[A]n INI configuration file in the Windows Canary channel, discovered by German website Deskmodder, includes references to a “Subscription Edition,” “Subscription Type,” and a “subscription status.”
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For the average consumer, this would help Apple and Google out more than anything. People want what they know.
On the more savvy user side and for gamers, this move would, potentially, help Linux adoption rates.
It would help all of their competitors. A non zero number of people would move from windows to each of the others.
Whether or not the number moving away from windows and on to each of the others is significant or not is a different matter.
The biggest thing helping Linux right now is Valve’s work improving the gaming experience, IMO.
Even the rumor of this makes Valve’s focus on Linux seem that much smarter.
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I’ve been meaning to install Linux on my primary gaming PC but haven’t yet due to laziness. This would 100% get me to pull the trigger if/when I ever had to upgrade/reinstall.
valve would be really happy if Microsoft do windows subscription, lmao
For the average consumer, this would help Apple and Google out more than anything. **People want what they know. **
Exactly, which is why this will probably work, do you really think the average consumer that’s used to Windows is going to switch to Mac when they can just pay 5$/month instead? Lol
As long as the price isn’t ridiculous like 50$/month or some shit, the average consumer is just going to pay it lolol
To start, I don’t think it’ll be a “subscribe or else” type deal. My assumption would be something like a forced S mode unless you subscribe.
Second, people won’t jump right away. To start, word will get around and they’ll simply not update. Then, when it comes time to buy a new computer, the average user will be possibly swayed to look at entry level MB Airs (They often go on sale for like $750) or Chromebooks.
The people who will get really pissed will be power users and gamers who will be forced to shell out money to get back features they had in previous versions of the OS.
Honestly, I don’t even think it’ll be S mode. Just Home really and for pro users they’ll end up with the subscription model
Yeah the only people whose minds this will change are agnostic techies
Yup, Chromebooks are already cheap and pretty intuitive, I think this will bump their sales a lot. I’ve ditched windows long ago except for my gaming PC and the PCs at my office (I don’t have a say in those though, I just much prefer Linux
And tablets, which most people seem to be using these days.
I’d switch at that point. I’ve only not switched because the pain isn’t worth the reward right now. I’d have to learn a bunch of new apps and hasn’t been worth it.
Start charging a subscription fee. I’ll learn to use whatever tools a priority.
Trust me, it’s already worth it. Literally every other operating system in existence is better than windows. I’d use Temple OS before going back.
Caveat: if the software you need is supported. Unfortunately that’s the major reason I haven’t switched
And a lot of linux programs take inspiration from Microsoft’s design because they’re the norm. When you think of a word processor you think of Word, same goes for all of Office 365 actually.
I think of Word 2007. All downhill after that…
Edit: Or was it 2011? I can’t even remember anymore…
They implemented the ribbon menu in ~2007 office iirc, somewhen around Vista. 2003 is the old WinXP styled one with all these little menus and buttons, fugly but usable. Is that the one you’ve meant?
No I think it was 2011. Whatever the stable most streamlined release was before Office 365 rolled out.
Aha, okay. So we have different tastes in software. Are we supposed to fight each other now?
If i remember correctly, 2010 introduced the ribbon and 2013 was the last edition before 365 took over
That’s the one!
Does that include the Miley Cirus operating system?
Yes.
Remove the bloatware with a free program like ShutUp10++, and Windows is a fine OS. Linux may very well be better still, but better enough to go through the effort of switching over, reinstalling everything, relearning everything, finding alternatives to programs, etc.? I doubt it. Not for me at least.
Then save yourself and use a Mac! /s
Now that’s just some bullshit and you know it
Haven’t used windows by choice in over a decade, and no regrets.
Start trying some of the open source apps on Windows. For example, try using LibreOffice for a bit and see how it compares to Microsoft Office. You may be surprised to find that the difference isn’t as big as you thought.
LibreOffice works at least as well as Word on its own terms, the problem is how Microsoft deliberately breaks interoperability so you can’t reliably share the documents you create on Libre with people who are going to open them with Word.
Absolutely. Works great for printing or converting to pdf, though. I just export them to docx anyway and see what happens.
