- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
The countdown has begun. On 14 October 2025, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. This will leave millions of users and organisations with a difficult choice: should they upgrade to Windows 11, or completely rethink their work environment?
The good news? You don’t have to follow Microsoft’s upgrade path. There is a better option that puts control back in the hands of users, institutions, and public bodies: Linux and LibreOffice. Together, these two programmes offer a powerful, privacy-friendly and future-proof alternative to the Windows + Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
The move to Windows 11 isn’t just about security updates. It increases dependence on Microsoft through aggressive cloud integration, forcing users to adopt Microsoft accounts and services. It also leads to higher costs due to subscription and licensing models, and reduces control over how your computer works and how your data is managed. Furthermore, new hardware requirements will render millions of perfectly good PCs obsolete.
This is a turning point. It is not just a milestone in a product’s life cycle. It is a crossroads.
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Its always time to consider Linux. No one has to wait until Windows support ends. :-)
True but like Reddit shitting the bed every 8 months leads to waves of folks on Lemny, or Twaxter doing the same thing leading to Mastodon waves. This wikl be another wave but how many ? Maybe a few 1000 only I guess ? I left for Mint about 3 years ago (dual boot defaulting to Mint) then to LMDE 12 months ago.
No, but a bad MS/Windows decision is often a catalyst. I came over to Linux from Windows ME. :)
Is there an easy-to-digest user’s guide for switching? I’ve had my toes in the water for years on switching but now with Mircosoft being facsists, I’m all in on wanting to switch. Used windows my whole life but I don’t mind switching one bit.
Full guide here for Linux Mint. But the easy version is:
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Boot to that USB drive
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Press next a bunch in the Mint installer
If you have two computers, highly recommend dipping your toes in with Linux on the secondary one. That way any stress related to the unknown is much reduced.
Switching to Linux is activism. Not only are you making an anti-capitalist, anti-consumption statement, but active participation creates growth and change that’s observable and satisfying in a way that most direct action cannot be.
MS must be having a heck of time upgrading to 11. I built two new AM5 PCs recently and one shows ZERO interest in win 11 while the other one took a few weeks in 10 before upgrading. I know they’re rolling it out based on tested configurations but not a peep. No hey, no get ready, no have you heard….
I’m not that old linux user so it’s a bit interesting for me, when Windows 7 was closing, linux community was also so excited and offered everyone to switch to linux?
Not really the same scenario. PCs that could run Windows 7 could usually upgrade to 10, people were just reluctant to do so, partly also because 8 and 8.1 were such disasters. Eventually, everyone just moved on.
Today, a lot of 10 users would upgrade to 11 if they could, but their older-but-still-fine hardware is simply being cut off from Windows support.
Today, a lot of 10 users would upgrade to 11 if they could, but their older-but-still-fine hardware is simply being cut off from Windows support.
Technically, a lot of people was also “cut off” for Windows support with Windows 10, however, Windows 10 did not block you from upgrading anyway. Looking at the CPU requirements of Windows 10 1511, the Intel i3/5/7 types all required at least 5000 series or better from around 2015. Newer Windows 10 version cut out some of the 1511 supported CPUs, raising the minimum requirements. I think it was some of the CPUs from Microsoft’s own Surface computers, that was kept in the supported list.
Microsoft should just let Windows 11 install with a big fat warning that you are running unsupported hardware, however this could have a negative experience when people run into features that does not work. But most of the way, people would be fine.
Every time for a long time. Regular users would have more reliability with Linux but they are apathetic. Also they only need LibreOffice and Firefox but don’t want to accept that fact ant dont believe it exists on Linux.
My engineer father (who was secretly a dumbass for 60 years) asked me if Linux can even run programs. He has a Windows machine full of viruses…
I’m thinking about switching. A couple of weekends ago I had Mint on a flashdrive and tried out a bit.
I’m worried about compatibility with games as I’m a Steam user and whatever launcher that game requires sometimes.
Should I just do it? Just do a brand new install but on Linux? Which distro should I use that would be good for gaming?
Other than gaming, everything else I do is just everyday browsing on reddit/lemmy, YouTube, email, etc.
edit: so I was finally able to get Mint installed on another drive. I had a hard time with Bazzite as it would get an error after validation using balenaEtcher, where it would say the flash drive is read only and unable to be formatted. Tried multiple times, then went out and got a new flash drive and the same thing happened. Finally I just used Mint, where it also got the same error after validation, but I was able to access the drive and boot from it 🤷♂️
The next hurdle was getting the second monitor to work, where I thought just installing the Nvidia driver would be fine, but after some trial and error with upgrading the kernel from 6.8 to 6.11, then eventually something about MOC that I had to import the key, then it finallybworked. I also downgraded back to kernel 6.8.
