Linux

Sadly I can’t help but use windows at work. But in my personal life, that was around 2003. So, XP? Or something like that.

Windows 10 before I used Linux full-time, though I did try out Windows 11.

XP, to OS X 10.4-10.8, to Linux

Just because I daily drive Linux doesn't mean I don't have windows around.

I have used every version of Windows all the way up to 11.

My first attempt at Linux was in the days of Windows 3.1

My first successful conversion over to daily driver was in the XP era

I went Mac for a couple years around the windows 8 time frame.

I change jobs and went back to windows for a a few around win10.

I went back to daily driving Linux and the windows 11 era, but I still have three win 10 boxes and a win 11 box that I use pretty regularly.

XP.

Windows was getting to be too much trouble to 🏴‍☠️, Vista didn't look that great, I couldn't afford to upgrade my hardware to accommodate the bloat, and desktop Linux was a lot more mature and ready to go out of the box.

Windows 98. In the meantime I've also used BSD, though not in a few decades.

Windows 11.

And I still use it at work, and will continue to until I take the time to test out the things I need to make sure I can get them to work correctly.

I don't remember exactly what the tipping point was, but I just got so sick of every little issue, and the copilot crap certainly contributed. Basically got tired of my computer that I paid for being treated like they own it instead of me.

I came very close to switching back around 2009/2010, but Windows 7 and PowerShell got me to stick around and they really seemed to be turning things around for a while. Other than the start screen, I even really liked Windows 8, and 8.1 fixed the worst parts of the start screen.

I've used Linux for servers and just messing around since about 2005.

A few months ago, I rebuilt my PC desktop and got two nvme drives so I could put Linux on one and Windows on another (I know I can put them on the same drive but I knew if I did that deciding how to slice it up would lock me up and risk me never being willing to actually take the plunge)

Installed Linux on the first one. The second one is still unformatted and I'm now planning on using it for additional space for my games. I have no desire to go back. Only just yesterday figured out my graphics driver was not working right/was operating at a very basic level and even with that everything just felt so smooth overall (and got even better after fixing that)

I still use windows. Theres a bunch of stuff which needs it.

Seriously though, for about twenty years Microsoft has released patches on Tuesday. Don’t wait till Saturday, go ahead and restart on Tuesday. It’s easy and predictable and more often the patches are important.

Windows 95, I am ashame to admit I touched it

Windows 10, still using it but am browsing distros and aim to switch before August. Most likely candidate for me right now is Pop! OS, but given that they have halted development for it to work on their own DE (by the looks of it at least) I may go for Fedora or regular Ubuntu instead.

Windows 7, but newer versions were already a thing. If I recall correctly, I made the final switch around the time Windows 10 started becoming available to the general public, but I had been dual booting for a while then.

Started with Mint, btw.

The extremely short version is: I started playing with Raspberry Pis and learning a bit about Debian right about the time my old Win 7 laptop died, I got a new laptop with Win 8.1, which A) sucked and B) had major hardware problems for months, during which time I only had a couple Raspberry Pis to do my work on. So by the time I got a reliable Win 8.1 machine, it felt less familiar to me than Debian, so I switched, ended up running Linux Mint 17 on that machine.

Since I was personally called out here, Windows 10 was my last home version of Windows, but it was earlier days of 10. For work, however, I manage about 1700 Windows workstations and servers, so I know all those problems still. To be fair, I've been running Linux in some form since before Ubuntu existed. I think it was Debian in 2001 or 2002 that was my first Linux desktop.

Right after Windows 8 got released, I upgraded to it on my 2011 budget laptop. I don't know what exactly the problem was, I think there was both a problem with there being a high chance of not getting any output on the display after waking up from hibernation, and it also frequently bluescreened when booting. I was playing around with various distros before then but that was when I nuked Windows and switched to it as primary OS.

(That bluescreen bug on the laptop still wasn't fixed with Windows 10 when that came out. Lmao)

I still use Windows for work, but the last version I used on any of my personal computers was XP.

Windows 10, been a year and a half now. I tried ditching windows at least 10 times since 7 came out and I always ended going back because of gaming. Now, my experience is better than it was on windows and every game I go to play works flawlessly. I love it, my computer is mine and my os does what I want it to do.

Last Windows I used exclusively was 98. I dual-booted XP at home but gave it up when I realised Linux had everything I need and I never used the Windows partition. Still had to use Windows 7 at work for a few years but since then I've worked in a position where I can bring my own OS.

Vista on one machine, 10 on another.

Vista was actually good, it just started running slow because the computer was old. Switched to Mint and Lubuntu, those ran faster.

I got a new computer, and went, gasp... BACK TO WINDOWS! Kept planning the switch to Linux for years, because I liked the operating system, then got an SSD and just did it. Installed OpenSUSE, currently on Debian.

Windows Vista. I absolutely decked it out with free/open source software (LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, KDE for Windows) before I dual booted Windows and eventually made a more permanent switch. Never looked back.

I did have to use Windows for my old job (Win10 from memory?) but now I have a job where I can use Linux.

Next step is to switch my partner over from Windows 11 (she's already on board with the idea).

