I haven't upgraded to Windows 11 (and probably won't)

It was bad enough "upgrading" to 10...

...but I'm at the point where the Win10 OS on my computer runs more or less the way I like it.

When I switched from Win7 to Win10, that was awful and I immediately wanted to switch back to Win7, but couldn't because my 100% purchased (yes, I bought it) and licensed copy refused to "activate", so I was stuck with 10.

After some time, using some helpful tweaks and figuring out how to disable a bunch of crap, Win10 then became usable. Mostly. What I basically did was everything possible to make Win10 act like Win7. There's still some Win10 crap I have to deal with, but at this point it's minimal.

I know the clock is running for Win10. What is the official "end of life" date for Windows 10? October 14, 2025.

Could I still run Win10 after that day? Yes. For how long? Probably a few years. But I know I can only do that for so long...

...which means I'm thinking about Linux once again. I was very close to switching over to it back in '21. Oh-so close. But I couldn't because there are a few Windows-specific things I need for my daily computing life, so Linux wasn't a doable thing.

At this point in late '22 however, things have changed:

More stuff runs on the phone now

A simple example of this is printing. To the best of my knowledge, all wireless printers can be accessed with a phone app now. If my Linux distro of choice decides it doesn't want to talk to the printer, I can copy the PDF to the phone and have it send the print job.

Another example is browsers. I use Firefox which has add-ons in it. But I also use Microsoft Edge bone stock and plugin-less specifically for instances when a web site just absolutely will not work without a browser that allows everything. But sometimes that doesn't even work. When that happens, that's when I grab the phone and use the site's app. When their site doesn't work, the app will. And if the app doesn't work, then I 100% know the site is having a problem on the site's end.

Were I running Linux, same situation. If whatever browser I'm using won't load the site, grab the phone, run the app.

I could list other examples, but you get the idea.

The realization that if I absolutely need Windows for something, buy another computer

This sounds stupid, but it's not.

You can get a laptop for under $200 new easily.

If there's a thing I need Windows for, it's actually cheap enough just to outright buy the hardware and only use it when needed - which in all honesty would not be that often.

In other words, a Windows laptop would act the same as having a specialty tool in the toolbox. It doesn't get used often, but it's there when you need it.

More software is "rent me only"

The technical name for this is a subscription service. An example at the time I write this is anything Adobe. You can't buy the software, but you can rent it. Adobe Photoshop will cost you $31.49 a month:

(Yes, this means had I edited the above image you see right now in Photoshop, it would have cost me a bare minimum of almost 32 bucks.)

Only once have I ever actually rented software, and it was for a navigation app on the phone. It was an annual subscription thing for something like 20 bucks, but before buying, I asked myself, "Am I willing to throw away 20 bucks just to see if this works out for me?" My answer was yes, I spent the money, discovered that I didn't like the app and didn't renew the subscription.

That was the last time I rented software.

~~~

Both the online-account-required and rent-me-only crap introduces the problem that the internet is necessary just to do stuff.

Right now with my Win10 installation, if the internet cuts out as it periodically does, I can still use my computer. Edit my documents, watch some movies either downloaded or on DVD, edit audio, edit images, whatever. I can do all that without any "INTERNET REQUIRED, LOGIN NOW" roadblock.

If however my PC required internet just to work, would I even be able to get into my computer? Yes, but at the same time no. I could probably login, but parts of the OS would be unable to function, and any software that required an online login obviously wouldn't even launch.

With the phone, yeah I can understand the online-required/account-required stuff because it is, obviously, a mobile device. But my PC is not mobile, nor do I need it to be, nor do I want it to be.

Ultimately, I may give Linux another go to specifically avoid the online-account-required and rent-me-only crap.

Published 2022 Nov 10