An ex-Windows user speaks outThe first problem came a few years later when a version of Internet Explorer became incompatible with several websites which were important to me. Netscape was crap by then. But Firefox was a big up & comer. I decided to give it a try. To be sure that the IE issues were specific to IE, I also tested the websites in Opera. The issues were specific to IE. So I switched to Firefox. But I was otherwise a Microsoft devotee.
Then came Vista, which I began to use when I needed another new computer. This was a year or so after Vista was launched. Although Vista had a few new things which I liked, it was very volatile for me. It was actually reminiscent of my late issues with Mac. I decided to test a Linux distro for the first time. I did a dual boot on my main system. I liked Linux but found that some hardware and software important to me at the time didn't work. So I would switch between operating systems depending on what I was doing.
Windows 7 brought me fully back to Windows, although I continued to use Firefox as my primary browser and alternatives to the video and audio players. It was also around this time when I switched to LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office. I was otherwise happy with Windows again. But an aggravating experience did occur with Microsoft. I was a web designer and used Dreamweaver a lot. I tended to upgrade it every 3 versions. But Adobe switched to the SaaS model so I was not able to upgrade without paying an ongoing fee. I disliked this model. So I looked for a Dreamweaver alternative. Microsoft had one called Expressions Web. I bought Expressions after testing the demo. I liked it a lot. But it was only a few months later when Microsoft announced that Expressions development was discontinued. It was irritating to discover that software which I just purchased would never get upgraded. Microsoft Money also added to my irritation because it was also discontinued. But both of these continued to be functional and I was enjoying Windows 7. So the irritation was not too great. That was until Windows 8.
Most people agree that Windows 8 was a mess. I fortunately missed out on it for quite some time. But I eventually needed a tablet. Since I felt that Apple products were off the table, I got one with Windows 8. I thought it sucked even for tablets. I acquired multiple 3rd party utilities to tweak it to be more useful. This included a utility which brought back the start menu, which I found more functional than the default navigation method. But Windows 8.1 came out, which brought back some of the missing functionality. This was fortunate because my Windows 7 computer got damaged. Since Windows 8.1 was just adequate on the tablet, I went ahead and purchased a laptop with 8.1. on it. That being said, I was so happy when Windows 10 came out.
Although I found Windows 10 highly functional, there were a couple of irritations. Microsoft Money would not work on the early versions of Windows 10 so I had to switch to different accounting software. And the Edge browser was aggravating. Although I was primarily using Chrome by then with Firefox as my secondary browser, there were a few websites which I needed to use which only fully worked in Internet Explorer. But they would not work with Edge. It was fortunate that they kept IE for quite a while. Additionally, I continued to use alternatives to the default video and audio players, which I moved away from years before.
I was generally pleased with Windows 10. Although I was not personally having upgrade issues, I kept my internet connections set to metered so that I could control when I installed the updates. Eventually, even Microsoft Money began to work after a year or so of updates. But my Windows 10 experience was not all good. Edge never became as functional as other browsers, even when it switched to Chromium. Although the new photo viewer was pretty, it lacked some of the functionality of the old photo viewer. But a small regedit brought back the old viewer. A major misstep with Windows 10 was the initial discontinuance of MovieMaker and the replacement with an inferior video editor. After I needed to do an OS reinstall, I discovered that I needed to get an alternative video editor to do what I used to do with MovieMaker. So I not only had switched to alternative players but Microsoft also pushed me to alternative editors as well. So my Microsoft experience began to degrade again.
It eventually got to the point where the only Microsoft product which I used was the OS. It was basically just a shell which housed all the other 3rd party functionality. I was wondering when Microsoft would do something to the OS which would further push me out of the Microsoft ecosystem. Well, Windows 11 is that something.
It seems to me that Microsoft can't just evolve their software. They have to radically reinvent things. Each reinvention of their software besides the OS motivated me to switch to something else. I was so hoping that it was true that they would simply continue to evolve Windows and not radically change it again. But, for me, Windows 11 is the reinvention which pushed me too far. As I indicated, Windows basically became just the means for me to navigate to all the non-Microsoft software which I used. And I thought that the navigation in Windows 10 was quite functional for both my laptops and tablets. But too many of the key features which I consider important for the navigation will be gone with the initial Windows 11. Although I suspect that Microsoft will do a .1 release like they did with Windows 8, It is still frustrating to be looking at the upcoming period of a degraded experience.
I made the decision to revisit Linux. Although Windows 10 will supposedly be supported until 2025, who knows what might be degraded as Microsoft pushes people to Windows 11. I decided to be preemptive and install a Linux distro. I selected the Zorin OS because of its similarity to Windows.
I first installed Zorin on my backup laptop. It doesn't have a lot of space so doing a dual boot would have been limiting. I did a complete replacement on the backup computer. Most of my existing Windows versions of applications installed fine through Wine. Most of the remaining apps had adequate Linux alternatives. But I decided to do a dual boot for my main computer so that I could still use the Windows versions of the software which would not work on Linux. Although Zorin OS installed fine, something went wrong with the Windows side. Although the Windows option was listed at startup, Windows would not boot up.
The Windows applications which would not install in Zorin and had no Linux alternatives are not heavily used. Of those which had alternatives which were not as robust, the alternatives are adequate for my current needs. So I decided to clean things up and do a complete Linux OS replacement. I have now been exclusively using Zorin for a few weeks. I use a lot of different programs. So I am still adjusting. But the adjustments are not uncomfortable. I can say that many users who use less software than me will be comfortable with Zorin. Although I chose Zorin, I know that Mint and a couple of other Linux distros are quite similar to Windows. I even read about some which are similar to the Mac experience.
So a take away is that a lot of people don't have to be locked into Windows or Mac. Although Zorin is new to me, I had previously done dual boots with other Linux distros. Even the ones which were substantially different from Windows were not very difficult to get used to. I had previously used the Mint version. I almost went with that again. But Zorin seems more like Windows than even Mint.
Doing a Google search for "Linux alternatives to Windows" results in a lot of information. One article is https://www.tecmint.com/best-alternative-linux-distributions-for-windows-users/. I believe that, for most people, the fear mongering about Linux which has been spread is unwarranted. This is especially true for casual and moderate users. I am a heavy computer user and even I am happy with my decision to abandon Windows and not return to Mac. I hope that Microsoft's misstep with Windows 11 will motivate people to try Linux. Even if people manage to successfully do a dual boot or eventually return to Windows or Mac for some reason, it might get Microsoft and Mac to stop reinventing and get to the tasks of evolving their software. Although I will probably need to continue using Windows at work, my hope is that I will continue to be one of those people who find no reason to return to Microsoft and their excessive reinventions rather that evolution. It is looking quite likely that I won't personally return.
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