I think my next step is to see if I can get Steam games working that are Windows only. Getting Wine installed and opening Notepad++ exe with that was easy and I was surprised that it just works.
Grab a 1 TB nvme, take the Widows one out, install the new SSD boot the USB thumbdrive, install Bazzite (or Mint) and off you go, that’s all I did. I’m running LMDE but not a big gamer, so the little I do play all works on Mint Debian Edition.
If it all gives you the shits after a time, just put the old SSD back in and boot back into Windows.
Bazzite is great for gaming if you want an immutable distro, Garuda is great for gaming if you don’t.
If you have a game that only runs on windows right click on it go to manage and chose compatibility then pick the latest version of proton and relaunch the game. To do it globally First, log into Steam using your login credentials. Then, click on “Steam” in the top-left corner, and select “Settings”. Go to the “Compatibility” settings, then locate the “Steam Play” section. Toggle on the “Enable Steam Play for all other titles,” choose the latest Proton version from the dropdown menu, click “OK,” and restart Steam. My whole library works.
Depends on your gaming habits. Check ProtonDB for Steam games compatibility, check Lutris for others. Some anti-cheats (especially kernel level anti-cheats) don’t work on Linux, if devs decide to make it work on Linux, they can. For example they enabled Linux version of anti-cheat and Hell Let Loose works fine for some time now. If you mostly play single-player games, you’ll probably be fine.
If you want every possible gaming related programs to be pre-installed, you might wanna go Bazzite. If you want to explore on your own pace, Mint is a solid choice. If you want something like Bazzite but mostly empty, there is also Aurora.
Do you have a spare SSD? Throw Linux on it and try it out for a while. You can always go back.
I do. I wanna say I did that a long time ago where I had two OSs on two drives? Would I have to disconnect the Windows drive to boot into the other? Or would it act like a dual boot and I can choose from a menu?
You can set up dual boot with your boot manager. This gives you all your installed OSs in the boot menu to select from.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_boot_with_Windows
EDIT: BTW arch isn’t hard to install anymore, just use the “archinstall” command at the prompt when it’s finished loading.
My decision was to install Linux Mint first on my work laptop and not my main gaming rig, so I would have the ability to switch between both OS’s as needed, and have a fallback machine if either failed.
ProtonDB (Compatibility Database) should be your friend in checking what works and what doesn’t, and for the most part, Windows games “just work”, no need to even toggle a setting (unless you count forcing Proton instead of a native Linux port).
If you have software that is critical to your daily life on windows (Photoshop, Autodesk, VR software, anti-cheat heavy games), you dont need to jump ship on your main hardware. There are ways to get support after October 15th (Through IOT LTSC versions of windows 10, but you’ll have to find a way to get it).
All of your other use cases would be perfectly served by any Linux distro, the Interstellar Lemmy client even has a convenient flatpack for a 1-click install.
Check ProtonDB first (you can even log in to view all your library at once). If everything you would want to play works, go for it! If not everything works currently, I’d recommend getting your hands on IOT LTSC win10, and use a spare device to get familiar with Linux distros.
There’s no one “gaming” Linux distro that will work, but I personally just use Linux Mint because it is ol’ reliable for me - intuitive enough GUI, but just as configurable as anything else. You do miss out on some of the more bleeding edge stuff that distros such as Arch and Bazzite get, but unless you are using very new hardware, I’m not sure if it would be necessary.
I made the switch. Linux mint. Steam works great with all my games via proton. It was painless. Even a lazy person like me had mint setup with drivers, everything working in no time really.
Countdown? I didn’t even consider win 10.
I have one win 11 machine. That’s for work and to keep my hand in on the dumpster fire of an OS professionally.
The big area to push should be on Office.
The new versions of Office with that ribbon are terribly user unfriendly (or maybe just non-basic user unfriendly) so hitting that and pushing Libre Office could net some good adoption.
But I guess that’s competing against GoogleDocs and the like these days… But we don’t wanna give the Big G that data.
The ribbon that was introduced around… 2007, I think? Or is there a substantially different one now?
I tried out Bazzite and was pretty happy with the out of the box gaming. Think I’ll consider it for the wife’s laptop when 10 runs out. Kinda torn about giving her a dual boot with LTSC 10 and Linux or just going full in because it’ll be me on the support end.
Or just, you know, continue using 10 and not click on malware like a dipshit
I worry when this happens about being locked in to older versions of apps, especially ones like browsers that themselves aren’t getting updates. It will only need one dedicated soul to find a remote code execution exploit for one of these pieces of software and you may not even need to click malware to get infected. Visiting a website or just having it connected to a public network would be enough.