Don’t they both use the open format now? .odt? I haven’t needed to use an office suite for a while, but I would have thought that it would force compatibility.
Word does not use odt
Sorry, first chance I’ve had to check.
I’ve just opened a new file in Word and gone to Save As, and .odt is the default choice.
OpenDocument Text (*.odt)
I wish. Try editing a document with tables.
LibreOffice is fine if all you are doing is writing a Dear Princess Celestia letter, but when you actually start doing advanced things, the jankiness of LibreOffice starts to become wasted effort. If I have to spend more time fighting the program than actually doing work, it’s worth the money for Office. Especially at $70/year for M365, which is roughly 1-3 hours of work depending on what job and such.
Unfortunately the difference is huge. It’s not just the cost of learning a new tool, it’s that 10% of really important features are not there. For me for example it was the ability to apply a theme to an existing presentation in Impress. Well in the corporate world, it’s mandatory.
Using Linux daily since 99, as my only personal OS since 2013, and still struggling with the office alternatives.
Since most companies are moving their tools to web-based versions, the switch will be even easier.
Office already has extensive een versions. They’re not entirely there yet, but good enough if you don’t need advanced functionality.
Like garbage. That’s why I haven’t invested in the time. I write large documents and do lot of research for publishing. As such learning a new tool is a pain in the ass
I started using a lot of the same open-source tools that are on Linux as replacements in Windows to ease the transition. As someone else mentioned, most of the top projects strive to match the workflows of traditional Windows options. Some lemmy instances have huge posts of top tier open source alternatives to most things you need and somethings you don’t.
I’ve been hearing a variant of this since I joined Slashdot in 1999. “Microsoft really messed up this time, mainstream Linux adoption is right around the corner!”
Yeah, except the Steam Deck has been giving a huge reason to provide compatibility with Linux, and Valve/WINE have been pushing hard as hell to help facilitate it.
Unity pushed me to go with Godot. Unity already had a Linux editor, but this has pushed me to also move from Photoshop to Krita, since we’re in that kind of mood.
I tried several games last night that were rated gold or platinum rather than native on ProtonDB. While some people provided launch options, they all worked flawlessly out of the box. I’m even the first person to file a compatibility report for Furry Cyberfucker, let’s fucken go.
Piper let me configure my mouse and keyboard without the need for GHub. My HOTAS works flawlessly without the Saitek software, since I’m used to configuring buttons in-game.
I tried this last year, and went back to Windows with the same “it’s not quite there” response as everyone there. But I’ve been keeping an eye on this since I had to use ndiswrapper to get Ubuntu to play nice with my wlan adapter, and this month, I installed PopOS, and have been getting along pretty well. I haven’t encountered a single issue or compatibility that outright breaks this move for me, and I’m generally stubborn as shit to learn new things.
It may not be the “year of the Linux desktop” for everyone, but it is for me. If you’re expecting some monolithic mass adoption, keep dreaming, but this progress doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
I have two main concerns with switching. I may eventually switch when these get better.
- My mouse shortcuts (Logitech is fully integrated with discord allowing a mute toggle that actually bypasses any keypresses, don’t know if Linus has this as Logitech software on Mac used to be awful)
- FFXIV mods: reshade, quick launcher (does work with Linux it says), and ACT (which on windows does a packet capture to parse your damage and has overlays to show that)
I was just reading that ACT doesn’t work will with overlays on Linux. Here’s hoping though! I can’t for the day when I have a solid free/open source Linux desktop running all my games. One where I’m not afraid to update in fear of breaking. One where I don’t need to use docker to host Overseerr and nginx. One where I have the control like I (mostly) do on my work laptop.
One day….
I can’t speak for your FF stuff, that’s outside of my wheelhouse. However, Piper has taken care of my configuration for my G502 mouse and G815 keeb. Even the lighting options work. Will need to re-record your macros, probably.
Yeah, except the Steam Deck
aaand he replies with a gaming rant. Most users arent children nobody gives a fuck about steam and le wholesome gaben chungus. We want excel and word. Witcher 3 is not a selling point. You live in a teenager reddit bubble.
Hey, that’s cool, man. You do you.
2025 is the year of the linux desktop!
