For all those who don't rely on Windows. How did you quit?

For all those who don't rely on Windows. How did you quit?

Paranoia, pretty much.

>can't quit because solidworks only runs on windows 10

I installed Arch

windows 8 keep boot looping trying to update itself, erased the partition and extended the linux one
never installed again, I'm windows free since 2012, never missed it t b h, all the old rts games works fine on wine

I just stayed on 7 SP1 with no updates.

I installed gentoo

dual booted and just started doing doing everything on linux. I could boot into windows if i had to do something and didn't know how to do it in linux. eventually I stopped using windows.

what happened to captcha?

i dual booted since vista started fucking my hard drives every 3 months. I still dual booted when 7 came out because i was curious. I bought a WIndows 8 DVD when it came out and was super excited. after a few weeks i got really pissed with it. Windows 8.1 came out and didn't actually fix the issue. I came to terms the M$ was no longer a professional but consumer company and all future releases were going to be worse. While i could get some functionality back via third party software it was the fact that third party software was needed to do any of the most basic things on OS should be able to do in the first place. I did a fresh full install of Linux Mint. I looked for alternative software to do the same tasks i needed to do, including video editing, CAD, SIP PHONE, video processing, GIS work, office spreadsheets/documents, accounting, IRC, file syncing, etc. ounce i found the perfect tool for the job i never really looked back. I did end up distro hopping for a while. i only used Ubuntu for a few hours. Even as a complete newbie i knew it was shit, unstable, and bloated. I went through a Manjaro/Arch phase and eventually settled on Gentoo for my Desktop/dev machines and Debian for work desktop and servers or anything i don't want to fuck with often and need to be stable while still retaining wide software support. As someone trying to ditch WIndows i'd recommend Linux MInt or if you need something less consumer grade jumping right into Debian. Be sure nonfree and contrib repos are on. I'd also recommend the XFCE desktop environment as it doesn't try to copy anything, is extremely lightweight and modular while integrating with a lot of stuff fairly good. Stock icons on Debian are a little dry so install a pack like Ubo Icons Alpha or Buuf if it bothers you.

When it comes down to it, you run programs not your OS. Your OS should not be in the way of that.

>Ryzen
>16gb
>no updates
Can you be more of a meme?

Why would I have trouble quitting? Windows is a piece of shit.
Only thing tying me down was that I had to migrate data, which I did anyways when I bought a new PC so I used that moment to switch.

Other way around, Windows quit. After having to reinstall after 2 to 3 months even when only having Steam, Firefox and Eclipse, I got fed up.

I just have absolutely 0 reason to use windows in my free time.

I started dual booting Debian back in the Windows 98 days and gradually realized I was only using it to play Microsoft Flight Simulator. I became more and more disgusted with it's bloat and cumbersome interface and of course with it's total disregard for privacy
To be fair though as I went through every desktop environment and window manager on Linux I eventually realized how easy it is to customize the right click menu in Openbox with obmenu and now I hate using anything but Openbox ,,,. but especially Windows.
Even if I use some DE like Gnome that I don't like at least it isn't trying to do 30 other things I don't even want going on in the background, acting like it owns my computer and data.

what?
I just installed linux and that was that

it's really a shame. Gnomge2 and GTK2 were really solid. The Gnome3 team have got that WIndows 10 mentality of 'i know better than you' and 'apps'. As well as the disregard for privacy and thinking every aspect of the DE needs to link in with some internet service.

Seriously.
LXDE/LXQT seems to be picking up where Gnome2 left off though, so that makes me happy.

Why would I quit, user ?

see any other post on Sup Forums for that answer

>installed Debian as a test
>Windows partition is still there, but it doesn't come up in the boot menu
>used Debian ever since because I can't be arsed to fix it

It all started with Mandrake back in '99. So much fun. And the fun has continued. All Debian with XP VMs now.

got into Ubuntu during hardy heron days, and still running the latest LTS today. It does everything I need, lets me game and let me be productive. People get stuck in a Windows mindset and don't want to learn anything new - that's the biggest obstacle.

mainly because I can't justify paying like 200 dollars, or whatever, for a license and I find linux more usable.

