The Death of Windows 10

[ernestcarl]

I've already largely switched to Linux (98-99% use time); however, I'll be keeping one or two (with backup images) Windows 10 PC's for only certain software/tasks. I may eventually get a new PC with Windows 12 in the future, but I frankly do not feel any strong impetus for this currently.

 

[SIY]

To put things in perspective, most of the stuff I work with in my day job is running on XP.

 

[MRC01]

I knew someone would give this reply. I am so used to using Adobe Camera Raw that no alternative will do. Libre Office is fine.

Haha. Years ago I used Phase One Capture One but when I discovered RawTherapee, nothing else would do. It's really the cat's meow for processing RAW files.

 

[Ron Texas]

Haha. Years ago I used Phase One Capture One but when I discovered RawTherapee, nothing else would do. It's really the cat's meow for processing RAW files.

I'm glad you like it. Alternatives pop up from time to time. I know someone with a $50k Phase One camera and he uses Phasw one software. All of them are based on DCRaw.

 

[blueone]

To put things in perspective, most of the stuff I work with in my day job is running on XP.

Ah, so you work with Fred Flintstone.

 

[SIY]

Ah, so you work with Fred Flintstone.

Betty.

 

[asrUser]

Just ditch Windows. There are plenty other operating systems.

I tried Ubuntu for an older desktop, never really warmed up to it.

One does not simply stop at that. I also didn't like Ubuntu so I found better ones.

 

[NiagaraPete]

Just saying. I think Windows 3.11 was the last really good release.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Just saying. I think Windows 3.11 was the last really good release.

Surely you jest......everyone knows it was WFW 3.11 that was the real deal.

 

[LTig]

Every year it gets a little easier to find alternatives, many of which are free and open source on all platforms.

For example, GIMP does most of what Photoshop does, RawTherapee is a great photo raw file editor with workflow similar to Phase One Capture One. Libre Office does most of what Microsoft Office does, and is file format compatible. TurboPrint makes inkjet printer drivers that are better than what the manufacturers provide on Windows & MacOS. VueScan makes one of the best photo scanner apps, JAlbum for creating online photo albums, Audacity for full featured audio file editing, REW for audio measurement, Zoom has a native Linux client, Thunderbird for email, Evernote has a native Linux client, Etc.

Add Darktable as photo raw editor (other than Raw Therapee it supports masks) and Scribus as desktop publishing program (like Quark Express or Adobe Indesign).

Of course there still is the occasional program that only runs on Windows or MacOS with no Linux alternative, but thankfully, fewer of them every year.

Yep, like m.objects (multivision live shows) or my income tax calculation program. For both I use Win 10 notebooks.

 

[mhardy6647]

I liked WinNT.
New Technology, baby!

 

[Rick Sykora]

If you (like I) have watched Microsoft attempt to manage Window's end-of-life, you know they are constantly adjusting their message. This latest 2025 date is likely just another attempt to test the market acceptance of the proposed timeline. We know businesses are likely to push back and force some compromise (that will likely make it easier for consumers too). This is my guess based on past Microsoft behavior. That said, excess hardware resources and technologies make prognostication less clear. Namely, virtualization obscures these timelines...

If you can run Windows in a virtualized environment on your own PC or perhaps on a cloud server, the focus for security updates falls more into the domain of the host OS and its maintenance. As processor bandwidth has now exceeded the needs of many users, virtualization becomes a more economically viable option for many applications. This assumes there is value in maintaining old applications in a future where technology advancement obsoletes them much more quickly than in the past.

If technology does not obsolete us, am pretty confident it will soon relieve us of such mundane concerns as whether Microsoft is no longer updating Windows.

 

[Galliardist]

I liked WinNT.
New Technology, baby!

It was fine until you installed a printer driver. Ahead of its time!

 

[Dismayed]

I liked WinNT.
New Technology, baby!

I used NT at work, and OS/2 Warp at home. That was when I worked in medical diagnostics - we developed a blood gas analyzer on OS/2. IBM missed the boat on marketing. Absolutely a mission-critical system.

 

[Galliardist]

On the subject of TPM chips, you can buy replacements. Most of the time.

The problem that's hit me is that the AMD chip "gaming" machine has a firmware TPM bug that started crashing Windows 11 and now does it to 10 as well. And the motherboard doesn't have the connector for either the ASUS motherboard one or any generic alternative. The supplier won't take responsibility as of course the hardware is functioning exactly as supplied, and I can't replace the board because it's a special design. So it's new computer time for me, as I have to learn Windows 11 features for when I return to work later this year.

I'll find a Linux user to take the current machine off my hands cheap, I guess. Part prices don't seem to make building my own viable for my purposes at the moment.

 

[Ron Texas]

@Rick Sykora I think there may be an extension due to the amount of cyber trash which will be generated.

@Galliardist Win 11 isn't very different from Win 10. I looked at buying a TPM chip but found there was no way to assure compatibility. I decided to do a motherboard/CPU/Memory swap and carry over the rest of the hardware. The case, PSU and so forth was worth more to me than I could ever get for that entire computer used. My minimum for selling anything on Craig's list is $100 after negotiations. Anything less than that isn't worth the effort.

 

[olbobcat]

Frankly, I struggle to understand the criticisms of windows 10, in my experience it is a very stable operating system, I have been using it to work in the operating room 8/10 hours at least 4 times a week for years and years, and I don't remember having had any serious problems any kind.
In the period of Windows Vista I used Ubuntu and Xubuntu, I found them well, and compared to more austere and spartan distrubutions of Linux I found them good operating systems, quite easy even for relatively inexperienced users like me, with some limitations due to the software , but when I tested the windows 10 feature I went back to Microsoft without looking back and never regretted it

It is not that it does not work for me, it's all the extra bloat that I don't need and nothing to make my life simpler in the OS. I started
working on computers in the DOS days. I don't think I should have to go command line to do some of the simple tasks. Basically, the operating system has changed little
since XP, or even 98. I think that I am having to go Linux when I install new firewall hardware. It has been a while. Basically, I don't like to think that hard anymore.

 

[Galliardist]

@Rick Sykora I think there may be an extension due to the amount of cyber trash which will be generated.

@Galliardist Win 11 isn't very different from Win 10. I looked at buying a TPM chip but found there was no way to assure compatibility. I decided to do a motherboard/CPU/Memory swap and carry over the rest of the hardware. The case, PSU and so forth was worth more to me than I could ever get for that entire computer used. My minimum for selling anything on Craig's list is $100 after negotiations. Anything less than that isn't worth the effort.

In the past I used tbe same case for multiple builds. This last machine I had to buy quickly in the middle of covid when I could barely move let alone assemble anything.

I could reuse some of the parts but it’s as cheap to buy a populated machine right now.

Windows 10 doesn’t need a TPM and in practice you can get away without one for Windows 11.
Other Microsoft software is where things go wrong for me, or Windows 11 itself when the fTPM is enabled.

EDIT - the case is not reusable on my current machine as none of the standard boards appear to fit.

 

[Music1969]

Linux can be what happens. Not without its own issues, but would you prefer to use the most targeted os without security updates?

I can understand Windows OS is more targeted but is Linux actually more secure ?

 

[MRC01]

Jokes aside, the first semi-stable OS from Microsoft was Windows NT 3.51. They couldn't do it themselves, they had to hire David Cutler from DEC to pull it off.