It legit could be. When Win10 support ends you have three options:
- Buy a new PC with the required TPM chip.
- Bypass the check in the Win11 installer and hope the OS functions properly after install and going forward.
- Install a fully supported Linux that’s optimized for older hardware.
None of those three options are easy, and Linux is the only option that’s free and guaranteed to work. Although to be fair most computers made after 2018 have the TPM chip, and so I don’t know how many folks will actually be running 7+ year old hardware at that point. It’s probably more likely to cause a jump in PC sales more than Linux adoption.
Personally, mine has TPM but Windows is complaining that it didn’t give itself enough space in the bootloader to upgrade itself to 11 and this is somehow my fault. I’m debating whether I’ll bother to try troubleshooting it when 10 goes EOL or just move my gaming PC to linux. I do like having at least one Windows machine around for compatibility but it’s getting too annoying to get caught up.
I’ve been using linux on my laptops and tablets for years so it wouldn’t be a huge hurdle for me to switch.
Yeah, and steamdeck might gain more customers too
Only if they manage to contain pirates.
im really sad to say this because linux bros are cancerous but if they did a windows subscription i would probably have to swap linux…
I’m looking forward to the Year of the Linux desktop ™️
Right now, my Windows 10 installation is pretty bloatless and is easily revertable when an update wants to change things. However I’m definitely looking for a more mainstream Linux solution because I know these times won’t last.
Check out Endeavor OS. I’ve been using it for about 3 months now as a full replacement to my old windows 11 set up… everything I’ve needed it to do, with the exception of a few games has worked either right out of box or with minor tweaks. The forums are active and the Arch Wiki has answers to nearly every question you may have about the backbone of the OS. System updates are incredibly easy and are done on your schedule, not Microsoft’s.
Fedora is my recommendation of choice. The default Fedora + Gnome workflow out of the box is absolutely flawless.
Yeah that’s the beauty of it isn’t it… a lot of distros and desktop environments to choose from; there is a flavor for anyone!
For anyone switching from windows I recommend KDE Plasma as it’ll feel closest to what you are used to.
Yeah, as a Windows user it’s very intuitive and easy to navigate. My only problem with KDE Plasma, and this would not prevent me from using it altogether, is that there’s this relatively large hover window that pops up if you accidentally swerve the mouse over anything on the task bar, and takes a couple seconds to die. Soooooo irritating.
This hover thing would probably take thirty seconds to turn off if I knew how, but it’s hard to search for when I can’t figure out what it’s called, and “hover” doesn’t get me anything useful.
If I could turn that shit off I would have zero problems with KDE Plasma. It’s a legit great interface.
Endeavour OS. . . . everything I’ve needed it to do, with the exception of a few games has worked either right out of box or with minor tweaks.
If I may ask, have you tried MS Office on your Endeavour OS box, and if so, what version and what were your results? Seriously, if you have a minute, I’d really appreciate hearing your specific experiences with MSOffice if you’ve tried it on Endeavour.
I inquire only because MSOffice is the only reason I wasn’t on Linux years ago, and any distro that can run MSOffice out of the box, macros included, I will install today. Not exaggerating: I have been trying out various distros for the last month, and MSOffice is literally the sole dealbreaker. I even have an Endeavour Cassini Nova LiveUSB ready to go; I’m on Zorin 16.3 Core right now for the same reason.
Let me know if you can, and thanks in advance.
Libre office aint bad. If you want something like office365 check out nextcloud office.
I Don’t use MS Office, unfortunately. You are going to have a lot of people say just try LibreOffice, but that does not work for everyone so I understand the hesitation.
Yeah, I’ve tried and still am trying, lol. I’m still going to move the rest of my stuff to Linux, regardless, but I need one box with an operable copy of MSOffice at least for now.
I’ll definitely keep EndeavourOS on my list of distros to try, especially because it has all the resources of Arch behind it. That’s a huge plus on its own. Thank you for taking the time to reply!
Right on and no problem!
I’ve got a windows 10 PC that I built as a gaming computer like 10 years ago. To be honest it spends a lot of time turned off because Linux has become much better for gaming using Proton.
