Current-era Microsoft continuing to push the boundaries of consent.
Microsoft Edge is a good browser but for some reason Microsoft keeps trying to shove it down everyone’s throat and make it more difficult to use rivals like Chrome or Firefox. Microsoft has now started notifying IT admins that it will force Outlook and Teams to ignore the default web browser on Windows and open links in Microsoft Edge instead.
Valve's Proton software has made game compatibility on Linux pretty incredible. Games with kernel anti cheat don't work, but the vast majority of games do work.
Have you tried them recently? Except for competitive games with intrusive anti-cheat measures like Valorant, I have yet to find something that just won't run.
Steam's Proton is an absolute game changer. Unless you cannot live without a few very specific competitive titles, chances are Proton has you covered. Does not require any technical know-how (for the most part). I cannot stress enough how much of a technical and UX achievement Proton is.
The funny thing to me is I'm a sysadmin and I use a linux desktop and most of the devs I work with do also. The only people that use Windows desktops are end users that pretty much only use Office anyway and their PCs are basically used as advanced typewriters plus youtube. The C-suite has Macs but demands desktops run Windows because it's all they know. We've even gotten rid of all the garbage legacy apps so the only reason we use Windows is the stuck habits of people that don't even use Windows themselves.
But I know we'll never stop paying MS. Windows is basically the Imperial measurement system or qwerty keyboards at this point. Our grandchildren will use it because our grandparents used it, well- not exactly but you get the idea.
Devops here. The company I work in has enforced managed Windows laptops.
What I did was to get BIOS password, test everything in Arch Linux VM, everything works - my work laptop now runs on Arch Linux.
Been 4 months and haven't got cought. Also managed to get rid of company's proxy server and DNS, because companys resources are available without proxy via VPN, and everything else - via proxy, so I wrote a bash script with the help of ChatGPT that implements "VPN Split" post-VPN connection, also removes company DNS servers from /etc/resolv.conf and 🎉. Works like a charm. I can even open p*rnhub and company wouldn't even tell as it goes directly through my router. Also the laptop is now fast AF, zero proxy configuration (unlike in Windows for WSL), it's perfect now.
And that's in a large international company where Windows/Macs are enforced. I guess I am genius there.. 😅
My employer insists that only Windows is acceptable, which makes my life in software engineering very difficult. No Mac, no Linux, only WIndows. I had to fight tooth and nail to get anything else and now they are still trying to get me to go back to using Windows because "we don't support" anything else.