this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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The shift to SaaS and Windows 11 updates means you no longer own your software. Here is how free software tools can help you reclaim control.

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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 106 points 3 months ago (22 children)

C'mon, microsoft. What are you DOING with your life???

I'm no linux apologist. I BARELY understand what I'm doing. If ANY task needs terminal, then that task just isn't going to happen for me.

All that said, it's time to switch to linux. And for anyone asking where they should start with all these distros....Mint. If you've never used linux before, start with Mint.

Now I'm a bit of a hypocrite for saying that, because I'm on Zorin. There's nothing wrong with Zorin. It is perfectly fine as a starter distro if you're coming from Windows. It's almost equal to Zorin in usability. Mint has one edge that cannot be overlooked for newbies.

Userbase.

EVERYONE uses Mint, which means there's going to be a broader range of support. There are times I wish I had started with Mint. But I chose Zorin when I was new, and now my heels are dug in.

That being said, YOU should use Mint.

Ugh......I can't believe this is where we are in this world. Where I have to reccomend linux, while still not knowing what the hell I'm doing.

Anyways.....use linux. Fuck microsoft. It's the only way to take back OUR hardware. They want to go full greed mode? I'm now using software which they don't make a dime on, and never can. As much as I hate the structure, I can't say anything negative involving bloat, or spyware, or anything else that I classify as "modern day bullshit".

sigh Just use linux.

[–] justsomeguy@lemmy.world 22 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I mean with every day passing there's less and less desktop users anyway. Most teenagers know significantly less about windows than you know about Linux. They're on iOS and android.

As an admin i see it as an opportunity to switch to Linux but the boomers are refusing to let go of microslop office so it's a bit of a fight still.

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[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I've been recommending Endeavour because its "Arch with a nice installer" and it seems to go down well with modestly technical people.

Especially since they can then pick their DE.

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 49 points 3 months ago (14 children)

Please do not recommend Arch-based distros to newcomers. At some point, something minor or major is going to break, and they're not going to be able to fix it. Give them something Debian-based to learn the ropes (or not). It's not going to break down on them as easily.

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 8 points 3 months ago (7 children)

I dunno man, less shits broken here than on Ubuntu.

[–] faintwhenfree@lemmus.org 12 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Debían based except Ubuntu, Even Ubuntu flavours like kubuntu are fine just not Ubuntu.

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[–] darkstar@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Arch? For people new to Linux? Dude seriously ....

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Do more people use Mint than Ubuntu these days? I've been on Arch for a decade now so I don't know the popularity of distros as well as I used to.

[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

I don't know but it seems that Mint is pretty popular: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity

Anyway, Mint is the closest to Windows 3.1/98/2000 by its simplicity. It shows windows, you can move your files and run applications, it's all I need.

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[–] TotallyWorthLife@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

And while at that, I recomend regular Mint (which is based on Ubuntu).

There is Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), but I have found it harder to use (while I can manage, I'm not that experienced with Linux to bother to troubleshoot and solve it [at least at the time], but I think it was dependency, incompatibility, or driver issues).

Plus, the main Mint version is still the Ubuntu based one, LMDE is kinda a side project and usually isn't as up-to-date, as far as I know.

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[–] osanna@lemmy.vg 4 points 3 months ago

Eh, I’m a sufficiently advanced Linux user (been using it on and off since the mid to late 90s) and I use zorin. It just works and it also looks pretty good too

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[–] VirtuePacket@lemmy.zip 93 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (30 children)

I think I'm basically done after my current rig dies. I have no interest in being a peasant in some techno feudalist dystopia. Instead, I've been dedicating more time to reading books, writing, traveling, some retro gaming, and working around the house.

It's enough for me.

These days, as a tech worker, I immediately log out at the end of my workday and shut everything down. I have no further interest. It's not fun anymore. Frankly, I don't think I can last until retirement in this space even if my job isn't automated. I could retire today if I wanted to. But most people aren't in that situation and I have no idea what I would do if I didn't have the financial autonomy that I enjoy. And I got here--in part--by building parts of the platforms that harm us (social media). So that feels great.

We live in a dystopia. Everything fucking sucks.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 12 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Same boat here, minus the "still in tech" that I left over 10 yrs ago. Picked up my last pc end of last year and packed up my previous rig for future use. With the old tech around my apt: Laptops, old pc's, and raspberry pi's, I should be able to last til I die. I will never use cloud gaming, only use for that I see is linux users that want to play certain "competitive" games, next phone will most likely be dumb as well. I started my journey on a Commodore Vic 20, never thought this would manifest

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[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You may be playing into their hands...

Your rig is how you communicate with the world - via unbreakable encryption if you choose to. It's your source of information from sources of your choice more than theirs. It's a route to be heard by your friends beyond your local neighborhood.

Yeah, big platform social media is a cess pit. Your rig is your portal to be a force against that tide. No, one pebble on the beach won't stop it, but a billion pebbles?

