I've also noticed that if you build the ISO yourself via UUP dump[1], instead of using the official ISO from Microsoft, then you get a bare start menu with no bloatware or ads, just Explorer and Edge. Nice.
Oh, because the update button in the settings says my hardware does not meet the requirements.
The article says that if you don't buy a new computer with TPM 2.0 then you have to migrate to "the cloud" in order to use Windows 11. What the flip is a Cloud PC? How much a panopticon for spying will that make my daily life working in PuTTY?
Desktop Linux is in such a good place right now, and it's only getting better thanks to all the great developers.
I know if you can live without those then Linux is daily drivable for a long time, but I need all of them to work flawlessly, and every time I try Linux on my bare metal laptop a lot of those features are still missing, janky or require research and tinkering.
I really want to make the switch but I also need 95% feature parity. I don't game much so I don't care how many Steam games now work on Linux via Proton if the basic features of an OS that I mentioned before are not there out of the box.
I use a ThinkPad, so I prefer the TrackPoint and rarely use the TrackPad, but everything else works excellently, especially with KDE.
Sleep/Hibernate - I remember hearing about some issues a couple years ago but haven't seen them lately, I think Intel has finally fixed some issues https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-S0ix-Linux-Failure-Hot
(Bias: went from being fairly attached to macOS to switching to Linux a couple years ago)
As for touchpad gestures, both GNOME and KDE have 1:1 gestures if you are running a Wayland session. If you are not running Wayland, you can install something like Touchegg or use another distro with built-in gestures. Linux Mint and Elementary OS both have great gesture support.
Hardware acceleration works great! Before I switched, Firefox didn't have it and in Chromium, you needed to turn on an experimental flag.
I can't comment on fractional scaling because I use two 24", 1080p monitors.
Support is also usually easy to check beforehand with a web search.
EDIT I didn't realise there's a linux build for Reaper now! I guess I'll still have to sort out how to run my VSTs but that's probably a case by case thing.
I don't how good it is, but Google literally forced Microsoft to create a web version of office, so now Linux users have excel?
Thankfully, Valve's continued and dedicated support for the Steam Deck has made this a very easy alternative to consider.
Wtf is this even supposed to mean. 250% ROI, AI enhanced ?? What ?
My ROI has been pretty good on that $0 purchase.
I am a fan of pop_OS.
Windows 10 end of support will push many, many people to modern hardware?
Seems like HW companies will have very good year 2025/2026
brb purchasing stocks
A lot of folks will go with newer hardware due to lacking TPM, etc. support, but those people were likely to upgrade at 1-3 year intervals anyway.
A majority of users will just keep running Windows 10, with or without sec updates until they can no longer buy a system with 10.
There are still Windows 7 and Vista installs out there, running every day, and I don't mean outliers. I know a clinic that runs Windows 8.1 on everything. Not because it's a great OS, but the Doctor handles his own IT, has the media handy and knows how to install it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As another example, in the microlab of the 3rd hospital I was Director of IT for, I found....a Windows 3.11 machine. Literally, Windows 3.11, with a CRT touchscreen monitor. I reached out to the vendor and suggested that maybe...just maybe...it's time to replace this unit with one a bit more modern.
I think the point is that even though one could do all the hacks required to disable the hardware checks that Windows 11 unnecessarily imposes, subsequent updates and re-patching tend to be painful for end users.
I think that Linux w/ LTS for the next few years may be the sane option for the next decade.
For most people, beyond that timeframe - there may not exist a dedicated gaming PC at all if the purpose is to play games or even get basic productivity work done.
For people like me, I will always embrace the openness and upgradability of a PC though.
Crazy annoying. Also, this was from a time when Intel went through chipsets like single use underwear - after this I moved to AM4, couldn't have been any happier! (3900XT to 5800x3d!).
I still have a 2600k in play (the N-3); I like my PCs to last a while. I understand the (4.4ghz on air) 2600k don't meet the requirements and it needs to be updated, but the 6-core 6850k was one I really hoped to keep around for a while eg for my now 5 year old daughter. (I use Windows predominantly, and Ubuntu through WSL2.)
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/94188/i...
[1] https://www.extremetech.com/computing/205320-microsoft-windo...
