I expect that to only improve.
Hopefully I will be on SteamOS or some other Linux distribution by them.
We will have to see what happens with Win12 as more info releases. Windows seems to follow a pattern of good > bad > good, where 10 is “good” and 11 is “bad”, so maybe 12 will end up decent?
If Win12 ends up being garbage, then I guess I’ll take another hard look at Linux. Hopefully game support will be better by then. Proton is nice for sure, but not quite where I would need it for some of the games I play.
The further into the tech world I get, the more inviting Linux seems. I manage multiple PCs for my business, and holy shit is it aggravating to have to uninstall added garbage and shut off more background processes every time there’s an non optional update. The update that was deemed critical a few weeks ago to protect against whatever new virus is around seemed reasonable, until I opened OOSU and saw outside of the security update, it also happed to turn telemetry back on, gave Microsoft apps permission to use the camera and microphone, reinstalled edge, and added a new update app that’s not located with other apps and can’t be found by REVO. It’s difficult to make it what I want, but at least it’s not impossible.
The way w11 is right now, if 10 gets dropped I’m jumping ship.
I just want a familiar, easy to use, lightweight os. My partner and I both have the same laptop. Mine is my modified w10 build, theirs is the best I could do with w11. Mine starts faster, the battery lasts longer, searching and file transfer is faster, and my temps are lower. I start with 28 background processes, theirs has 73. We do roughly the same things on them, and mine is better in virtually every way.
Want to change a setting? W10 already has 2 extra unnecessary menus to go through to find what you want. W11 put two more on top of that. I tried to use teams for business communication, but the machines took such a performance hit I got rid of it, and on 11 it’s permanent and “functionally necessary” even though it will never be used.
W10 claimed IE, Cortana, Edge, Xbox, and OneDrive were necessary for the OS to work, but I can rip them out and every thing still works. On 11, the menus and file explorer will disappear if you remove programs you never wanted.
There is nothing better about the newer os’ than windows 7. I don’t want more ‘features’. I don’t want more ‘ease of use’ garbage. I don’t want app based programs and menus. I don’t want device syncing and cloud backups. I want computer settings, a file explorer, and the ability to install the programs I use and nothing else. How has no company done that yet?
Are you using Enterprise edition? Standard hardware across users? Active Directory to push a standard set of GPOs and registry edits? Most of this stuff shouldn’t be that hard to manage if you have an actual environment set up to do so and not a cobbled together unmanaged mess that grew/was built ad-hoc. That said not all of us are lucky enough to have any better than ad-hoc, and Microsoft in their infinite wisdom stopped offering general desktop and server management courses that might teach this shit a few years back.
Beyond that, you should probably hold back non-security patches and updates by a few weeks to a month. That gives you time to test on a pilot machine and identify what new settings you’ll have to push to client machines, and time for the internet and MS to find any issues before you have to do so yourself.
Get yourself a cheap SSD and a usb3.2 enclosure. Use Ventoy to add ISOs to it, and you can choose the distro at boot and test them at close to installed speeds.
I’ve got about a dozen different distros that I’m trying out to see what’s the best fit for me :)
I’ll have to give it a go soon. I’m just a bit disappointed I’ll have to develop another hobby to solve a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place.
Yeah, I know that feeling.
On the bright side, apart from the initial learning curve, it’s pretty straightforward, and gives you some extra skills :)
I am running Win11(pro) because the new Intel CPUs require it.
It’s completely fine. I use Firefox without edge annoying me. There are no apps that just pop up out of nowhere (that I know of). It’s fine. I locked down all the temeletry shit like I did on Win10.
The only thing annoying me is the change in the preview in folder icons. I wanna see the pictures that are in the folder not the. xmp files Darktable creates.
I am running Win11(pro) because the new Intel CPUs require it.
Say what? Why does it require it?
I already switched to Linux when I began learning about the horrible privacy you have when using Windows.
May I suggest Linux Mint “Edge” version. It uses the Cinnamon desktop environment which is very familiar to Windows and the Edge version is using the latest kernel to support the most recent hardware and software.
I’m getting a second SSD to load Linux on to get used to it. When staying on 10 is no longer an option I guess I will just be full time Linux.
I’ll complete skip win11. So far there’s no reason to upgrade. Win11 should logically be a good windows again.
First off, I highly doubt the ‘cloud only’ rumors are true. By definition, an operating system must help the machine itself operate. The only way I see something like that being feasable is if the extra app bloatware is web based, which I certainly wouldn’t complain about.
I currently use Linux quite heavily and have a Windows 11 VM on my desktop for all my unsupported software. I am using the Ghost Spectre version and I’m enjoying it quite a lot, it actually makes Windows a good experience. As for 12, I’ll wait and see what it’s like and decide then (for my VM, not bare metal).
I’m just afraid Windows 12 will be something like ChromeOS that just starts Microsoft Edge fullscreen and opens a login screen to some computer in the cloud that I have to pay for.
Rest assured, I’m pretty confident that won’t be the case. While web apps certainly have gained their fair share of popularity, some things still need to be localized on your machine. Chrome OS is just proof of that since it has really taken off after it had forgone its original goal of being fully web based. Last I checked, it even had Steam working allowing you to play games on YOUR computer. Also, keep in mind if your fears did come true, Microsoft would have to run a cloud instance for every single computer running windows on the planet at the same time. This might just be my optimism and faulty assertion, but I don’t think that’s something they would want to do. A subscription based OS is likely, though.
Maybe long term, but plenty of businesses rely on apps that can’t or don’t run on the cloud. I can see them pushing low end devices to this. They have tried several times.
Wow, I’m not alone. Been trialing linux in preparation of what’s to come and it’s actually quite OK. Went with Kubuntu because Ubuntu doesn’t feel like Windows and Steam has official support for it or something? It was easy as pie to install.
Once Windows 10 doesn’t work, it’s probably curtains for windows on my PC.
Honestly, ubuntu has been rough a couple times and had I not tried it on a server for a long time before, I‘d probably given up. Most people strongly recommend mint these days. I should check it some day.
But steam is insanely good. Running most games and a lot of them faster than on windows these days. Most normal software has an open source equivalent and if you know scripting, you basically have a spaceship. Linux can do a lot of cool stuff.
I‘ll not go back, pretty sure.
Steam has official Linux support, distro doesn’t really matter
Personally I’m switching to Pop!_OS and installing KDA Plasma on top of it. I’ve already tested it out on my old laptop
Continue to use OpenSUSE
I will update my Arch distro to Arch 2
“If Arch is so great, why haven’t they made Arch 2?”
I’ll figure out which is better between windows 11 and 12 and then move to that
If Game Maker ends up releasing their Linux IDE in a non-beta state, I’ll switch to Linux tomorrow. It’s one of the few tools still keeping me on Windows.
