As soon as I read about Windows 11 hardware requirements, I moved my i7 4790k 16gb + Nvidia 3080TI fully to Linux, no dual boot. And endured the first 3 weeks of having to learn to work with different tools.

Screw those anti-consumer tactics.

The vast majority of people just want a computer to do computer things and could care less about what it does other than that. Microsoft will continue to make installing Linux a huge pain and the manufacturers of hardware will continue to prefer windows for kickbacks and internal politics. There will be an uptick, but the fragmented ecosystem, lack of support for even just a handful of programs (thanks anti-cheat), and the fact they dominate the market will mean windows users will almost all use whatever windows forces them to use.

Anyone who thinks this is the last straw underestimates the tolerance of the general population to anti user BS. I would say the only thing that would meaningfully change market share would be if somehow MS changed every background to a dick and refused to change it because that is what their product team said people wanted. Even then it would only be like 5% who would string together both the will and the know how to switch their OS.

I dualbooted a lot in the past. Windows 10 with Debian, Linux Mint and tried some different distributions out. I wiped windows of my disk because all of the “you must login”, constant message bombing and the horrible UI experience. Combined with the telemetry, spying and the constantly connections being made to Microsoft servers (i viewed wireshark for a while, and even in idle its constantly phoning home). Also tpm and the plan to bring the desktop to the cloud is what I dislike.

Since one year I am more than happy with Debian, customised my desktop with xfce4 and dwm. Feeling good to be free.

I’d call it the year of Linux gaming. Valve is trying really hard to get their services away from Microsoft.