Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#301

Post by jraph » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:38 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #33

As a long-time Linux user who fairly recently dropped the Windows partition entirely, I do think the remaining chafing points are these: * UI framework balkanization has always been, and remains a hideous mess. And now you don't just have different versions of GTK vs QT to keep track off, but also X vs Wayland, and their various compatibility layers. * Support for non-standard DPI monitors sucks, mostly because of th…

> Wayland has fractional scaling as a sort-of workaround if you can tolerate the entire screen being blurry

Not blurry for me on KDE and I wouldn't tolerate blurry, I'd prefer the imperfect solution of using bigger fonts.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#302

Post by bobsterlobster » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

ajross wrote: post #232

> I installed CachyOS, a performance-focused Arch-based distribution Ooph. It's frustrating to see the community starting (again) to get purchase in public mind share at exactly the moment when it's least prepared to accept new users. The Linux desktop right now is a wreck. EVERYONE has their own distro, EVERYONE has their own opinions and customizations, and so everyone is being pulled in like 72 different direction…

I totally get that. But I read about it, and that custom kernel with the BORE scheduler really caught my eye, especially for music & gaming.

I know a lot of people suffer from shiny object syndrome, and to some extent I do too (realistically something like Ubuntu or Fedora would have served me well), but it is what it is.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#303

Post by 72deluxe » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #23

Windows 11 was bad before AI. Press the Start menu? Wait. That much latency was never acceptable and Windows should die like desktop Java did.

I don't understand how it got so bad. On Windows 95 or 98, you knew that pressing Windows > P > across right > N would open Notepad in about 22 milliseconds of interaction. Things just worked and responded.

Today it's utter garbage.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#304

Post by kaydub » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

reconnecting wrote: post #5

Apple forced me to switch to Linux! Linux should consider paying Microsoft and Apple for new customers. Perhaps the customer acquisition funnel is quite long, at least it took 20 years of using Apple in my case before switching to Debian ( Xfce ), but it was worth it!

If there was an easy and supported way to put linux on a macbook I'd be back on linux but I can't give up the hardware.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#305

Post by simgoh » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #68

This was me in 2022 or 2023. I have posted on HN about my shift a few times. I gave up with Windows 10 because you needed Windows Pro in order to make an "offline" account, I spent $2000+ for a gaming rig, and I couldn't add new users, one program told me to use the other program which brought me back to the original program... I had to go out of my way, buy a license just to make it work. I just went and installed L…

Not that this is going to matter to you because you've left Windows behind, but I refuse to buy License Keys any more and I try to steer people away from buying "Gray Keys" to avoid the ridiculous costs. Using the MS Activation Scripts[0] is the much better go-to.

[0] - https://massgrave.dev/

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#306

Post by tyjen » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #68

This was me in 2022 or 2023. I have posted on HN about my shift a few times. I gave up with Windows 10 because you needed Windows Pro in order to make an "offline" account, I spent $2000+ for a gaming rig, and I couldn't add new users, one program told me to use the other program which brought me back to the original program... I had to go out of my way, buy a license just to make it work. I just went and installed L…

The only game I regularly play refuses to pay their anti-cheat for Linux support. After Windows 10 support ends, my gaming days are probably over.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#307

Post by fainpul » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

PunchyHamster wrote: post #145

> Actually, scratch that, I think it really started with the non-consensual updates MS in general have idea of consent of an average rapist. Yes/Remind me later is basically norm in their dark UI patterns, it bothered me for months to add copilot button to teams

Same on macOS — pestering me with the Tahoe update notification and the buttons are basically "now" or "later".

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#308

Post by zkmon » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

I was away from Windows for the past 12 years. Recently we bought a desktop and had to install Wondows on it. I was just shocked by the level of shittification that happened. I can't even find a Solitaire game that is not littered with ads.

I was a big fan of Satya. I thought he had new vision that aligns with the emerging world. I saw some successes he had with cloud, office 365 etc. But when offered to take Altman in, I knew Satya is no longer maintaining the stature of the grand company built by Gates.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#309

Post by jimbokun » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

tracker1 wrote: post #228

I came to rely pretty heavily on Docker and WSL(2) in Windows. I was an insiders user for a bit over a decade, and worked with .Net and C# since it was "ASP+" ... I had setup a dual boot when I swapped my old GTX 1080 for an RX 5700XT, figuring the "open source" drivers would give me a good Linux experience... it didn't. Every other update was a blank/black screen and me without a good remote config to try to recover…

It's really hard to maintain a product team where the mandate is just "don't break anything and keep the quality high". Especially something with as big of an installed base as Windows.

The team will look for excuses to build new and exciting stuff and new opportunities to increase revenue. Even if the product is pretty much "done".

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#310

Post by kaydub » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

ecshafer wrote: post #95

reconnecting wrote: post #5

Apple forced me to switch to Linux! Linux should consider paying Microsoft and Apple for new customers. Perhaps the customer acquisition funnel is quite long, at least it took 20 years of using Apple in my case before switching to Debian ( Xfce ), but it was worth it!

As a regular linux user for the last 20 years, who had used windows for games for about 25 of the last 30 years. When I had gotten a macbook pro for work in a company that was all apple there were three things that stood out: The M processors are amazing, the apple hardware is really good, and mac os is absolutely awful. I have no idea how people use mac.

> I have no idea how people use mac.

Meh, it has a terminal. Good enough for me. It's worth putting up with MacOS for the hardware.