This feels like such a fuck you to working class. People can’t afford another layer of these costs right now.
... This is bait right? You want somebody to tell you there's a simple and free solution, and then you're going to say it's a bad solution?
FINE! I'll bite: Pirated copy of Windows Enterprise LTSC. It's less useful, more resource hungry, privacy invasive and has worse support for older hardware than Linux though.
Working class people at large don't know about these alternatives, I'm certain you know that. IT folk and nerds alike do, but anyone outside of these circles don't necessarily see the choice they have
Those people that don't know options exist are also people that don't care about or know about support life for something like the OS - they just see it as what the computer comes with. Most of them probably wouldn't have upgraded from 7 to 10 without it just doing it itself. A lot of them will just keep using 10 well past the end of support.
Also, I really enjoyed Railcar's subversion of expectations with all that lead up to what we all assumed was a Linux recommendation to end up being pirated windows. That got a chuckle out of me. I feel like the haters didn't get the joke.
I feel like the haters didn't get the joke.
Their computer didn't come with sense of humor pre-installed, and it's too hard to do it themselves.
Working class people at large don't know about these alternatives,
You mean only the elite know about Linux? Preposterous!
*proceeds to clean monocle
Jokes aside, it might be a good time to teach and learn. Or pay, or have less security moving forward.
It was a staple of the "working class" to be resourceful, to know to repair stuff. It's on Microsoft best interest that you change the computer, that you pay another OEM license, that they can drop support for older hardware... And this will happen again with windows 12.
Objectively speaking Linux is not a Windows replacement, its a minix replacement and competes with FreeBSD. Not everyone wants Linux and tbh I wouldnt reccomend Linux to most people.
My dad's bringing his PC to my house when they visit for Christmas so we can setup Linux as a dual boot for him to see if he can switch from Windows 10 to Linux instead of buying a new PC
My dad (in his mid 80s) told me proudly that he had just bought Linux and installed it on his computer. It's great that he wanted to try Linux but I wonder what malware-riddled scam distro he found, and how I'll sort it out on my next visit.
Can't be that bad. Some distros accept donations. It just could be that he felt he was making a purchase rather than just a donation.
Not sure if it was Mint or Ubuntu, but one of them shows a donation box with a default amount when you click download. It's already downloading when the box shows up, but maybe he misinterpreted that.
Maybe elementaryOS? There is a Purchase button on the site, with a pay-what-you-want option. If possible to enter 0 though.
Doesn't Ubuntu and a few other distros still sell physical install discs?
They used to, but I don't think they do anymore. In fact, I think they used to send one to you for free. I got an official Ubuntu install disk for free at college (someone was handing them out), and I've been on Linux ever since.
I do see Ubuntu install USBs on Amazon, but I wouldn't trust those.
Zorin has a pro tier that costs money but it's supposed to have the look and feel of classic Windows - maybe it's that?
That's fine, I've closed the door on supporting Microsoft. They could have just charged for the 'upgrade' and that would have been better since it wouldn't result in the colossal amount of e-waste that this is creating. Even without the forced obsolescence, their products have become hostile, invasive and generally just a PITA to use. Meanwhile Linux distros are knocking it out of the park lately.
I really don't know what Microsoft are thinking. They haven't made particularly good strides towards gaining any kind of goodwill, so once it becomes common knowledge that alternatives not only exist but actually show them up, those lost customers are people that they will never get back. Look how pathetic their marketshare is for Edge for example, even though it's the default browser on Windows. They still haven't been able to shake off the bad stigma that Internet Explorer had (and to be fair, they aren't doing people any favours with Edge either).
I bet it'll still try to install itself on that hardware though and break it.
Probably how they'll force upgrade down the track, upgrade or we brick your shit.
Linux adoption intensifies
Maybe in a decade from now Linux will achive 7.5% market share, maybe
You only need about 15% for commercial support.
Non negotiable sounds fine with me. Because we don’t negotiate with terrorists.
I’d like to give a heartfelt thank you to Microsoft management though, for furthering the cause of Linux adoption. We couldn’t have done it without you. 🙏
They don't need the hardware to run an OS. They need the hardware to run their AI shit for reasons nobody ever needs - except Microsoft.
So maybe it is not Microsoft closing the door for older hardware, but older hardware closing the door for Windows 11?
The used market is going to bomb if older machines can't be setup with newer windows version.
All the better for us running Linux!
yes!
