Microsoft's draconian Windows 11 restrictions will send an estimated 240 million PCs to the landfill when Windows 10 hits end of life in 2025

Gaming is the primary driver behind my PC choices by a humongous margin. I'm not really concerned about imvasive anti-cheat software, I don't want to tinker with settings, I want to turn on my computer and play video games. That means I use Windows.

As someone who just installed Linux Mint as a test and uses their machine mostly for gaming:

Linux is perfectly fine for that, too. I had one minor issue that was fixed by plugging a cord into a different plug on my machine and have otherwise had 0 issues getting things to run on the Linux partition of my system.

I actually have seen mostly better performance in the realm of about 10fps better per game than the Win 10 install on the same hardware

Spent less time tinkering with the settings (done via GUI that makes more sense than windoes' 15 different settings menus) than I never have in any version of Windows, synched my firefox over, boom.

Not gonna say Linux is perfect for everything but it does seem a lot of people think it's harder/worse than it is by a mile
This right here. Lutris, proton, WINE, proton-QT, winetricks... Just so much shit.

I'm really trying to learn it but..it's a bit much
- You don't have to go all in, use Steam for purchased games, and use the already created Lutris templates on everything else.
  
  Proton-QT is for updating Proton used by Lutris.
- In addition, you can actually launch any application through Steam and just select it to use Proton. I mean your mileage may vary, but it's worth a try potentially.
That doesn't compute here. Like I have literally 0 problems with Windows. That's certainly not been my experience with Linux. Oh bought a new drawing tablet, nah that won't work. Oh need to update for firmware on a device, yeah better have windows. Oh you bought a recent printer, better not use Linux.
- Fucking nailed it, and peripheral manufacturers have almost zero interest in providing their own linux tools and drivers because of how tiny the marketshare is.
  
  I already spend most of my waking days fixing work related computing bullshit, I don't want to have to spend 3 hours of my free time trying to get my fuckdamn video capture card to work when it's all seamless in Windows.
  
  I mean I have a lot of problems with windows, forced updates, telemetry, the uselessness of modern error messages, but if I just want to chill and relax with some media or games, Windows is clearly the simpler solution.
  
  A million percent this. Linux is great for servers at work but I don't want to spend my free time doing what I do every day at work. I just want things to be hassle free. But also at the same time, fuck Win11. My 8 year old PC still runs the latest games with a nvme and a better gf card, why do I need to toss it out.
- I've had tons of problems with windows AND Linux. Neither are perfect. In my latest, elden rings anti cheat window needs to be closed from the task manager when I quit it. In Linux I do not get this and they work the same otherwise. YMMV
- It will be like that as long as people are so used to bad products. Linux will have similar but better support if it has more users. It already improved a lot. This myth of printers/tablets not working got quite old now
Same I dual boot, Linux for most things windows for games and a few other things which I find easier on windows.
If you don't play any of the few blacklisted games (read actively blocked by the developer on linux, go figure), you can expect higher performance a lot of the time.
- Well I do, so.
  
  well if you like fortnite and valorant that much
People don't seem to like this answer but it's really the only legit one for most home users.

Companies don't switch because enterprises like support contracts...
- Did you forget that MacOS exists and is a member of the larger UNIX family? If you don’t game on your computer, it is a far nicer option for home users than Windows in many respects.
  
  “Legit options” are entirely based on your skill level and intended use.
  
  No...no it's not. Macs are super overpriced for what you get. You can get a cheap windows pc for a quarter or less of a damn MacBook and if your not using it for gaming then that's what people will get. There is a reason osx has a market share barely above Linux OS.
  
  It is a legit option to understand that the majority of steam users use Windows.
  
  They're also a piece of shit company and their OS sucks so much. I'd rather use Linux over OSX any day. The fact that I've been working on an apple project for the last year now has made me despise them even more than I did before.
  
  I'm forced to use osx at work, and have been for almost half a decade now... it's soooo bad. Plus yea apple is a terrible company, I never understood why most of the people who are all about eating the rich usually are using an apple product lol

I don't think allergic is the word you were looking for.

You mean addicted? If they were allergic, they wouldn’t use it.

i meant to say linux not windows

derp
- I believe you’ll find that Linux Is Not Unix, actually. /s

I get the joke, but lots of people, me included, start to understand why people pay so much for a Mac. It's not the hardware, it's not having to deal with Windows.

Not a joke. Linux is genuinely better in most cases, barring some niche, very specific stuff.
- I have 20 years of experience in Linux. I'm not the average "I'm using Arch btw" Linux user. I managed several services at work with Linux and have a homelab at home.
  
  If I wasn't a PC gamer, Windows was gone from my house. That's how I prefer Linux.
  
  Having said that, your statement is objectively wrong.
  
  my lived experience for the last half decade is.... wrong?
  
  i managed servers for a few decades too if thats what matters, and its different from desktop.
  
  You're changing the environment to favour your fight. I agree with you, 90% of the times in servers space, Linux works better.
  
  not really.
  
  im saying desktop linux is just as good nowadays since the beggining
  
  I wish.
  
  granted
As an IT person, Macs shouldn't exist.

