I keep seeing these " time to move to Linux" threads. For my work I have to use super proprietary software which I know for a fact is Windows only. Not only that it’s GPU intensive CPU intensive and niche. I’m sure there’s a way to run Windows within Linux but I can only imagine the pain in trying to get proprietary shite to work.
On top of that I need specific CAD software, Photoshop and Illustrator. I don’t think any of these daily used programs support Linux.
From the outside, Linux just seems like an absolute ball ache to get working with all of the things I currently do without even thinking about it.
I’d love to do it. Not sure it’s going to work. Am I wrong?
No, you are right. In your situation, Linux is just not an option - yet.
I think these posts are meant for the 95% of people that use a browser, and maaaaybe a mail client on their PC.
Photoshop/Illustrator will only ever get ported if enough people have already made the move that Adobe can’t afford to ignore Linux any longer.
That being said, if those requirements are just for work, what’s keeping you on Windows on your private devices?
Last month, for the first time, Windows 11 was a more popular OS than Windows 10 in the Steam Hardware Survey. Of course, this is an imprecise science as people have to opt in to having their machines measured but it’s a sign of wider adoption. Windows 8, on the other hand, never made it big enough to do the same in its lifespan. Windows 7 was a very popular OS and adoption even to Windows 10 was fairly slow initially, partially down to that skepticism.
You can’t cite the jump from 7 to 8 or 7 to 10 without also remarking on the fact users had far more.control over updates back then.
Yeah, Windows 11 adoption is up, because most people don’t have a choice, or they didn’t care enough to stop it happening automatically, and don’t know how to roll it back. That doesn’t translate to approval.
At a certain point, adoption rates just don’t matter anymore because increasingly the user doesn’t have a choice anymore.
Of course, this is an imprecise science as people have to opt in to having their machines measured but it’s a sign of wider adoption
They already account for that.
They don’t, that quote is talking about the steam survey, which allows steam to read what OS the user is using. The point OP is making is that the only reason W11 is more popular than W10 is because Microsoft is forcing the update
Right, and Valve accounts for people choosing to not take the survey. That’s just how polls are typically conducted.
You know valve isn’t Microsoft right? Those are two different companies with different agendas?
Steam asking for consent for a survey doesn’t make up for the lack of consent in updates pushed by an entirely different entity
Right, and I’m not talking about Microsoft here. That’s why I only quoted the part about Valve’s stats and pointed out that it’s not necessarily an issue that users can opt-out of that statistics collection.
Serious question : My desktop is incompatible with Win11, I run Win10, and I use it for web browsing, Excel, and a little Word processing. Nothing else. Can’t i just continue on as is? Not a gamer, not a heavy user…
you’ll most likely be fine, there still exists people who use Windows 7 for that workflow. You have to be more aware of vulnerabilities that could be found on your operating system though; and over time more and more software might drop support for your OS (realistically, this will be more noticable when Windows 12-13 gets released) so you might not be able to use latest Office version’s features.
Thank you. I’m retired, and unlikely to upgrade Office. Ver 2016 still does exactly what I need to do.
I’ll keep my router secured, my firewall updated as long as it will, and anti virus /malware up to date.
Look into Rufus, it will help you create a bootable USB with windows 11 and you can use it to do a upgrade or clean install from your windows 10 installation (clean install preferred IMO), it will even help bypass the hardware requirements and you can even remove the email account and use a local account. Make sure to use or write down your windows 10 activation/license for a clean install.
That being said you could potentially still run the old wondows OS, but as time goes on new exploits could be found that can compromise the OS. If its behind a firewall such as your router its safer, but there is still the possibility of it being infected way off into the future.
Here is a video of windows XP running on a PC connected directly to the internet with no firewall. Its infected almost instantaneously. (Dont try this at home).
The problem with that is that vulnerability will be found and used. Since it’s connected to the internet it will be exposed to attackers and could be infected with botnet viruses/tools and used to attack other computer/services.
Dual-boot Linux Mint, and install Microsoft fonts from the package manager to make documents more cross compatible. Should be a fairly easy migration for your use case. It took me about a year of dual booting to completely switch over to Mint, but it was worthwhile.
