Interesting Commentary On Microsoft Windows' Rise- And Fall

[Judge]

So far perhaps the best explanation of seeing the rise and fall of Microsoft Windows, and how it has systematically (and shamelessly) sold out their customers.

And it appears to only be getting worse:

 

[NB79]

i have windows 7 still for games, my cpu is from 2008, and i was thinking in upgrading before, but
prices are crazy now, good games release are more rare than before.
And people says electronics are made now with 'planned obsolescence' which makes them break.
I would try other OS, if in not were i like games mostly old and i am afraid linux etc couldn't run them.

 

[Judge]

i have windows 7 still for games, my cpu is from 2008, and i was thinking in upgrading before, but
prices are crazy now, good games release are more rare than before.
And people says electronics are made now with 'planned obsolescence' which makes them break.
I would try other OS, if in not were i like games mostly old and i am afraid linux etc couldn't run them.

Perhaps some of our members who run old versions of Windows virtually through Linux can weigh in...

 

[Outdated]

Perhaps some of our members who run old versions of Windows virtually through Linux can weigh in...

And people says electronics are made now with 'planned obsolescence' which makes them break.

Computers have become faster by making all the components smaller so they can jam more switches in to a single processor. Smaller components means smaller wiring which means it doesn't need as much electricity to overheat it and burn it out. The more often your computer gets hot the sooner it's going to die.

I would try other OS, if in not were i like games mostly old and i am afraid linux etc couldn't run them.

The great majority of games made after about 2003 will run just fine in Linux. It's a little bit hit and miss though. There's a few different ways you can load games in Linux.

If you're an online player then you'll want to install Steam and play your games through that.

If like me you're an offline player then you're better off just installing the games directly in to Linux once you have installed the Wine compatibility layer. That's how I play most of my games, completely offline and sandboxed, no internet access at all.

Some very old games from the 90s and earlier require the specific graphics hardware from back in that era, for those games I run a PC emulator that has Win98 installed in it.

 

[NB79]

Computers have become faster by making all the components smaller so they can jam more switches in to a single processor. Smaller components means smaller wiring which means it doesn't need as much electricity to overheat it and burn it out. The more often your computer gets hot the sooner it's going to die.



The great majority of games made after about 2003 will run just fine in Linux. It's a little bit hit and miss though. There's a few different ways you can load games in Linux.

If you're an online player then you'll want to install Steam and play your games through that.

If like me you're an offline player then you're better off just installing the games directly in to Linux once you have installed the Wine compatibility layer. That's how I play most of my games, completely offline and sandboxed, no internet access at all.

Some very old games from the 90s and earlier require the specific graphics hardware from back in that era, for those games I run a PC emulator that has Win98 installed in it.

I don't play online, i got burned up, looking for friendly people and finding out everyone just was an ass.

I have 2 shortcuts on my desktop, to change dns gateway ip, to something invalid, and back to normal, that way i can disconnect the internet with a clic. (i suppose nobody can see my pc that way and it works because i can't access internet when i disconnect).

 

[NB79]

Perhaps some of our members who run old versions of Windows virtually through Linux can weigh in...

But why i would run windows on linux if i just run windows alone. For now everything works, i expect soon maybe software would not get updated anymore like antiviruses etc but.

 

[Outdated]

That's one of the plusses with Linux, no more worries about viruses and privacy protection.

Changing over to a new OS is a bit frustrating at first though, simply because you won't know your way around the system and it takes a little while for Windows habits to change. What most people do is dual boot, which is a lot easier to do with a desktop than a laptop.

No need to interfere with your existing Windows in any way, simply install Linux on an external drive and run it from there so you can swap back to Windows when you need to. That's how Judge runs his, I haven't had Windows since XP but I started the same way but using separate internal drives instead of external ones.

 

[Crabcore]

Live booting is always an option, too, to test hardware compatibility and to see if you like it.

I'm pretty sure this is how I started (my memory is hazy; see the sobriety accountability thread ), until over time I just ended up learning and doing more things with it. I wouldn't totally change OSes unless it was 100% necessary, but doing certain things on Linux is just a breeze when compared to Windows (and admittedly, vice versa, if you're still hooked on Windows software like I am).

I wouldn't be able to run old versions of Windows at this rate because of all the 'always online' / DRM-happy software that I use, and I'd wager that if anyone can still run old versions of Windows because they're not hooked on the newest gizmos and gadgets, they could almost certainly switch to Ubuntu with almost no learning curve. Learning will just enable you to do cooler things, if you ever feel like doing that later .

That said, I'm definitely going to save and watch the videos in the OP! I'm still kind of curious as to why they're making people choose between their PC that works just fine and however much money a new one costs nowadays.

 

[Judge]

But why i would run windows on linux if i just run windows alone. For now everything works, i expect soon maybe software would not get updated anymore like antiviruses etc but.

Think greater security. Particularly given how inherently vulnerable all versions of Windows are.

"Running Windows virtually inside Linux does provide a level of isolation, similar to sandboxing, as it creates a separate environment for the Windows OS. However, it is not the same as a dedicated sandbox like Windows Sandbox, which is specifically designed for running untrusted applications in a highly controlled and isolated manner."

And to avoid allowing any Windows application or the OS itself from accessing the Internet. Using Linux to maintain your Internet connection and deliberately leave Windows cut off from it.

 

[Judge]

No need to interfere with your existing Windows in any way, simply install Linux on an external drive and run it from there so you can swap back to Windows when you need to. That's how Judge runs his, I haven't had Windows since XP but I started the same way but using separate internal drives instead of external ones.

Actually my primary computer I built last year has swappable drives for multiple Linux distributions. It's my "legacy computer" that still runs Windows XP alone, though totally cut off from the Internet or my network. That system is around 25 years old.

My secondary computer is the one I just upgraded to Linux Mint 22.2 even though it's 13 years old. It too uses a swappable drive, though right now I have only one SSD for it.