[–] VirtuePacket@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I hear what you're saying. But as of right now, I have no interest in any of it. The minute I start my workday, I'm already looking forward to turning everything off so I can go do something else. This whole digital information economy is repulsive to me.

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[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 months ago

After decades of digital life, I guess it's back to the real world. They aren't going to like what that shift of focus, time and energy results in.

[–] Alk@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 months ago

I still find joy in it. I work in tech support but I also am setting up my first homelab with ubiquiti gear and I'm having a lot of fun. Some parts are cobbled together from bits I can get free or cheap and those are the most fun. I don't have a lot of money and that keeps it interesting.

I will carry the torch and have enough fun for the lot of us. I hope you have just as much fun doing what you're doing.

[–] Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

yup.. once my current rigs fail, I'm not replacing them. I'm just abandoning it and they can do whatever.

I've checked out. I have zero subscriptions, own all my software, could afford to replace if I need to but... why... it's a literal cesspool of corporate trash and I want nothing to do with it.

same with the cellphone.. when it dies, I honestly don't think I care to even replace it. might get hosted VoIP somewhere and have a landline in the house.. beyond that, whatever .. not my issue and if places like the Bank etc try to force it well.. tough. I'll go into the branch like it's 1995 and update my paper passbook and withdraw cash for the week

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 3 months ago

I have felt the same for awhile honestly sans the could reitre today. I may have been spoiled though because I used to workin a research lab and then corpo jobs were fine but man the meetings and sudden change in technology for no other reason than its the current fad. I think though its just hard to do something full time for decades and still find it fun at home. One of the things though is as an IT guy I stopped configuring my systems because it was kinda tiresome and so often I had to know how the default was because that is what I would have to help people with. So I limited it to things I just could not live without but did not get to minutia about it. Then I got sorta sick up spinning things up and started going with what was easiest. mac's when their warranty would just cover anything and then back to windows and even with linux I use easy to setup stuff. I just want it to work and not spend a whole lot on making it work anymore.

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[–] rafoix@lemmy.zip 58 points 3 months ago (4 children)

The death of the PC market will greatly affect the next 50 years of computing worldwide. Corporations have successfully been pushing for a computer market where we rent computing power online and never own anything.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 months ago (13 children)

I don’t think the personal market will completely die out, but it will definitely shrink by a significant percentage over the next ten years or so.

We’ll see a considerable volume of gamers move to thin clients, ditto for businesses, casual use (email, browsing, consuming media etc.) will continue to switch to mobile devices.

PCs will still exist as a hobby for enthusiasts, but we’ve definitely seen peak-component sales.

[–] RandAlThor@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 months ago

You're making me sad.

[–] rafoix@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The PC market has shrunk 80-90% in one year.

Even before that the GPU market was overvalued thanks to unusually high demand from COVID and unusually high demand from crypto mining the decade before.

Even consoles are reaching the $1000 mark soon.

This thread is calling out a legitimate problem, but things aren't that bad.

Last year the market grew by 9%. This year it is projected to shrink by 11%. That's huge, but not 80-90%.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The PC market has shrunk 80-90% in one year.

The cost of GPU's and memory increased 5-10x in 1 year. What did you expect?

[–] kalpol@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 months ago

Also the old stuff still works great if you aren't running AI. Hell I have a FX-8350 and a 1060 which is just fine for most things....and I think that CPU is from 2015.

[–] rafoix@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Not just GPUs. This time is RAM and storage are also massively inflated because they’re allocated for a product that nobody really wants and nobody wants to pay for.

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[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 months ago (6 children)

One could argue that the personal computer has been dead since the introduction of the Intel Management Engine which is an internet-connected chip inside every computer with full access to all hardware that you cannot observe, modify, block, or disable.

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[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 29 points 3 months ago (2 children)

You, maybe.

Subscribe to a privacy community and let the good times roll blocking all tracking of you online.

Degoogle your life. Leave meta platforms wherever possible.

Starve them of the data they want.

[–] Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Just get rid of as much American software as you can. The US is a mess and the cloud act will always be abused.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This is the way. I'm actually going to do my next YT video on options for repatriating your tech consumption and data, because other regions of the world have such better digital regulation.

For now though, I'm 99% on Linux and that helps a ton.

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I guess the remaining 1% is YouTube?

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yes, that and the very few things I need a dual-boot to do.

Unfortunately there really isn't a viable Fediverse alternative to YouTube. (Though I did include Peertube in my recent Fediverse video anyway.)

[–] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

My phone shit the bed and I decided to just install graphene on the new one. One of the biggest hurdles in degoogling. Now I'm slowly migrating my accounts away from Google. I can't do it all at once because that's just too big of an endeavor.

My mom has even started to degoogle a bit and is switching to proton for email and cloud storage. She's learning a lot about privacy and cyber security from me butching about corpos and dumb end users at work. She had her Microsoft account hacked today and she called me from the store as soon as she got an unknown MFA prompt and I helped her secure her shit immediately. So proud of her. She went home after that and immediately started resetting passwords to literally all of her accounts for different things and even appropriately prioritized them. I've trained her well lol

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