'incompatible' hardware will be dirt cheap, and 8th gen or newer will sell for more than it would have otherwise--especially if tariffs jack prices up on new hardware.
i have a couple dozen older systems here. most were given to me before win11's requirements were known. fixing and flipping them for a few bucks was a small but relatively steady income stream, but not anymore. hardly anyone wants them.
the couple that are new enough to be blessed by microsoft will be kept, and i'll hang on to the better ones of the rest (like skylake, kaby lake) to put linux on. everything else will end up at ewaste recyclers even though there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of them other than the fact that a profit and 'shareholder value' driven megacorp says they can't be used anymore.
I'll see you all on SteamOS in six months
Love Linux and steam deck, but AS IS, steam os is a horrible choice for a desktop general use computer.
It's immutable without layering, so there are things that you can't install/keep after an update. Case and point, printers. You can't print, period. Valve knows, they don't need a gaming device to print so they don't care.
Hopefully they will do something about this, but I don't hold my breath for 2025
They wont do anything about it because SteamOS is not and will never be a general purpose desktop OS. Its a gaming distro designed to do one thing and one thing well, game. It can do other things but its not meant to, kinda like a reverse MacOS.
I know everyone here foams over Linux, and for good reason... but please remember the average user is a techno-fobe who struggles to find the start menu. Linux just isn't an option for a lot of people. Windows has been around so long and feels familiar. Until there is a major demographic shift and ECE training on general computer use an basic troubleshooting... the majority of the population will stick with whatever arrives when they turn it on because "It's what they know".
If Linux is to take over it must come PRE-installed, Must be fully compatible (read: plug-n-play); even with the weird printer your aunt found in a garage sale, at-least feel familiar to the majority of users.... and for corpos... run MS office (read: excel) natively.
even with the weird printer your aunt found in a garage sale
Windows isn't supporting that anymore either.
at-least feel familiar to the majority of users
Start menu is at the bottom left of the task bar, you can start Chrome from there.
Some random old printer is much more likely to be plug and play on Linux these days than it is on windows.
Weird printer on windows 11, that’s not a thing. A weird printer in your CUPS server in Linux, totally a thing
I have never connected a printer to my network or via USB, clicked the add printer button, and was able to print on my first try.
Then I tried to add a printer on Fedora Linux.
Cant say never anymore.
The more of us that buy computers with it preinstalled the more it signals that there is interest.
Popular brands offer it. I'm not saying you have to go buy, but you can also let people know it's an option.
I bought an XPS Developer edition and when asked I explained that when Linux had support from the manufacturer it can be as reliable as their Macs, often even more reliable.
If Linux is to take over it must come PRE-installed, Must be fully compatible (read: plug-n-play); even with the weird printer your aunt found in a garage sale, at-least feel familiar to the majority of users… and for corpos… run MS office (read: excel) natively.
Or we could just not care if it "takes over"?
Even if Linux was and did all of those things -- and many of them are already crossed off of the list -- it may not "take over" and despite some corporate spend from some of the backing corporations, it's not really a profit driven ecosystem. Linux doesn't have to take over and do exactly what Microsoft does, Linux is just fine as is.
Fyi you can install it without TPM 2 hardware, if using Rufus to create the installer, you can just tick an option to remove tpm forcing.
That's if you want to keep using Windows after 2025 on a 7+ year old hardware.
Not endorsing it, just saying you can, at no extra cost.
if you want to risk random update potentially bricking your computer or at least your os breaking, not worth it
That'll work until they actually make it do something with the TPM.
I bet in 3 years they'll require an AI accelerator.
Another shitty decision from Redmond.
Yay!
blessing in disguise. at least you can build a system so poorly that 10 won't be forcefully upgraded on you.
Why have we stopped talking about how the $15 ~~TPU~~ TPM can make upgrading older systems possible? Does that not work anymore?
I think they also prevent most CPU released before 2017ish from installing as well so computers just missing the proper TPM are few and far between anyway. You can still get around all the requirements pretty easily though.
My Ryzen 1700 system was prevented from upgrading and it met the TPM requirement, it just wasn't whitelisted. That CPU was released in 2017, and that whole gen was pretty popular (1600 sold like hotcakes). I think anything newer should work though.
That said, my primary OS is Linux anyway, so it doesn't matter, this is just an install on my other disk in case I need something Windows-specific (haven't needed it in years).
I installed Linux Mint on my wife's ageing Thinkpad (2016, new battery is en route but everything else works fine). Windows would struggle to even start its own file explorer (lol), so I said no more of that bullshit.
She is happy with it, apart from ProNote not working (she uses the web client instead).
What i wonder, is:
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