Big nope from me.
Preach! Everyone needs to switch over!
just happened, a few days ago I installed dual boot of EndeavourOS and OpenMandriva replacing Windows 7, on my potato mini PC. (Celeron 1007U, 8GB RAM, 512GB HDD)
Congratz. I see, EndeavourOS, a man of culture as well. :D But how did you came to OpenMandriva? It’s not a usual distribution newcomers choose. Not because its hard to use, but because its a bit less popular. What made you chose this, just curious, not saying its bad or anything like that. I’m curious for the reason.
Tried it. Hated it. It’s like replacing an old, worn out blanket with a scratchy burlap new blanket. Sure, it works, but bleh.
It’s not for everyone and that’s ok.
Screenshots of your porn can now feed into your social life via AI that is continuously logging and analyzing.
So, help me understand here, what will exactly happen when I try to turn on my Windows 10 computer on October 15th?
No updates for consumer versions of Win10. Including security ones. If on October 15th a zero-day exploit is out in the wild, Microsoft would not be obligated to patch it. They may regardless (see WannaCry Malware patch for Windows XP), but it will not be ongoing, and probably not all-encompassing.
The longer you use the machine on win10 after October, the more exposed you are to any exploit found in the existing windows 10 version.
What this post is trying to present is that Linux distributions almost never run into these issues - especially when it comes to running on legacy hardware. If you install Linux Mint today, you’ll still be able to update it in october and beyond, for the foreseeable future.
Edit: There will be a subscription option to receive extended security patches from MS for Windows10, but it will not be free, and the price will rise as time passes (similar to win7).
Sad truth but regular users don’t care about security updates.
The more who are aware, the more who will care. And hey, not like typing an honest answer hurt anyone here.
If you install Linux Mint today, you’ll still be able to update it in october and beyond, for the foreseeable future
One caveat: Linux distributions, even LTS variants, usually have a shorter support period than Windows, after which you have to upgrade your distribution, which is much like doing a Windows upgrade.
A particular version of Linux Mint, the example you mentioned, is supported for 4 years, whereas Windows 10 was supported for 10 years.
A particular version of Linux Mint, the example you mentioned, is supported for 4 years, whereas Windows 10 was supported for 10 years.
True, but often the distributions have an upgrade plan (for free). In example you can install an Ubuntu LTS and upgrade 4 years later to the next major LTS release. However, sometimes this has problems, because so much time and changes are in between. This is for sure.
There are distributions with longer support period. Debian comes to my mind. But I don’t know how long and there were 10 year supported distributions too.
True, but often the distributions have an upgrade plan (for free). In example you can install an Ubuntu LTS and upgrade 4 years later to the next major LTS release. However, sometimes this has problems, because so much time and changes are in between. This is for sure.
Yes you can and should upgrade, which is what I was trying to say really. It’s less set and forget as in “just let it update and it will keep on trucking for 10 years”.
There are distributions with longer support period. Debian comes to my mind. But I don’t know how long and there were 10 year supported distributions too.
I think only the enterprise distributions (RHEL etc) do 10 year support, but they are not very usable for a desktop system, and I can tell from experience you start to run into compatibility and support issues with software if you actually use it for that long.
Debian is ± 5 years by the way.
Yes you can and should upgrade, which is what I was trying to say really. It’s less set and forget as in “just let it update and it will keep on trucking for 10 years”.
At least with rolling releases this is not needed. You only install once, and only update this one version basically. EndeavourOS and Arch based distributions are like that. So its basically support without end, which beats Windows in that regard. :-) These are normal desktop systems BTW, not Enterprise.
The typical LTS support in Linux distributions are 5 years, but some have longer support available. With Ubuntu you can get additional 7 years by using the free for Home users “Ubuntu Pro” subscription. Which brings it to 12 years. Professionals have to pay a little bit (its not expensive) to get that support. For anyone who really considers using the same distribution for 10 years, they should consider Ubuntu Pro.
I use Arch myself (BTW :p), but I wouldn’t really recommend that for users who freshly migrated over from Windows.
Yes, there are ways to get extended support (on Windows too btw), but a thing that should also be kept in mind is that “support” only means security patches and bugfixes, and not feature upgrades. There is also no guaranteed continued hardware support, nor guaranteed support from third party applications. On Ubuntu there’s at least the HWE kernel, but that’s also limited in time.
It’s not criticism btw, it’s just worth mentioning that the support model on Linux looks a bit different than what you get with Windows, and users should generally be encouraged to keep up with the latest release of their chosen distribution.
