I’m not using windows, but apple does the same thing. My OS is 9 versions old because they won’t let me upgrade without buying a new computer.
I’ve seen similar options, but haven’t heard of this one. Looks like my 17 yr old comp might be compatible. I wonder how compatible though, since most of my USB ports already don’t work with my supported OS.
Anyway, thanks, I’ll look more into it.
That’s apple wanting to control their closed hardware ecosystem. Windows is built to run on a significantly wider range of hardware, so isn’t really comparable in that way.
True, microsoft is a wehrmacht nazi soldier where as apple is full on gestapo.
I guess that’s true. But both are acting everyone just has money to waste.
Linux/BSD blah blah blah
Always wandering why it isn’ t possible for Microsoft to maintain their version and update all along. Linux can do it, Android can do it. I’ m not sure about Apple. I switched to Linux years ago and I’m still most satisfied about my choice. My current laptop is from 2009 and can still go on for years. That is what you call sustainability
But then the People wouldnt pay for it over and over again?
People are way less willing to pay for updates than for whole new versions.
Apple and companies using Android are selling hardware, not software like Microsoft.
Pay for windows?
They make most of their money from pro licenses and telemety data anyway, I’m sure.
Trade in to whom, to Linux users?.. Actually a good idea, not sure MS understood which almost logically complete advice they gave.
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Hah. Good luck trying to make me dispose of the computer I built almost a decade ago and that I just upgraded. Neither my laptops nor my phones have outlived this baby.
I put Linux on my mom’s laptop which is nearing two decades old at this point. It was the pragmatic choice even though I personally use Windows.
Windows security updates only last a few years. Would be annoying to keep reinstalling and re explaining the changed UI every few years.
It might be time to release the shackles of Windows and head on over to Linux.
Or I guess you could get Windows 10 LTSC.
Yeah! I’m gonna use Windows 10 LTSC in the meantime but I’m still eyeing a full jump to Linux.
Actually you can get the IoT Enterprise LTSC here and do your windows thing until 2032
How much could a new PC be Michael, $10?
Just buy a new girlfriend!
Trading in a PC… in 2025? To who? Where? What time period, even? They must be thinking it’s still 1985, and you can trade in your IBM Compatible to your nearest IBM Distributor.
The addage to people who ask if I buy PCs is: You want to get rid of it. How am I going to convince someone to not only take it, but pay money for it?
Maybe to the “third world” ( i dont like this name ) countries which still use linux because of high financial costs of windows… I can’t wait react os 1.0
Bring on the cheap non windows 11 computers. I’ve already told everyone i know if they didn’t want to have to buy another computer for years they just had to start using linux. Then I show them what that looks like if they are interested. I show them that they can put menu/start button at the bottom left if thats what they want. That they can have a the same browser they use and many of the same applications. I’ve had two people willing to try. Most insist that they don’t want to learn anything new. Its depressing but its a boon for me when people start getting rid of their perfectly usable gear.
“Trade in” like theres a dealership willing to give you some kind of fair value for your old computer. That said, if you’re willing to be extorted by Microsoft, then you get what you have coming to you.
W10 wouldn’t get past the pin screen (type pin, then black screen forever, nothing else), so I used a live boot disk of fedora to rescue my files (turns out you can just bypass windows pins and mount the drive), then installed fedora on my old toshiba satellite and never looked back. Few years in I upgraded with linux in mind and now am cruising with a Framework 16. No regrets.
Join us! Cast off your shackles! Microsoft has no power over you beyond what you willingly give them!
Can’t game 100% on Linux not all games work well enough and driver issues.
If not we wouldn’t be on Windows.
I decided not to trade freedom for microtransactions years before I even switched to linux, personally. If a game can’t run without literal spyware, I probably haven’t played it.
Users to microsoft: “You’re creating a huge pile of garbage out of perfectly fine devices because of unneeded hardware requirement”
microsoft: “It’s ok, just buy a new one”
Rarely have a message gone through so bad.
Can you believe this company has a Chief Sustainability Officer? What the fuck do they do all day?
Funny because people still use Windows 7 in large quantities across the world.
Windows 7 is such a nice user experience today, if you use it in 2025 you really get an idea of how far windows has fallen off.
I switched to Linux on my laptops years ago. Recently, I retired and started playing video games like Skyrim. I play on a Nintendo Switch. I considered playing Skyrim on a laptop so I could use/build mods. I bought a laptop with Windows 11 and spent forty minutes removing the bloat, ads, spyware, ai nonsense, and other dross, fixing it so it did not ‘update’ to restore everything I deleted, and installing my preferred alternatives (browser, search, email etc). It reminded me why I hate Windows almost as much as Mac OS (which is even more controlling). Microsoft have hundreds of engineers ‘enshitifying’ everything. It is more than a full-time job trying to stop them and block their ‘improvements’. I am retired. I have better things to do.