However sometimes it is really useful to have a windows computer around. Being able to use Visual Studio for C# and C++ projects is particularly good given how much scaffolding their frameworks give you. Still, if I end up having the system being forcibly upgraded or when it leaves LTS it will probably end up being sold for spare parts.
We would need large companies and developers to start making their applications for linux and right now thats very hard because linux has 2500 different package managers and no one wants to maintain version of their apps for even the top 5 linux packaging methods, so unless that changes they will continue to make windows/mac only apps
Companies have got around this by only officially supporting one distro, like Steam with SteamOS (I think they also support Ubuntu). Steam also do static linking of the common libraries inside of ~/.local/share/Steam so that developers can be guaranteed to have something like zlib installed.
I think there is also an argument that linux distributions are converging due to systemd being ubiquitious. Although I personally don’t enjoy using it and have substituted openrc on my Linux desktop, I can accept that developers can’t reasonably support it and I would need to find a workaround to use their software.
Actually, yeah, that’s a cool way to look at this. Imagine everything getting support over night. The only reason I don’t use Linux is because a ton of the things I do on a computer require windows.
Been and gone for me.
it may actually come now if this happens
Literally can’t happen, at least not on the scale y’all like to imply, not in the way Linux is today. If your OS doesn’t work with a ton of peoples’ hardware at all, no wide adoption. Don’t pretend this doesn’t happen-- it happens all the time. I was never able to get sound working on Ubuntu with mainstream hardware. If your OS requires a ton of technical knowledge to get any basic hardware or software feature working, no wide adoption. If your OS runs any commonplace software in a glitchy, super-slow way, no wide adoption. Wide adoption of desktop Linux is just not going to happen until a distro has a well-organized, goal-oriented, QA-pushing non-profit such as Mozilla making sure it works for the masses, on almost any hardware.
The idea that windows would require a subscription for an OS pisses me off more than I thought.
Good way for them to guarantee a exodus of people switching their OS.
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I will be very curious to see how the KMS works after all this
Kinda like the reddit exodus…
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If reddit decided to charge for access I’m sure everyone would leave
“Like all reddit protests, this will blow over too”
But why though? Like, the major complaint people have with Windows now is that it’s starting to advertise. They need to consistently provide updates and security patches, and the consumer has clearly shown it’s willing to pay subscriptions. This is kind of a blending of that. As long as they remove the advertising, and keep their “AI” out of my files I’d actually be happy paying for Windows again just like the “old” days except as a subscription. If it means that every windows install doesn’t come with Candy Crush and other bloatware I’d actually chalk this up as a win for consumers rather than the “free” windows right now that’s ad ridden and full of trackers.
Of course the realist in me also knows though that they’d fuck it up and make you pay while tracking everything, but I’d rather have an either or.
People hate advertising. That is why people switched over to cable. If you give companies money directly, they won’t have to do ads to make money… just like how cable has no ads! Or Netflix!
Time to contribute heavily to Linux open source and make Linux desktops super useful to everyone.
Yeah, we’re already there bud. Come on in, the waters fine
What’s the best place to start for newbies you think?
YouTube!
I would 100% start by dual booting Linux Mint or KDE Neon alongside your windows install. Mint is more like windows, Neon is similar but has tons of configuration options so can be a bit much. Either will do you well though.
You can see reviews of both on YouTube to see how they look, and also watch some instructional on how to install a dual boot system. You’ll end up with Linux and windows both on your PC and you can pick which to boot at each start. That way you can go back to with does to get stuff done or checknon things while you’re learning.
Lastly, just be aware that things do work differently. That’s the good bit though! If you’ve used a Mac before you’ll be familiar with Linux already. The big differences are in how the file system works and how programs are installed. Again, YouTube will help you to figure those out.
Taken it slow, learn what does what and why, and you’ll be up and running in no time :)
I’ll completely jump ship once SolidWorks can run on Linux. Wine is still a little iffy with it.
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Microsoft overcharges for Windows anyway. You can go to StackSocial and regularly get Win 11 Pro for $30, when the retail price is $200.
In any case, everything else tech is moving to SaaS. It’s not hard to believe that MS would “give” out a free (read: ad-laden) version of Windows, with various features enabled depending on tier of subscription. They’ve already got the technology in place with Azure Active Domain and this seems like a logical extension of that.
