Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the cloud
Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the cloud
You might boot laptops straight into a cloud OS in the future
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Cool, I've been looking for an excuse to move to Linux again. I tried ubuntu years ago but it was too limited in features and capabilities to fully replace windows for my productivity needs. Time for me to dual-boot so I can start getting more practice with Linux (Probably going to go for Linux Mint this time around)
I've dabbled in Linux for decades, but fully switched to Linux as my daily driver about 5 years ago. I still have a Windows partition set up for dual boot, but only boot into it once every couple months now to run very specific software. I can honestly say I miss nothing about Windows. Linux has matured leaps and bounds even in the past 5 years. Gaming, productivity, programming, hobby. It can do it all. I will admit there is still a technical barrier to entry. You will need to get used to the command line and searching the web frequently for how to do something. But if you have those skills I don't think it's a contest anymore. Linux is the better OS.
I've been on Fedora for about a year and I'm very particularly making a point of never opening the terminal to prove it's no longer necessary.
So far, haven't needed it.
I don't have a problem doing things by the command line... it's certainly sometimes easier that way. This is just a response to the people that complain about having to use it. Turns out, they really don't.
Yeah I've used Linux before, I started with command line back with Microsoft DOS and Windows 3.1 back in the day. Just stopped using it because it lacked compatibility and WINE was still not quite evolved enough to be usable for much. I'm not a gamer so that's not a big hassle.
But I've started playing with linux mint again on a friend's older laptop and impressed at how far it's come (little things like automatically detecting the touch-screen on his laptop, or the wireless printer in the other room without having to tell it anything) make it far easier to use.
I honestly think I'm ready to make the switch for good on my nice 32" HP All-in-one Envy PC - windows just keeps getting more buggy on this computer with every new windows update lol.
What flavor/distro are you currently rocking?
I started with Ubuntu, then to Manjaro, and now using Endeavour. I like the rolling release systems for faster updates and better gaming.
Agreed. I've been lazy because I'm a gamer, but at this point it's time. I hope the other game companies can figure out something like Proton to play on Mint.
It's actually hilarious that consoles might become the new must-have gaming equipment because of this.
Kill two birds with one stone, get a Steam Deck?
You get a distro (arch) wrapped up into an excellent gaming device, and can drop into desktop mode for productivity needs. For 400 bucks, it's a pretty sweet setup, imo.
Or, if you have the machine already, certainly take advantage of the enhancements Steam has contributed to proton, and game on.
I bought one for this reason but have been meaning to dual boot it. Partially because Im not wild about its desktop but also I want to seperate my gaming and nongaming more.
Yeah I had a catastrophic lighting strike and ended up having to buy a nice gaming pc during the pandemic. I love everything I've heard about steam deck but will be pc bound until I get my money's worth xD
Also check out lutris, which is a game launcher and a website full of working install scripts.
I like that name, I gotta say.
You can play nearly anything through proton by adding the game's .exe as a non steam game. ProtonDB is a valuable resource.. You can install Mint alongside windows anyway and just boot winders for the games that don't run on Linux.
Can you dualboot with bitlocker? Are there any halfway decent full drive encryption methods with recovery keys that won't regularily corrupt the system? I'm mainly hesitant to make the switch based on those requirements. Plus, I have been in the MS ecosystem for such a long time. All I know and I worked on it as a sysadmin as well for many, many years. Big comfort zone.
Since you can wipe a computer without a bitlocker key, I would assume you could encrypt the windows half with it, but I can't say I've tried.
Linux distros like Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint and Pop! have been fully capable of replacing Windows for typical work and home uses for several years.
Even gaming is very close to being on-par now.
There are still niches dependent on Windows, like specialized engineering software or anyone that simply refuses to use anything other than Adobe products.
Yup, I totally have been making the switch to Open-Source software or browser-based software (like Photopea) for the past few years to ensure I'd be able to easily make the switch when windows finally pisses me off enough. But I think I'm already at that stage - every major windows-10 update seems to break more and more features on my computer lol
Okay, but like, are you SURE you wouldn't prefer to open PDFs with Microsoft Edge? I'll ask you again next time, just in case you change your mind!
I'm pretty sure you meant to actually select Edge, so I'll go ahead and switch that to your default so we don't need to bother you again next time. You're welcome!
Cool, I've been looking for an excuse to move to Linux again.
What part of the article is making you want to change to Linux?
The part where windows is moving to the cloud - don't want that or need it.
You could try distrosea before committing to an install.
It gives you a VM online to play around in for almost any distro you can think of.
Don’t forget that desktop environment (DE) and distro are decoupled in Linux, so if you didn’t like the feel of Ubuntu (GNOME DE) you can go with Kubuntu (KDE Plasma DE). Both are on DistroSea.
I highly recommend KDE these days, on Ubuntu or other. It's just so damn usable and flexible.