I know that this is always said, but compared to, say, 2012 when Windows 8 was announced we have:
* Youtube, Netflix and other services that Windows 7 users would have taken for granted that weren't available by default on Linux
* Stable drivers for infamous Wifi problems
* Thousands of games working since Proton was released in 2018 [0]
* Anti-cheat support announced by EAC and Battleye earlier this year [1]
* Easier install processes
I think the knee-jerk HN backlash against Linux in comments like these is getting less and less justified. There's certainly still reasons that you could be flippant and sarcastic about Linux. It still is at only 1-3% of the marketshare after all, but I don't think you can compare it to previous versions of Windows in the same way anymore.
[1] https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/valve-making-linux-anti-c...
Linux mint 20 is my main OS in my self-built PC ( and works for me pretty well (for development, browsing and gaming via Proton). But I wouldn't try to convince ANY non-technical user to get into Linux. Because installing it is half the battle, once they start doing "their stuff" (plug a second monitor, plug some device, open some file, etc) there's good chance that it won't work.
[1] https://askubuntu.com/questions/593938/how-to-run-both-intel...
Both just work, with the only configuration I had to do was to swap them round (left/right) is display settings.
Maybe windows has caught up with this now, last time I used windows I had to install "drivers", which seemed to be advertising programs which took up most of my CPU, to use basic peripherals.
This comment kind of decreases the your argument. If you are using Linux you know what a device driver is. This naïve take on drivers just doesn't fly. I couldn't ware less about windows, but the last time I used it (I think Windows 7) I didn't have to install any additional driver.
And on Linux you also have to install "drivers" either closed source (nvidia) or open source (nouveau) to make use of 3d acceleration. So, if you don't know what these "drivers" are, I suggest you read on them and how to install them in your preferred Linux distro, as it can strongly improve your Linux experience if you happen to have a discrete graphics chip in your computer.
It is running two GPUs, one of them Nvidia. That's an entirely different league, than plugging a second monitor into a Linux system.
* Hm, my sound stopped working. * Hm, dhcp stopped working. * X has completely failed to start. * This website just straight up doesn't load. * Thia game won't load (pretend it's solitaire). * This update broke my boot. * Seemingly doing nothing broke my boot. * This update broke my browser. * This application does not work without configuration. * My monitor layout is broken.
Maybe things are better in Ubuntu land, but I doubt it's as seamless as Windows/Mac.
- "internet doesn't work" -> yanked ethernet cable. Later I made sure it cannot be easily yanked.
- "printer doesn't print" -> classic inkjet problem with dried ink. Inkjet replaced with b/w laser. no problems since.
However Windows 11 can be installed on the same hardware that runs Windows 10, it just won't allow you to upgrade. Otherwise it runs fine.
Microsoft is basically turning Windows into what mobile OS's are: tightly controlled and requiring specific hardware to ensure a particular set of user expectations with their devices. In other words, it's becoming a laptop OS.
It was not possible to either run the update assistant or boot from install media and install from there; both means said that the machine doesn't meet minimum requirements.
They didn't even say which ones, just shown a generic link. Only the Health Check running under W10 said that it is the CPU.
It is Windows 11 that doesn't run on it.
When XP came out, people were switching to Linux.
When Vista came out, people were switching to Linux.
When 8.x came out, people were switching to Linux.
When 10 came out, people were switching to Linux.
Now Windows 11 came out, naturally people are still switching to Linux.
Guess what? People are going to continue switching platforms and talking about it.
Oh and 25% of developers are generally running Linux, 25-30% are on a Mac and about 40-45% are on Windows...and Windows usage is trending downwards year after year. [0]
[0] https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#section-most-...
The only real show stoppers left are the usually wimpy hardware it comes with and the lack of polish, but otherwise it has come a long way. I would completely consider switching to it instead of linux if I had a Dell laptop for instance.
McDonald's is also one of the most popular restaurants. I eat there once in a while. I still run Windows boxes to play games too.
And it's more like ~30% for Windows when you measure against all operating systems, not just the desktop ones. [0] Android is the top dog since at least October 2020 when it went to over ~40%.
What do the Xbox or XCloud have to do with developer marketshare? They're targets, not development platforms. Are you arguing that the Stackoverflow stats are wrong?
Stackoverflow stats reflect the vocal audience that bothers answering their surveys.