Started dual booting and every time windows pissed me off with some forced update bullshit or random high disk/cpu usage I'd rage-boot into Gahnoo slash Leanucks
Now I mostly only use Linux and more or less play the subset of games I have that works on Linux because I can't be assed to reboot into Windows again.

pretty much the same here user. I Remember dual booting Linux mandrake and windows ME, in the late 90's....pretty much use openbox exclusively on most distros. Simple and it works

i gave up on linux after i found out my ryzen 1800x has that linux hardware segment bug. so i just stuck to windows 10. got edu for free from my cs department elms account so i can disable nearly all the botnet shit.
>hurr dur y u no send it in to amd to get a new one!
i don't want to go without my computer for like two weeks to a month over it. windows 10 just werks. and i already put money aside for ryzen refresh in april. will sell my 1800x and move over to a 2700x / 2800x. depending how high either of the two clock at stock. i don't overclock and want at least 3.8ghz base.

Debian with windows 10 ltsb inside a VM for only the most frustrating stuff like backing up / flashing my iphones

But have i really quit ? hmm if you dont have a windows partion accessable by grub i say yes

pic related on my MBA

>don't rely on something
>realize they are alternatives that are not only viable, but better and more tolerable
It wasn't hard at all.

Pare down what you use to shit you actually need. You can use libreoffice for stuff but it's easier to use Google drive.

>try linux
>everything works
>lets me do more
>is overall cooler
Installed it 5 or 6 years ago for the first time, only used Windows for gaming during the last 2 to 3 years.

I just don't really need all the bloat windows comes with

Ubuntu boots in like 1/10 of the time Win10 takes, and I just dev now which Linux distros are perfect for

Most people use windows JUST for the applications it can run

>Better and more tolerable
I've been using Debian exlcusively for about 5 months and that's absolutely not true.

Vista for me.

Literally just sell your shit.

>using iphone
>using apple anything
might as well just start sucking cocks while pretending your cock is a vagina while you're at it

I installed it in a VM under Arch Linux with PCI passthough. So I didn’t really need to quit.

calm down there sperglorg, your triggering is at purple haired sjw level

stay mad bro.... like i paid for all of them...

delete system32

I didn't quit, I was forced away.

Strike 1 was arguably not Microsoft's fault- I just got home from a trip, booted my PC, and stepped away for some food before a game. When I returned, I found AMD had decided to download & install a driver update, but somehow botched it. Everything was 800x600, unconfigurable, and trying to re-install drivers resulted in Windows Installer errors. I reboot to find that it hadn't just removed old drivers, it fucked up new ones, and every time went to init the card I'd BSOD. Great way to spend a calm evening. Really pissed me off. Was I dumb to want the latest drivers automatically? I suppose.

Strike 2 was the W10 upgrade nags. Minimizing my games and prompting me to install the "upgrade" was annoying- but when it stole my focus while I was typing and interpreted a space as a button press on the "YES" button, then began the install immediately (as it had surreptitiously downloaded a copy in the background) was annoying. Was I a lazy asshole for not removing the nag after the 1st incident? Again, arguably yes.

Strike 3 was, now on W10, when I woke my PC up after coming home from work and finding an ad on my lock screen for Tomb Raider. In going into the settings to disable this "feature", I find that Windows would not allow me to perform "personalization" (such as removing their fucking ads) because it no longer considered itself activated(?). Was I stupid not to reinstall W7 immediately after W10 was installed? Clearly yes.

I had, at this point, been maintaining Linux servers and assorted systems for years. I looked into how I could preserve my ability to play games and read about VFIO and VGA passthrough stuff. Installed Arch, customized it & automated maintenance with no resistance, put W10 LTSB on a VM leash for games & design programs, and have been so stress free ever since.

I started exclusively using Google drive after I had both libreoffice and word fail to restore multiple papers I was working on after they crashed.

I just stopped caring. I felt it was time for me to take my freedom seriously and this trumped playing video games. Not that Linux has no games, but some real good ones don't work natively on Linux. But it also got me to check out roguelikes and various other kinds of games and try new things. You have to really care, though. If you do it just to do it you'll be back on Windows in a week.

Why did you ditch manjaro/arch?

I had a dinosaur of a computer that was basically only usable with a lightweight Linux distro.

Cold turkey switched to Linux in 2010 when I realized I don't do anything windows specific. Took months to get a decent workflow going and iv been set ever since. On Void Linux right now because fuck systemd

Ever since switching, I've just enjoyed it more and more. I can still game and use Windows-only programs just as well as always, using my GPU-passthrough VM, a normal VM, or WINE. W10 LTSB only gets critical security updates, so nothing changes suddenly or fucks with my setup- and if it does, I can just roll it back to a known good state with one command.

