I was using Windows for a long time, from 95, XP, 7 and 10. Games just worked out fine, software that I needed I pirated. But I was annoyed from updates, (cannot turn off MY pc, just update and turn off option) bing, fokin bing and oh the best - F1 binded to it.
On parent’s pc is 7 still installed lol, not gonna change soon, anyway, my old laptop(server since 2017) wasn’t working properly with win, so only option to save it was Linux. Ubuntu was my choice in few years back, That was the moment I discovered open source software (head exploding image).
Recently i switched my main computer into PopOs, since I worked on it I was ,,scared,, to do it, because of some windows specific software. (I’m still able to boot into win, I kept it for some programs that I need once per year).
But I will never go back to windows as a main. First month was little bit stressful, configuring things and getting used to new workflows, but it is just a pleasure to use. No annoying popups, no preinstalled spyware, no stress related to running unknown .exe files, no bing. I just went from small dark closed box to a nice huge green open(source) forest..
Everything just works. If not, I still can fix it (mostly). I’ve got better with security, I understand more how things works generally. I found my peace in getting to know more how things works, not just guessing what it can do and never actually find out.
So if there is some one that is disgusted with how windows pc works, and is still using it, just switch it for Linux. Just do it, it will bring joy into using your machine as you need to and want to.
Just wanted to say this…
…and share the software, you’ll be free… https://youtu.be/9sJUDx7iEJw
Thats been my enduring gripe about linux.
95% of the time, it works flawlessly and to an astonishing degree considering, in my case, most of what i'm doing is running windows games at reasonable high detail. Something that I didnt think was feasible like 5ish years ago, which makes it triply amazing.
but its that last 5% thats just a miserable fucking slog. Tiny little things like that, that should be so easy, and seem so obvious, yet to do them is next to impossible or convoluted to hell. Like not being able make middle mouse buttom autoscroll instead of paste, or having to edit some obscure file directly to do the thing you need, or being obscure as fuck and difficult to, say, install a second program into a proton prefix for when you want to use a save editor or something for a game you've played a thousand times.
These are the kinds of comments that never seem to come up when I'm looking for info about making the switch myself, they make it seem like everything is perfect now and there's no issues, but these are the exact kind of small problems that end up making me switch back, because I don;t have the patience to sort it out while trying to get shit done. Like, cool, I can play my games just fine, but all of my peripherals have quirks and issues because the software that sets them up has no linux version.
Yeah. There has been more than one moment in recent history alone, much less across my years of linux history, where I genuinely was about 30 seconds from taking the tower off the desk and throwing it out the window because it was getting so. stupidly. frustrating. to do something that would be so brainlessly easy on another platform.
but, that was all extra stuff to gaming. Like, installing a mod into cyberpunk 2077. One mod just (a core/foundation mod, of course, that everything else relies on). refused. to work, despite following the linux/proton guide for it, installing all the extra bits via protontricks,etc etc. Or installing a second program into the same prefix so I could fool around and do some cheaty hacky shit (single player games i've beaten a half dozen time, folks, before the pitchforks come out.)
The straight, core gaming? and controllers? Pretty much a non issue, in my personal experience. Only extra step is to check proton DB to see if it works, and what proton version to use... and unless its multiplayer with nasty invasive anticheat, its fairly certain to work.
There was a saying years ago that still hold true to today - "Unix is user friendly, it's just selective who it's friends are".
Years ago, I setup an SGI IRIX box for my parents to use, back when Netscape was browser king. I had it so customized for my parents that they still talk about how easy it was to use; problem for me was it took me months to figure out all the config tricks and X customizations to pull it off... Your post made me think of that lol