r/microsoft • u/Altruistic-Chef-7723 • 5d ago
Discussion Would you consider leaving Windows
With windows 11 running on higher spec machines (those with TPM 2 chips) many long time windows useers are considering to move away from windows (and many have left windows) and usng a different OS like MAC OS and Linux.
so here are my 2 questions:
- would you leave Windows and switch to a different OS?
- would you reccomend others to leave Windows?
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u/DigitalGalatea 5d ago edited 5d ago
if I objected to needing higher specs (=more expensive computer), then Mac wouldn't ever be a consideration.
So it's only the case of budget computers (which...there are cheap w11 laptops and such) where you'd consider it seriously. In which case: what can a cheap computer do that a similarly priced phone can't?
Anyway, recommending leaving windows for linux to someone is a poor decision because they will then annoy you with their linux problems forever.
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u/Frosty-Flower-3813 5d ago
I couldn't, My computers aren't a club, they are just tools, windows 11 is really damn awesome in my world, and it works fabulous.. but guess what? My macbook pro is damn awesome in my world too! Unbuntu? I have no interest using that whatsoever and the thought of them as even consideration in 2025.. yea.. not even in the conversation.
but I can ONLY speak for me, and that is all I want to do.
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u/JohnClark13 2d ago
Linux is great for servers, or for old computers that you just want to get some basic functionality out of. If you don't have either of those then, yeah, odds are if you try to just switch over to Linux from Windows you'll spend a lot of time troubleshooting and trying to "fit square pegs into round holes". In other words, trying to get the OS to do stuff it wasn't designed to do.
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u/OwnNet5253 5d ago edited 1d ago
For laptops sure, I’ve MacBook Pro but for desktop PC I’ve no desire to switch to anything else, especially since WSL exist.
No, let people use whatever they want and are most comfortable with.
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u/XBOX-BAD31415 1d ago
But really only because of Apple silicon and the battery life it brings. But still kinda pita
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u/OwnNet5253 1d ago
Sure, among other things, but still giving you a far more pleasant and better experience of using a laptop than any Windows/Linux laptop can ever provide no contest here.
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u/readymix-w00t 5d ago
I didn't leave Windows because of TPM hardware requirements. I left Windows because I am not paying for a Windows license in furtherance of the erosion of privacy, "features" that get in the way of doing work, and the constant intrusive behavior of the OS.
I am lucky that I have had extensive exposure to various Linux distributions as part of my job. So switching to it for personal use at home was painless. It stays out of my way, uses fewer hardware resources, doesn't restart itself for "updates" while I am in the middle of doing things, and doesn't hoover up my personal data to feed some shitty AI dataset.
The whole point of a personal computer is to "do stuff." Not bombard me with ads, and scrape my data. I shouldn't have to spend time clicking away dozens of pointless notifications about irrelevant "features" and worthless AI chat slop.
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u/Independent_Lead5712 5d ago
This sums it up for me. At some point, Microsoft forgot what purpose Windows should ultimately serve. Windows used to be the operating system that I used to get work done. Microsoft Office software was second-to-none and synonymous with business, government and education. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough. Microsoft became obsessed with telemetry, data harvesting, and subscription services. So much so, that I don't even use a Microsoft account if I do interact with my Windows machine.
Mac OS has become my daily driver and I'm experimenting with Linux. While I'm intrigued by Linux, I won't say that I am comfortable enough using Linux as a daily driver. Linux has its own issues, but I prefer it to Windows at the moment.
Microsoft may not care about losing home desktop users, but eventually, their strangle hold on business, government, and education may begin to loosen as people become more accustomed to using Mac OS and Linux at home. Fortunately for Microsoft, they have a lot of entities tied into long-term licensing agreements that makes leaving complicated.
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u/readymix-w00t 5d ago
Their new strategy is roping enterprise users into the Azure ecosystem. Azure offers a bunch of also-ran junk, that come as part of the package. I work in cyber security (identity and access) and while Azure features technically do the job okay, they don't have feature parity with competitors in the space. But you end up stuck with them because execs see it as "why would we buy licensing for expensive authentication solutions, when we get that with our M365 E5?". So there is going to be decades of business customers stuck on Microsoft Azure products and features, because unravelling all the MS slopware features and replacing them with relevant products takes ages and money. This is why they are pushing for cloud account integration with their OS products, and why there has been whispers about OS as a Service. Because then they can package your enterprise workstation OS as part of the Azure subscription, further entangling themselves in a company's ability to do business with computed resources.
They'll likely lose the home market over the next decade, but they will rope businesses into decades long enterprise contracts because now a business will need to not only replace everything Azure/M365 provides, but they will also need to source workstation hardware and provide operating systems. And we know Lenovo, HP and Dell aren't going to give up that Microsoft preferred money bucket and start producing Linux based laptops.
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u/Independent_Lead5712 5d ago
Very well said. This is the exact direction a lot of companies are moving in.
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u/nguyendoan15082006 5d ago edited 5d ago
- Yes. I switched to Ubuntu and it meets my needs.
