Yeah, you don't get to say no thanks. Your boss will still buy Windows 12. The corporate world will still steal your soul. The world of politics will still be corrupt. And Tupac Shakur will still continue to be the CEO of Burger King.

I use 10 for my gaming/media PC.

I'll use 11 if I have to when using some public computer or something.

But I absolutely, categorically, refuse to even touch a 'subscription-based, AI-focused' OS, ever, for any reason.

You’ll be hounded relentlessly to upgrade until you give up and pay the monthly usage fee

🤢

Just it being Windows, no matter those things, should be enough for everyone to go "Lol. No thanks." But sadly that isn't and won't be the case. Hundreds of millions of people will just go along with it, even the idea of something else existing will never occur for them and Microsoft knows this. All the hate and outrage about how evil they are and how Windows has gone to (from like Windows 95) absolute shit has only made a very small portion of their possible userbase switch to or even ignited the idea of finding out about something else. I think the only way Microsoft will loose enough "customers" is if it just dies, nothing else will make the average person lift a single finger or have a neuron activate for making the leap.

If you've got a geeky power user strain in you, try Pop_OS! with their new COSMIC desktop. The blend of traditional window manager and tiling is an absolute delight. But if you're just trying to stay in your comfort zone as you explore the unfamiliar waters of Linux, I heartily recommend Linux Mint.

I've installed Mint on my own gaming desktop, and it's invariably what I install for customers who can't afford a PC upgrade to deal with Microslop's Windows 11 bullshit. They all do fine on it, no one even appreciates the difference from Windows except that they all recognize their old hardware is suddenly much snappier than it was. And as for Pop_OS! COSMIC, I'm running that on the laptop from which I'm typing this comment now. I like them both, but Linux Mint is definitely more battle-tested.

Ubuntu's GNOME layout isn't really for me, but if you're looking for something that's...I don't know, a little Mac-ier than Windows-y, then Ubuntu isn't a bad way to go. I tried Kubuntu (that's Ubuntu with KDE instead of GNOME) recently and I had a lot of trouble with it for some reason so I just fell back on Linux Mint (which is how it became my desktop computer's OS).

Don't over-think it. The joy of live ISOs is that you can put them on USB disks and try various interfaces out. At the end of the day though, it's like human DNA...99% the same product under the hood, and you can typically change things around after the fact.

Actually, I have a good example of that: I put Linux Mint XFCE on my grandma's machine because it was especially under-powered. XFCE is just about the lightestweight traditional desktop environment around. I was worried Linux Mint's typical Cinnamon environment might be a little heavier and therefore leaving some performance on the table. Well, I spent hours trying to troubleshoot why I couldn't use RustDesk to remotely connect to her computer for support, and it finally occurred to me that XFCE might be the problem. I didn't have to reinstall the entire OS! I just installed the Cinnamon package (one single line of a command in the terminal), then I logged out, chose Cinnamon on the login screen, logged back in under this different desktop environment, and was able to use RustDesk successfully! No fuss, no muss. I'm not going to say you won't have occasional headaches with Linux but you tell me what comparable options I have when Windows 11's heavy fucker of an interface with a taskbar I can't move around the screen is ruining my day, or macOS replaces a tried and true GUI aesthetic with a batshit broken liquid glass one? I certainly can't swap in the older GUIs I liked, but in Linux, it's totally an option, like changing the exhaust on a car or whatever.

Have fun :)

Linux Mint, for sure.

Fedora

https://distrosea.com/

You can give it a test drive, given peoples suggestions. The most common desktop environment are Gnome and KDE, and I think they tend to have the least issues with stability, screen tearing, scaling, and fps, since they're the most actively developed.

Nobody is asking you what hardware you're running or your use case...

If your computer is a couple years old and you're doing general web browsing, then I would recommend Kubuntu 24.04, latest version of Linux Mint, or Debian.

If your computer is newer, as in a year old or so, I would recommend Kubuntu 25.10, latest version of Fedora(KDE/Plasma spin), or possibly CachyOS(Arch based).

