Charlie Stross2d ago

How to stay on Windows 10 instead of installing Linux (by @lproven): Turns out that Microsoft will support Windows 10 until 2032 *if* you can live without their cloud and AI bullshit: just download/install an obscure version aimed at corporate clients who want long-term support:

https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/22/windows_10_ltsc/?td=rt-3a

(I'm a macOS/Linux guy, but if I had an old Win10 box and wanted to avoid Windows 11 and Recall this would be a great way forward)

How to stay on Windows 10 instead of installing Linux

: Can't run Windows 11? Don't want to? There are surprisingly legal options

The Register
Show threadEmil Jacobs - Collectifission2d ago
@cstross Or, hear me out, we help people install Linux. Great community building opportunity 😄
Show threadCharlie Stross2d ago
@collectifission Great *cat-hoovering* opportunity, you mean. (Linux is a great way to lose days and weeks tweaking your system until it works kinda-sorta they way you want it to, and it only got worse once the on-boarding process moved from RTFM to a mixture of RTFSC ("read the f'ing source code") and goddamn YouTube videos optimized to max out the pundit's earnings rather than help you fix your problem.
Show threadjohn r red-horse1d ago

@cstross

That has not been my experience.

But that doesn't mean that switching to a totally free OS that won't track your every move won't require some investment of your time.

@collectifission

Show threadCharlie Stross1d ago
@jrredho @collectifission I wrote a monthly magazine column about FOSS (and Linux) for several years back in the 00s; I worked for a Unix VAR for years before that, I think I have a reasonable grasp of the subject. "Some investment of your time" is MASSIVELY low-balling it.
Show threadjohn r red-horse

@cstross

No one is questioning your acumen or your pedigree.

There are many #linux distributions that are tailored for relative novices, such as #Mint and maybe #ubuntu These same distros often have tremendous help forums contibutors that are really helpful and polite should you have problems or questions.

Besides, if things are always so easy and clearcut with Windows OS, why are there so many Web resources dedicated to solving problems involving it?

@collectifission

Apr 23 at 8:36pmWeb
Show threadBuxton The Red (Matt)1d ago

@jrredho Mint is generally great and I generally love it.

A few months back, I turned a pile of very old Winbox-leftovers in to a nice Linux-for-modest-needs machine. Audio was required. Mint *COULD NOT* understand the on-motherboard audio. Didn't work. At all.

I burned hours of my life trying to make it work before giving up and plugging in a generic USB audio device instead.

And that's hours of "someone with a comp sci degree and a remarkably high tolerance for technical bother and nuisance" time. Someone who was expert at web searching to find answers in the years before Google existed at all.

So no, not even Mint is yet ready for me to suggest it to my Dad - who has genuinely asked me what to do about the impending Win10 "EOL".

Show threadjohn r red-horse1d ago

@BuxtonTheRed

Yeah, it's breakable. No doubt. It sounds like the BIOS firmware on the motherboard were incompatible with likely any flavor of linux.

I actually tried to include "if the hardware is compatible, which is possible to check" to my response, but I ran out of characters. :)

But, should you get a version installed on a compatible computer. Generally, non-techie people need a browser, a pdf reader, and an MS Office replacement. All of those are available. That ain't rocket science.