A particular version of Linux Mint, the example you mentioned, is supported for 4 years, whereas Windows 10 was supported for 10 years
I know this is a definition question, but yes, Enterprise LTS versions of Windows 10 will be supported for 10 years. For normal versions, you will have to update to a newer Windows 10 version to be supported - just like Linux Mint.
I think you misunderstood. Windows 10 was released in 2015, and will have general support for all versions until October 2025. That’s 10 years.
The current version of Mint, 22.1, was released in January 2025, and will receive support until April 2029. That’s 4 years.
Had you installed the latest version of Mint in 2015, it would have been EOL in 2019. Had you installed Windows 10 in 2015, it would only be EOL later this year.
Generally though when you update Mint you won’t get bombarded with 20 UI changes and some AI crap and naggin and advertising and strong arm tactics to get you to use their cloud services.
I think you misunderstood. Windows 10 was released in 2015, and will have general support for all versions until October 2025. That’s 10 years.
No, not all Windows 10 versions will have 10 years of support. Example for home and pro: Windows 10 version 1507 was released in 2015 and support ended in 2017. Only Version 22H2 is supported into 2025.
Again, it is a definition question. For me “Windows 10” is a product name, like “Linux Mint” or “Windows Vista”. The version number e.g. 1507 or 22H2 is the version number, like 22.1 is for Linux Mint or “SP6a” for Windows NT 4.0. And it makes sense to differentiate between versions of Windows 10 and not treat them as the same, as there are big differences between version 1507 and 22H2.
There are LTS(B) versions available for Windows 10 that offers 10 years support and even some that is supported beyond 2025.
So you’re considering the 22H2 builds et al. separate versions, I just consider them service packs. They come with the regular updates, and the user experience doesn’t significantly change. I couldn’t ever tell you what “build” of Windows 10 or 11 I was on, but I usually know pretty well which distro version I am on.
But I guess it’s true that they contain more feature updates than typical Linux updates.
Different Windows 10 versions also have different hardware requirements e.g. CPU support is removed for older CPUs in 22H2 (but some old CPUs are kept for whatever weird business reason, compare 1511 to 22H2). The monthly updates are regular updates that only bump up the minor version numbers and installs in a few minutes. The big updates bump up the major version number, takes much longer to install, get rolled out slowly and often has a different startup screen (first start after update). They often also doesn’t just install but need the user to approve - however this has changed a lot over time. Keep in mind that the last major Windows 10 version is almost 3 years old and since then it has just been “minor” monthly updates (that have contained some new features). Microsoft have really messed up the whole update process in regards to changing how it works, multiple times. Gone from major versions had a meaning (wow, new features!) to more of a rolling release where major updates often had only a few things (meh, just a new ISO spawn point) as most new features was rolled out in monthly updates.
For the genereal user, Windows 10 should just be “Windows 10” and not think about version numbers. The system should just update when the next major version has become stable (a few monthly updates added to it) and just mind it’s own. Going to Windows Update and click update now, should give you the latest. This is just not how it worked with Windows 10 or 11. You often run into something blocking you - could be Microsoft that know you have a incompatible configuration (software/hardware) or some other reason that you can’t figure out and at some point your Windows is not updated anymore because the Windows version you’re on is not supported any longer.
I have not worked with Linux on a regular basis for a long time, so I might run into same weirdness (updates not working) in the future, but so far it has been a smoother. I do use Debian Stable, so it’s not a big thrill ride.
Thank you!
You’re welcome! Always glad to help ppl with these kinds of questions!
No updates for consumer versions of Win10. Including security ones. If on October 15th a zero-day exploit is out in the wild, Microsoft would not be obligated to patch it.
You said no updates for the consumer version, but there will be optional paid extended support available for consumer users who opt to pay for updates for a year.
Good point, I should have mentioned that. Although I think it would be reasonable to say that paying a subscription for security updates would be a non-starter for almost all of the home users.
You’d be surprised. I run a small IT business and I have many elderly customers on a fixed income. Linux is unfortunately not an option for most. Some have opted to buy a new or used W11 compatible PC, but many will be paying for extended support. For $30 for the whole year, it’s much cheaper than a whole new computer.
Your PC will turn on. But you won’t get security updates (meaning more and more dangerous to surf the web). Some software stop working too, because they stop supporting Windows 10. I think Steam will not work on it anymore, correct me if I am wrong. It will get worse over time, not right away on day one.
Hope someone goes over the libreoffice ui to simplify its workflows and fix multi monitor support by then. That youtuber who designed musescore’s new version comes to mind