Use Mint and it will be less frustrating.
How well does Excel run under Linux?
If you’re using excel anyway, you’re probably not super worried about using non open source software. In which case, I find Google sheets to perfect. I use it for almost everything, because it’s just easier to use Google’s office suite for my school than it would be to use libre office, since everything backs up immediately across devices. I’ve never had any complaints about compatibility or format, and I’m literally being graded on my shit. I’d be preferable to use only open source software, from like a philosophical standpoint, but I also need things to function well in a world that expects automatic saving across devices and flawless compatibility to the arbitrary standard of Microsoft office
I switched to LibreOffice Calc. I program my sheets and don’t need all the bells and whistles of Excel.
There’s Windows 10 LTSC, which gets security updates til 2027. And IoT Enterprise LTSC, which gets security updates until 2032.
“But should you even use those versions?!? They are not meant to be installed on a desktop PC/laptop” - idk, it’s either this or Win11.
For more info on how to install, check https://massgrave.dev/windows_ltsc_links
For what its worth: I’ve been running enterprise since 2015 (when it was called LTSB) then switched to LTSC IoT around 2021. Its fantastic and doesn’t have all the Candy Crush and other bullshit. I highly recommend.
That plus open shell is what windows 10 should have been.
Pirate a copy of windows 11 N. It’s the eu version that doesn’t have any of this dogshit in it.
Is there a “government” version or similar, where security is paramount? Like, how does MS sell windows 11 to the navy or whatever…?
Probably, but the activation of it would be stringent.
The issue with any Windows OS going forward, no matter what version, is that Microsoft detests local desktop computing now, and so much of it is being ejected to the cloud. That includes all the various methods of managing it for enterprise customers. They’re slowly working towards the Apple model where the OS basically can’t live in isolation. If it touches the internet, it will phone home and kill itself if told to.
For locked-down devices, they’ll be running LTSC or LTSB editions (Long-Term Support Channel/Branch), or Windows Embedded, which are simplified and heavily customisable versions of Windows. For general-purpose devices, they’ll be using Pro or Enterprise versions of Windows which, crucially, support Group Policy. Using GP it is very, very easy for a single admin to configure an arbitrarily large number of Windows machines to work exactly how they want them to work, including configuration options that aren’t otherwise exposed to the end user in any way.
Edit: just to add: the lack of an equivalent of Group Policy is what is preventing Linux becoming widespread in businesses. If you think you know of a service for Linux that works like Group Policy, then you don’t know Group Policy.
I got out just before 11 released and had only been on 10 for a year or so. Military moves very slowly at rolling out the latest windows. I’d be extremely surprised if anyone who isn’t a very high rank running 11.
When did PC Gamer start hijacking the back button to show more ads? Infuriating.
I just open things in new tabs with the mouse wheel click, then press ctrl-w to close the tab.
I don’t play their games
You can also mouse wheel click to close the tab.
I only use the computer for word processing, internet, and playing roguelikes.
Fine. I guess I’ll learn Linux 😒
For those use cases, there’s very little actual learning to be done.
As someone who understands windows fairly well, but until recently couldn’t use the command line to save my life, I started dual booting Ubuntu and it’s pretty easy to figure out once you understand what you’re looking for. Only things I’m still trying to get running are alternatives for the stream deck software, iCUE, and voicemeeter, but I havem’t really invested much time into them yet.
I don’t like change! 😣
Sometimes people get caught up trying to find exact matches for software, when instead it’s a combination of tools that gets the job done on another OS. The annoying thing is learning new toolsets – but it’s only annoying until you know them.
Yeah I don’t expect to get all the functionality in one piece of software, so I’ll have to cobble it together. Of course, icue depends on the .net framework so it’s not getting ported, and the other 2 just don’t have an official native linux app. Jack mixer is my current target for voicemeeter, but I have to start researching the others at some point.
ICUE has a full replacement, I think it’s called CKB next, I can double check that once I’m home if I remember
I use it to manage my Corsair 12-button mouse and it actually has MORE features and is MORE usable than ICUE ever was
Pipewire has some mixing functionality through tools like pwvucontrol, and graph connections through Helvum.
