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?
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Windows 98 really sucked and running Unix at home became an option.
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.
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.
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!
Becoming a Communist.
That, and increased gaming support, and a Thinkpad that struggled over time given renewed life with Arch.
Our favorite OS, comrade.
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.
My first couple of computers had AmigaOS and even from the start Windows felt like complete garbage in comparison, but eventually I had to buy a PC to keep up with the times. After that I kept looking for alternative OS:es, tried Linux dual booting but kept going back to Windows since all the programs and hardware I needed to use required it. When I finally decided to go full time Linux, some time between 2005 and 2010, it was because I felt like I was just wasting my life in front of the computer every day. With Windows it was too easy to fire up some game when I had nothing else to do, and at that time there were barely any games for Linux so it removed that temptation. But that has ofc. changed now and pretty much all Windows games work equally well on Linux :)
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.
I’d been dual booting with Windows 2000 Professional for a while but XP came out, I didn’t like it so fully switched.
The need for latex, in 1999.
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.
I read the story somewhere about a student from Finland who wrote his own kernel and discussed it with Andrew S. Tanenbaum.
Since I was reading a book of Mr. Tanenbaum at that time, this got me somewhat interested, and when I got the chance, I tried it out.
For me, Windows 11 mandatory account, and Internet on setup. Yes there are bypasses, yes I could upgrade from 10. But where I’m from, having the internet isn’t always a given.
So imagine dropping $500-$1000 on a new laptop booting it up for the first time, and learning that its now a brick since Windows refuses to let you use it since you have no internet. No Pro license can unbork you from this.
Even MacOS isn’t that dumb (for now).
The account thing is a personal beef I have with windows. I.e. my PC my account, why does it need to be online, I have no reason for it.
So my plan was to migrate to FOSS or proper cross platform software for work, see if Linux works, and if it doesn’t move to MacOS. So far Linux Mint has been stable.
Wobbly windows, rotating cube workspace switcher, and a flaming bonanza animation when a windows was closed.
The year was ~2003
Good times… Good times.
Compiz fusion! I spent so long trying out different effects for different actions. I smoked a lot of reefer in those days.
I still do, but I used to, too.
For me it’s the ability to use my hardware as long as I want after a tech company’s EOL. When I was on Windows 7 and it reached EOL my machine was unusable. Couldn’t go back because I waited to long. Then I updated my machine and Windows 10’s EOL was set and again, machine will be not be safe to use. I switched to Linux before that release date but the way Microsoft does with these EOL dates, for me isn’t sustainable. I dont need to buy a new machine every few years. I want my machines to be a usable and secure for as long as I want it to with minimal impact to my finances and stop simply just throwing old machines away. And if I run into a distro that my machine isn’t beefy enough for, I have distro-hopped around enough to be able to go to something else but still be in the Linux-verse.
The stuff like, better for privacy, open source etc., those benefits came after.
I love tinkering through and through. Started learning about Linux on raspberry pis a long time ago, jailbroke a chormebook to make it usable, and went “hey wait, tinkering with this and having more control is so much cooler.” Don’t need rainmeter when the desktop has customization built in