More than that, I've enjoyed the extra privacy. I wasn't worried about it much before, but I didn't notice how much the fact my own OS has clearly been collecting data and "telemetry" on me to send in to an unknown location was affecting my behavior or willingness to research or discuss certain topics- even totally mundane ones.

The added control over my system is great. If I want something a certain way, there's a clear path to do it. I can take that path, do it, and have it running without resistance. I don't have to fight anything. If I want an alternate shell, I just start it instead of my normal one- I don't have to have a script kill explorer, replace the shell, and hope Windows Defender doesn't flip a shit- or hope Windows Update won't update something that fucks with it all. All my software system-wide gets updated in one go at a scheduled time, and a simple report is generated for any abnormal behavior. Exceptions to the auto-update of software are easy to add and remove, and I'm informed when new versions are made available for me to look at when I want. I haven't even had to think about fucked up driver installations- the single package for AMD devices works perfectly out of the box.

And more than anything, it's been fun to build tools to customize how shit runs to suit how I like to think about things. It's kind of like decorating my house.. everything can find its spot, in a system that makes sense to me, with a personal touch that makes it feel comfy as fuck.

I am so glad I ditched this shit after 7 this sounds horrifying

I've kept a machine running XP for anything that absolutely needs Windows, but I find I only use it once every few months.

I found it worked really well to just replicate my Windows workflow as much as possible at first, but make small modifications/improvements towards what I considered, at the time, to be a perfect workflow that I could never obtain before.

It kept me "on my feet", so to speak, during the transition time.. but quickly conferred benefits. Kept the 'desktop icon', 'start menu', 'run box', 'GUI heavy' kind of thing going with some of the DEs like KDE Plasma for a while before adopting more terminal usage for system configuration, eventually removing the 'start menu' for a custom dmenu/rofi search menu, dynamic per-monitor swappable workspaces, custom dock-esque setup. Just little tweaks in-line with the ideal setup.

It's so nice to have a custom system configuration... suited to your way of thinking and your personal preferences.

W7 was truly the best there ever was, or probably will be. It had such huge problems, but it was much better than what came before it, and certainly better than the UI abortion that was 8/8.1. Absolutely better than the Apple-esque closed garden of invasive, uncontrollable bullshit that is W10.

XP was good, W7 was great. That's all the good there ever was.

Having a spare machine (or VM in my case) behind a firewall running W10 LTSB has been great. Windows Update will only ever grab security patches, no "modern app"/metro bullshit at all, classic calc. But otherwise full of important security updates and capable of doing all the fancy new shit that application developers are starting to require (be it newer versions of DirectX, new Windows features like the Desktop Duplication API, new .NET versions, etc).

I prefer the VM route since it makes roll-backs easy if something gets fucked up

Gaming is still possible if you're willing to try. WINE isn't the worst thing in the world for a lot of titles (not the most modern stuff, but usually people seem to get the AAA titles of yesteryear working eventually). If you have a 2nd GPU, or if you're willing to do a bit of leg work swapping them between host and guest, you can do GPU passthrough to a Windows VM, where you can aggressively firewall it, control what hardware/disks it sees, and boot the same image every time (no persistent changes; malware or Windows itself can do whatever it wants to no effect). This gives you full access to anything Windows with minimal performance overhead and control over the whole thing.

my man

WineHQ indicates Word 2016 will work fine, but a normal VM would work for these few remaining Windows-specific app purposes as well.

The pain of dual booting, which I knew would eventually get to me, is what prompted me to investigate GPU-passthrough so I could continue playing the games I want. Check it out!

>replace windows 7 with 10 dev
>notice I can't disable cortana
>its a frankensteinian mess of vista, 7, and their new ugly blocky ui
>want to try something new
>install arch with a youtuber tutorial
>video was old, didn't work
>install arch with the wiki
>dualboot for a while
>kill off windows, use the disk space for gentoo
>use gentoo till now

Solidworks is utter shit. You should consider one of the many alternatives. If you know how to use them they are way more than sufficient.

stopped gaming

>covering up the camera
Hoh boy the botnet is gonna record the inside of my pocket and the ceiling a whole ton

I had wanted to switch for a while, and had already gone full linux on my laptop.

At some point, I just got tired of windows shenanigans, and made the jump.

Then windows 8 and 10 came along, and made me very happy I made that choice.

There haven't really been any major obstacles to using Linux.

Overall it's easier.

1) Things mostly work, just install from apt.
2) Don't have to worry about my OS working against me, it's much better to know that I can generally trust the OS to protect me, vs having to scrutinize every setting.
3) The main downside, when I look for new hardware, need to double check it works with linux.
But this is a rare issue.

