This became relevant specially after 2023
Quite a few people have come to their senses. It’s taken thirty years but … hey … Rome not built in a day.
The amount of work I was spending to fight the recurring bloat of shit in Windows 10 was eating away at me for years… I had the OS drive in my computer die a little over 2 years ago, so I was having to re-install windows from scratch on a new drive, and going through the install process, see skype and one-drive horse-shit popping up - disabling both, running updates, and they pop back up again… It just killed my spirit. I went distro searching that same day. My laptop followed suit about 6 months later. I never even bothered to finish setting up windows. I left the drive in there with dual-boot options for maybe 3 months before I just re-formatted it to BTRFS for more storage space in Linux.
MS will be very hard pressed to win me back.
There are a few different factors. I think the biggest is that the lifecycle for windows 10 is ending. Microsoft is pushing the upgrade, but 11 has Recall which is essentially AI spyware. Many folks are trying to push Linux instead of upgrading when support is fully cut off
This is the top-voted answer, but it’s missing one key point: Windows 11 mandates a TPM chip, a secure cryptographic processor that (amongst other things, both good and bad) allows an OS to verify that its boot files haven’t been tampered with.
A lot of old computers don’t have this chip, making this the first Windows edition in many years where the upgrade process isn’t smooth and painless. If you don’t have this chip you straight-up can’t install Windows 11 on that machine without using hacks or workarounds, workarounds that Microsoft have been actively patching out to prevent TPM-less installs.
Rather than throw away their still perfectly fine computers to buy a new machine they don’t need - for a dubious “upgrade” they don’t even want - a lot of users are choosing to switch to Linux so they can keep their current PCs while still enjoying software and security updates.
It also helps that the Steam Deck has introduced a bunch of people to Linux and shown that it’s not so scary or user-unfriendly these days, plus Valve’s extensive investments into WINE/Proton (software that allows you to run Windows programs and games on Linux) mean that for the first time, running Linux doesn’t mean limiting your library of usable apps.
At this point Linux actually runs many games better than Windows due to lower overhead, and most things will run without issue so long as they don’t rely on kernel-level rootkits for anti-cheat or DRM (and kernel access is being restricted in future Windows updates after that whole CloudStrike fiasco, so that will likely stop being an issue either way as programs move away from using it).
but 11 has Recall which is essentially AI spyware.
How do so many of you believe this? How did so many of you upvote this?
Windows 11 doesn’t have Recall. If you have a Copilot+ PC you can opt-in to a preview of Recall currently. Those without a Copilot+ PC, ie. everyone in this thread who actually has a windows pc with Windows 11, do not have Recall and will not be getting Recall.
Windows keeps getting shittier, Linux keeps getting better and easier to use.
This really is the truth.
The gap is almost insurmountable still, for many people and organizations, but the gap is narrowing thanks to the hard work Microsoft puts in.
I switched due to the following problems with Windows and benefits with Linux:
- Recall, the most privacy invasive software I have ever seen being spun as a “feature” which was shown to be insecure as well. It used to be that if you didn’t pay for something, it meant you were the product. Now Microsoft wants you to pay them to be their product.
- Fucking ads everywhere in the OS itself
- It’s slow as all hell
- I would try to do something as simple in the UI such as hitting “Sleep” and Windows 11 wouldn’t do anything until the 4th click
- Windows no longer has a monopoly on games or music software - proton and DAW’s like bitwig should now be forcing Microsoft to compete to make their OS better, but because capitalism doesn’t work, they don’t, and so I have no reason to stay with their OS
- Linux is fast as fuck. Games like Armored Core VI and Death Stranding run better in an emulated state on Linux for me than they do natively on Windows because Linux isn’t running 1500 telemetry tasks at all times.
