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?
I had a few false starts before, but MS force-updating me to the objectively worse and user-hostile Windows 8 triggered my latest (and successful) switch.
Nothing, actually. I just decided one day I was going to install Arch Linux for no reason in particular, and now I’m on OpenBSD. I wish I had that kind of determination these days.
I was just bored during the pandemic
I’ve been keeping an eye on Linux since the late 90s. It took me not having to use any non-Linux software or hardware on the computer in question. Currently I have two laptops running Linux, one has Windows in case I need it (which so far has turned out to be never), and I have a workstation that has Linux as a secondary OS but I’m always in Windows on that one because of software and hardware.
Commodore going bankrupt.
windows “8” …final straw. blech
Solid gaming support
The need for latex, in 1999.
Microshit flipping back privacy settings on win11 among other bullshit.
Tried monitoring network connections, there is no way tell what windows is doing. Blocking them will break the OS… I was done.
Windows 98 really sucked and running Unix at home became an option.
Becoming a Communist.
That, and increased gaming support, and a Thinkpad that struggled over time given renewed life with Arch.
Our favorite OS, comrade.
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.
Late 1990s my uni had unix workstations HPUX.
So all projects etc were expected to be done on those. Linux at the time was the easy way to do it from home.
By the time I left uni in 98. I was so used to it windows was a pain in the butt.
For most of the time since I have been almost 100% linux. With just a dual boot to sort some hardware/firmware crap.
Ham radio to this day. Many products can only do updates with windows.
Wow, same, went to uni from 1990 to 1996, everything was HP-UX, so I installed Linux on my 386 then 486 at the time, easier to do the homework, transferred on floppy. Always had a Linux partition, of course DOS/Windows was used for gaming, Linux for tinkering and dev. I don’t game for years so I’m Linux 100% for years now. I have a windows XP in QEMU for AVRStudio, damn thing cannot make it works in wine because of serial ports.
Was a few years later for me.
Not DMU by any chance?
nah, in France, they were big supporter of HP-UX
Cool. At the time, it was one of the best. Although, I also liked sun-os.
I also worked with VMS a lot after uni. Hated using it. But had to respect the ideals behind it.
But watching the growth of Linux has been fantastic. In 2024. It does seem to have out evolved all the others. ( Evolved, defined as developed the ability to survive by becoming so freaking useful. )
I am starting to think it is time for a micro kernel version, though.
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.
Tried installing Windows 11. After a few hours screwing around trying to find the right drivers for everything, I tried a live USB of Mint. Everything worked great out of the box.
Also, the ads, and Microsoft’s insistence on forcing user accounts.