Weirdly enough, .Net works relatively well on Linux (at least the core components). Parts of the framework are even various degrees of open sourced.
I am quite disappointed. Given the title, I was like, wow, a generalist PC gaming website recommending people to switch to Linux! Read the article, Linux is not mentioned at all, I don’t even know why it is in the title. Getting a few clicks from hippies?
I don’t think it’s making a serious suggestion. It’s using “learn Linux” as an ironic punchline, like “just move to Canada”. It’s a kind of backhand.
This guy has seemingly never written about Linux before. No other articles mention it that I can find, except one where he talks about Linux overtaking Apple in gaming, where he talks mostly about Apple.
Totally uncool man.
Like radically insidious man.
Not cowabunga at all.
Totally unbodacious
Totally not Not-Heinous
These all sound like 80s comments, not hippies.
I’m a government contractor, so I’m stuck on Windows and Microsoft products for work. It really sucks, but the government ain’t switching to Linux anytime soon… if ever. At least Windows 11 Enterprise (or Government, whatever) should have a lot of this shit stripped out. I hope.
Usually at that scale you create images with all this crap removed. When deployment time comes, the machines are reimaged from local/state IT.
I feel bad for the average home user that, at this point views more ads than content, and all this telemetry collection to boot.
Thanks for this unqualified headline.
the problem is so many office workplaces use windows and google, so unless you want to bring your own computer and buy a wifi hotspot to take to work, you’re stuck on windows and google
My work all takes place in a Linux environment. Unfortunately, my workplace still mandates using Windows.
I don’t require any Windows software for work. My boss just insists that I must use a Windows laptop, then do all of my work either in WSL or a traditional VM setup.
It’s baffling.
And Google? I’m sure some companies use Google Apps for Business or whatevere they are calling it now, but the vast majority use Microsoft 365. Which does basically tie you to Windows, annoyingly. Especially if they are following industry and Microsoft best practices with MDM and Conditional Access.
lol we use google suite for email, calendars etc. but MS for SSO. our sister institutions mostly use MS 365, teams etc, so we also have to have all the MS crap in addition to the google crap
No gaming support, steam deck it is…
There’s proton … Which steam deck uses as well for compatibility.
Steam Deck runs on Arch Linux (btw)
And since Proton is built-in to Steam for Linux, there’s honestly no extra effort to get games to run. In 99% of cases, you click “play” and Steam downloads whatever compatibility layer it needs to run the game on Linux (same thing that Steam Deck uses).
Some games don’t work (almost anything with anticheat), but anything that works on Steam Deck works on Linux, because they’re the same thing from a software perspective.
Should we tell them? ;)
Until games fully support Linux or the other way around, I won’t be using Linux.
Also can’t really say that I care about Copilot that much. I don’t use it and it doesn’t bother me.
Edit: lol the people triggered by this will never not be entertaining.
It’s always the same “Games work fine on Linux… But…”. And it’s that “but” that’s usually a massive problem or nuisance to work with.
No thanks. I’ll stick to Windows for gaming just fine.
Most games work on linux with proton nowdays. Only thing that doesnt really work is games with anticheat.
Yeah I switched to Linux about a month ago now and so far every game I’ve tried has worked flawlessly.
A whole month? You must’ve tried at least a dozen games
Pack em up boys, all games work in Linux
I’ve been Linux-only for something like 15 years, which is before Steam ever came to Linux. Over the past 5-ish years, my game selection has gone from “most games will work if I tinker” to “most games just work w/ no effort needed.”
I’ve completed well over a hundred games on Linux, many of those AAA, “Windows-only” games, and I’ve played over a hundred more. The last time I had to do any kind of tinkering was for a janky old game, but most newer titles just work.
If you don’t need games w/ anticheat, Steam on Linux works incredibly well.
While it’s true I haven’t personally tried more than about a dozen of my games I will point out that 1) that covers a wide swath of genres, publishers, and game engines, and 2) I ran my entire library of several thousand games through protondb before hand to have some idea of what I was in for and out of all those thousands less than 10 reported as not functioning. Of the ones that wouldn’t work most actually can run, but the publishers are banning people who play under Linux. The most notable from that list would be Destiny 2 and GTA 5. So yes greater than 90% of all games run fine in Linux these days either straight out of the box or with simple configuration tweaks.