That is the problem with statistics, when there is a chicken and two people, each has eaten half.
I mean, with sideloading on an Xbox technically sure, you can do anything. But to be clear, your average developers are not doing development on Xboxes directly, they're using Unity/Unreal and treating their Xbox as a compile target. And certainly they're not doing remote development on XCloud, that would be a wildly inefficient way to write software when instead you could just develop locally on any machine.
> Stackoverflow stats reflect the vocal audience that bothers answering their surveys.
Do you really genuinely think that Stackoverflow's blog is so unrepresentative that it's undercounting significant numbers of developers that are installing Visual Studio on an XBox?
I still just don't understand what conclusion you're trying to draw. Am I just misunderstanding what you're saying, or are you really arguing that these are development platforms that people are commonly using as their daily driver to write software? Because... they're not. There's not a hidden uncounted majority of people who bought Xboxes because they love the experience of hooking them up to their computer peripherals and using them as their software development platform.
I will give them (some) benefit of the doubt -- they probably are using Windows 11's more stringent hardware requirements as an instrument to drive increased security in the PC space. New PCs will want to be advertised as Windows 11 compatible, and will benefit from the newer features. Every type of Windows user will benefit. And yes, if it gets them more money, so much the better.
But Windows 10's retirement date is October 14, 2025[1] and I don't think that's sustainable. They'll almost have to extend that date.
Because otherwise, four years from now, there's a lot of devices that'll be out of support, on an OS that Microsoft sold as "the last version of Windows ever". There'll be lawsuits if that happens, mark my words.
Of course I suspect Microsoft is hoping most Windows 11-ineligible machines will have been retired by then, but we know people (public sector, developing countries, lower income groups) hang on to their PCs. More realistically, they'll either extend Windows 10's support date like they did with XP, or lower the system requirements based on user feedback. More likely extend the support date, because honestly, the cost of supporting 10 vs 11 is minimal, it's not that big of an update.
I'd definitely encourage people to put Linux on an old laptop though. For instance I know people who've put Linux on old Thinkpad X230s and given it to their children, who basically use them like a more-capable Chromebook. On the right hardware, Linux laptops are pretty darn good. But yes, if you have a weird hardware configuration which Linux isn't good with, and you have no time for mucking around -- do yourself a favour and stay away from Linux.
[1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-...
there are also people who think that the incessant production of e-waste through planned obsolescence is obscene and a crime against nature (and eventually ourselves). devices should be reparable, long-lived, upgradeable by design. and don't get me started on privacy and the grave risks from normalizing the ubiquitous collection of data.
no need to mention names but you can perfectly well be a "tech titan" and a moral dwarf. each tech company (and each one of their employees) must assume their responsibility for what kind of world they are (literally) engineering
Full disclosure: I dual boot, but only to game. Linux been my daily driver since before 7 went eol. I am that linux fanboy. Debian, primarily.
CodeWeavers[1] has done amazingly for the Linux gaming scene via
- Steam's Proton (Steam pays CodeWeavers for development, and I happily throw my money at Valve for that) and
- their own CrossOver product which I use for non-Stream games. (I paid for their lifetime subscription[2] because I wanted to support them so much.)
Stream's Proton works well for many games that don't officially support it (one can check others' reports in protodb). Examples of games I've played recently that don't officially support Proton include Iron Danger and Horizon Zero Dawn. The latter runs surprisingly smoothly given what I'd heard about its PC performance issues from when it first came out. Granted, I'm playing both of these 1 year after their PC release, but I've already got a long Steam backlog of games to play, so that's not bothered me.
For reference, I run PopOS on a System76 Thelio with an 8-core AMD processor and Radeon RX 580.
It is hardly a traditional linux given how locked down it it is out of the box, but so what? She'll never use 99% of the features that windows or macOS come with.
Vista was just complete shit BTW... I skipped over it to Windows 7. Switched completely to Linux after that.
And just like Android and ChromeOS, don't expect Windows 12/Linux apps to be available on GNU/Linux distributions.
It’s actually kind of shocking that people don’t know this these days. Have corporations really undermined free software so much?
When XP came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to Toy'R us interface.
When Vista came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to DX 10 drivers and hardware requirements.
When 8.x came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to tablet UI.
When 10 came out everyone was going to go GNU/Linux, due to telemetry.
Now Windows 11 came out, naturally everyone is going to go GNU/Linux yet again.