If you're a gamer, then same as above, Kubuntu 25.10, Fedora, or CachyOS, but I would highly recommend CachyOS in this instance.

The main things to consider for Linux is the version of the Kernel you may need and what Desktop Environment(Gnome, Plasma, Cinnamon, etc) you prefer.

The Linux Kernel is where most drivers will come from and are baked in. You can install proprietary drivers, but that process can vary depending on the distro.

The Desktop Environment is what you'll be interacting with on a daily basis. Personally I prefer and highly recommend Plasma. It has great Wayland support(newer way to render and manage programs graphically) and customization is there if you need it. You CAN install multiple Desktop Environments at the same time and you're not stuck with whatever is the default. But again, I'd recommend Plasma.

Now, why CachyOS? Simply because it has a lot of quality of life aspects available. It's not a "gaming" distro, but it can be right out of the box. It's built for speed, but also convenience in my opinion. Cachy can automatically detect and install the latest Nvidia drivers during the initial install. The "gaming" packages are a single click in their "CachyOS Hello" window on startup. And if you choose GRUB or Limine for your bootloader and BTRFS for your filesystem, you'll have snapshots for recovery automatically setup for you(which saved my butt twice now).

Definitely try out a few distros. Personally I started with Mint and loved it, but I ran into driver issues eventually due to how they do kernel releases. Then tried Ubuntu, Fedora, Manjaro, Endeavor, Debian...all of these never "kept" me because of something breaking or lack of timely driver updates. But I'm on CachyOS now and within a month of trying it I ended up switching all of my Windows machines to it, which I've never done before. I've never gone "full Linux" before, but Cachy pulled me right in. I've thrown it on multiple laptops, a NUC, and a desktop gaming PC and it's "just worked" on all of them.

Mint and some Ubuntu flavor such as Kubuntu. These two have the biggest userbase and thus problemsolving via internet search aswell as lots of deb packets come in handy.

Also they are out of the box experience straight from the start and everything just works.

When I started 3 years ago I was distrohopping almost every week... For gaming on Nvidia+Intel combo - arch Linux distros with kde is where I found peace... Started with endeavouros and now I use cachyos with kde plasma. Both are quite good. I have installed limine+ Snapper and this does system snapshot on each update. Never needed it though and every time I am updating irresponsibly. Gl, install any Linux.

I just started using Linux, but Bazzite has been treating me well. If you are primarily using your PC for gaming, that might be the way to go.

They also recently got their team reinforced, so I am hoping that carries them much farther in the future. https://www.xda-developers.com/bazzite-reveals-the-open-gaming-collective-to-make-gaming-on-linux-even-better/

If you don’t need lots of up-to-date gaming support, Mint. The newest games and hardware are more likely to have issues than older. If you’re looking for something approachable and built specifically for gaming, Bazzite. If Bazzite is a bit too strong on the gamer feel and you want something a bit more toned down, I personally use EndeavourOS.

One of us!

ZorinOS seems like a decent choice.

Mint.

1. If you want something that never changes, Mint.
2. if your main use is gaming: Bazzite
3. For any other use case, Bluefin or Aurora (Bluefin for rounded corners, Aurora otherwise).

I am entry level and mint is so far being nice with me, just that my pc is old so it kinda lags

For the distribution (distro), Ubuntu. There's a chance that you experienced this distro growing up at your school or local library.

For the desktop environment (DE), GNOME is most like Apple OSes, while Cinnamon and KDE Plasma are most like Windows 10.

Cinnamon tends to go better with the Mint distro though, and GNOME is the default DE for Ubuntu. I use KDE Plasma with Ubuntu (Kubuntu) personally and I've enjoyed it.

Ubuntu based for sure like Linux Mint, ZorinOS or PopOS

but I wouldn't recomnend Ubuntu for their Snap

PopOS

Something modern and immutable (so its harder to break) like KDE-Linux. Otherwise, something like Bazzite which is good for gaming. If you want low resource and flatpak (its the future) built in, ZorinOS.