Overall, for every windows only software/peripheral, there's also a Linux only, or much easier to get working in Linux version.

Except games, but I rarely play them these days, so the Linux selection is fine.

>How did you quit?
Never started.

Oldfriend here (late 40s). Former dotNET+VBA guy, now a PHP drone.

Started using CentOS VMs at work, and then playing with VBox at home.

Tried Win10 in VBox for awhile. Didn't like the UI and the keylogging is icky.

Ran Mint+Cinnamon in VBox for awhile, and finally jumped from Win7 in late 2015.

After about six? months, hopped to Ubuntu MATE 16.04 shortly after its release.

About three weeks ago, hopped to a Arch+MATE / Ubuntu MATE dual-boot. BTW I use Arch.

As time allows, am planning to triple-boot Fedora, and then quad-boot FreeBSD, for the halibut.

Have also played with almost every other *buntu, GoboLinux, other BSDs, OI Hipster and Tribblix.

Void and Bedrock look interesting. Gentoo probably isn't for me, but who knows.

Am sticking with my friend MATE for now, but am hoping to try Sway at some point.

This stuff is fun, and you're never too old.

Fun story incoming.
>Got my first (technically it wasn't first, but first powerful PC)
>Need to install winxp no floppy drive, win xp doesn't see my HDD
>idkhowtoinsertdriversinxp.iso
>Go to friend use websearch looking for linux operating system (I heard about Linux, but never used it before)
>So many distributions...
>Found ubuntu 7.04, nice screenshots, looks popular
>Download, burn to CD, install it
>comfy.png
Windows actually forced me to use linux. Later I learned to add drivers to xp iso, so I did and dual booted ubuntu with windows. Mostly because I played some games and my little brother. When I got my own PC ditched windows forever.

>be 2012
>go on Sup Forums for the first time after shitposting for years on other boards
>started higher education in computing at the time
>Sup Forums full of desktop threads
>think it looks dope and want to learn to rice
>learn to rice and in the process, get meme'd into installing gentoo
>get sick of gentoo and just run whatever with a riced openbox setup
>got interested in programming and learnt a few different langs in this whole process

The only thing I really missed at first was vidya, but I found other hobbies in the process and now just use my desktop for light programming, shitposting and watching videos. I still cringe that I swapped away from the botnet OS all because of rice threads back then.

I stopped using Windows around 2012 or something. At first I dual booted and only kept Linux as a hobby OS, but latter I found my self using Linux more and more to the point I only booted into Windows to play videogames. When Steam was released for Linux I could at least install some games on it and get my 'fix' without booting to Windows. Back in 2014 I moved completely to Linux and I haven't touched Windows much since then, to the point I hate using Windows because I find it so annoying and obtuse to use, I get the same feeling Windows users get when using Linux.

Accidentally wiped my mbr with grub as a curious kid as I was trying to install linux mint to a usb drive. No Windows XP install media came with the PC, and the sticker key didn't work with generic. Too stupid/afraid to pirate it.

Honestly, I haven't been able to. I've installed Ubuntu MATE on my laptop a few times, but ended up going back to windows because there was a lot of programs I needed that where windows-specific. I've tried using VMs and Wine but either the VMs don't run well on my shitty little laptop, or Wine doesn't support the program I need. Ubuntu MATE is the best OS I've used ever though. It breathed life into my laptop like I've never seen before.

>roll-backs
Macrium reflect free edition + fast SSD and the lack of bloat inherent in XP makes restore pretty quick and painless too.

i got tired of bleeding edge. Also, i got more curious about the internals of the system. updates would undo complex modifications i did to the system. Also some of my favorite programs started being compiled against GTK3 instead of GTK2. More than i could manage compiling my own versions of.

Cold turkey

the only thing stopping me from switching is ableton since couterstrike runs nativly. i know i could probably get it working in wine but i really dont want to deal with the hastle of that plus plugins and getting a midi keyboard to work though if they released a linux version i would probably switch my desktop. my laptop already runs debian and i really enjoy it

When you are doing paid work you have to deliver in specific formats, or work as part of a team. You do not always get to choose what software gets used on a paid job.

