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?
The Halloween Documents are a set of internal Microsoft memoranda that were leaked to the open-source community in 1998. The documents outlined Microsoft’s strategies and attitudes towards open-source software, particularly the growing threat posed by Linux. They are named after the fact that the first document was leaked around Halloween in 1998.
was bored in w*ndows and kde looked cool
No longer being able to run Windows 7, the pinnacle of Windows.
Windows 11
Windows 7 being discontinued.
I migrated my HTPC to Linux several years ago, and since then just transitioned more and more of my machines over.
My desktop is the only machine left running Windows at this point due to there being no Freetrack implementation on Linux for sim games
This is very similar to my story - end of support for win7 meant putting Mint on the HTPC.
Soon after that, it was the old laptop my spouse was about to chuck out. Cinnamon was a little sluggish, so I eventually landed on Debian + XFCE
And when I discovered I could get my desktop’s audio interface working on Linux (it’s firewire, and by most people’s standards, ancient), it was game over for Windows.
I don’t know what Freetrack is but I hope it gets implemented for you :)
Windows 98 really sucked and running Unix at home became an option.
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.
BeOS went under
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!
The pursuit of Freedom led me to Linux.
Becoming a Communist.
That, and increased gaming support, and a Thinkpad that struggled over time given renewed life with Arch.
Our favorite OS, comrade.
Windows 11 serving me ads in the OS was a step too far. Windows 10 already had them as apps in every update that annoyed me, but 11 took them to a new level that was too far for me.
I didn’t want to have spyware for an os.
I really started to dislike Windows and projects like Bazzite made it incredibly easy to make the jump. The wife is now gaming in Linux for the same reasons.