Windows Vista. I absolutely decked it out with free/open source software (LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, KDE for Windows) before I dual booted Windows and eventually made a more permanent switch. Never looked back.

I did have to use Windows for my old job (Win10 from memory?) but now I have a job where I can use Linux.

Next step is to switch my partner over from Windows 11 (she's already on board with the idea).

The last property OS I used before Linux was OS/2 warp.

Windows 10. Last time I used Windows at home was in January. I've completely de-googled and was looking to get rid of as much privacy invasion as I could.

So what's your reasoning for the change to the reliable and funni penguin OS?

I sold my laptop and was waiting for a good deal on PC parts. I was using my Steam Deck as my full time PC and had a really good experience. Decided to try Linux full time on the new PC.

Honestly, I've tried Linux many times previously (last was a year prior) and could never get over troubleshooting problems. The online community helped sometimes. Other times they told me go look up how to compile my own drivers and I got stuck. I would say the whole reason I've been able to change permanently has been down to AI. Now when I get stuck, ChatGPT just tells me how to fix a problem in 2 or 3 commands. Once the initial setup was done and I solved the setup problems, I don't have to go back to AI at all anymore.

Switched around the time Windows 7 was out. The reason is Windows Update. It took FOREVER to do its thing. And it was janky as all hell. I distinctly remember clicking on the "check for updates" more than once, because it didn't find any updates the first time dor whatevee reason. Anyway, I had one update breakage too many and I snapped. Had Linux as my main OS since then and a few years later it became my only OS.

Basically, I wanted an OS that stayed out of my face and Windows wasn't it.

Windows 10. My PC doesn't have TPM and I'm not buying new hardware to accommodate Microsoft's nonsense so that's that. Plus I only keep Windows around as a dual-boot option for like 2 things that don't run on Linux anyway, so it'll get phased out eventually.

Looming back it was probably Windows XP as the last time I used Windows as my main OS. I switched not because Windows was enshittified like it is now, but because the FOSS movement sounded interesting to me. I loaded Ubuntu on an old laptop, and once I got drivers working it covered everything I needed besides gaming. As I became more of a casual player I used Windows less and less until now where I only use it at work. It's been an interesting journey.

Windows 11. One day my system just shit itself & I’d heard about Microsoft adding ads into Windows. So I figured if a SteamDeck can run games on Linux, so can my PC. Looked up what version SteamDeck ran, downloaded EndeavourOS since it’s Arch like SteamOS, and have been gaming on Linux since.

I last used Windows NT 4.0

The internet was just starting to get interesting. Windows had software to browse and do e-mail.

Linux had the stuff to power the whole internet. It was just a whole lot more interesting if you wanted to be more than a consumer of the information super-highway.

I still have a Windows 10 or 11 PC that I only use for gaming so I don't really "use" Windows anymore. I basically use that computer like a really kick-ass game console. Which is why I neither know nor care what version of Windows is on that PC. All my other computers run Linux now.

I had played around with Linux back in the day, but it never stuck. It was the "upgrade" from Windows 7 to 10 that pushed me to commit to Linux permanently. Now my daily driver is EndeavourOS on the laptop and Proxmox on my servers.

What was so bad going from Win7 to Win10? Win10 is painfully slow and shockingly bloated on older hardware, and doesn't provide any new benefits that I care about. I would have had to replace my laptop for no good reason to stay with Win10. Anyway, once I installed Linux and KDE, I saw how awesome the Linux desktop experience has become and that was that. I will never go back to Windows now, even when I get a new laptop. Windows just isn't a good operating system anymore while Linux has improved tremendously in terms of user experience.

Straight from the Amiga to Slackware in 97. Never been a Windows fan.

I used Windows XP not for too long after switching from Windows 98. It was that time when Vista was just released and I knew this is not what I wanted to put on my brand new PC.

Windows 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups. Maybe they were the same thing, I don't really remember.

I needed reliable networking, the ability to process large documents (which word couldn't do at the time), and actual multitasking was nice. The system was a bit rough but quite usable. It's not as if Windows was great at the time anyway.

Windows vista. Terrible operating system. I liked the transparent windows and discovered compiz and emerald

Been messing around with Linux ever since

Windows 2000 was my primary desktop at the time, though I continued to use Windows XP, 7 and 10 both at work and home for various reasons. I still think Windows 2000 was peak Microsoft. Classic shell, minimal app spam, solid gaming performance, etc.

I actually switched from OSX Snow Leopard after college. But several years prior, the last version of Windows I used, on the family computer, was XP.

Windows 7.

I dabbled in Ubuntu long before.

But when they removed focus stealing prevention, I got extremely frustrated. And as soon as Steam had a beta client for Linux I completely jumped ship.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/applications-stealing-focus-reg-key-no-longer/4ee5be7d-31ef-493b-b092-f6f6139f99cd?

windows me

i think it should be pretty self explanatory why a switch was necessary. lol

Same as you, I was somewhat already leaning towards Linux but seeing Windows 10 EOL announced around 3 years ago and seeing what new "features" are going to be implemented to Windows 11, I decided to hop ship.

The main reason for switch was privacy concerns, got redpilled by Mental Outlaw while he was still making regular Linux videos.