They’ve also already got the embedded ads feature ready to run in windows.
It’s not hard to believe that MS would “give” out a free (read: ad-laden) version of Windows, with various features enabled depending on tier of subscription.
Except that already have that with the Enterprise/SA tier and have for a long time. Sure, Pro is still required but it’s typically an OEM license included in the cost of the hardware.
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almost zero chance of consumer grade windows requiring a subscription
And even if they did, fully hacked local install versions would be created… adobe photoshop is subscription only and I see full installs for it all over the place (and I might even have one myself but Im admitting to nothing)
I know there’s always someone evangelizing Linux when you mention Windows anything, but when Microsoft requires a subscription for Windows is the day I will actually move to Linux.
Why not now?
Not the commenter but the answer is easy - right now, it’s not costing me anything to run Windows on my PC, and installing Linux takes research, time, and attention that I don’t feel like investing in my home PC at the moment. Probably the next PC I build (whenever my 10 year old Dell i7 is too damn slow, only now starting to get laggy) will run Linux. Previously I only installed linux on laptops I retired from active use, just for shits and giggles. Never once had a linux powerhouse, but now that linux gaming is a reality, I’m very interested in getting away from the advertising platform that Windows has become.
We’re running a 6 year old selfbuilt gaming rig on Garuda Linux … Runs like a charm. Husband is playing Warthunder which uses Anti-Cheat - so far everything runs out of the box.
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Linux gaming has made mind blowing progression thanks to Valve.
If you’re using Steam, most games run, zero fiddling needed.
I’m running Void Linux and have no issues running most games. Proton pretty much handles everything. And performance is often better than on Windows these days.
Other platforms are a bit more difficult. There are several apps that take care of the heavy lifting, but a bit more knowledge is required.
Pretty much thrown out every Windows installation and haven’t missed them at all.
This website is a godsend https://www.protondb.com/
You can search any game in steam, and it will tell you exactly what to expect.
For most games, it’s as simple as checking one box in the steam settings for the first time.
Also https://areweanticheatyet.com for just anti-cheat compatibility of non-Steam games. Also has Steam games but you might as well check ProtonDB for those.
Tbh you don’t even need to check unless it’s a competitive multiplayer game or something with anti cheat. I just buy games and assume they work.
Check out protondb.com … click explore and check out how many games run perfectly on Linux now.
Valve / the steam deck is really pushing development.
Pretty much the only games that don’t work now are games with anticheat.
Steam really pushed windows games on Linux after the steam deck.
Pretty rare that you run into an issue at all these days, but one big bummer is that non-steam-workshop mods are a pain to install. Basically anything that uses a mod manager.
It’s been at the point for awhile now that I can just buy games on a whim without looking up any sort of compatibility, and I just assume they work. It’s worked every time so far. Right now I’m like 100 hours into Bauldurs Gate 3 lol. The other online game I play is Genshin Impact, which I just had to install with the exe through wine and then it just works.
Not OP, but Linux isn’t much good for professional creative work. Would love to try it out, but without a functioning Adobe suite it’s not gonna happen.
In my opinion, Inkscape is a great competitor to Adobe Illustrator. The problem comes in with the fact that we don’t have a viable image manipulation software. Gimp just aint it.
So does Linux, I subscribe to the Arch rss feed, which is the operating system I use btw.
The rise of Linux is upon us
The perpetual year of the Linux desktop.
The year of the Linux desktop already came and went.
I’d be down with Valve making a proprietary distribution of SteamOS that’s easily installable, and works with other CPUs.
Wasn’t this the basic premise of SteamMachines?
The one thing Microsoft will never do is try to deliver a good product. The executives would rather gouge the users for every last penny and steal all their data, and this will be it’s downfall. Linux has the advantage, and is only getting started.
I don’t think they actively try to release a bad product, but anything good is an anomaly of using minimal effort
windows would cease to exist as a company lmao
I can confirm if Windows ever required a subscription I’d be swapping to Linux so fast. So Fast.