They aren't computers, they are fashion accessories that just happen to compute.
- No offence but you're a bad it person if you really think like that.
  
  I love to suggest Apple products to my relatives, because they're too dumb and I don't have to give technical support, lol.
  
  And what type of person are you who judges by their spending habits? For all you know I could be a 5 gallon lifetime blood donor that volunteers to feed the homeless. But since I don't like your chosen consumer identity product, I'm a bad person.
  
  Get every manner of fucked.
  
  I don't want to argue with you, because your thoughts are right and you raise valid good points when interacting on social media.
  
  But just to add something, I didn't say he's a bad person, I have no clue about that, I did say he's a bad IT person. In other words, not qualifies for the role, if I can have an opinion on that.
  
  Supporting such a fucked up company makes you a bad person, so 🤷🏻‍♀️
  
  I support the right tool for the right task, I'm not a company cultist, I'm sure Apple is as fucked up as Microsoft, I believe you. But I don't care.
  
  That's fair. I have to build stuff for apple and it makes my work life miserable because they hate their users so much.

Uh I don't have time or wish to subject myself to the frustration that is Linux. I've tried it at least 5 times in the past 10 years and strongly prefer Windows.

Nowadays Windows is the frustrating crap, what kind of issue are you having?
- My Wacom tablet doesn't work properly, neither does my Canon Pro 1000 printer. I've also had a few issues with my graphics drivers and games.
  
  printers are admitedly a mixed bag, but your wacom tablet should just work.
  
  tbf the troubleshooting shouldnt be harder than on windows, though, just adding it driverlessly.
  
  It works, just not as well as it does in Windows. Mapping buttons and controls is a pain without the Wacom control panel.
  
  i remember even seeing dedicated wacom control panels just for this purpose
Can I ask what roadblocks you hit?
- My Wacom tablet doesn't work properly, neither does my Canon Pro 1000 printer. I've also had a few issues with my graphics drivers and games.
  
  Never heard of these before, it's always going to be a users individual experience with whatever hardware they have. I've had plenty of bad experiences but also plenty of good ones. One of my laptops a few years back occasionally has issues with sleep, where it would freeze on wake. The only issue that thing had. My desktop I built in 2019 has been flawless. Mind you, I have had the sleep wake freeze occasionally, but that's specifically because of the Nvidia graphics card. It sounds like if I were on the amd fence I'd have no problem. But I can even use the nvidia cuda cores in Davinci Resolve and that software works great.

Hmm, I dunno maybe because of the elitist community, or the massively fractured distro ecosystem where everyone suggests a different entry point with zero meaningful consensus, or the sporadic driver availability that makes using a laptop GPU an exercise in suffering?

Or all of the above? Probably that last one.

I'm an IT professional with 3 decades of experience, including admin work on linux and unix boxes, and I've been repeatedly trying to go Linux as my daily driver for 15 years and so far every time I have tried it has stalled out in screaming bloody frustration.

And EVERY time I make a post like this, some yahoo comes along and says something like 'Well acktshually GPU support is so much better now why don't you just code your own driver oh you haven't spent 5 years memorizing these 2000 tech references well I can't help you if you don't want to learn'

Hm, also an IT professional with over 2 decades of experience. Most of your points were true except GPU shit is easy now. I've been daily driving arch for the past 9 years, and gaming on it. It's not perfect but it works well. Even some games work better in it. There are certain software categories that will be problematic, such as CAD, but you can do most anything else easily enough. For 80% of the population that needs it's for some games and just a web browser it works fucking great. It's been an awesome web browser OS since forever too. Most people just use what comes with their computer and don't want to figure out how to install something. Most people are used to a thing and they don't like change.
- Ok, well, I was planning on trying again in a few months, as is my yearly ritual.
  
  If you are fucking with me and I end up stuck because whatever the fuck distro I picked out of a hat doesn't like my northbridge firmware or whatever, I will come back and in painful detail explain just how wrong you are.
  
  Most people are used to a thing and they don’t like change.
  
  I'm pretty sure a fucktonne of people are eager to jump ship from windows, but the fact that linux (os and community) is still user hostile is a stronger motivation for them stay with their abusive proprietary binaries.
  
  I know for a fact that is the case with me.
  
  Are you sure the Linux community is the one that hostile? Because in these threads, your comments come up as overly combative and dismissive, like inviting people to pick a fight with you. Even your comment above has an air of entitlement, like the guy you replied to owe you something.
  
  Well maybe that's what happens when you try and get support from a community for two decades and get nothing but arrogance and elitism.
  
  Calm your tits lol. There's not no issues with Linux and nobody is claiming that but if you go in expecting Windows don't even bother trying.
  
  But if you do, I would suggest Linux Mint (Ubuntu or LMDE version, also try the Edge version if you have recent hardware it ships with a newer kernel). PopOS is pretty good if you float more towards Gnome, but their new Cosmic desktop is coming at some point so be aware of that. I would avoid Ubuntu at this point. A lot of people have success with Fedora. Oh and actually OpenSUSE seems to be a good choice for people as well. There is no single point of entry, no, because it's not a single project. It's reality however. Goodluck this time around.