Have you tried Renoise or BitWig?

depends on the employer. my boss doesn't care what i use as long as i can access the company SMB share and his o365 can open ODT files.

i tried bitwig briefly but couldnt get my midi keyboard to connect on debian. plus i dont really want to learn a whole new software

Highschool rolled out macbooks for each student freshman year. 10 years later and still an iToddler, although I still use windows and linux here and there for specific needs.

in in the case of CAD as long as i can export to DXF or STL

1st time: Windows Vista was a slow piece of shit, got a Mac and loved it
2nd time: Windows 10 is a botnet piece of shit, switched to Ganoo/Linux and am currently loving it

I have this installed but I still keep Windows 10 for games.

Just started using linux. You need to really stick to it, and learn the command line.
The big problem that most people have with switching is that they look for 'linux alternatives' to the software they use and don't find any- because it doesn't exist. Linux does that shit in a different way, so no-one bothers making software for it.
Do not look for 'alternatives', look for the linux way of completing the task that the old software did. Linux is crazy functional out of the box, but it's in the command line.

I haven't yet. I'm too dumb. I really dual-boot and keep windows for games. I don't know what flavour of Linux to grab.

I didn't want to upgrade past Windows 98.

I'm really on the verge of reinstalling my Manjaro again but instead of Budgie I'm reaching for Cinnamon rather this time around it's comfier. I just need another 1TB external hdd to make more backups and backup both my Manjaro and WinShit 10 shit over to it. Wipe Manjaro Budgie and reinstall Manjaro Cinnamon in Budgie's place as replacement. I'm eventually finally going to Windows nearly for good this time around, finally going to break the chains and set myself free from Windows and Microcuck's botnets for good this time. I'll only use Windows every now and then to test software and programs for my friend when he wants them. Linux and Manjaro are both easier and much comfier for me and way fucking better to me than Windows will ever be useless heap of hot shit piece of fucking proprietary trash fucking Microsoft NSA honeypot botnets. God I really can't fucking stand Windows anymore

Isn't there a modified version of Windows that has the same benefits as linux while having full compatibility with Windows apps? (Not ReactOS)

By being codemonkey and having no responsibilities

>For all those who don't rely on Windows. How did you quit?

I stopped playing video games.

Yes, it's called win10 with Linux shell

And that gets rid of all the botnet shit that windows has?

Never had it. I went straight from Amiga to a 386 with Debian more than 20 years ago. I remember late 90s running a PII with Voodoo3, plenty of games were being ported back then too. Ubuntu today is so fucking good why would anyone want to use that windows trash?

I work in a field where Windows is actually a disadvantage: Embedded Systems Development

I've always been playing with GNU/Linux and always found it usable for everything I usually do, but I constantly slipped back to dirty STD-ridden whore OS because it had muh gaems and I was lazy to reboot. After I've finished Doom on Wine with no tweaks and tricks, just by installing it through Steam, on max FPS and Ultra settings, I was finally enlightened and removed STD-ridden whore OS completely and for the last time. There are tons of games on Steam. I am finally free from temptation.

got a job that handed me out a company Macbook Pro.
Never looked back.

I hate turning on my desktop and downloading all these Win10 Store fuckin updates. I just want muh games.

My uni requires linux for the cs curriculum. That's how I got out of it.

>muh botnet
>muh programming
>muh package manager
>muh rice
no thanks

id love to quit but linux kali doesnt read my wifi card, im using a laptop. shits harder than it looks

I found a Pro license for €8, just search better

Just stop using it

lol no
you will never be able to tell if you removed the spyware since the code is proprietary, you can't even tell with the beloved Enterprise version

Can't you decompile Windows though?

In order to partition my computer, the Windows forums recommended me a shitty software that broke the Windows partition I was dual-booting with, then I tried to install Mageia but the community was a bunch of assholes, then I installed Manjaro, then my boyfriend installed Archlinux on my computer, then I installed Fedora.

I got a console for gaming.

Same.
Roll on the faggots saying there are viable alternatives.
Oh, here's one now.
Linux losers like you don't seem to understand industry standards. Like I'm going to get the whole company to switch to an open source package with 40% of the features missing just because some moron on Sup Forums says so.
You're a complete brainlet.

lucky you having a dumb shit boss.
try working in an environment with 50+ design engineers across 6 offices, all using solidworks.
>hay guiz, i use open source nao, can you all convert to a universal format before we collaborate, cos windoze is evil

There's also Reaper
Too bad there aren't many native Linux VSTs

i changed all my hobbies and lifestyle so i can enjoy the GNU/Linux

Information is key, the more you know the more paranoid you become. Normies can't handle this level of truth, they're stuck in their little bubble living in lies.

Rather I live in a stressful freedom rather than a peaceful slavery.