this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2024
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I predict most of them are going to waste a ton of money and buy a Window 11 device. Or waste a shit-ton of money and buy a Apple device. Or just say "fuck it" and keep Windows 10 (that's what my mom will surely do. I stopped caring, as my dad still wants to use his even older Windows 8 shitbox and my mom 100% agrees to this).
I think that all the people that are on Windows 10 today will keep even if the support ends
Except it throws big, scary-looking, fullscreen warnings already...
Oh sorry I didn't know, but I don't think this could change something
Well, that's what I said. Old shitboxes and such. May be old, but would run like a charm with Linux. But is a shitbox because the installed OS (WIndows in this case) is completely obsolete.
I would argue that win 10 that’s been working on there for a long time will also run like a charm. Or enough of a charm that they won’t care to change it. And if it starts throwing errors, preventing the from doing things they want, or breaking down, they’ll just think it’s the machine and replace it. Most people don’t think of OS and Machine as separate, independent things.
Throwing errors? My dads Windows 8 machine does not throw any error. It's just as slow as the continental drift. For years already he just keeps blaming his internet connection for that, which is obviously wrong because my Linux laptop works absolutly fine and responsive inside the same network. He doesn't even think about it that his computer itself could be the problem. I suspect it is part of a botnet or some shit like that but he does not care what I say, so I don't care about his online vulnerability. Because of all this I know that inconveniences do not necessarily convince a person to do something that's needed to be done (use Linux or buy new device).
or think they're smart by using a script to bypass the win 11 hardware restrictions
People actually do this shit? Bruh. Why jump through hoops installing Windows 11 when installing Linux (the ones with graphical installer) is much easier and much less of a hassle? smh
people get their info on foss from normie-catered sources like linus tech tips that echo back normie sentiments for relatability
Combination of software availability and the perception that Linux is only for developers/servers and you have to be a computer genius to use it. Even if you can convince someone that just running Linux isn't rocket science, there's still commonly used software like the Adobe suite and MS Office that just don't have feature-parity level alternatives, even if those alternatives are almost there. I can do most of the stuff I used to do at work on LibreOffice compared to MS Office, but not everything. And while compatibility with the MS Office file types has really improved leaps and bounds over time, there's still some noticeable issues when opening those documents with one program after making changes with the other. People mention Photoshop a lot as a deal-breaker, but especially with GIMP 3.0 coming, GIMP will be a lot closer to Photoshop than most Linux PDF editors are to Acrobat. The only one I can find that has even close to Acrobat's features is Master PDF Editor, a piece of paid software (if you want all those features without an annoying watermark) that I don't think the free version of is in many repos. People say to use LibreOffice Draw, but that's drawing software meant for entirely different file types and is really not good for any PDF with any type of formatting in it because Draw isn't designed to handle it. I don't need those features on my own home PC, so I've been running Linux on my personal machines since 2009, but for those who do need those things, it might be a hard sell.
I mean, I get MS Office part but do normal people use Adobe stuff (aside from Acrobat)? As I see, normal people don't even know how to use Photoshop. The ones who can use Adobe products can use Linux as well without a hassle in my opinion. However, a change requires to relearn things. Probably that's the reason people don't seek a change, unless they feel a little adventurous.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Hopefully, Microsoft will break that cycle.
I think your Adobe comment isn't quite right. I have two family members who are professional photographers and use Photoshop; Photoshop is so important to their workflow they can't give it up just to use Linux. They thus stick with Windows (though one's work had them using Macs for a bit, so they see it as acceptable).
In contrast, although I sometimes used Photoshop in hobbies (a euphemism for memes), I never used any features so specific to Photoshop that I couldn't just replace it with a combination of Inkscape and GIMP.
I think the truth is as much as I hate Adobe, Photoshop is the best at what it does right now compared to competitors; GIMP 3.0 has a dismal UI and a weaker feature set, and the latter is largely true of a lot of the web-based editors as well.
I approached this as they are more techie than a regular user, so they can learn Linux faster if they want. Otherwise, it's their job and they are not a regular user. It's the same for MS Office too. If it's related to someone else's job, it's most likely irreplaceable. However MS Office is not a must for people who just want to write or do some spreadsheet.
Basically I exclude jobs from "everyday users".
Well, it's true that Photoshop has no real competitor, at least in the FOSS world. Otherwise we wouldn't have this conversation. :)
Many of the things you said are definitely right. But People who ACTUALLY need Windows for stuff like Photoshop or whatever would buy a new PC anyway. I think more of the casual "we always did it like that" kind of user. What do most of them need? Language localization, Firefox (or Chromium or for fucks sake even Edge), basic text editing and a basic PDF Viewer. For that kind of usage profile you definitely don't have to force Windows 11 on your 12 year old PC. Any Linux can do that job like Windows would do, but without using scripts to force it on your machine and most likely with better performance too.