Happy tenth birthday, Windows 10! By the time this article has reached your eyeballs, Windows 10 will have celebrated a decade of general release after it was unleashed to the public back on July 29, 2015. And, usually, I'd be celebrating alongside Microsoft for the occasion.
There's just one problem. Given how Microsoft is getting ready to pull the plug on Windows 10 this October, I've decided to skip the party this year. And while I'd love to frame myself as a cool guy ditching Windows 10's birthday to attend some exclusive club, the truth is, I'm just moving to Linux. So it's more like staying home with my nerdy friends and playing a LAN game of Unreal Tournament or something. Ah, well, at least the company's good.
I really don't want to upgrade to Windows 11...
Not an option I want to take, supported or otherwise
The PC I'm currently using is in a weird limbo. It's recent enough to handle all the day-to-day stuff I throw at it, but too old for Windows 11's TPM 2.0 requirement. And while Microsoft would prefer that I ditch this computer and purchase a new one to use Windows 11, I...really don't want to. I mean, that's just a waste of hardware, right? I don't want to throw out perfectly good components just because Microsoft told me to.
The other option I have is using something like Rufus or Flyoobe (formerly Flyby11) to force Windows 11 on my PC. The thing is, not only will it be unsupported by Microsoft itself, but I just don't really want to use Windows 11. It has a lot of missing customization, and I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft's quest to stuff Copilot everywhere.
KDE opens its doors to "Windows 10 exiles" as it claims Microsoft wants to turn your computer "into junk"
It's a little dramatic, but it checks out.
...but Windows 10's extended support doesn't grip me, either
It's just borrowed time
So, if I'm not a fan of Windows 11, why aren't I using the Windows 10 extended support feature instead? For those not in the know, Microsoft will give you a year of extra security support if you pay them $30, spend 1,000 Microsoft points, or use its Windows Backup tool. Seems like an easy way out.
Well, sure, it's easy, but it's also putting a band-aid on the problem instead of solving it. Microsoft has previously claimed that it'll support Windows 10 for the years after the end-of-life date for people willing to pay, but once those three years are up, then what? I'm back to square one, having spent three years with an operating system I knew was eventually going to fall out of support, but continued using anyway. It's a very short-term move.
I figured that if I wanted to get out of the Microsoft ecosystem, I should strike now while the iron is hot. Once October rolls around, if I want to stick with Windows 10, I'll have to bow to the conditions that Microsoft sets to continue safely using my computer. And there's no guarantee that, after those three years are up, I'll want to upgrade to Windows 11 any more than I do now. So, I went ahead and ripped off the band-aid to invest in a more long-term solution.
KDE Plasma's big 6.4 update makes setting up your home in Linux a lot comfier
A solid update for Linux veterans and newcomers alike.
Fedora KDE Plasma, however, has won my heart
No more Windows worries
I think this issue would be a far greater conundrum if I hadn't found a Linux distro that resonated with me so well. For those of you who weren't there when I first dipped my toe into the bold new world of Linux, I started off my new age of discovery with Linux Mint. While tinkering with stuff, I discovered that my PC preferred using Wayland over X11; the problem is, Linux Mint's implementation of Wayland is still at an experimental level. That meant numerous technical issues and bugs, such as the inability to change my keyboard layout.
I tried moving to Ubuntu, but it didn't like to play ball with Wayland either. As such, I went hunting for an operating system that had gone all-in on the Wayland integration instead of having it around as an experimental feature. That's when I came across Fedora, which people claimed was a solid distro for Wayland integration, with the developers keen to push for bleeding-edge updates and features.
The icing on the cake was discovering that Fedora had a special edition that came pre-bundled with KDE Plasma, a desktop environment I really wanted to try but hadn't gotten around to yet. I got the system running on my PC, used it for a few days, and...yep, I love it. It's definitely my new home, away from Microsoft's operating systems.
Will Fedora KDE be my forever OS? Maybe. It's still early days, so I can't say for sure if Fedora will be the one I stick with for years to come. However, I have a feeling that I'll at least have Fedora around in some capacity, even if it isn't my daily driver. I like it a lot more than Windows 11, at any rate.
I've tested numerous Linux desktop environments, and these 5 are my favorites
Looking for some neat desktop environments for your Linux distro? We've got your back!
Happy birthday Windows 10, but this'll be my last well-wishing
I've had a great 10 years with Windows 10, and I'm glad I was along for the ride. However, with Microsoft now trying to funnel me into a Windows 11-shaped box, I think I'm going to have to tap out. Maybe I'll pop back into the Windows ecosystem in the future to see how things are going, but for now, I'm checking out all the cool Linux features I've been missing out on.