"240 million PCs could end up in landfills when Windows 10 support ends"
Sure.
Or they could be repurposed with #Linux or Chrome OS Flex, or #FreeBSD, and we can stop being so freaking dramatic.
If you just browse, watch Netflix, shop, net banking, etc, Linux distributions like Mint or Ubuntu could save you money. It is an environment-friendly option.
Not to mention that #CensorBoot aka. "#SecureBoot" is insecure by #Microsoft's own admission, so all it achieves is #PowerAbuse by putting in another extra step to make #Linux work that has nothing to do with #Security and entirely with pissing off users.
@nixCraft And it isn't as if they can't continue to run Windows 10 just because support ended. Heck, some computers still run Windows 7. Switching to Linux makes sense for security and the latest features of course, but either way it's beyond mere idiocy to claim that just because one piece of software stops having updates the entire system is trash. Frankly it's a little bit insulting to the intelligence of their readers and harmful if anyone actually thinks that way to further encourage it.
@nixCraft These headlines drive me CRAZY! Chances are, in "developed" areas of the world, people have more compute power in their phones than they need, let alone a proper PC. Yet we sell people on owning MULTIPLE discrete computers.
Spot on. A system sold with Windows 10, not upgraded to Windows 11, should have NO issues running a Linux or Chrome build and last for YEARS to come.
@SomeGadgetGuy@nixCraft This is also true of Intel-based Macs. When Apple stopped offering updates for my ancient Mac Mini, I installed Linux on it and continued using it as my desktop for years. I only recently rescued a 4-year-old small-form-factor PC to seriously increase my desktop performance. For $90. (I went straight to the same Ubuntu LTS based distro I'd been running on the Mini, didn't bother with Win10)
@dkbgeek@nixCraft That's the way to do it!
I've been having so much fun with these inexpensive mini-PCs, and it shows how little power people REALLY need for what they do on a home computer these days.
We're supposed to get excited about yearly iteration, but an 8th gen core i5 is still a SOLID piece of hardware.
@SomeGadgetGuy@nixCraft Are there people who get new computers every year because "Oooh, shiny new!" like the iPeople are with new iPhones?
I actually DREAD migrating to a new machine and getting everything "just so" again. My 4ish-yr-old work laptop is going to be replaced because policy is to replace w/ new instead of just replacing the battery that's turning into a spicy pillow. THAT migration will be FUN (an acronym, y'know.)
@dkbgeek@nixCraft I mean yes, but not very many. More, I feel there are a LOT more people who flip a PC in 2-3 years, when really that system would have been fine going longer.
@SomeGadgetGuy@nixCraft I wonder how much of that is driven by the false economy of buying whatever's on sale at <insert major retailer> when they do buy new machines. When I buy a machine (or back in the day when I built them) I tend to shoot for one step down from the top-tier processor, so less premium for latest-greatest but something that's going to be viable for years, with plenty of RAM and fast storage. That usually lasted me 5+ yrs, which lately is stretching closer to 10.
@dkbgeek@nixCraft oh I definitely think you're on to something there. Buy a cheap machine, in two years it starts to slow down. Then save up and buy a Mac. Complain that "PC worse than Mac". I know family who danced that dance.
It's like pulling teeth to get someone to look above a base model.
Takes even more effort to get people to perform the simplest of maintenance either. Why? Just buy a new one!
@SomeGadgetGuy@nixCraft 100%. This is a typical Microsoft-supporting-hardware-partners by upping the system requirements forcing people to get new machines. They did this with Vista as well.
In my experience the average home user buys the entry level laptop with 4Gb RAM and a Celeron or i3 because of pricing. They probably won't be able to afford a Win12 pc and will stay on 10 until the pc stops working or is so heavy laden with malware it's useless.
@nixCraft and that's why I like to buy refurbs on eBay. These are computers that run well, and for my use case they are perfect. I have three such laptops.
I'm tempted to get a @frameworkcomputer or a @system76 laptop one of these days. I may get it refurbished, though. But the fact that these computers may end up in a landfill because #Microsoft stops supporting its POS operating system rubs me the wrong way. 😒
@nixCraft I was told they needed to go back to Dell. I had employees stop me on the hallways and ask me if they could purchase their laptops from the company. Others enquired about donating them to a school or other organizations.
Nope. They all had to go back.
I want to remain optimistic and I want to think that most, if not all, were refurbished, or responsibly recycled. I mean, these are older laptops that could run Mint, for example, without a flaw. 2/
@nixCraft the following is a true story. It may be lengthy.
About five years ago I worked at a company that divested itself from another. This meant new computers, new infrastructure, the works.
One of the things I was asked to do (I managed the Service Desk) was to coordinate the collection and replacement of all of the laptops deployed in the company with brand new Dells. The average age of these laptops was about 3 years, give or take. Some were less than a year old. 1/
@nixCraft this was also a nothingburger anyway because you could still run Win11 on these machines just fine. the people writing these articles just didn't understand TPMs or Microsoft's installation policy.
(TL;DR a lot of these machines have suitable fTPM anyway so would work just fine, and you can still install Win11 anyway without it as long as you agree to it being "officially unsupported" which doesn't actually mean anything because no end-users use any kind of paid MS support anyway)
@nixCraft rampant consumerism and OS inflexibility have led us to this point.
Every once in awhile I change distros and I inevitably hear about how Windows "just doesn't change", except that it does, often, and not for the better.
@nixCraft Based off my experience, at least home users will just keep using them oblivious of the end of support until they break. That's assuming they're even turned on.
@nixCraft I see people still using Windows 7 laptops or PCs in 2023, so I don't see much problem with it. Not everyone needs to have the latest and greatest.
@nixCraft I think, nowadays, most PC owners are companies...
At least I don't see many individuals using more than their phones. Those who aren't employees, usually are students. They own relatively new laptops.
So yeah, those PCs go to landfill unless M$ pushes an update that allows these to upgrade to Win 11.
PS: here, in Romania, I still see Windows 7 and 8 computers so, I'm sure, not many Win 10 machines will go to waste :))
@nixCraft Oh, absolutely. I've got two low-powered Apple laptops that are abandonware. They work great on Lubuntu. Imagine what you can do with hardware that isn't so locked down.
To anyone reading this who is anxious about making their own DVD/USB, go to your library, they may have a Linux DVD on hand. Borrow a DVD drive and run it. I started that way. I'm happily burning my own stuff, now.
Good luck! :blobpeek:
@nixCraft also, if windows 10 wasn't such a trash operating system on lame hardware most of those would be skimmed by hardware enthusiasts and loved again like the pre-7 systems. So really who's fault is all this ewaste but a company who no longer provides a good or service anybody wants to buy and instead hangs on as a corporate leach with a dying niche.
@nixCraft problem is with so many of those machines drivers are a pain with so many proprietary bits of hardware making it daunting for a Linux newbie, especially on laptops. I do go through a process, when we last moved, of converting older machines to Linux and struggled with some, but eventually got everything working before giving them away. I know of at least a couple still going strong :)
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