Ask Lemmy

I use all everything.

Windows 10 still on my main desktop, although there is a Zorin nvme setup inside, just need to make the final change. Got a 3070 rtx a few years ago I barely get to use.

Windows server 2022 for my DNS/pinhole setup

Windows 10 LTSC for my seeding/downloading

Zorin on my main laptop

Zorin on my kids old renewed 12" MacBook air.

Windows 11 on my kids desktop (he's my guinea pig)

I just used opencore legacy patcher to put sanoma on a 2012 27" iMac that was meant to be recycled. Just ordered kit to take it apart and upgrade the hdd since it's slow as fuck.

I have bazzite on an old Lenovo gaming laptop

Windows 11 for work

Husband uses genuine MacBook pro from 2016 or so

Truenas scale for my home file server and Plex media. Old secondhand AMD ryzen 7 3700x and as much ram I could find from recycling old devices. 4x 20TB drives I bought refurb in 2024 when I rebuilt it all, had had this thing almost 20 years, just upgrading as needed

Truenas scale (second) for my backups with Veeam, secondhand AMD ryzen 5 4500 and 32G recycled RAM.

Proxmox server for testing fun things.

I love dabbling in everything and keeping old hardware alive. Nearly all my hardware is from clients that needed their devices wiped and recycled. I destroy their data and save what I can for fun/education. Things that are just too old or unreliable or unsupported for businesses are great.

I wipe and reload many I can't use, give them away. I think that's all my stuff.

I use Linux (though dual boot Windows for Fusion 360 and a lot of Windows at work), but if someone asks me about switching to Linux I don't ram it down their throat. It's good and all but it's really not for everyone, and despite what people on here would have you think it's certainly not as easy to use as Windows. You're much more likely to run into a difficult problem and not know how to fix it though it's changed a bit since you can just get Claude to take a look at things now. Windows can have annoyances but generally you can live with them.

Linux, I think, is for people who are quite technical and people who aren't technical at all (and just need a web browser). For the people inbetween Linux can be a struggle. It's improving incredibly quickly but the out-of-the-box experience is still pretty terrible (looking especially at KDE here).

I'm late to the thread but I'm a freak who has all three.

Grew up on Windows, went full Linux in my teens, got a M1 MacBook Air last year and use it daily.

My current computer lineup now is a M1 MacBook Air running macOS, and a 2015 MacBook Air 11" dualbooting Debian 13 (GNOME) and Windows 10

They both get used daily or near daily. I am stupidly productive on the M1 MBA, especially with a portable USB-C monitor. The 2015 MBA is this beat up old thing that is stupidly portable and therefore convenient. It's so cute.

I use all three. Hopping between them made me appreciate the effort that went into commercial systems a lot more, from UX to compatibility to forward thinking.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040513-00/?p=39353

I use a Mac. It’s like Linux (UNIX actually, OS X is based on NextStep which was based on UNIX) but with corporate backing. It’s as user friendly as Windows. And the AI has an off switch. Siri can be disabled.

I like it. I feel like Apple is the last real computer company left that makes their own software. I don’t know how “real” the company is, though. The iPhone is straight up jank. Always hallucinating text on the keyboard after you type it. Changing what you say to appease some unseen overlord. But I don’t want to use a phone made by an advertising company either. That’s dystopian AF, topped only by the legions who will defend it. But I’m not sure it’s entirely worse.

I use windows because I have no desire, time, or reason to put effort into switching to linux. Whenever I need a computer I am mostly asked to work with ms office anyway. If I will ever need to use computers more I might make the change, but so far I use my broken ass windows computer.

Personal and work laptops are Macs. I’m also playing around with a Linux Mini PC as a potential future homelab but I’m already thinking why not get a used Mac mini that will be less of a bother.

Planning to get a small gaming PC with a ready to use Linux on it though, like the Steam Machine. Windows can suck my ass.

Work: windows laptop. It's fine.

Home: dual-boot. More windows time than Linux generally (I'm almost afraid to "admit" that on this forum, ha)

I use macOS as my daily driver and Windows on my dedicated gaming PC. I have a server running Linux.

I've used Linux as my main desktop OS in the past and liked it (certainly more than Windows), but I just don't enjoy tinkering with my computer in my free time. I spend 8 hours a day messing with computers for work. I don't want to do it when I'm not working too.

I definitely see the value in having full control over every part of the OS, but it also means it takes more effort. Especially since I'm the kind of person who, given the option, will configure every little detail to my liking. With Linux that's basically a never ending project.

I use all 3. Mac and Linux on my personal computers. Strong believer in use the tool that works best for the situation.