Am not convinced this will happen with Win12 or anytime soon. Microsoft realizes if they did this they would be losing monopoly over desktop operating system and with that they will lose a lot more than just OS money as people will migrate towards alternative software, like Google Docs or LibreOffice. What might end up happening is subscription based pro edition or something similar. If there’s ever subscription for all of Windows am assuming they will make it easy to pirate.
This feels most likely to me too, though maybe even for an Edu or “managed” Windows install of some kind where you get more support and more opinionated stable installs or something. Sort of like Windows S mode but maybe with more help.
I’m already planning to. I run Windows 10 and as soon as that stops receiveing security support (or really as soon as I have the time) I’m gonna be swapping over to Linux for good.
“We’ll shut down your computer after this quick message from our sponsor!”
Unlock right-click for only $4.99 a month!
With this subscription, the year of the Linux desktop will finally be here.
It is for me.
Except redhat, they already do subscriptions lol
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For a lot of people, yeah. But everyone assumed that the year of FOSS media software would come with Adobe Creative Cloud, but most people just grumbled and paid it anyway.
Most people would probably end up paying the subscription rather than relearning everything they already know. It may have long term impacts, but, like… I don’t think this would make the average person switch to Linux. If any migration happens I’d expect more people to switch to Macs than Linux over time because that’s more of a mainstream option.
That said there’s lots of interesting stuff going on in the Linux world right now, and it’s slowly but surely becoming a more interesting option for a lot of people. Valve’s work on Proton / Linux in general is pretty huge. I still think you’d need a huge marketing push to convince the average person (which people on Lemmy are not) to install Linux themselves, or prefer buying a laptop with Linux pre-installed, though. It could happen eventually, and has happened in special cases (like the Steam Deck)… But short term I think most people are just going to pay a yearly subscription rather than upend their entire computing life.
Yep. I’m even a FOSS fanboy and the most I can manage is dual-booting, since I need some Windows-only applications for work.
At least for now. A monthly OS subscription would be reason enough to switch.
Yeah, I use Linux full time and have always used unixy operating systems and have never really used windows. So, like, sure, I think a lot of people could switch to Linux and be perfectly happy… but I’m under no delusions that people will and wouldn’t just pay a little more for a windows license instead. There’s probably a good chunk of people (particularly here) who would be more on the edge and willing to just drop the windows in this situation… but I doubt the average computer user is dying to try Gentoo in the event that Microsoft charges a subscription fee, haha.
Mac would absolutely be the big winner in such a case.
Although that said… Microsoft is trying to take some market share back from ChromeOS and iPadOS in the education world, and I can’t imagine schools devoting any budget to Windows rentals.
Depends how Microsoft handles education licenses. I think historically they’ve been pretty good about giving university students licenses for free, and if they consider the education sector important enough (which they probably should) I am certain they could provide generous terms. If the schools don’t have to pay for the licenses I’m not sure they would bother switching off of windows at least. It will be interesting to see how the ChromeOS dominance in education plays out in the future, though!
True. K12 would probably get a really good deal.
This might finally provide the momentum to switch to Linux.
As much as I dislike Linux because of its extremely annoying user baser I might even consider switching then
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Annoying OS that constantly gets in your way anytime you try to do work
IS WAY WORSE THAN
Annoying users I electively interact with occasionally on social media.
My hate for subscriptions > my laziness.
I will either go Linux or Windows 95.
Linux or Windows ME
I knew sooner or later they’d push me to Linux, but that’d do it alright
I’ve never used Linux before but if this happens I’m going to have to figure out how.
Nowadays? You just install it. It’s all plug and play. Mint is great for starters.
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Sometimes moneygrubbing shareholders do us a favor by steering companies into implementing terrible policies. If Reddit wouldn’t have been so greedy with it’s treatment of third-party app developers most of use wouldn’t be on Lemmy right now. If Microsoft forces Windows users to pay a subscription I think it sends more people away from closed-source garbage and into the arms of the open source community. I’ve enjoyed watching Reddit implode, hopefully I get to watch a similar show from our friends at Microsoft.
I will happily just not use it. My desktop usage is already 99% Linux, and it has been for considerable amount of time too. The only thing holding me back is my Destiny 2 guild. The moment that is allowed through Proton, I will be removing the partition completely
