According to the article they might be doing this to further discourage people from bypassing the hardware restrictions for installing Windows 11.
Don’t worry Microsoft. I am fully deterred from ever installing Windows 11 on any of my current or future computers already.
They wouldn’t be acting like this if they weren’t convinced that they are in a monopolistic situation that is strong enough to let them get away with it. They don’t seem to realize how user friendly and approachable some Linux distros have become, or at least are making the bet that most of their users won’t discover it. I hope this anti consumer attitude pushes more and more people into giving Linux a try, like it did for me.
Linux is actually becoming easier to deal with than Windows in many cases. Microsoft has removed so many settings from the GUI that editing of the Registry has become required even for simple things. That’s much less user friendly IMO than backing up and editing a text .conf file.
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.
I’ve been trying to move to Linux for about 20 years, but gaming issues always sent me back to Windows.
I tried again after hearing about how proton and steamdeck have made it so much easier for most games and it’s true. Been exclusively on Linux on my gaming rig since about September. The only one I couldn’t get working was oddly a little simple indie game, it lagged badly while stuff like No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk ran fine.
Microsoft is pushing this at a very bad time, because you CAN game on Linux now.
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.
This whole overbearing patronizing shit is what pushed me away completely from Windows, that and the privacy concerns. It just became too much of a hassle & chore to actually use and constantly “fix” shit that I never asked for, to the point where even the bits of Linux tinkering aren’t as much of a problem in comparison. And thanks to Valve pretty much all games that I care for run without a hassle, or just very little tinkering. I haven’t really found my favored distro yet after hopping for a while, but it’s easy enough to switch anyway thanks to the Home folder containing pretty much the majority of what’s important for backups.
There are plenty of unsupported CPUs that also support the AI requirements. Basically anything with an AMD Phenom or an Intel Core i5/7 first gen or newer supports these.
I really want to make the switch to Linux but all the talk about having to troubleshoot every minor thing makes me nervous. What’s the solution to malware and virus? All of the options and sub options for installing and managing things feels so daunting! Dual boots have the nightmare of windows killing the bootloader, so it’s scary to even try and dip a toe in.
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.
There aren’t many issues honestly and troubleshooting them isn’t that bad. Malware/virus isn’t really an issue on Linux, your main protection and all you really need is the forethought to not run random bullshit with root privilege. Most mainstream distros have graphical package managers, too. Your best bet is to boot a live USB and play around, check ProtonDB for your favorite games, and then install directly over your windows drive. Or I mean like a virtual machine would also be cool.
I migrated my whole family to Linux Mint, my grandma even, they all love it. I don’t spend much time supporting them either which is nice, Mint is just really headache-free.
Every couple of years for the last 20 years I would download the most popular Linux distro of the day, install it, and play around with it. And it’s mind-blowing to me how far Linux has come with UIs, usability, troubleshooting and customizing stuff.
Back in the day I spent many hours compiling obscure and dependent code bases just to get my sound card working. Now it’s pretty rare for me to need to do even a fraction of that.
Also, if you want to play around with Linux you can just download a VM solution like VirtualBox on Windows and then spin up as many virtual machines as you like and install a different iso on each one. Not to mention tinkering with Docker containers via the Docker app.
In short, it’s a great time to play with and possibly adopt Linux.
but all the talk about having to troubleshoot every minor thing makes me nervous.
Ah, no, that’s more of a “you can break stuff to learn how it works” thing. And some distros are more hacky/barebones. Just don’t go with Arch, Gentoo or Void as beginner.
According to the article they might be doing this to further discourage people from bypassing the hardware restrictions for installing Windows 11.
Don’t worry Microsoft. I am fully deterred from ever installing Windows 11 on any of my current or future computers already.
They wouldn’t be acting like this if they weren’t convinced that they are in a monopolistic situation that is strong enough to let them get away with it. They don’t seem to realize how user friendly and approachable some Linux distros have become, or at least are making the bet that most of their users won’t discover it. I hope this anti consumer attitude pushes more and more people into giving Linux a try, like it did for me.
Linux is actually becoming easier to deal with than Windows in many cases. Microsoft has removed so many settings from the GUI that editing of the Registry has become required even for simple things. That’s much less user friendly IMO than backing up and editing a text .conf file.
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.
I’ve been trying to move to Linux for about 20 years, but gaming issues always sent me back to Windows.
I tried again after hearing about how proton and steamdeck have made it so much easier for most games and it’s true. Been exclusively on Linux on my gaming rig since about September. The only one I couldn’t get working was oddly a little simple indie game, it lagged badly while stuff like No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk ran fine.
Microsoft is pushing this at a very bad time, because you CAN game on Linux now.
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.
What about with NVIDIA hardware?
This whole overbearing patronizing shit is what pushed me away completely from Windows, that and the privacy concerns. It just became too much of a hassle & chore to actually use and constantly “fix” shit that I never asked for, to the point where even the bits of Linux tinkering aren’t as much of a problem in comparison. And thanks to Valve pretty much all games that I care for run without a hassle, or just very little tinkering. I haven’t really found my favored distro yet after hopping for a while, but it’s easy enough to switch anyway thanks to the Home folder containing pretty much the majority of what’s important for backups.
There are plenty of unsupported CPUs that also support the AI requirements. Basically anything with an AMD Phenom or an Intel Core i5/7 first gen or newer supports these.
I really want to make the switch to Linux but all the talk about having to troubleshoot every minor thing makes me nervous. What’s the solution to malware and virus? All of the options and sub options for installing and managing things feels so daunting! Dual boots have the nightmare of windows killing the bootloader, so it’s scary to even try and dip a toe in.
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.
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.
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.
There aren’t many issues honestly and troubleshooting them isn’t that bad. Malware/virus isn’t really an issue on Linux, your main protection and all you really need is the forethought to not run random bullshit with root privilege. Most mainstream distros have graphical package managers, too. Your best bet is to boot a live USB and play around, check ProtonDB for your favorite games, and then install directly over your windows drive. Or I mean like a virtual machine would also be cool.
I migrated my whole family to Linux Mint, my grandma even, they all love it. I don’t spend much time supporting them either which is nice, Mint is just really headache-free.
Every couple of years for the last 20 years I would download the most popular Linux distro of the day, install it, and play around with it. And it’s mind-blowing to me how far Linux has come with UIs, usability, troubleshooting and customizing stuff.
Back in the day I spent many hours compiling obscure and dependent code bases just to get my sound card working. Now it’s pretty rare for me to need to do even a fraction of that.
Also, if you want to play around with Linux you can just download a VM solution like VirtualBox on Windows and then spin up as many virtual machines as you like and install a different iso on each one. Not to mention tinkering with Docker containers via the Docker app.
In short, it’s a great time to play with and possibly adopt Linux.
Ah, no, that’s more of a “you can break stuff to learn how it works” thing. And some distros are more hacky/barebones. Just don’t go with Arch, Gentoo or Void as beginner.
They’ve never not acted like that
Yep they saw what we did with TPM UEFI changes