lol they also (in 10 at least; I have no intention of touching 11) have like 20 years of incoherent and unconnected menus for different settings, and you just have to know where they are to get to them.

Yeah they're following the IBM playbook of being the operating system that businesses run.

I just wish they would take a hint and release a paid version that has none of the ads, none of the bloatware, and none of the bullshit.

I feel confident that I could pay them just as much money as they would ever earn from mining my data and annoying the ever-loving fuck out of me and I would be happier about that.

But since they won't do that fortunately there's things like Atlas OS.

I’ve been trying to switch back to Linux desktop for a couple of years. I’ve been very successful lately with “Pop! OS (nvidia)”, I think this one might finally stick.

I have a 3rd gen i7 that isn't "allowed" to run Windows 11.

Just make a Live USB, boot off it, and play around. If you like it you can install it permanently, if you don’t, just reboot without the USB.

What's the solution to malware and virus?

There are anti-malware packages for Linux. I generally haven't felt the need to use one on a desktop. You're the biggest security risk to your PC; don't go to shady websites, don't download anything suspicious, etc. Your email provider will run a virus scan on email attachments for you (if they don't, get a new email provider).

On basically all Linux systems, software is installed from central repositories, basically the app store model. Packages are cryptologically signed to verify their source, it's a lot safer than the Windows model of "just download and run a .exe from the vendor's website."

The old argument of "no one runs Linux so no one writes Linux viruses" doesn't completely hold up to scrutiny, but on the other hand a lot of attacks that would be meaningful to desktop users are indeed written with Windows in mind; malware you'd run on Linux tends to target server applications that you probably won't run.

All the options and sub-options for installing and managing things feels so daunting!

This will become less of a problem with time as you become accustomed to the Linux ecosystem and discover the native ways to do things. On a system like Linux Mint, there's a thing called the Software Manager which provides an App Store like interface for finding software from both the standard repository and from Flatpak/Flathub. You may find that there are options from both, what I tend to do is just try them both and keep the one that is more functional for me. Give it a try in a virtual machine or from a liveUSB to see what I mean.

Microsoft does things like have Windows fuck up the bootloader on purpose so they scare you into not trying to take ownership of the computer you bought so they can keep abusing you. If you're too scared to break your main computer that you rely on, maybe go to Goodwill or eBay and pick up a cheap old used computer to experiment with. Grab an old laptop or something. I learned a lot about Linux using Raspberry Pis, which I didn't rely on for anything so it might have been inconvenient if I broke anything but not mission critical, I could just re-flash the OS and be on my way, though these days it's probably easier to just pick up an old used machine and maybe stick a cheap SSD in it. That freedom of "this isn't a precious machine to me, if I kill the OS I can just reinstall it" makes you more willing to try learning things.

Hue hue hue

So they run locally? That surely means that no data is send to MS, right? Right?!

So MS is upping the required amount of RAM so now there is even less for my browser to hog. Here O was getting by with 32 gigs, guess it's time to go for broke and get 128.

Seriously? The old core i7 870 (not a typo) I have in my closet meets the requirements? Adding the watermark for CPUs older than that just seems mean-spirited.

"Come take care of big pappa penguin, baby bird"

For a moment when you look at the chest it seems like there's a six pack.

That Tux version does have a bit of a Lenny face. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Boomerang not gonna return this time ain't it?

Apple isn't much better. Microsoft screws you on the software, and Apple screws you on the hardware (and a little on the software too).

Apple products are pretty much unrepairable at this point, and Apple seems to be doubling down when they can. From cryptographic parts pairing to banning manufacturers from selling chips to moving core components to the SOC (e.g. SSD controller), it's usually cheaper to replace than repair, which is just bonkers when the part needed would only cost $20 but Apple will only fix it with a $1k+ board replacement.

And there's little software things where they try to lock you in to their ecosystem.

That said, I'm not sure which is worse here. Pick the tradeoffs that work best for you. I'm just glad that Linux works well enough for my use case that I don't need to choose between them.