I’m asking what big motivational factors contributed to you into going Linux full-time. I don’t count minor inconveniences like ‘oh, stutter lag in a game on windows’ because that really could be anything in any system. I’m talking, something Windows or Microsoft has done that was so big, that made you go “fuck this, I will go Linux” and so you did.
For me, I have a mountain of reasons by this point to go to Linux. It’s just piling. Recently, Windows freaked out because I changed audio devices from my USB headset from the on-board sound. It freaked out so bad, it forced me to restart because I wasn’t getting sound in my headset. I did the switch because I was streaming a movie with a friend over Discord through Screen Share and I had to switch to on-board audio for that to work.
I switched back and Windows threw a fit over it. It also throws a fit when I try right-clicking in the Windows Explorer panel on the left where all the devices and folders are listed for reasons I don’t even know to this day but it’s been a thing for a while now.
Anytime Windows throws a toddler-tantrum fit over the tiniest things, it just makes me think of going to Linux sometimes. But it’s not enough.
Windows is just thankful that currently, the only thing truly holding me back from converting is compatibility. I’m not talking with games, I’m not talking with some programs that are already supported between Windows and Linux. I’m just concerned about running everything I run on Windows and for it to run fully on a Linux distro, preferably Ubuntu.
Also I’d like to ask - what WILL it take for you to go to Linux full-time?
Enshittification. I never had any technical reasons for leaving Windows. It has its share of annoyances but so does every other OS. What really got to me was the constant pushing of their own products over others. And I don’t even want to think about switching to 11. Without the enshittification I would still be using Windows, just because of inertia.
Same here. I was fine with W10, but the recent W11 shenanigans were the last straw, and I decided to give Linux Mint a try. Couldn’t be happier - everything is so much more snappy now. And since I game on consoles only and my crappy PC was never a gaming machine to begin with, I have zero issues - wish I switched sooner!
Windows 7 was a competent OS with low system requirements, a stable kernel, a simple feature set that was well-known and useful, an interface that was comprehensible and clearly conveyed to the user, and it didn’t require extra investment or online accounts, and compatibility options for the really old stuff. It remains the Best version of Windows in my eyes.
8 took away the comprehenisble UI, low spec options, and lack of online service requirements, then 10 further complicated the UI and filled the OS with ads, the then 11 bloated the feature set, added even more ads, borked compatibility, and made the online accounts a requirement unless you pay extra and/or know what you’re doing.
Textbook Enshittification
Agreed. XP was pretty decent too, though.
XP was acceptable and 7 was decent, but just seeing the previews of 8 was the last straw for me.
It’s not like I hate other operating systems, I just really like the idea of FOSS and try to use it whenever possible.
Windows 98 really sucked and running Unix at home became an option.
Solid gaming support
The final straw for me was Microsoft reinstalling software I had removed with updates, as well as installing crapware like Candy Crush, all in the background and without permission or notifying me. I left Windows back in August 2021 for Arch.
Until recently I had kept a Windows VM with a GPU passthrough set up until I decided I was done with Destiny 2. Now the only remnant of Windows in my life is a simple desktop in my living room that has a game I can only play on Windows, which is currently being ported to PS5. Once that port is released, it’ll be converted to a server running some atomic distro and become a fully dedicated server, and Windows will be fully removed from my life, ignoring PCs outside of my control like embedded systems.
Windows kept shoving their stupid Edge browser down my throat. Tried every way to remove it and it kept popping back up like malware. Kept annoying me with “upgrade to Windows 11 popups.” I’ve used windows 11 on other people’s laptops and was flabbergasted that there were ads on paid software. In addition to that I heard 10 will stop getting security updates next year so I bit the bullet and switched to mint full time. It’s worked well for me so far.
Been 100% Linux on all my personal devices for about 4 years.
I just got tired of being treated like I was either an idiot or a criminal by Microsoft. Plus the way they kept forcing their bloatware and trash ads on the OS that I already paid for!
I decided I didn’t care what I had to give up, it was worth it to be rid of Microsoft’s clutches forever. Switched to Linux and I’ve never looked back.
Turns out, I actually didn’t have to sacrifice much at all, and the few things I don’t have anymore are nothing compared to the benefits of using Linux and FOSS software.
Everything works better for me too, more stable, updates are rarer and wayyyyy faster when I push them. No more fighting with AMD driver hell in Windows, no more weird lockups or crashes, a million times more customization options, and zero bloat or spyware installed by default on my system.
Yes, so many years squandered babysitting Windows PC’s sheesh /0\ and dicking around with dopey serial numbers, gauntlet of security patches & multiple reboots *LOL*
I am exclusively Linux-based for Eighteen Years now wahooOOOoooo \0/
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I didn’t want to have spyware for an os.
The pursuit of Freedom led me to Linux.
it rebooted itself while i left it overnight doing an important render.
thats after i fucked with it for hours to turn automatic updates OFF.
i would probably still be on windows 10 if it werent for microsoft going out of their way to make it shitty.
I got a new PC. I installed Windows on it. I felt dirty, so I said fuck it, and installed Linux instead.
It wasn’t any one specific thing, but a lifetime of windows frustrations adding up, on top of a growing frustration with enshittified tools and services in general
That was 4 months ago.
Shit just not working with no way to fix it. I had aux speakers. They didn’t work on windows. Worked on Linux out of the box. Had a micro sd card. Was detected by Windows but couldn’t mount. Try to format. Windows said your card seams to be broken. Worked on Linux out of the box. The main problem wasn’t stuff breaking, it happens on Linux too, but stuff just breaking for no apparent reason and there being no way to fix it made me use Linux full time
I know what you mean. My Linux machine breaks all the time but every time it’s my fault lol
i was a starving college student with $20 to my name and a dead windows me desktop computer that had an entire semester’s worth of school work trapped inside of it.
i had read about linux before and saw that i could buy a couple of mandrake cd’s from a magazine at circuit city for $5 or borrow $169 from someone to buy a windows xp installation disk.
i bought the magazine; installed linux; and taught myself (with google’s help) how to copy all of my school work onto a usb drive. i finished those papers using the school’s computer laboratories; and then kept on using the linux installation from then on in 2002 until now.
When Microsoft started enforcing online accounts to use my computer. It was then that I fully jumped ship. I was using Linux way before that for my media server, HTPC, etc., but it was that and the Steam Deck that made me finally fully jump.
Exact same over here. I don’t want an online account. I just don’t. I never will. I’d used Linux desktop a few times in the past but gaming was always bringing me back to windows. Finally my windows machine broke for no reason and after weeks of not being able to fix it I just installed Linux on top of it. Haven’t considered going back.
Windows 11 serving me ads in the OS was a step too far. Windows 10 already had them as apps in every update that annoyed me, but 11 took them to a new level that was too far for me.