I did not enjoy playing games with a laptop (hurts my arthritis, I prefer using a console and an easy chair) and resented having to reverse engineer everything I installed to keep it running but without sacrificing my privacy so the laptop now just sits in a drawer. It amazes me that anyone still tolerates Microsoft products, or any of the monopolists stuff. Why is anyone still using google search or chrome browser, why bing or any of it? Why is anyone still seeing adverts? Why is everyone still being fed by algorithms? You must chose this - but why? I always sought out better and if it did not exist, I built it, and if I could not build it, I did without. There is a lot of dumbing-down around technology. Back in C20th, we used to build our own hardware, write our own software. We were skilled hobbyists (later I got an M.Sc. to reinforce my hobby skills with theory and even ran a business for a while as an engineer). Around 2000 +/- five years, the monopolists offered ‘help’ in the form of WYSIWYG editors to write code for us or ‘click buttons to register your account’ platforms to host content for us instead of us running our own websites (blogger, wordpress, facebook, twitter etc). They dumbed us all down, farmed us like animals for data and used clickbait to get ad revenue and undermined our politics, culture, even changed our sense of being human. Now old folk can build resources but younger people can only consume. We have to re-skill and resist the seduction of the easy and free-to-use. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Never trust a tech bro, whether USA or any nationality.
Personally, I want to ‘jail break’ my Switch and make mods for my console version of Skyrim. I can’t do that now as it is illegal but when they bring out the Switch 2 and the old console is ‘obsolete’ and they stop trying to get money for Skyrim, I reckon we tinkerers will get a chance to re-purpose the old console to play the old games in our own way. I reckon some exciting engineering is happening amongst the recyclers and re-purposers rather than amongst the corporates. I only buy second-hand for ethical reasons and to save money. I always install my own software based on AOSP or use a more ethical distro or alternative to the commercial options. I always debloat or degoogle or remove unwanted stuff. I wish that kind of personalisation were more common. There is a zero sum relationship with tech: either the technology controls you, or you control it. I urge you to control your own tech. Don’t be enslaved by it. I feel I am in a minority in wanting sovereignty over my damn phone. It makes me sad.
Personally, I want to ‘jail break’ my Switch and make mods for my console version of Skyrim.
Why not just get a steam deck?
I tried creating a Steam account and was blocked by the revolving captcha security thing - took days to try to get help from their customer care and by the time they got back to me I had lost interest. I spent the waitjng time researching Valve and I decided they are not an ethical business. Made me sad as I loved the idea of a customised-for-gaming-on-console linux OS and liked the look of the hardware. But Valve is a monopolist and has too much market share and too many users and thus too much power - USA politics today shows how big a risk that is. Valve supports unethical business models like ‘rent game to play’, AI-generated junk games and IP violations so it debases game development and hurts indy developers, live-streaming games which is bad for environment. It promotes ‘easy access/always on gaming’ and is thus profiting from addiction-to-gaming, which ix a MASSIVE problem and few gamers admit it. It’s an American corporation and I distrust American corporate culture. Most of which might be said of other console/platforms so its not just Valve/Steam, I feel wary of but the whole industry. I bought a second-hand Switch so did not help Nintendo/Japanese corporate power directly. I bought a bundle of 2nd-hand games on sd card with minimal download content (except for ‘No Man’s Sky’ which constantly updates). I am trying to be an ethical gamer - limit my time gaming to stop me becoming an addict etc. But I admit I am compromised - I spend too much time gaming, being retired its easy to lose track of time. Honestly, I feel like a vegan who wraps bacon in thick wholemeal sandwiches and pretends they are not really eating pigs since its mainly bread. I am ‘a work in progress’.
Valve isn’t like most USA corporations, they’re private and generally a lot better.
As an indie developer, Valve has helped me a lot. I have my game on Switch, Xbox One, Epic, and Steam, and Steam is by far the most revenue, and was the first platform that accepted my game. They make it so easy for indie devs to ship games - yeah the downside is they get a lot of low effort submissions, but the user rating system takes care of that (mostly). And they’re adding more warnings for gamers about what games have AI generated content/art.
blocked by the revolving captcha security thing
I’ve seen this happen for people behind VPNs or using public access points (coffee shops, schools, etc). Valve has to do this to prevent spammers, and the sad part is a lot of real users get hit too. But before they did there was a lot more spam user accounts in the steam forums and messaging users, usually scams. If you still want to create an account and can’t get past the captcha send me a private message and I can help you out with it.
I don’t love Valve, as they’re just a company at the end of the day, but they have done a lot of positive things for Linux gaming and the indie developer scene. Especially for linux graphics drivers.
The form factor of switch/steam deck is expanding, valve doesn’t by any means have a stranglehold over it, they are by far the biggest player but the benefits to linux gaming are shared across the board which opens up the entire industry not closes it down?
Not saying I trust Valve or think they are somehow a company but good but yeah out of the current options I will happily give Valve my money.
But I admit I am compromised - I spend too much time gaming, being retired its easy to lose track of time. Honestly, I feel like a vegan who wraps bacon in thick wholemeal sandwiches and pretends they are not really eating pigs since its mainly bread.
Fuck that noise, play video games, they expand and stimulate your mind and you don’t hurt anyone or waste any significant amount of resources playing them!
Linux users tell Microsoft to just get over it, dump your parasitic software and start over, because how hard can it be?
As hard as plugging in a USB with OS and follow instructions.
Minus all the caveats like not being reliable on anything with an NVidia GPU or just hating your specific setup for no reason (I am salty, I’m going to keep trying anyway)
I’ve recently convinced my daughter to try Mint on her system. She has GF 1650 and it worked out of the box with propietary Nvidia driver (nothing needed to install additionally, with the option to switch to open source driver). Really, it’s not worse than on Windows.
