Technology

I mean… if they’re still on Windows 7, they’ll likely keep using Firefox anyway?

Most distro’s have a live bootable install. You download a .iso and burn it to a flash drive. Plug it in and boot from it, doesn’t touch or change anything with your current Windows install.

This lets you try out the OS before fully installing it. Give it a whirl.

I personally recommend Fedora KDE. https://fedoraproject.org/kde/

You could do what I did: Install a second drive in your computer and install Linux (e.g. Linux Mint) on it. That way you can always go back to Windows should you come to the conclusion that Linux isn't for you . But I have to say, being a recent switcher from Windows to Linux myself, the transition was really easier than I initially thought.

Before Windows 11, I told people to switch to Linux because open source software is better for the soul. Now, I tell people because the user experience is just better. I used XP/Vista/7 throughout my childhood, and modern Linux desktop environments really do feel closer to that experience than Windows 11. I use Win11 for work, and I can confidently say that it has the worst settings menu I've ever used.

If you know the basics of using a desktop computer, most things won't feel that weird or foreign to you. The hardest part will probably be learning Linux-compatible alternatives for apps that only work on Windows. What kind of programs do you typically use on your Windows system?

I’ve used Windows since i was a kid

substitute "Windows" with "computer". If you have any history of resolving "this doesn't work for me" on your own (as opposed to waiting for someone else do to it for you), you will be fine. Just be sure not to jump into unknown when you have urgent important things to do :)

You've got a very relatable situation. Switching to Linux can be a gradual thing. -Keep your windows main, and get a flash drive boot

• make a folder on you C:/ or D:/ to store your Linux user files (like downloads and documents). This keeps your windows files more separate from your Linux files. It also let's you keep files across boots. You can delete the Linux folder if you don't want to keep it around.
• Open up Firefox, and have a browse of your favourite sites. See about logging in and getting your account logged in.
• what's it like? Is it different to windows? Is the vibe different?
• try installing your favourite app or game.
• get curious!
• too much? Your windows is still right there.

Baby steps! And remember, you don't need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step :)

I did what Lawnman23 mentioned above, downloaded the latest Mint release and flashed it on an usb stick. booted into Linux Mint, and all my hardware did function right away from the start. Including my old printer, all my usb devices, bluetooth devices and no problems with my Nvidia graphics card. After that i installed linux mint next to my windows as a dual boot. I installed it on different SSD drive tho. Linux Mint is now the OS i always use, i got all my programs and games working on Linux, and now am deleting Windows from my pc.

Win10 isn't all bad, in fact many folks treat that as a decent os. The real issues is having win11 taking hours (from 8pm to 3 am real funny) to upgrade just to find out that copilot has the whole filesystem now. No privacy or sandbox mode. No nothing. A thousands different copilot buttons.

I keep my win10 machine as is because i have a lot of my stuff there, a lot really. But in the end, I have no issue in having a mini laptop with linux. It's the most low end device i can think of and i freed some space. But, if you're used to windows that much, 10 is still valid.

I don't think the women dancing on lingerie phenomenon is ongoing. They make more money selling your data on free videos than they'd make after the money they'd spend programming it

There is stuff Office 360 or whatever is called to that online Microsoft Office can do just fine from Firefox or Chrome based browsers. But if things get overcomplicated, it's as good or even worse than Libreoffice at handling xlsx, docx documents.

Even current Office struggles with early Office documents.

Microsoft dominance in businesses is part of what's making me think all businesses are in cahoots with each other to make sure the only businesses that are successful are ones that take power away from the public.

Try onlyoffice and slowly try to shift to libreoffice with open document formats. Or just skip that part and move everyone to the web versions of office. Also if you guys are on office 2010, the last time I ran it via wine, it worked completely fine.

Did you try OnlyOffice? I heard it has good compatibility with Microsoft Office's files, it's available on almost every OS, and looks easy to use. However, I'm not sure if you can create very complex documents like with Office.

Its Kind of insane to think about that you have to put so much effort into deshittifying windows 11. At that point its probably easier to switch to Linux (if you dont have anything that forces you to use win 11)

Hell yeah brother

If you play on a machine that is not connected to internet, then by all means there is no reason to switch. But of you are connected to the internet, then those system pose security risks and you would be better off having an up to date system. If Win 10 wasn't EOL then maybe the advice to upgrade to Win10 would be solid.

At this point, if you have hardware, Linux is a good choice. New or old. The older it is might change which distro, but still a good choice.