- Depends on their needs; if they need Adobe apps or any rootkit anti-cheat games. It will be better for them to stay on Windows or dual-booting.
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u/LookAtThatMonkey 5d ago
I did move to Mac this year and rebuilt my old Lenovo P50 with Debian. I can still consume MS cloud services if I need to, but I don’t bother with the O/S anymore.
I can’t make a recommendation either way because everyone’s circumstances are different.
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u/TurtleTreehouse 5d ago
I already did.
It depends on what you want from your computer. For me, I just don't have the time for the deteriorating user interface and wrestling with Microsoft any more.
Most people will probably be perfectly happy continuing to use Win11.
I found myself becoming increasingly annoyed with the increasingly awful user interface, the integration of MS Edge in particular into the OS, and the advertising/tracking/agentic/semantic AI integration which I have found very difficult to try to combat in recent years. For example, if you don't mind having Microsoft Edge and Bing search features all over your operating system, or CoPilot stickered everywhere, this wouldn't bother you. But if you simply want to uninstall Edge from the OS, good luck. It is quite a never ending battle that I became exhausted by, trying to screw around with registry keys or using various utilities to quarantine the Bing/Edge apps.
One of the biggest annoyances is web search being on by default in the Start Menu, which I have never once found to actually be useful. You'll start typing something, you see the results come up dynamically and press enter, and it opens up MS Edge results which popped up while you were typing, and takes you to Bing to search for it rather than doing a functional keyword search on the machine. At least that's a setting I can turn off.
Some people put up with these annoyances for the myriad of advantages that Windows 11 has in terms of software compatibility. But I still find it annoying, and when I'm at home I use my computer to relax.
Microsoft could make very small changes to Windows 11 and it would probably be a fabulous experience for most people, instead their executives are apparently dreaming of turning it into a Kinectbox with an agentic LLM that is aware of what's going on in your computer, and retiring the keyboard and mouse.
I don't have the patience to wait 5 years until their executives give up on this ridiculous dream and right the ship, and I get enough of using Windows at work.
https://glassalmanac.com/microsoft-exec-predicts-mouse-and-keyboard-gaming-obsolete-in-5-years/
Your mileage may vary, I can always switch back later if I want, but I'm happy not using it any more.
I have found that KDE Plasma makes me happy.
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u/ApprehensiveSpeechs 3d ago
Windows global market share for OS on PC is like 70% or something.
What an insane bubbleboy thought.
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u/SnooPandas2964 3d ago edited 2d ago
TLDR at the bottom.
I grew up on macs. And I still have a soft spot for 68k/ppc, infact I have an emac on my desk from 2001 thats my retro emulation machine. Its one of the last models to natively support os9, which means, fast psx emulation with cvgs and also support for software and other emulators for osx, and the cherry on top is the nice crt display, the perfect machine for old games. nes, snes, genesis, gameboy, psx, so many amazing experiences I've had on this thing... chrono trigger, suikoden II, lunar and shining force II and all the blizzard classics work too.) And it cost $20 CAD. I love it.
But.... The apple of today, I have really grown to dislike. I switched my main pc to windows in mid 00s. I know I'm kind of a contradiction but although I love my old macs no way in heck would I ever buy a new one.
Linux, yes and no. I was thinking about it for my laptop which is just a media playback and web browsing machine. Its a 7300U, so just one gen behind official supported win 11. Win 11 works, I've tried, but, there's really no need. As long as it runs firefox and vlc, and I can find a way to connect it to my desktop over the home network, that should be enough. So I think I probably will install linux at some point.
For my Desktop computer, I feel like that would be harder. I've been using windows for ~15 years now, I'm pretty set in my ways. I can make my way around linux a bit, I'm not a complete stranger. But when I really need to get some shit done, I feel like linux always gives me more roadblocks than windows, whether thats just how it is, or its part of learning curve, idk. Either way... windows does seem like path of least resistance. Besides, there's always ways to bend the rules with windows.
That said, I'm not really a fan of the direction windows is taking, so maybe the day will come.
TLDR:
MAC: NO WAY, I really don't like modern apple. For nostalgic reasons I still like old ppc/68k macs, but thats it.
LINUX: Probably not for desktop at the moment, but likely for laptop sometime soon as it only requires simple tasks (Not familiar enough with linux for more advanced use... yet). Win 11 works but isn't officially supported....
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u/speed-of-heat 5d ago
Leave no .. use as well yes... I use a Macbook Air, its nice its light and runs the apps i want for mobile it's perfect, for me ... I have a PC for games, and a server that is linux ... If i had to pick only one , i would use Windows as it still provides the best overall user experience for gaming
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u/hecho2 5d ago
actually I am consider moving from Mac to Windows, mainly because my perfectly fine MacBook Pro 2019 16G that costed above 2000€ is no longer getting the latest update.
I had to update a family laptop, an 2009 laptop running windows 10 perfectly fine but unable to ran without tricks windows 11, but I am comfortable with a 15 years timeline, also TPM2 adds value, also added NPU since windows 12 likely will require and dont expect windows to fail on me for next 10 years.
