Linux

The right answer is definitely not landfill.

Most people use their computers to run a web browser, maybe a word processor or media player, and... not much else. Even someone who has only used Windows can figure out those basics on a Linux desktop.

If the charities are unable/unwilling to provide support for Linux, they could give computers away on Craigslist before dumping more e-waste into our environment.

That doesn't sound like a tough choice at all...

Install Linux on them and give them to school children so they can go to school online and not have to worry about being shot. I also see a lot of lithium in that pile.

sounds like an easy choice

The article mentions how basic programs are missing. They acknowledge the existence of FOSS alternatives, e.g. GIMP instead of Photoshop Elements, but complain about it being too difficult or that some alternatives are simply not to be found via Mint's "Software Manager".

Which is not news and probably one of the reasons why desktop Linux-based distros have still not become mainstream. There's just a lack of all that "user-friendlyness" less tech-oriented people need.

These things can be changed, although there is an economic barrier. FOSS projects are great and we see how many of them took off. However, if the main portion of users are not on Linux, but on Windoofs, then it doesn't make much sense to invest time and money into developing and maintaining software for Linux while having commercial interests.
The sad reality is that Microsoft has gained that market dominance. You won't get end-user oriented software companies on board with Linux as long as the user-share is so comparably low. This is a self-reinforcing cycle.

Windoofs meets UX needs and there is a lot of software people need -> most people use Windoofs -> companies develop and distribute for Windoofs -> people keep using Windoofs, etc..

To break out of that, people need convincing alternatives. Not just for Linux alone, but especially for the software running on it.

Which is hard to achieve, given how a plethora of Linux projects have to survive on donations alone and too few companies take the leap.

There is a silver lining though. With the Steam Deck and Proton, Valve really got a lot more people on board with Linux. I can only hope, that this trend continues.

But at the moment I fear that this will be short lived, especially with Microsofts "handheld Xbox" on the horizon.

So let's see, how this unfolds. The EOL of Windows 10 is really a strong incentive to switch to Linux. For my part, I will go for the full switch, since I've used Windoofs mainly for gaming anyway and am using Linux systems daily for my job. But then again, I am an engineering scientist and I can't picture, e.g., my parents being satisfied with a Linux distro.

How much ewaste has Microsoft caused just by wanting to sell more copies of the next version of windows.

It breaks my heart that so much of these will end up in landfills. Resell them. Or send them to device recycling. There’s a shitload of rare earths in modern-ish but obsolete computers. And downcycling is possible too - my router is an old Lenovo thin client with a dual port 10g SFP+ card slapped in it.

I’m so tempted to do a charity program on my own and just receive 50k of these and put Ubuntu 24.04 or another user friendly Linux and drive around with my car trunk open and with a sign that says “free computers” while driving through New York

... that's a really compelling reason for linux.

I mean the next few years are going to be rough. Being able to recycle these things for basic use is going to be huge. Windows, mac, people need the internet more than anything else. It's a sad way to gain adoption but it could be insanely impactful...

Back in the day, there was a distributed cluster OS called Mosix. Even back then I had several spare computers lying about, and the idea of being able to chain them all together and have one virtual computer that would automatically distribute processing without special coding was enticing. It turned out to not work very well unless you did specially code for it, or clustered the computers very tightly with fiber; it just wasn't worth it.

But when I see piles of compute like this, a part of my still wants to network them all together and run ... well, whatever fills the shoes of OpenMosix these days, if anything does.

I think there are a lot of gunky software out there that only works on Windows. I tried getting my mom on Linux but I was unable to find any good open source sewing and graphic alternatives to the expensive lock in hardware that she had already bought.

Although I doubt these are the kind of road blocks charities are facing.

I really hope people decide to leave windows finally.

Looking at the used market where I live, quite a large number of laptops are already sold with Windows 11 installed even when officially unsuported. Activated with MAS as well, probably.

Any organization that promotes Linux should find some of these charities nearby and offer to assist them in installing Linux distros that feel like Windows. We need not divert this into an argument over which ones are best. The point is that besides keeping a lot of hardware out of landfills it would help spread awareness of how user friendly Linux has become. I've been using Mint Cinnamon for over a month and barely notice the difference from Win10.

One-click Linux cluster. Local compute, NAS, or self-hosting. Be a shame if it all ended in landfill.

I understand that people need to be a bit more tech savvy to use Linux over windows but I reckon that KDE for example is really similar to windows (but actually much much better) and with the ai chatbots we currently have available I reckon any non-tech users would be able solve most of the issues with the chatbot’s help

This is the honest headline we deserve.

One thing I wonder about Linux is the OOBE for new users. A lot of Linux distros have you create the user and whatnot when you install the OS; it's not always intuitive on making a new user account to personalize. It'd make it a lot easier to preinstall distros and then let the user deal with finishing setup to their needs.