Linux

This includes the Linux greybeards too.

I never switched to Windows, but switched directly from AmigaOS to Linux, in 1994.

Windows 10

Was using Tiny 10/modified Windows 10,but switched to Linux Mint beacuse of low system requirements and low resource usage,as I have 15 year old PC

Windows XP. I worked MSN tech support the year Blaster hit. I remember droning through the same repair steps every 15 minutes with caller after caller in a neverending stream that lasted for weeks.

After a couple of weeks of this, my coworkers and I had a weekend off together and we planned to party it up and blow off some steam with a LAN Party with Freelancer and beers. I had my comp all prepped and ready, it was freshly reinstalled and the game had been tested and benchmarked.

I came home from a long shift to find the one of the new Blaster variants, which used a new vulnerability that had not been patched until I had been at work that day. It had triggered so many reboots while I was at work it triggered NTFS corruption somehow. I had to reinstall.. And I had done nothing to deserve that.

That virus fucking broke me. I went to work after that weekend and went to the Linux guru in Tier 3, and said "Teach me".

I have never looked back with the exception of having to install it for a specific reason, and I'm usually appalled at the state of it. I just had to install Win 11 for a Google Cloud certification exam (DaFuq!?!?!) and with all the issues I encountered it took about 6 hours to get it ready for the exam. Win11 doesn't come with network drivers anymore? Two NICs and a WiFi card in my machine, and none of them had drivers in the install. Nice to see we've gone full cycle back to Windows ME, except the OEM bloatware is a core part of the OS.

When my wife finally dropped Windows a month ago between the ads and recall, it marked the death of daily users of Windows in our house. I'm raising my kid on Linux.

Windows 10. It was during the pandemic (late 2020), and I saw a Mutahar video of his desktop (at the time, I did not know of KDE Plasma, just gnome, unity and cinnamon) and I was like "Whoa, his desktop looks so much better than when I remember using linux. I should install Arch because that is what he used to get that desktop."

I have used linux before on Fedora, Mint and Ubuntu, so installing arch using a youtube tutorial was not going to be that hard. Although it did take 2 days (Mostly procrastination and fear).

I will say this: I have a 98 computer and an XP computer for me to use, and I found those UIs better than in Windows 10. When I switched to linux with KDE Plasma, the oldschool UIs could not compete. Plasma is just THAT good.

I was also madly in love, with me calling KDE Plasma like being in a dream, and using Windows 10 is like waking up to the cold old stale office life.

What great timing too, with Proton kicking off right at the same time too, eventually me removing the need to dual boot.

TL;DR: I switched because I found out about KDE Plasma, and linux gaming was becoming infinitly better.

Greybeard here.

I worked for a company with a wild mix of DOS, Win 3.1, and Win 3.11. Then we got new PCs, some ethernet hubs and switches (instead of the damn coax cable with terminators) and started to move to Win95.

Win 95 was a beast. It came in a bunch of floppies. It took ages to install, and you'd find after one hour that the last floppy was corrupt. Also, on our cheap hardware (Siemens-Nixdorf Pentium PCs) sometimes the sound card or the ethernet card would go missing. Nothing short of a reinstall would solve it. Temporarily, of course.

The Win 98 came along. All our problems were solved. It was a 32 floppy install job, if memory serves. No, no CDs on our company. Still, it crashed a lot, and Microsoft Office had a tendency to simply destroy 100+ page documents when it was not crashing.

At home I used Windows, because how else am I going to play games, right? But I kept experimenting with Linux, and liked what I saw. There were many pieces missing (no USB for a very loooong time, for instance), but what was there was rock solid compared to Windows. And you could COMPILE YOUR OWN DAMN KERNEL, fer chrissake! How powerful was that?

Eventually, distros started to emerge that made some pain points go away. I remember Corel Linux, Caldera Linux, Mandrake, RedHat, etc. I settled with Debian because 'apt-get dis-upgrade', of course. Then Ubuntu came along and made Linux more pretty and usable for simple folk. They even sent you a free CD by mail if you asked them.

I got ever more tired of Windows nuking my boot sector, the viruses (virii?), the hunting around for drivers, the having to throw away good peripherals because windows thought were too old to support.

I made a choice and dropped Windows. I missed a lot of the gaming scene until Wine and Steam caught up with the state of the art. In the mean time I made use of emulators and had a good time playing console and arcade games.

Oh I was teased about it. Fellow IT workers (proper MSCE type people) would give me a hard time because "Linux has no future", "Unix is dying". I guess the future proved I was right. I now earn more that they do.

Windows 98 second edition By then i was bored with windows and a friend told me about Linux and i haven't looked back.