- Linux gives you choices of window managers. Don’t like the UI in Windows? Tough luck. Don’t like a UI in Linux? Change it in 2 seconds if you’re using KDE Plasma, or switch to another WM like Gnome, XFCE, Cinnamon, etc so that the computer works the way you want. You want to have some WM functionality only sometimes that no one WM offers? Install 3 WM’s, choose which one you want when you log in. Make the computer work for you.
On Windows 11 the final absolute last straw for me was when it stopped installing updates for me and gave me this:
So I couldn’t even trust the system was secure anymore.
Windows is stagnated because all of their development focus has turned away from making a competitive OS with good and useful features for the end user, and instead focuses now on how to get more dollars out of each minor action a user could possibly take when using it. Linux just feels more modern, more powerful, more useful, more secure, faster, prettier, cleaner, and cost effective than Windows now because it is 98% of the time.
Because things aren’t improving. Windows 11 is a bloated buggy mess loaded with privacy issues. They change things that have been working fine for years or decades or introduce new features that no one asked for and only get in the way and they don’t even test the changes properly to get bugs out. It’s clear they do not have users interests in mind and things are only getting worse as time goes on. The ship is sinking and Linux is the only lifeboat available.
To add to what others have said, I think Steam OS is making huge waves and that’s a really strong force.
On the flip side, SteamOS and the “success” of the steam deck is giving people here a false sense of “OMG THE YEAR OF LINUX IS FINALLY HERE!!!” because most people that buy a steam deck aren’t really “using linux” in the way that OP is talking about. They just bought a game console, and that game consoles OS is based on linux. On the steam surveys sure, it will show as say 5mil more people using linux - but that’s just 5 million steam deck sales, not laptops or desktops that have switched to Linux.
There isn’t any significant increase in people running Linux on their laptops or desktop computers.
That’s true for a lot of people, but I truly believe a very significant number of people are being exposed to Linux this way and will stick with it long-term. It will be a while until we see that reflected in the desktop and laptop statistics.
I haven’t used SteamOS (or even seen many videos of it), but from what I’ve heard it’s not shy about being a desktop operating system. Even the Steam Deck, which is marketed as a console like you said, lets you use it in desktop mode and run any Linux software without having to jump through any hoops. This isn’t like Android which is technically Linux deep under the hood but effectively completely detached from the Linux ecosystem. SteamOS is part of the Linux desktop ecosystem, and it’s proud of it.
Isn’t it the same if people use a steam deck or a computer? More people => more support for Linux software, regardless if they use the steam deck or not
Not really. People using a Steam Deck to play games isn’t going to make Adobe (for example) make Linux versions of their software.
Because Microsoft insists on treating its users with contempt.
With Linux, you don’t need to replace your computer if it is capable of running Windows 10. For many, hardware upgrades are a requirement if they wish to stick with Microsoft. Installing a Linux distro will extend the life cycle of an older machine, at no cost.
That’s too much value at zero personal cost to ignore.
Windows 11 has a massive keylogger built in. For decades we associated them with malware and now Windows is trying to normalize it as “good for the user.”
They say it’s off by default. But that’s like me having the detonation for a nuke casually sitting on my desk. Sure I could just not hit the button but I don’t want that shit in the same zip code as me.
I assume you’re talking about Recall, the feature that isn’t even coming to 99.99% of the computers running windows, and still isn’t even released officially outside of opt-in previews, right?
recently switched from macos to arch linux and ive never been so happy with an OS
I switched a year ago, after trying and failing multiple times over the years whenever I gave it a try.
- Linux has massively improved, systemd is a lot cleaner than the mess of disparate shell scripts it displaced. Network Manager is also a lot nicer now than I remember it being when it was first introduced into Red Hat.
- Windows hasn’t, in a lot of ways it was actually regressing. I used to get multiple shell crashes a week with no insight as to why, friends would claim it was just me but then receive an update and start having similar crashes. Also noticeable UI issues that went unfixed for multiple revisions, made it felt cheap.
- MS went all in on AI garbage and was jamming it into everything, kept getting popup notifications and the like to try Copilot, notifications went from being useful to just being an ad delivery mechanism.