🌎👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀

[insert "Had me in the first half" image macro here]

I know he’ll spend it on a good cause.

Antibiotics, for those times when he cares enough to give the gift that keeps on giving

I can’t wait to give my credit card information to my AI agent so it can buy more features for me without me monitoring it!

Imagine waking up to a fully decked out Windows 12 plus pro 365 hell yeah 730 Copilot ?

I don't wanna sound like someone defending Microsoft, but that line was taken out of context. It was originally something like "last one you'll buy" meaning they're giving free upgrades now to future OSes.

...but then again, even under that meaning this is pretty shitty. Most people would rather buy something than have to rent it forever. Especially when the norm is already that they own it. Doubly so when that price is already hidden and baked into the price of the hardware the user is buying. Most folks probably aren't even aware they're "paying" for Windows in some form when they buy a laptop.

(Yes yes nobody owns Windows, they own a license to use it blah blah blah.)

It's sort of funny to me, that original Windows 10 "last OS" thing came from around the time Jetbrains tried to push a subscription model over a purchase model. They ended up going with subscription with a perpetual fall back license which seems to be the best of both. (Once you pay for 12 continuous months, whatever version you had at the start of the 12 months you get a perpetual license for. So if you stop paying the subscription after 15 months, whatever version existed 12 months ago you can use forever.) I can't really see Microsoft doing that though.

It's like complaining about requiring the command line but willing to mess with regedit, group policies or even powershell to just get Windows to a temporarily usable state (before an update overrides your settings).

I have been getting ever more smug and feeling more vindicated about this decision every day for the past two years.

This is so true. I'm at about twenty years since I switched and Microsoft has done nothing but validate my decision over and over and over since then. I sincerely feel bad for people who still use Windows.

It's not the users that are being gullible as much as "tech4gamers.com" that published the story and the news sites that copied them. They deserve the ire here.

Heh, this line cracked me up :

In fact, I understand that the Windows roadmap for 2026 is all about fixing Windows 11

Also, thank you for your service.

Yeah I initially saw the OP's article shared on Mastodon by some generally reliable individuals and honestly my BS sensors went wild. The described roadmap by the sources from Windows Central makes a lot more sense for Microsoft given the current environment. Its the exact same thing they did around this time in Windows 10s lifecycle, squash some bugs and quietly reduce the stuff that users generally did not like and weren't being used (such as Cortana, remember that?)

That reference is just all opinion and rumour, nothing actually refutes the claims.

The original article refers to Win 12 as a concept not a change of name.

AI is currently massively unprofitable, at some point they’re going to try to make money off it.

They need to make people dependent upon it first, then do the rug pull, and the dependent people will have no choice but to pay.

They're still stuck on that first step, though. Very few people are adopting it to a level where they'll depend on it. Even the ones who do mess around with it are mostly just doing so casually and wouldn't really miss it if it went away.

Some telecom companies are starting to embed AI subscriptions in regular internet+TV service contracts

Subscriptions never get cheaper over time.

laughs in fedora 43

looks at my Gentwo

Hard truth 👍

NixOS 25.11 unstable :/

Um, asking for a friend... How much do your nut subscriptions cost?

FUKKIN GOTTEMMMMMMM DAB. ON. IT.

Fully modular as in it runs in a VM in the cloud that you pay them for access to

Not only do you get to pay for the hardware to be able to use the software, and then pay for the software to be allowed to use it. When you use the software it siphons various user data off of you to train their AI with, so that you, the valued customer, can also pay for that AI service.

Most POSes are running custom Android ROMs which are super locked down for PCI compliance nowadays; the only apps that are allowed are those provided by the POS company, basically.

The POS industry is lucky that custom ROMs are exempt from the upcoming Google lockdowns or they like other embedded device industries running on Android would be screwed.....

Here's the wiki page for PCI compliance, but the jist is in order for a POS to be able to process payment cards, it has to be crazy locked down for actually valid security purposes.

probably to MACOS, which would be mainstreamed.