Windows was but a brief interlude between AmigaOS and Linux.

Windows 2000

My "main" OS timeline was:

• Apple II/C64
• MS-DOS
• OS/2
• Linux

Technically I used windows 3.1 at times in DOS and OS/2 for some specific piece of software, but it was never what I primarily used and I don't consider Windows 3.1 a proper operating system, it's just a desktop environment.

Not sure exactly when, but I know by 2000 I was fully on board the Linux train.

Started using Linux in the days of floppy boot and root diskettes. Lived through the days of hand-crafted SLIP scripts for dial up internet. The days of needing to pay for working sound drivers. Manually calculating modelines in Xfree86.

I have primarily used Windows at work, probably been 99% windows and 1% Unix/Linux. I have had windows laptops and virtual machines for certain specific use cases but it has never been my main.

Vista because of license shenanigans. I tried to upgrade from XP and the license wouldn't activate. Support told me my upgrade license wasn't compatible with my XP license, like pro vs home or some crap. I was reinstalling Vista every 30 days for a while, I even got it down to like 15 minutes using a slipstreamed DVD with all the stuff I cared about being installed with the OS. It was manageable but annoying since I paid for the OS and the upgrade but couldn't really use it. Then I took intro to unix and found out linux is free, I'd heard of linux but didn't know it was free. I didn't know what a distro was, I wasted a bunch of time trying to download linux from kernel.org and I couldn't figure out how to get linux to work. Eventually I stumbled upon Ubuntu. Folks, you might not believe this but once upon a time Ubuntu used to be great for newbies. I can still hear the startup music (which was the style at the time) and the african drums. My printer just fucking worked. Firefox and libreoffice just worked, although I quickly learned to turn in deliverables as pdf exports. There were some learning pains but nothing that was any more difficult than random shit that pops up in windows, at least with linux I might get a useful error to point me in the right direction and there was always someone out there smarter than me that posted how to fix it. I haven't looked back.

Windows 7, when they removed focus stealing prevention. I switched to KDE and was so much happier.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/applications-stealing-focus-reg-key-no-longer/4ee5be7d-31ef-493b-b092-f6f6139f99cd?

Windows 95, I am ashame to admit I touched it

I used Windows 11 on my tablet. Might I say 95° CPU when no applications are turned on is not okay. And the fans being 5000 RPM with NOTHING turned on since buying the tablet. And all the telemetry, tracking, ads, abuse, bloat, malware, spyware, blah blah blah. After switching to Fedora, I can barely notice the fans, and even in games they are really silent. The tablet is NEVER hot. Though battery got killed by Windows already, I guess if I'll replace it, I will get more of my tablet.

Somewhat new Linux user Main laptop was win11, tested dual-booting on it slightly Fully committed to Linux when my laptop got infected with copilot Now win11 is just there as a tool for specific hardware while Arch Linux as the main

windows me

i think it should be pretty self explanatory why a switch was necessary. lol

What was the last version of Windows you used before hopping on over?

Windows 7

So what's your reasoning for the change to the reliable and funni penguin OS?

After years of heavily customizing and debloating Windows, i got the itch to create a custom ISO. At that point i realized, Linux would be less work.

Had to use 10 in work, there i used Chocolatey and scoop to manage my (t)rusty toolset.

What was the last version of Windows you used before hopping on over?

Windows95

I got sick of constantly dealing with the BSOD.

Changed only a few weeks ago from Win 11, all the AI crap was creeping in. Using Ubuntu and really enjoying it!

Last Windows I ran full-time was XP, ran Win7 for a couple of months before switching Ubuntu 10.04; still used Win XP and Win7 in VM's for years for specific applications.

Win10 is the OS on the work machines, some of it is really nice, but so much feels backward. I don't get why there is still control panel and the settings app. Why is notepad so shit....

I used Win11 recently, it looks quite nice, more consistent than 10 at least. But everything I have read makes me want to stay away.

Ran Ubuntu LTS's finishing with 20.04, have since been running Mint. Snap's made Ubuntu a worse experience for me.

Straight from the Amiga to Slackware in 97. Never been a Windows fan.

The last Windows I used was Windows 2000 Professional. I bought a new PC, didn't like XP so I switched to Linux full time as I'd been using it more and more anyway. Windows has only gotten worse since then so I've never looked back.

XP..my laptop was an old Acer my mom passed to me and couldn't run vista so I never got it.. Hopped on Ubuntu 09.04

Windows 10, been a year and a half now. I tried ditching windows at least 10 times since 7 came out and I always ended going back because of gaming. Now, my experience is better than it was on windows and every game I go to play works flawlessly. I love it, my computer is mine and my os does what I want it to do.