Battery life was the saling point for the Mac, software is whatever, I try to avoid all locked in features and software. Prefer Linux due to flexibility. Windows has annoyed me with all the crashes, slow performance, and increasing need to dump shit on us. Only use it personally when a game doesn't work on Linux.

At work, its just windows. I use WSL when I need to do some coding outside of a browser. Most of the time its noticeably slower than it would be on Mac or Linux but not my computer, so its whatever.

people are surprisingly opinionated about it. Getting repeatedly burned by soulless multibillion dollar comanies tends to do that to a person.

I'm in the Apple ecosystem, hardware-wise, and pretty happy about it. Not much to discuss, if other people feel differently, that's fine.

Of course there are.

It also shouldn't be surprising that something like Lemmy, an open-source project originally aimed at tech geeks and still used by a LOT of tech geeks, is filled with Linux users. Linux is an open-source project used by a lot of tech geeks.

Yeah, we can just STFU about it.

Commodore Basic represent!

I think there's plenty of non-Linux people here, you just don't notice them because they have interesting things to talk about instead of their OS testing hobby.

I went from windows before the millenia to going mac in the aughts to back to windows but im linux now. mac was awesome when they bragged about being larger and more powerful with more ports and was big on the command line and had a server version and such. I honestly should have moved to linux years earlier but I sorta was worried about losing what you get day to day for work and my wife. My wife is still on windows. I have been trying to get her to change but she won't and im finally. that tears it you can come along when you want but im not going to be keeping up with windows stuff anymore unless its work related.

i love windows 3.1 and 95 does that count?

I have an 2025 M4 Pro 16” MacBook Pro, an iPhone, and an Apple Watch. But I also have a 2012 iMac that’s running Fedora

I like both Macs and Linux. I see them both as having their places. macOS is a form of UNIX/BSD after all, so they interoperate particularly well.

I have gone back and forth between linux and windows over the years. I suspect my laptop would have a better battery life under windows but i'm too lazy to switch again. Hmmm I don't think I count as the Windows user you're looking for actually, but I wanted to share my position

I am also the only person on Lemmt who thinks Windows 11 is good

Everytime when I see someone has windows problem you can be sure at least a opinated Lemmy user recommend them to uninstall windows and use Linux instead.

This is not always the best solution.

If the machine is from work or school you can't simply install anything you want.

Maybe the user has other programs/hardware that work only on windows and install Linux would cause more problems. I know you could use wine, virtual machines or other tricks but some stuff don't work there.

Sometimes the "just use linux"-advice is posted as a meme. A non tech savy person would not understand this meme and could feel they are not being taken serious.

I don't want making my computer function, to be a hobby.

I want to get off Windows but every time I have tried to switch to linux, stupid stuff makes it a pain in the ass. This last time, I tried Zorin. I put chrome on it (not my computer) and it just absolutely refused to run. I spent my whole day off just trying to get chrome to not brick the computer. No dice.This is just one instance of at least 4 or 5 times I have legitimately tried to switch, or tried to switch someone else to Linux.

Linux at home. Linux, macOS, and Windows at work.

Apple/macOS is my main 'home' for work, creation, and general use. At work, I also deal with Linux a decent amount running a few k8s clusters. At home, I use a Windows gaming machine but literally only use it for gaming.

Use and support windows systems at work. I'm at a small business that uses some ancient software that is only Windows compatible.

At home am fully switched over to Linux.

Mac at home, Mac/Linux at work. Though I suppose Linux has its foot in the door at home also via the Steam Deck. I haven't spent too much time on its desktop though. Mostly, I do stuff on a MB Air at home and a Mac mini at work.

I seldom use Windows anymore. I have an old gaming PC that ran it, but the Steam Deck is generally more powerful, so it's been resting idle for a while now. There are a few people at work who use Windows, and I occasionally have to do some IT stuff for them on those machines and I hate it!

What is your question? I do use Linux at home, and nothing else. But at work, I have to use Windows or macOS if I want a salary. macOS is better than Windows because it's a unix like lunix.

Mac for personal, Linux for work. Been that way for over 20 years. They tried to force us to switch to new windows machines (we’re a linux shop) and i said i’d quit first. They tried to sell the WSL crap… i showed them how my 8 yr old machine ran circles around their new windows laptop. I’m still running linux. Every ounce of my being hates windows. Mac just works. Linux (for me) just works. Linux can be a bit fiddly at times. But once it’s working, it just works.

Oh yeah I'm still using Win10 because tbh I'm too lazy to get into linux