this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
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Really trying not to be that “use Linux” person, but it’s easy to underestimate the impact this has on user perception. It was communicated to me by these actions that this isn’t my computer. It kept pissing me off, so I went with something that respects me.
I think Microsoft is okay with that because their operating system isn’t a main profit center anymore. It’s cloud stuff.
The Win10 machine I got in 2020 will be my last Windows computer now that gaming on Linux is basically solved.
Can you tell me how gaming on Linux is solved? It’s the only reason I use windows still.
Start with protondb
In my case, many of my games are purchased through Steam, which automatically handles Linux compatibility for most games. The product page of the game lists the compatible operating systems as SteamOS, Linux, or SteamPlay. You can also set up proton directly for other games, which is a fork of Wine that has really good gaming support these days.
I wouldn’t call it a completely solved problem. It’s always possible to find games that just won’t work, but most of them do. Even most DRM works. If the DB covers the games you care about then you’re golden.
People have talked about proton and how it can play practically everything these days (I even got it working with games that don't work with modern windows) but if you play multiplayer games with anti-cheat, here's a useful site https://areweanticheatyet.com/
I'm pretty sure Windows is a key part of their "cloud stuff" strategy. You are right that consumers are not the direct focus of Windows, since they are not the direct paying audience, and that shows in the direction Windows is going, but getting consumers to use Windows is a big part of creating corporate buy in for Microsoft cloud services. Corporate environments will shun Microsoft cloud services if employees can't use Windows, or Windows features run afoul of corporate policies (like blanket LLM bans).
Over the years, Microsoft has been quietly taking away control from the users.
There's been a transition from normal settings that you can do whatever you want with, to "yes / remind me later" settings that Microsoft uses to badger you until you submit, to finally just no setting at all - just quiet compulsory data collection and surveillance; with various bits of mysterious software that you can't uninstall or disable or halt - because you're not the admin - Microsoft is.
It wasn't always this way.
It’s not even good for non technical users. Microsoft takes admin responsibility, but then they manage it poorly by applying updates that haven’t been properly tested and using your system as the guinea pig.
I’ve seen this happen to family. Forced update comes in, breaks system.