I was still using XP when Ubuntu 5.10 was released, and when I saw my audio worked out of the box, I switched :-) I had been using Mandrake Linux (since 1999) but only for servers and other work related stuff.

Windows 11.

And I still use it at work, and will continue to until I take the time to test out the things I need to make sure I can get them to work correctly.

I don't remember exactly what the tipping point was, but I just got so sick of every little issue, and the copilot crap certainly contributed. Basically got tired of my computer that I paid for being treated like they own it instead of me.

I came very close to switching back around 2009/2010, but Windows 7 and PowerShell got me to stick around and they really seemed to be turning things around for a while. Other than the start screen, I even really liked Windows 8, and 8.1 fixed the worst parts of the start screen.

I've used Linux for servers and just messing around since about 2005.

A few months ago, I rebuilt my PC desktop and got two nvme drives so I could put Linux on one and Windows on another (I know I can put them on the same drive but I knew if I did that deciding how to slice it up would lock me up and risk me never being willing to actually take the plunge)

Installed Linux on the first one. The second one is still unformatted and I'm now planning on using it for additional space for my games. I have no desire to go back. Only just yesterday figured out my graphics driver was not working right/was operating at a very basic level and even with that everything just felt so smooth overall (and got even better after fixing that)

I last used Windows NT 4.0

The internet was just starting to get interesting. Windows had software to browse and do e-mail.

Linux had the stuff to power the whole internet. It was just a whole lot more interesting if you wanted to be more than a consumer of the information super-highway.

Win10. Because I don't liked ads in my tile menu. I switched my PC in 2018, and I also switched my laptop. Though I found a 2015 MacBook Pro on which I hackintoshed MacOS Sonoma through OCLP.

I switched to Linux permanently in 2008. Last OS I used before Linux was Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" (if I recall correctly) which is what came with the Macintosh PowerBook that I had bought roughly in the year 2004. I have never used Microsoft software unless someone was paying me to, but at the time, Windows XP was still all the rage even though Microsoft was trying to get everyone to switch to Windows Vista. (Vista got a lot of well-deserved hate too, sort of similar what we see with Windows 11 right now, actually.)

Anyway, I was a die-hard Apple fanboy, but getting more and more into free software and I kept on using Macports/Homebrew to build Linux stuff I found online, but back in those days a lot of apps I wanted to try did not have good support for the Darwin kernel build of GCC which was pretty old compared to what Linux was using at the time. Occasionally a build would fail, and I would try to port the software on my own, with the idea of maybe submitting a package to Macports. But after a while I realized, "if I want to use Linux software, why not just use Linux?"

So I bought a Netbook (Dell Inspiron Mini 10) with Ubuntu pre-installed. I really loved that little computer, I used it for a good 5 years until I needed a more powerful computer. I still have it, actually. I never went back to Apple until this year when I took a new job where they wanted me to use a MacBook Pro. (Again, not using proprietary software unless I am well paid.)

I can say with confidence that Linux is considerably better than Apple's operating systems. I use Aarch64 Debian 12.5 in a QEMU on that MacBook for most things, only switching over to Mac OS when I really need to.

The last Windows version I used was Windows 7 I guess, but merely to play some games. In daily use, the last Windows version I used was Windows XP

Windows 7 starter

Windows 7 Ultimate for me. I still kept it as a boot option on my main PC until about a year ago because I thought I still needed it for a couple windows apps and games.

I tried Win8 at one point and hated the changes. I also tried Win10 and one of those "forced bloody updates" bricked my machine so I said 'fuck that' for good.

I've dabbled in Linux for 20 years, and run Ubuntu on my living room HTPC for at least a dozen. My main PC runs EndeavourOS now and even gaming has been pretty great.

Windows XP. Jumped onto the Linux bandwagon in 2007. I've used newer versions on other's PC's and don't get why people tolerate that shite.

Windows 11. One day my system just shit itself & I’d heard about Microsoft adding ads into Windows. So I figured if a SteamDeck can run games on Linux, so can my PC. Looked up what version SteamDeck ran, downloaded EndeavourOS since it’s Arch like SteamOS, and have been gaming on Linux since.

For personal use it was probably Windows 98 SE.

For professional use i'm currently forced to use Windows 10.

Sadly I can’t help but use windows at work. But in my personal life, that was around 2003. So, XP? Or something like that.

What was the last version of Windows you used before hopping on over?

Windows 10. But I knew that I won't have issues adjusting to Linux because I used WSL everyday and I had gallium os sideloaded on my chromebook.