- Gaming on Linux massively improved, last time I tried it OpenGL support was a mess. Now OpenGL is very mature, and all the D3D translation stuff uses Vulkan which has been rock solid for me. I’ve found games run better than they did on Windows on the same hardware, and the only game I’ve had an issue with was Destiny 2, which is intentional on the devs behalf (Luckily the game’s boring now)
I find I’m a lot more willing to let issues slide though, like I’ve had some Thunar crashes which I’m cool with since there’s like 4 devs maintaining it, vs. the multi-billion dollar company working on Explorer which I expect better from. Also unsurprisingly the only actual shop-stopper issue I’ve had was with a memory leak in the Nvidia drivers, the actual FLOSS stuff has been great.
Microsoft Recall.
Worse than all but the worst viruses, for real. Takes screenshots of everything (everything), and stores the contents where hackers can steal them easily.
It’ll probably get quietly reactivated every few updates, so you can never really afford not to be checking.
was gonna say this but you beat me to it. i absolutely hate it when corporations add things to products that nobody asked for. I’m dreading getting a new computer (windows 10 user here who is already fed up with bs windows updates that screw things up everytime)
Recall was never actually released, you do realize? It was also only on Copilot+ devices.
It has been reworked to be completely encrypted and secure, and still isn’t out.
Win10 EOL is surely driving some people away, but it’s difficult to put a number on that. Measuring by market share is tricky and can be misleading. Steam Deck popularity may be driving increased usage, but those users aren’t necessarily migrating their main OS, just adding a new machine to the mix. But maybe “migrating” their time spent in a given OS counts? It’s messy.
Windows 10 is about to be end-of-life this October. You probably think ‘just update your OS to Windows 11’, but many computers are deemed unfit for Windows 11 by Microsoft.
In order to move on to Windows 11, many people, and I do really mean a ridiculously large amount of people would need to buy a new computer or laptop. In the meantime their old systems are still fit for everyday use, so there is quite a lot of e-waste coming up.
Instead of just dumping the old computers you can just put Linux on them and continue using them. Linux costs nothing, just time. So if you don’t have specialized software which absolutely must have Windows, you might as well just switch to Linux and keep using your old systems which are still perfectly fine for your everyday needs.
My old gaming laptop that I still use right now is from 2018. It does have the TPM 2.0 chip that Windows 11 requires, but its CPU is like just one generation too old for it. So, what do I do? When Windows 10 stops getting its updates, throw it away? Naw man, Linux will work. You can even game on Linux just fine as the Steam Deck has proven already, so I’ll just switch my sweet laptop over to Linux and continue using it as usual.
It’s still kinda crazy to me that a seventh gen i5 (still very capable for general use) and i7 (still a very good processor for pretty much everything) are considered “incompatible” with Windows 11.
Good thing the OS is trash though. My laptop supports it but I’ll be damned if I upgrade. Just switched to Linux as my main OS with Windows running on a separate drive for shit anticheat games I can’t quit.
So, what do I do? When Windows 10 stops getting its updates, throw it away?
Windows 10 won’t just stop working in October. As long as you’re not an idiot you can safely use Windows 10 PCs connected to the internet for the next decade.
Microsoft have also announced ways to get extended updates to it til Oct 2026 too btw.
you can safely use Windows 10 PCs connected to the internet for the next decade.
Do not, absolutely do not, hook an OS that is no longer receiving security updates to the internet. Out-of-date machines can get pwned simply by being on a network or loading a website’s ad, no user interaction required. Vulnerabilities are discovered, never patched, and thereafter every script kiddy can get into the old machines with little effort.
Nice of you to cut off the context that sentence was given in.
You’re also very wrong too. Windows 8 and earlier are fine to connect to the Internet.
Copilot. Win11 working only on mew hardware. Win10 going out of support. Basic bloated operation with little concern for what users want.