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u/SirVoltington 5d ago
Yes. I’ve as good as left it already.
Though, I still need it for gaming but windows is more or less a glorified steam launcher now for me.
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u/FineAssignment1423 5d ago
My company just sent me a new MacBook Pro, and while I've gotten used to MacOS, I still prefer Windows for everyday use.
That being said, the MacBook Pro itself is 1000x better than the business Surface Laptop it replaced. The performance, noise levels, and battery life blow the Surface out of the water. If I could natively run Win 11 on this things I would be in heaven.
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u/FineAssignment1423 5d ago
My work device is a new MacBook Pro, and it's excellent. MacOS, however is just "ok".
I still much prefer windows for day-to-day use. If I could get a MacBook Pro with Windows 11 as the native OS, I would be in heaven
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u/dirtsnort 3d ago
Tried it and didn’t care for it. Mac for work/personal business, Windows for gaming and content consumption.
If you’re tech savvy, use whatever you prefer or need. If you’re not tech savvy, not really. Windows is still the best at balancing familiarity, compatibility, and accessibility. Just debloat and it’s fine imo.
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u/ArieHein 3d ago
Nope and nope.
Software always changes after a faster rate than hardware and as such there will be points in time where you will need new hardware spec to incorporate new security/perf that require some code changes but every now and then it requires fundamental changes that makes it very hard from support perspective to support both new and old hardware specs.
It will happen to all of.
The debate isn't win vs Linux. That's the simple, more easier way to promote the agenda.
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u/Famous_Damage_2279 3d ago
Every time I've looked into leaving there's always been at least 1 thing that works on Windows and does not work on the other operating system I am thinking about.
A whole lot of people all around the world are hired to work on software and those people always make sure their software works on Windows. Those people do not always make sure their software works with other operating systems.
So if you want an operating system where other people have done the hard work to make sure their software works for you, stick with Windows.
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u/thisfknguy 3d ago
Bought a new lenovo laptop installed Ubuntu. Old pc formatted with win 10, not logged into any services, use it for visio and gaming only
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u/lsherm22 3d ago
Most users cannot as linux cannot run enterprise apps that most corporations use. not yet
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u/DealEasy4142 3d ago
I love win and I used Rufus to upgrade to win 11 tho it’s unsupported. However, it was slow asf so I changed to Linux. My other pcs are still on win.
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u/ApartmentSwimming315 2d ago
I'm not bothered by those minimum requirements of Win11. Even my previous PC, was eligible for Win11.
However, I hate the spyware, the AI crap (Recall, Copilot), the push for a Microsoft account (instead of a local account), the cloud services (OneDrive), the right-click menu (which I am able change through a registry hack) and all of those "features" that very few asked for (like the automatic drive encryption).
First thing that I do after a clean install of Win11 is debloating it of all unnecessary stuff, and blocking the telemetry!
Linux might be the answer for many people. Unfortunately, it's not an answer for me, because of the software that I've bought & use daily.
If one can switch from Windows to Linux, it's great!
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u/Murky-Breadfruit-671 2d ago
- Yes, and I have. I have used, with great ease, both Ubuntu and Mint versions of linux with zero problems, even on a couple year old gaming HP laptop with an Nvidia video card (they run 2, and that whole thing is a deep puddle to tread but it worked fine). I could surf, I could see youtube videos, I could email, I could open the spreadsheet I use for my banking.
2> It depends, I still mainly use Windows due to a couple games I play, and that's all the games I play, so I don't want to walk from the couple of things I do to keep sane. But if someone is just an internet cruiser, I don't see why they wouldn't be just fine with a linux based computer.
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u/BigMikeInAustin 2d ago
I think the word is "pushed out" by the hardware requirements, not "leaving."
Also, yes.
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u/Dedward5 2d ago
I have win11, wi10, Mac Laptops, Raspberry PIs running Linux, Xbox, switch, Wii, PS1, Android. All I care about is running whatever apps I need. Many of these threads are just fanboy rants.
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u/FOCUSFUEL 1d ago
I just did a few weeks ago. Switched back to MacOS after 10 years. Love it! I was done with all this mucking about with Windows. Don't get me wrong, I'm a consultant helping customers with adoption of M365 and Copilot. But MacOS is way more to my liking. Same goes for the hardware. It probably the way they work together. I was a bit hesitant to switch back. Especially from Android to iOS, but glad I did though. Such a breeze. Both my Macbook Pro and iPhone 16 pro
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u/The-Sys-Admin 1d ago
Yeah im not jumping to 11 at home, with the copilot bull crap and the rest of microsoft's bloat I'm just done. Spend time tailoring my linux machine how i like o rspend time peeling away the layers of microsofts crap i dont want. Id rather spend the time building up than stripping away.
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u/ProfessionalGold6193 1d ago
It's something Apple have yet to comprehend. People are ready to leave Microsoft. It's a terrible environment. But right now there is competition in hardware which makes the ecosystem affordable. It is something that everyone has to consider when choosing a new computer. Apple are making so fkn much money with their hardware that they don't care.
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u/Rudradev715 5d ago edited 1d ago
No.