So what's your reasoning for the change to the reliable and funni penguin OS?

A series of unfortunate events in the span of a month or two along with long persisting issues that made me crack.

I had 2 machines then, a hp laptop and a PC. I used my laptop for school and financial stuff (which was shared with my father) and my PC for programming.

The first issue. The laptop had an update for a long while which it would randomly start and I was not able to put it off. But it always kept failing. It was basically a tradition for me to start my laptop on the tram to school so if there is a pending update, it will try and fail before I need it for schoolwork. I finally cracked, googled the issue and tried to trouble shoot it. The first step was to run a system integrity check. This never finished because when I went back to check up on it, an update had been started. My laptop didn't boot after that because bitlocker couldn't find the keys, even after I would manually input them on the prompt.

The second issue was with my PC. I used WSL everyday. But it would randomly just fail to boot. This was annoying, so I had a script to delete WSL, install it again and install all the packages I needed.

The third issue was also with my PC. I use a us keyboard layout despite not being from the us. This is because the international English keyboard does not input quotation marks when you type them, which makes it difficult to use for programming. But windows switched me to the international keyboard every now and then which made it annoying to code. I tried removing it, but I was not allowed to for whatever reason. What I did was admittedly stupid, but I used regedit and some online help to remove the international keyboard. That didn't work, but all system apps stopped working. I kept using it like this for a bit. Eventually, I got an update. Now I was terrified because I was not able to open settings to postpone this update. I didn't wanna have a repeat of my laptop incident.

So I just finally broke and installed Linux mint. Never looked back, ever. I use arch BTW.

TLDR: laptop got wiped due to a windows update and windows was forcing me to use an international keyboard.

Windows 10, about 6 years ago. My main PC shit the bed after a Windows update. I'd been getting more into Linux through work so I figured I'd give it a shot since I was going to have to reimage it either way. Turned out I didn't need windows for anything I wanted to do, so I never went back.

Windows 10. Last time I used Windows at home was in January. I've completely de-googled and was looking to get rid of as much privacy invasion as I could.

So what's your reasoning for the change to the reliable and funni penguin OS?

I sold my laptop and was waiting for a good deal on PC parts. I was using my Steam Deck as my full time PC and had a really good experience. Decided to try Linux full time on the new PC.

Honestly, I've tried Linux many times previously (last was a year prior) and could never get over troubleshooting problems. The online community helped sometimes. Other times they told me go look up how to compile my own drivers and I got stuck. I would say the whole reason I've been able to change permanently has been down to AI. Now when I get stuck, ChatGPT just tells me how to fix a problem in 2 or 3 commands. Once the initial setup was done and I solved the setup problems, I don't have to go back to AI at all anymore.

Windows 10, but before Windows 11 was even leaked I believe.

Windows 8.1 was my last version before I made the switch. Windows 8 was horrible. The Metro UI broke all my habits from Windows XP from 7 while also making it harder to tweak my system. By the time 8.1 came out, I'd found enough ways around the main annoyances that its improvements were moot, but many issues remained, such as the bloatware bundled with my PC, and frequent slowness and instability.

As for why I switched, I was attracted by the free software ideal, and trying to get away from Windows, and I had watched and read several things that further convinced me it was superior, but I think the ultimate reason was that I had become hyperfixated on Linux. Thankfully, in this case, autism did not steer me wrong. My level of obsession with Linux has declined, but I still enjoy using my computer much more than I ever did or would on Windows.

Windows 10.

I wanted customization. Windows provided customization, sure, but like in the worst way possible. Want to change the system colors or what buttons look like? Download this third party theme and apply it with bloated tools that are probably malware in disguise!

Meanwhile on Linux (NixOS), I can just change a few lines in my dotfiles and it works. Sometimes it's inconvenient but I'm not really looking for convenience.

Like many, it hasn't been a clean "yesterday windows, today linux" thing for me. In 2004, I switched from a Dell Latitude (Windows) to a Mac, but continued to use Windows for work (because it was required), then I switched my most recent Macbook Air to Linux, kept another Mac around running macos, and still use Windows at work (because it's a requirement). I expect I'm going to be Linux-first from now on (so macos's days are numbered around here), but still use Windows at work.

I'm kinda bummed about moving on from macos, but the iOSification is just awful. The OS feels confused and bloated now. I honestly think Apple is due for a pretty serious reset and consolidation of operating systems.

Windows 10. My PC doesn't have TPM and I'm not buying new hardware to accommodate Microsoft's nonsense so that's that. Plus I only keep Windows around as a dual-boot option for like 2 things that don't run on Linux anyway, so it'll get phased out eventually.