I would say most anticheat works (although some games specifically choose to not allow Linux). It’s just kernel level anticheat that flat out doesn’t work (which is malware anyway)
although some games specifically choose to not allow Linux
Yup, that’s the kicker. Most games w/ anticheat could work on Linux, but devs refuse to do the minimal work to enable the Linux-compatibility (in many cases, it’s a checkbox and re-export the game). So the main thing that needs to happen is more Linux adoption. The more people that use Linux, the more pressure there will be on devs to check that box.
There’s even some options, like Heroic and Junk Store, that allow you to install some anti-cheat.
Years ago I switched to Linux on my PC and everything was fine. But there was a game I wanted to play that didn’t work on Linux, so I created a small Windows partition to dual boot. Later, that game became two, then three, and so on. I had to reformat some partitions to ntfs (iirc I was using reiserfs) to expand available storage for Windows to add more games. Then at one point I realized it’s been a while since I’ve booted into Linux and I don’t even know if it still works.
So yeah, use whatever fits your needs. I’ll always pick Linux PC or Mac for work, but I’ll stick with Windows for gaming.
For context, I’ve been on computers since the 8bit era and I’ve been programming for just as long. I prefer the power of a terminal over GUIs, my “IDE” of choice is vim. I use Git Bash in Windows for access to Linux-style commands. So yeah, I am technical and I prefer Linux for practical reasons. But when I want to play a game I want to just start it and play it, not work for days to maaaybe get it to mostly run fine except for some features.
Edit: one of the games I had to use Windows for was League. A competitive online game with anti-cheat features.
Edit2: note that this was many years ago and some other games I needed Windows for will now probably work on Linux effortlessly. At least one has native support for Linux now.
I was using reiserfs
Wow, I haven’t heard that name in a while.
League
This used to work fine on Linux, but maybe that’s changed.
I play almost no competitive games, so it’s extremely rare for me to find something that doesn’t work on Linux. So YMMV, list the top games you play and check compatibility w/ Linux, hopefully you’ll be surprised at how far Linux has come. If not, it’s up to you to decide whether it’s worth using Windows 11 to play those games.
I’ve been using Linux exclusively for something like 15 years, and the selection of games went from “a handful of Linux titles + a handful more through WINE” to “most games just work through Steam when I push play.” That said, it’s not 100%, but I’m stubborn enough that I’d prefer to avoid a game rather than boot into Windows, and my Windows partition hasn’t been booted into for years (and the last time was to test some Windows-specific app for a friend).
That’s been pretty much a similar experience I used to have. Especially online games often suffer from poor Linux support because anti-cheat systems aren’t working, or not up-to-date, or something else entirely. It just felt like there was always something. I just want to boot up my PC and get going. Not boot it up and having to spend half the evening trying to figure out why a random driver/game/anti-cheat update destroyed everything that was working fine.
I’d be fine trying it again, but I know that a few games I play are still struggling with Linux issues, judging by the regular posts popping up on the related social media platforms.
I was similar, used Linux for work/programming but Windows for gaming. I refuse to update to Win 11 though, and with 10 going EOL I was faced with a problem. I’ve been using Steam Deck for about a year now with no problems so I figured I’d try going 100% Linux again. Ran my Library through protondb and nearly every single game was supported. I made the cutover about a month ago (just in time as well as literally a week before I made the switch copilot got stealth installed on my system).
So far I haven’t run into a single game that has failed or that I’ve even needed to change the options to get running. Now I don’t play LoL so I can’t speak to that specific game, and I have kept my Win 10 install if I do run into something that I can’t get running that I absolutely can’t live without, but so far I haven’t needed to boot into Windows since I made the switch. I think you might be surprised how few games won’t function in Linux these days.
well it’s gonna use you soon.
Okay, well, I hope it takes me out for dinner first.
