I was curious about Windows 12 so I did some googling.
This article is based on rumors but it still made me laugh. I think this is the funniest bit: "a free, ad-supported version of Windows 12 might be available."
What to Expect in Windows 12: Leaks, Rumors, and More | PCMag
Will Windows 12 Require a Subscription?
Eagle-eyed code watchers have noticed references to "subscription edition," "subscription type," and "subscription status" in the code for a Windows Insider build in the Canary channel (the earliest release channel). These references have led to speculation that Microsoft will require a subscription for the OS in the future—and perhaps PC prices will be lower as a result. Further speculation has it that a free, ad-supported version of Windows 12 might be available as well.
Another possibility is that these references to subscriptions might be just for business users, similar to the already available Windows 365 Cloud PC option.
A subscription requirement would surely result in outrage from longtime Windows users. That's what happened when Adobe Photoshop first moved to a subscription model, only for many users to eventually pay up, boosting Adobe's profits and enabling the company to develop impressive new features for the imaging software.
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Let’s be clear from the start: Microsoft hasn’t officially commented on whether it's developing Windows 12. But credible leaks, rumors, and other indicators strongly suggest we'll get a Windows 12 in 2024—much quicker than the move from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
the unhinged push/pressure to get people on Win11 from 10, and all the other walled/garden enshittification of platforms put the old "i promise to try linux" on the front burner. i have my main home computer that i do everything with, but i also had this like 9+ year old laptop that came out of a scratch & dent refurb deal. so like $200, 10 years ago. i kept it in my spare/home office/project room so i could pullup and reference instructional YouTube videos, but every time i would go to use it, it needed to install hella critical OS updates and reboot twice, which always took forever. i would end up spending like 30 minutes clearing startup shit to get the reboot time down, and the entire process would repeat every few months without any correlation to how much i actually used it. also, the battery was fucked, so it always had to be plugged in to work.
i decided the loss of that laptop was worth the gamble, so i installed mint on it. it was like a whole new laptop. so fast at everything, stable, never needed to reboot. wiggling the mouse and it would always instantly wake up and be ready for me to look shit up. not to mention, install was clownshoes easy and everything worked easy. also, rebooting is like 30 seconds.
that inspired me to get one of those framework laptops and create a real transitional home workstation last year. i ended up going with the ubuntu long term stable release and it has been incredible and doing everything i need for working from home, even though my workplace is a M$ heavy institution. i just use the web office365 for all that shit. the only stuff i don't use on that laptop is adobe creative cloud apps, but i am slowly trying out the FOSS alternatives for smaller projects and i think i can realistically get to a point where i use my linux laptop for like 90% of my workflow before trying things like Wine or VM workarounds.
it feels nice to be steadily weaning off windoze, and it's definitely spoiling me in terms of stability/reliability.
Mint and Cinamon are so fucking good. They do what they are supposed to do, make your computer useable for what you want to do. Micro$hit thinks Windows should be the star of the show, many such examples
I've been a full-time Linux user since the late 1990s (yes, I am a nerd). I'm usually a Debian/KDE person but I've been using Mint/Cinnamon as my laptop OS for a few weeks. And I'm really loving it. Nice polished desktop. Very stable. I would wholeheartedly recommend Mint to any Window user looking to testdrive Linux.
I'd also recommend it as a general desktop OS for experienced Linux users. It has all the good stuff about Ubuntu's extensive hardware support and repos, but without any of Ubuntu's proprietary snap nonsense.
Cinnamon is also a much easier sell for experienced Windows users than Gnome, it takes basically no training at all. Tray in the bottom right, menu in the bottom left, open programs shown between them. It's what Windows users are used to. Even Gnome's fans have to admit that it's a pretty big changeup in terms of the interface.
I recently had the same experience with a 10+ year old laptop. It worked fine but only has 4gb ram and the WiFi drivers weren't supported any more. I put mint on it and WiFi worked again immediately and it runs so much better.
Over the last 2 years I've started at least two (if not three) threads at Hexbear about buying a new PC and installing Unix. But I have yet to buy a new PC. I'm still using Windows 8. The only reason I stick with Windows is that I'm monumentally lazy and I'm an old dog. If I have a problem - I know 1,000,000s other people might have experienced the same thing so googling for a solution is a snap.
But my hard drive is now geriatric so I really need to buy a new PC. I should just buy one and put Unix on it. Or spend the extra money and buy Mac. I know Windows 11 would seem like absolute shit to me. My hunch is 12 will be even worse - whenever it actually comes out.
I'm not a gamer but I've thought maybe I should be. It would cut down on doomscrolling which is soul destroying. But from what little I googled - Macs seem to be shitty for gaming. If that's accurate - I think that's pretty funny. Apple doesn't want its Sacred, Holy Machines to be used for something as lowly as gaming.
If you use Ubuntu, you'll find similar support online (Google error message and thousands of people have had the same issue). But there's a lot of drama with Ubuntu these days, so you could try elementaryos, it's based on Ubuntu so a lot of the support you'll find online for Ubuntu also applies to elementaryos.
As for gaming, Windows is still the best, but with the steam deck, Valve has done a lot of work improving the Linux compatibility for games. You'll still run into issues with anticheat for competitive games and DRM for AAA titles, but if you're mostly interested with indie games you should have pretty good luck with Linux.
And of course you could dualboot Linux and Windows.