Unless you need some windows-only software, using windows at this point is masochism. I was never a fan of Linux, but the Microsoft driven enshitification is so strong that Linux is now a better option. To win, all Linux had to do is stand still, and that's exactly what it did! Ubuntu in 2026 is pretty much the same as Ubuntu from 2006.

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master-lincoln 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

WINE has come a long way. Most Windows software now just works on Linux.

I don't know why you believe Ubuntu stood still. Looking at the history that does not seem to be the case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_version_history

	▲	embedding-shape 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Personally, the last holdover is Ableton. Last time this came up, bunch of people pointed me to https://github.com/BEEFY-JOE/AbletonLiveOnLinux which has since then been marked as archived, and I'm still unable to run Ableton 12 properly on Linux via WINE, even though I've probably spent too many man-hours on getting it to work... I'm still eagerly awaiting the day though, any day now surely.

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lunar_rover 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> To win, all Linux had to do is stand still, and that's exactly what it did!

It is moving? Red Hat has been investing in containised apps and image based distros for years, Valve single handedly made Linux gaming viable. HDR development is mostly driven by Valve and Red Hat customers.

And no Linux isn't good enough yet. UX is all over the place.

	▲	WhyNotHugo an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> And no Linux isn't good enough yet. UX is all over the place. Sure, the UX for Linux desktop is all over the place, and a lot of software is messy and untidy. But Windows isn't any better in that sense. It doesn't have a clear, cohesive design style either. Its selling point used to be that users were familiar with the UI, but it seems to change so much that users can't really leverage that much either.
	▲	embedding-shape 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> And no Linux isn't good enough yet. UX is all over the place. Of course you'd think the UX is messy if you only look at the kernel ;) It's up to the distributions and desktop/window managers to handle the UX, and the experience varies as much as there are desktop/window managers. Some of them are fairly internally consistent, like KDE and Gnome, and at least they're currently more internally consistent than Windows and macOS. I use macOS, Windows and Gnome daily, and the only one that doesn't give me daily grief in some manner, is Gnome.

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esskay 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Unless you need some windows-only software

In many cases even if you do though, its possible to run it on WINE pretty well these days. It's insane how good it's become in the last few years (partly thanks to proton and Valves investment in it all really)

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ghaff 3 hours ago | parent [-]

"Pretty well" is doing a lot of work. I have no horse in the race. I just run native on MacOS or Linux. Haven't run any Windows in a number of years. (I don't really game much and would just use my Xbox if I really wanted to--though that mostly functions as a DVD player these days.)

But if "pretty well" causes the random administrative person to have issues with doing their job or increases IT support costs, it will be off the menu pretty quickly. We'll see. A lot of things are different from the last round of we're going to Linux in Europe.

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hootz 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Nowadays, pretty well a lot of times means really well, maybe even better than on Windows. See Windows games running faster on Linux through Wine.

	▲	ghaff 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		As I say no dog in hunt and don't actually have a Linux laptop any longer since I had to send it back to my company--from whence I'm sure it went straight to recycling. Maybe I'll buy an older refurb Thinkpad at some point.
	▲	theshackleford 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> See Windows games running faster on Linux through Wine. Let’s not leave out all the ones that don’t. Which is in fact, the majority of them. Strange how that’s always left out, we wouldn’t want to mislead people now would we?

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esskay 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

We've come a long way in the last 2 years. We're at a point where MOST Windows software works flawlessly. I said "pretty well" as theres no doubt a few that don't and it'd be a bit disingenuous for me to suggest otherwise.

I certainly wouldn't come into this with knowledge on wine older than 2 years and make a snap decision though as its a totally different landscape - no weird quirkiness and tweaking needed for the vast majority of applications anymore.

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stratts 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Ubuntu in 2026 is pretty much the same as Ubuntu from 2006.

Well, Ubuntu MATE perhaps :)

Windows LTSC I find comes pretty close to the less intrusive Windows I remember from the XP/7 era.

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internet_points 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

a Windows license is only cheap if your time has negative value

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carlosjobim 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You forget about MacOS. And Apple are making some very aggressive moves as of lately to capture users.

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schnitzelstoat 3 hours ago | parent [-]

MacOS is the same sort of walled garden as Windows though. It has plenty of dark patterns in stuff like iCloud too, I imagine with some more years of enshittification it will be in a similar state to Windows today.

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carlosjobim 2 hours ago | parent [-]

And corporate customers like the French government will want their users to be within strictly controlled environments - walled gardens. That's why they've used Microsoft for so long. MacOS isn't as good for this scenario from what I understand, but is Linux?

	▲	dominicrose 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		IMO the walled garden doesn't have to be the employee's computer but centralized servers holding the data, intranet services, etc.