🎵🎶…Sweet dreams are made of this… 🎶🎵
I recently switched (again… again again) I am on Linux (Nobara) for good now. All the games I play either work natively, through proton, or Lutris. The worst I have to do is use a different proton version or add in a launch option.
The worst I have to do is use a different proton version or add in a launch option.
And therein lies the problem that keeps most people from switching to Linux. It’s a super simple thing to do, but Linux users fall into the same fallacy that experts in any field do: just how little the average person knows about the subject. The fact that something doesn’t just work when you try to open it would leave many people stumped. Especially with tech literacy rates declining thanks to kids growing up using mostly cell phones as their daily driver rather than an actual computer and the plug and play nature of Windows and Macs. Asking your average gamer to add command line arguments to a launcher would probably be like telling them they just have to hot wire their car if it doesn’t start when you turn the key.
To be fair, the number of times I’ve had to tinker has drastically reduced since the Steam Deck came out. I used to check protondb.com before installing a game, and now I don’t bother. Games tend to “just work,” and it’s getting better all the time.
I’ve been Linux-only since before Steam came to Linux, so I’ve seen the entire evolution from “try your luck w/ WINE” to “click play and it just works.”
Now is a great time to jump into Linux gaming, and if you stick to the Steam Deck Verified titles, you’ll probably never need to tinker. If you venture out to “Steam Deck Playable,” you’ll probably never need to tinker. Honestly, even a lot of the unsupported titles work just fine w/ no tinkering.
What games are you playing though?
So I’m still using Windows on my desktop, but from my experience with Proton on Steam Deck, Proton works pretty flawlessly essentially translating the windows exe. I’m assuming it’s the same for a Linux desktop setup but I’ll let others who actually have experience here comment further. The only thing that you may have issues with are competitive online games, but those aren’t really my jam but understandable if they are for you.
That’s the thing. I play a lot of online games, not specifically competitive games, but they frequently do use stuff like EAC. And the amount of times I’ve seen EAC issues paired with Linux posts pop up on various social platforms is ridiculous. It seems like a recurring thing that requires constant maintenance. Not to mention I use Windows for more than just games. Stuff like Adobe doesn’t even work on Linux and probably won’t be anytime soon either (and no I am not going to use alternative programs).
The effort and time it takes to get stuff working on Linux usually isn’t worth it, and then there’s hoping that everything stays working whenever something gets updated.
It’s quite ridiculous how a lot of people on this platform take it as a personal insult though. The article title is complete clickbait anyway.
Yeah, if you’re largely playing online games w/ anti-cheat, you’re going to have a rough time on Linux. But if you’re largely playing single-player games w/o anti-cheat, you’ll probably never need to tinker.
YMMV absolutely applies here. I personally play almost no online games (I just don’t have the time), so pretty much everything I play just works OOTB. I’ve finished well over a hundred games on Linux, and very few needed any form of tinkering, and I haven’t needed to adjust a launch parameter for the last couple years (last time I did was for a really old game, newer games generally just work).
No one is taking anything here as a personal insult outside of your own mind. More likely than not they simply think your effort doesn’t count for much as gaming on Linux is stellar out of the box.
I agree with you on that last bit. Pretty fucking annoying to see people act like Linux is perfectly fine for games which give new people some hope only to be frustrated and quit when they realize it’s not as fine as people make it out to be
They don’t realize that its hurting the chances of people actually adopting linux when they say misleading shit
For now linux is worth dual booting. Use linux for everything else and windows for gaming
All you have to do is check this website to check support quality for your games https://www.protondb.com/, and then decide if you want to quit. I think you don’t realize how low effort it is now, not more effort that escaping from Microsoft’s waves of enshitification.
Check your favorite games on this website that tells how well it runs on Steams on Linux, you may have surprises. https://www.protondb.com/
Honestly, you probably don’t even need to check them. If they’re Steam Deck Verified, they’ll probably just work. If they’re Steam Deck Playable, they’ll probably just work (most common issues are controls or small text, neither is an issue on desktop/laptop).
You honestly only need to check protondb if you have an issue, or maybe if you’re buying a game that’s “Unsupported” or something. 9/10 times, just clicking Play will work fine if it’s a single player game.
