[t0astbread]

There are alternatives, you just have to accept that not every operating system is exactly like Windows and that it takes time to learn something new. But you can multi-boot while doing that and gradually move your workflow away from Windows. Maybe there's still something that actually doesn't work outside of Windows at the end but the majority of your life will probably be spent on an OS that you (hopefully) don't have to fight.

[Fauntleroy]

If you're using Windows for PC gaming, there are often no real alternatives. It's not always about workflows and compiling.

[Nacraile]

There are lots of games that run on linux these days. Personally, my wishlist has a deep enough backlog of linux-supporting games that there's very little risk I'll ever be "forced" to dip into the windows-only portion of the list.

For those times when I really just want to play a specific game that's Windows-only, dual-boot works great. I couldn't care less if telemetry tells Microsoft I start my PC every few months to play a few games ;)

I'm pretty skeptical that there are many real cases where eliminating Windows as a primary OS is a matter of "can't" and not "don't care enough to tolerate an occasional minor inconvenience". The latter case gets little sympathy when they complain about Microsoft's bad behavior.

[t-writescode]

Unfortunately, many modern shooters use anti-cheat software that stops you from running them in Linux. They're my biggest barrier to being full Linux all the time.

[bzb3]

People don't want to play whatever is on Linux, they want to play what they want to play.

[welterde]

We are not talking about just a few games as in the pre-steam days, but ~30% of all games on steam have native ports for linux now and over 70% can be played with proton by now.

And in the end you will always have to make a choice what games to play, since not everyone owns every console ever (which have exclusive titles) or the latest and greatest hardware to play the very latest AAA titles (quite a few of which have native linux ports by now)

[sergeykish]

Out of curiosity I've installed Steam and checked featured game. Linux version has not started (not Ubuntu here) but Proton version worked.

Now if Steam had productivity applications [1] and they had Proton version (not yet).

[1] https://store.steampowered.com/software/

[2] https://www.protondb.com/

[Shared404]

Pretty much every Steam game except multiplayer focused games works in Linux now.

It's a high enough percentage that I don't really consider what OS it was built for before buying almost any game.

[bzb3]

Are there alternatives that are capable of competently running Win32, the NT HAL, DirectX, etc? Last I checked, wine wasn't there yet

[t0astbread]

That's what I'm saying, not every operating system is Windows. But what are you trying to do? For Windows-only video games multi-boot is good enough. I guess you won't be switching between gaming and doing something else fast enough that the reboots would get annoying. And for a lot of Windows games Wine and now Valve's Proton are also viable. For Windows-specific development you could also use a VM with shared folders.

[genocidicbunny]

Sure, for your average HN user, that is viable.

Most people aren't your average HN user. Most people wouldn't be able to really figure out dual-boot, much less shared folders, Wine and Valve's Proton. It's still just too complicated compared to Windows. For these people, any use of Windows-only software makes the decision for them. They will use Windows because its easier and it 'just works' as far as they're concerned.

[sergeykish]

I agree with statement though not because of the arguments.

Dual-boot is scary — it can ruin the only computer user has — but live USB is super simple. Shared folders? Put shared data on FAT USB. Start with browser, that's 99% usage. Windows-only software? There would never be 100% parity. Same story opposite way - a lot of programming languages do not work that well on Windows.

Windows is easier because it is familiar, it has a lot of quirks

* why do I need disks? I'd better put everything in personal folder

* right click on desktop to setup display?

* "my computer" on the desktop of my computer?

* File > Exit?

Most of the Windows users would not switch to Linux even if it was as polished as Mac. We know because they don't switch to Mac.

[em-bee]

multi boot is absolutely not good enough. i do multiple things in paralell and switch back and forth frequently. the problem is not only the switching but that a reboot causes me to loose state. i have to close all editors of my work in progress, reposition windows and whatnot. each reboot would cost a few minutes of work.

on one laptop i managed to get hibernation to work such that i could hibernate one OS while i woke up the other. this way i could switch back and forth between linux and windows without loosing state. but it was still annoying that my linux system was not accessible when i needed it. like to check email or respond to messages while the game is running.

[t0astbread]

I mean If you say so, sure. I'm not forcing you to do anything. In my experience when moving away from Windows it has been fine though, I'd just install what I wanted to do while playing games on Windows as well (such as a web browser, chat software, etc.)

[em-bee]

casual browsing, sure, but email, no way.

i try to keep personal data away from windows as much as i can. i use windows only for things that don't work any other way. the only exception is games,some games run on linux or wine too, but all of them run on windows, so i currently have all games on windows just to have them all in one place and keep games away from where i do real work.

apart from that i treat the windows laptop as a replaceable dumb terminal that i don't care about if it gets destroyed or hacked. anything important is on a trusted device running linux.

also, having linux around is what makes using windows bearable. the most important window is the ssh/mosh terminal to my linux machine. the less i have to interact with windows, the better.

finally i switched from dos to linux before win95 came out and i haven't used windows for more than a decade until tax and banking software forced me to. then i added games because the device was already there.

[ta17711771]

Yes, it is now.

[dspillett]

Until enough move over that support for Linux is as good as Windows for certain key applications, that is essentially just moving the fight. And giving up on a few rounds if you are not fighting Windows' tracking while in Windows.

[t0astbread]

True but you are giving Windows less information in total about yourself if you do part of your work elsewhere.