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Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

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Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#371

Post by godzillabrennus »

simgoh wrote: post #305
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/

Given the push to monetize user data it seems Microsoft is demphasizing their focus on key piracy. I bought a computer with a 55" touch screen. The company selling it said it was a Windows 11 computer. The computer was a 14 year old Intel CPU/Mobo that was never designed to run Windows 11. The company selling it had hacked Windows to run on this old computer. They didn't have a license key. I report it to Microsoft and crickets. The company ghosted me on the issue. In 2003, with XP in it's prime, they were cracking down hard on piracy... now it's part of the business model...

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#372

Post by aqme28 »

zeta0134 wrote: post #341
Zambyte wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you don't sell your games on Steam or in a way I can run them on Linux I am not buying or playing them. So much this. People like to moan about "oh game XYZ doesn't run so it's not reasonable for gaming". More games run on GNU / Linux than any gaming console. There are simply too many games that do run to give a second thought about the ones that don't, and it's been that way for years.

The giant bugbear in this conversation is always multiplayer. That's because almost all of the big players in that space currently favor rootkits in the form of overly invasive anti-cheat, which the Linux wrappers (mostly the wine project) refuse to support for security reasons. If you don't play PvP specifically, the rest of the library is significantly more open to you. Personally I have always favored single playe…

> That's because almost all of the big players in that space

To the OP's point-- there are soooo many games nowadays, that if you and your friend group can skip some of those "big players," there are still hundreds of multiplayer games to play.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#374

Post by pdntspa »

I really wish linux had a decent answer for DRM-protected VST plugins. Yes you can run stuff in WINE but I need to be able to use iLok and the bullshit DRM systems for about a dozen other publishers.

I am so glad that gaming on linux is viable. I wish my music production workflows were too.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#375

Post by crumpled »

1123581321 wrote: post #28
ColinWright wrote: post #3

Still reading the article, but early on it says: "Also, is it weird that I still remember the specs of my first computer, 22 years later?" My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1, 1.78 Mz Z80 with 16 KB RAM. That was 48 years ago. Is it weird that I remember that?

They stick with you. I remember our first family computer well (an Acer 486 with 40MB drive and 32MB RAM.) Same for my first computer I built myself out of a TigerDirect order. Made a few mistakes there (K6 generation.) Having these computers was such a change in our lives that they should be somewhat indelible memories.

TigerDirect? Wow. How did I forget the first place I used and instantly maxxed a credit card? I would look through that catalog right now if I had it.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#376

Post by logicchains »

zeta0134 wrote: post #341
Zambyte wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you don't sell your games on Steam or in a way I can run them on Linux I am not buying or playing them. So much this. People like to moan about "oh game XYZ doesn't run so it's not reasonable for gaming". More games run on GNU / Linux than any gaming console. There are simply too many games that do run to give a second thought about the ones that don't, and it's been that way for years.

The giant bugbear in this conversation is always multiplayer. That's because almost all of the big players in that space currently favor rootkits in the form of overly invasive anti-cheat, which the Linux wrappers (mostly the wine project) refuse to support for security reasons. If you don't play PvP specifically, the rest of the library is significantly more open to you. Personally I have always favored single playe…

The greatest PvP game, DOTA, works on Linux, and once you get hooked on that you'll never want to play another PvP game.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#378

Post by a_vanderbilt »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #179
Muromec wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was me in 2005. I cant believe people say that M$ started to suck in 2025. It always did.

I started using Linux in like 2007 but the GPU was always an issue. Then it was running games. Linux changed for me around 2013+ when I would install it on my laptops and get a heck of a performance boost. Heck those laptops still turn on to this day. Windows just bloats all hardware.

It's been an unfortunate re-occurring issue for me as well. Recent hardware is much better about this, and I too have seen the performance bumps at the cost of software compatibility. I feel like if Adobe brought their CC suite to Linux I'd have no reason to ever use Windows outside the random game that _needs_ it.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#379

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #216
jsheard wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wayland has fractional scaling as a sort-of workaround if you can tolerate the entire screen being blurry. Every other major OS can deal with this. I think Windows is the only other one which really does this properly, macOS also does the hack where they simulate fractional scales by rendering with an integer scale at a non-native resolution then scaling it down.

> I think Windows is the only other one which really does this properly Windows is the only one that does this properly. Windows handles high pixel density on a per-application , per-display basis. This is the most fine-grained. It's pretty easy to opt in on reasonably modern frameworks, too; just add in the necessary key in the resource manifest; done. [1] Linux + Xorg has a global pixel density scale factor. KDE/Qt…

> Windows is the only one that does this properly. Windows handles high pixel density on a per-application, per-display basis.

This is not our [0] experience. macOS handles things on a per-section-of-window, per-application, per-display basis. You can split a window across two monitors at two different DPIs, and it will display perfectly. This does not happen on Windows, or we have not found the right way to make it work thus far.

[0] ardour.org

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#380

Post by geophile »

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!

For a long time, I had a MBP (this is in Intel days), with a Linux VM. It was like a reverse mullet, party in front (multimedia), work in back (dev).

And then:

    - Butterfly keyboard
    - Touchbar
    - M-series CPUs, which, while technically awesome, did not allow for Linux VMs.
So I switched to System76/Linux (Pop OS) and that has been wonderful, not to mention, much cheaper.
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