One of my late 2025/2026 goals is now complete!
I am now officially a Linux desktop user. No Microslop, no ads, no data collection, (so far) no updates that crash this or that feature AND I am now back in control of my expensive equipment!
Oh, and my computer is noticeably faster.
Why did I ditch windows on my primary computer?
There are a number of reasons I was fed up with microsoft, but primarily my biggest complaint was that I, the person who purchased a license to use this Operating System on my own purchased hardware really didn't own my computer any more. Microsoft 11 now requires me to agree to a very invasive terms of service, have a microsoft account, keep my computer connected to the internet so that a large percentage of things continue to work, and just randomly change things on my computer without notice or consent.
Did you have windows 11?
Yes and no. My Desktop PC was windows 10. As is probably common knowledge by now, microsoft ended support of Windows 10 back in October. I thought that they might push that back and I drug my feet on looking into Linux - and they did, kind of. They allowed people with a microsoft account to keep support for another year. So, begrudgingly linked my account for the extended period to by time as I explored various Linux distributions to find one that fit my needs.
However, my son's computer is windows 11 and he has had the issues that I mentioned above. The one that really made me mad was that they pulled all of his documents out of his hard drive up to OneDrive, removed them from his computer and then complained that he was running out of space on OneDrive. "For only $ you can have more space for us to store your stuff" instead of the perfectly good hard drive that we bought for him.
So, what'd ya get?
I settled on Linux Mint as it has the familiarity of Windows and a lot of the nice programs and features without having to go to the command line for everything. While I am not scared of the command line (my day job requires that I admin applications on RHEL servers - IYKYK), I do appreciate the simple click and go simplicity that windows offers.
I also considered Zorin Linux which is even more streamlined for new windows refugees and if you are considering switching, look at either Zorin or Mint. They are both intended for people switching.
So, How is it going?
Honestly, a lot better than I expected. For common everyday things like web browsing, email, office tools, etc. it is as good or better. For example, I have my own email server and domain name which is not the case for most people. As a result, I have never used the usual tools for email in windows such as Outlook or microsoft mail. I had purchased software called mailbird which worked really well but I couldn't add my google contacts or calendar to.
In Linux, I now use Thunderbird which allows me to do all of those things - for free. It also uses tabs to show messages, search results and settings. This makes it a lot easier to look through search results, open messages and not then lose those search results. Love it!
Web apps and sites so far are no different than in windows. So, if your primary use of your PC is to get to online tools then you would have no issues there.
I did have to do some searching to find a driver for my 20 year old Cannon multi-function printer/scanner/copier but I did and it works!
Also, most apps I used in windows have a Linux version so that made transitioning a lot easier. For the ones that didn't I found some functionally equivalent alternatives that do the job.
Now what didn't work?
I have two windows only programs that would not work either through WINE (a tool that allows some windows apps to run in Linux) or have a suitable alternative. For those, I do use a VM or Virtual Machine to run a stripped down windows 10 instance when I need them. It isn't often and thanks to the limited nature of the windows install there, it doesn't call home and doesn't consume a lot of resources AND I am now back in control of my expensive equipment!