Hi everybody,
it’s that time again, that happens approx. every 10 or so years: A Windows version is reaching its end of life.
I was doing some research and asked Brave Search about it. And the facts said that Windows 10 has 47% of overall Windows market share, which is roughly 35% of the overall share. Let’s just hope that they will do the right thing and switch to Linux.
They will do nothing until a problem arises.
Then they will expect an instant solution.
Is Linux an instant dropin solution?
If Linux is not ready, can we get it ready in a hurry?
I would think that @callpaul.eu has this covered in his locale, but what about other countries?
The problem arises when they are forced to upgrade their hardware, caused by an unwanted OS shift. But I stopped trying to relieve someone’s Windows addiction.
It’s strange. As soon as they see, that LO-Writer doesn’t look like MS-Word etc. the interest to change shrinks. OTOH they accept enforced hardware upgrades and massive cluttering of their OS with ads, AI stuff and other rubbish. You can understand it, but you don’t have to.
and when they find out they have to sell their souls to MS in order to keep the precious Windoze apps alive (and the work-arounds no longer work around registration)… perhaps then, the penny will drop (or not).
I think most of the affected users will just continue to use an unsupported (no security fixes) Win 10.
The minority of the affected users will enter the free ESU for home users.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/extended-security-updates
So they get one more year to decide wether to buy new hardware for Windows 11 or replace Windows with Linux.
Yeah. Yesterday I had to start my Win10 (vmware) again after a rather long time. Besides some security fixes, it appears to be quiet now. This means it no longer bugs me with Win11 upgrading. 
Yes but I still find some will not change even when looking at the costs involved
I have a friend who went back to the UK to live and her window machine died, she could not find a linux tech anywhere around her home despite many calls to computer shops.
I have the same with Win7… my last paid Win. I have never needed it, but it is there in case
Looking in the wrong place. Try the University or a Research Lab.
I suggest the local school or college but in the end the local shop sold her another window machine
We were principally a MS based software house but I would still have a go fixing an issue - indeed, my son (still at school then) helped out with a local lawyer firm who ran a Unix system. Perhaps these days, computer shops are only interested in making a fast buck and don’t have (nor interested in) developing the skill set to solve problems outside their comfort zone (sod the customer!)…
Bit like garages these days - no engineering skill just part fitters.
Is being dissatisfied with some other OS a healthy reason to switch to Linux?
I would suggest that people choosing Linux for positive reasons are the type of people we need to attract..
Example: Linux is a really good environment for programming. We probably already own most of the world’s programmers.
or is it that they own us…
Unfortunately, where I work, the majority are on Mac and some on Windows. None are on Linux. Sigh.
I have a dual boot Windows 10 / Ubuntu computer for home. I happened to reboot it yesterday and was prompted that support was ending soon. I opted in to a free one-year extension. I believe that is because I also have an Office 365 subscription. Not everyone will have that.
So has Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8!!! But they still run well with the hardware I have, so a dual boot with, Gentoo, gets me internet and Windows becomes my OS for my legacy software!!!
So, if just had to have W10, I would run it for as long as I wish, just keep it off the internet!!!
If you don’t have a subscription, you can also choose to: use Bing search engine and collect “Rewards” points (more like a punishment, worth just about nothing), pay about 50CHF/40 USD or upload tons of data to Microsoft servers.
I can confirm the free with shbscription, tried it out with MS365 in a VM.
Think I have read it is available but only if you have a Microsoft account not sure if that is a address mail but why both to extend you don’t gain much just a few updates
That’s good enough for me
I use Bing search all the time. I can’t understand how people can have such a preference for one search engine over another.
As a programming environment Mac ( which is BSD) is probably superior to Linux.
I feel sorry for those struggling souls trying to program on Win.
