Digit

Better to escape the user lock-in (and other) malicious anti-features of proprietary software, going for more of a fully Free Software system.

I showed my uncle a bunch of different distros… I thought for sure he’d go for Scientific Linux. But nope. He took to puppy. And has been daily driving it for well over a decade.

If I were in that situation, one thing I’d consider trying… get 2 USB pendrives, one to put a Live/Installer distro on (Devuan, or AntiX being the two friendliest of my likely candidate distros (or VoidLinux, Artix or Gentoo if feeling a little more bold)), and a bigger one to install the distro to, just like it’s a HD or SSD, to see if “everything works”. Then can decide from there if wanting to just carry on from there living like that, or, move to the main SSD.

M$ Windoze gets slower by the day, by design. Just one of many anti-features abusing the user used. Planned obsolescence, actively engaged, to encourage you that you need to buy the new version, and new hardware. Stick a GNU+Linux or a BSD on it, and then surprisingly the hardware’s nippy again, for over a decade more, sparing your kindeys.

Edit: But to your point, anyone brave enough to drop an Ubuntu Live CD into their system 25 years ago often had a surprisingly smooth path and could already do critical stuff like email or writing a document. (But there were many more exceptions, edge cases, and work arounds, back then.)

Anyone dropping an Ubungu Live CD into their system 25 years ago in January 2001 must have been a time traveller, since the first release of Ubuntu was only out in October 2004, only available as an install CD, and there wasn’t an Ubuntu Live CD until the first test release of an Ubuntu Live CD in June 2006.

I remember when Live CDs first became a thing. I thought, for sure, now, everybody will be able to switch to Linux, without fear, able to try it first, before installing to their hard drive.

Hah!

Here we are 20 calendar years later, ~ and sure, it’s probably around 10x the size of userbase of desktop GNU+Linux, rising past 5% market share, but it’s hardly “The Year Of The Linux Desktop” Like I thought was coming in 2007, especially when the next increment of bloat and abuse that is Win7 came along. … Maybe for sure now that Win11’s taking screenshots every 10 seconds and calling home, and all the adverts in your operating system interface and further nerfed capabilities and annoying babying and and and… Just how many abuses can Microsoft keep getting away with and people will still keep using it!? Now you need to buy hyper inflated new hardware too?? It’s almost like they’re trying their hardest to sluff off their userbase, but people keep staying for the punishment of the intentional enshitifications.

I was dual booting for a while until I realized I hadn’t been into the Windows one in months because it was a pain in the ass for various reasons. So I just got rid of it.

A very old familiar story over the past couple decades or so.

I’ve made peace with the fact that I won’t be able to play certain games. Their loss

Yup.

It shall continue being good to see other people get this, taking their power back, ceasing being their games dealer’s bitch.

Yup.

Ditto.

Yeah, though would be better if the well were not poisoned, misleading perceptions, with words like “brave” and “now”.

'zacly.

Best reply.

It’s been good for the average PC user for like 25 years.

IFTFY

Linux very much is obscure

To paraphrase Bill Hicks about drugs…

See, I think drugs Linuxes have done some good things for us! I really do. And if you don’t believe drugs Linuxes have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight, take all your albums bookmarks, all your tapes links and all your CDs websites and burn 'em. 'Cause you know what? The musicians servers who made host all that great music web content that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years?

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreal fuckin’ high hosted on drugs Linux.

:3 Well, that nearly worked. n_n

(I had intended to add a “they[servers]'re all running linux” meme… but failed to find… instead, this’ll do nicely too…)

https://images3.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED455/6859360c6abcc.jpeg

brave enough

It was good enough for me at least as early as 2003.

It took no bravery to say.

I wonder why it takes Joshua Wolens any bravery to say “linux is good now, and if you want to feel like you actually own your PC, make 2026 the year of Linux on (your) desktop”. I’ll skip writing a list of possibilities (~ most which would not be kind to the content of his character).

I’m all-in, baby. I’m committed.

This is the way. :)

PS, it’s the “Free Software” (Free As In Freedom ~ Free to use, study, share, change, as you wish), not the “Linux” that really matters, in the long run.