skylar
Liam @ GamingOnLinux 🐧🎮Windows: forces adverts on you, even though you paid for it.
Linux: free, does not do that.
Thad@gamingonlinux That was pretty much the final straw where I quit using Windows almost entirely.
I've been using Linux as my main for ~20 years, but I used to have a Windows HTPC in the living room for videos and couch gaming. The ads in Win 10 were what finally pushed me into switching that machine to Linux too.
(I still have a couple Windows machines for the few remaining programs I need that don't run on Linux, but there are only a couple of those left.)
@gamingonlinux I have to use Windows at work, and the enterprise version is far less offensive. I don't recall ever seeing the system tray or the file browser nag me to buy more MS shit at work.
Damon L. Wakes@Thad @gamingonlinux Oh, yikes. I haven't used Windows on anything but a work computer for about eight years, and I thought THAT was bad. It's hard to believe that the home version could be worse.
Tim Stoop 
@Thad I can recommend VirtualBox for those 🙂 I have been using Linux as my main OS about the same time as you, having some way to do Windows stuff was necessary at the time, work-wise. Started out with Crossover (wine, basically), ended up with just installing Windows in VirtualBox and for those 4 times a year I need it, that works great. Except that I need to boot it a day in advance, because of all the forced updates I get 😅
@timstoop I've definitely been considering setting up Windows in a VM. Win11 didn't seem well-supported the last time I checked; it's not that I particularly want Win11, but Win10 is EOL in 2025 so I'm probably going to wind up stuck using 11 at some point and figure I may as well do it now so I don't have to do it later.
Ambient Sponge@gamingonlinux I never see adverts in Windows but maybe I just avoid all the places they try and trust them at me.
I've been running a PiHole for two weeks now as well. So I imagine they're being blocked at the source now.
Vancha 
@gamingonlinux "Thankfully I didn't pay for it, it came with my computer for free" :p
Claudius (legacy account)@gamingonlinux Ubuntu included Amazon results in the search in, I think, 2008?
Carbonara@claudius @gamingonlinux you know, Linux is a Kernel, you can pick any linux distro you want
@Carbonara
Yeah. A kernel by itself is not exactly useful, and when you say "Linux" as compared to Windows, I think "kernel" is not what most people will think of first.
@gamingonlinux
Yeah. A kernel by itself is not exactly useful, and when you say "Linux" as compared to Windows, I think "kernel" is not what most people will think of first.
@gamingonlinux
@claudius @gamingonlinux sure but neither is Ubuntu. If one distro ships ads, there are plenty more to try
@Carbonara As one that is _often_ suggested to people starting out with linux, Ubuntu very much is in a place to be compared to windows. And as one of the most common distributions out there, maybe tied with Arch, I really think it is fair to bring it up in this case.
I could also cite the most used product containing the linux kernel if you like, android, and this very much also contains a TON of ads and tracking.
@claudius not anymore the most adviced. I always see people mentioning Fedora, Mint, sometimes PopOS, even Debian.
The Android you are referring to is the one which ships with the G services, but there are other Android distros like GrapheneOS with privacy in mind. You always have an alternative!
On the other hand Windows is only Windows
@Carbonara ask 1000 people if they ever even heard of GrapheneOS or /e/ or Lineage. As for Fedora/PopOS etc, yes they are starting to be recommended, but Ubuntu still very much is the biggest animal around, especially for people who don't want to tinker with their systems.
@Carbonara
I am also reasonably confident that the Windows Kernel is not showing you ads all by itself.
I am also reasonably confident that the Windows Kernel is not showing you ads all by itself.
@claudius ok but by referring to the Windows kernel you can only pick one Operating System. By referring to linux instead you can choose between hundreds of operating systems. So pointing out that Ubuntu has ads doesn't make much sense
Stevez@gamingonlinux Hmmm, never saw any adverts. Can this be seen anywhere??
Canadian Curmudgeon@gamingonlinux But is there an emulator or way to run Windows games on Linux (via Steam, Epic or EA servers)? I'd like to switch but don't want to lose my gaming.
novatorine 🏴🏳️⚧️@CdnCurmudgeon @gamingonlinux yeah there is, Proton is a translation layer between Windows and Linux APIs (graphics and otherwise) that's made by Valve and built into Steam, that allows you to play Windows games on Linux with basically no performance hit. It's basically compatible with everything at this point, it's actually incredible. It's what the Steam Deck uses, which is why Valve has a major interest in making it possible to play all windows games with it, and they're very close. Check this out: https://www.protondb.com/ you can plug your steam library into it and it'll tell you which ones will run and how well.
@anarchopunk_girl @CdnCurmudgeon @gamingonlinux I'd add to this that I've also had very good results running games from Epic (I nab all their free ones) using Heroic Games Launcher, and you can try running any Windows stuff you like using WINE (which Proton is based on). At this point there's only a tiny minority of things I've found that won't run on Linux, and it's possible someone more tech-savvy than me could get a bunch of those working too.
drencrom@CdnCurmudgeon @gamingonlinux Just use steam and enable windows compatibility layer. It works like magic (although not for all games)
Lapo Luchini@gamingonlinux @CdnCurmudgeon Yes, Valve did fork Wine and called it Proton, and it's very compatible with Windows games. It's the heart of the SteamDeck console (which runs on Linux).
Mighty Murder Mittens@lapo @gamingonlinux @CdnCurmudgeon
There's also Lutris, which expands that functionality to a host of other services including GOG, Epic Games Store, EA (formerly Origin), Blizzard, and anything else that the community has made a script for.
There's also Lutris, which expands that functionality to a host of other services including GOG, Epic Games Store, EA (formerly Origin), Blizzard, and anything else that the community has made a script for.
Neirda@CdnCurmudgeon @gamingonlinux there is an "progrmam" that allows you to play windows games on linux called proton, you can see the compatibility list here https://www.protondb.com/
Schmaker@gamingonlinux @CdnCurmudgeon Actually, it's pretty much included in #Steam linux client. The emulator is called #Proton and it's based on #WINE (Wine is not an Emulator)
It works great with many games as it's actually implementation of Windows APIs on Linux, it's not emulation. Even 10 years ago, under WINE, some Blizzard games ran better under Linux than under Windows
Michael Emory🎮🐧🔺@gamingonlinux But how will I know what to buy now! 
🌈 Dana@gamingonlinux I've had Windows forever, always Pro version and have never seen an ad. Is that a US thing?
Mangdries@gamingonlinux I’m glad windows 11 added more advertisements and other anti consumer “features” because that’s how I figured out about Linux
Homer 💻 🎮 🎣 🍔🐈@gamingonlinux Unless you pay for the enterprise version of Windows, it's pretty much shareware. There is some good software that fixes a bunch of the issues. But with every update the reintroduce or ad new crappy ads. It's ridiculous how many subsystems there are for ads and telemetry https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster
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https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster
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