Can you/do you live without Windows?

[tereck]

Not intended as a dissing thread btw, purely out of interest. Horses for courses etc.

I have a Win 10 just-in-case machine that gets powered up periodically (and is ready some time later once it's loaded all it's updates!) for the occasions when I need it, as some companies seem resolutely stuck to Windows only platforms. However, my Win10 box has decided once again to not recognise my Garmin device, and I really really can't be bothered sorting it out again.

The bulk of the stuff I do, and play with, is on linux and android (ok, same thing, but you know what I mean) and I genuinely have little recourse to, nor need for, Windows - perhaps to restore an android device to stock when I've stuffed something up for instance, and there's probably a 3rd party unix based to do that to. I digress.

I'm thinking of wiping the Win10 machine for a linux OS (Mint is my preference) - or perhaps dual booting it. I've messed around with virtual platforms (VirtualBox) and Wine (it's hit and miss) but am considering going without Windows completely. Could I successfully image it in the event I might need to rebuild it? Or is there some Windows trickery that will prevent that. Or  could I go Windows free? Do you?

[Jaded]

As a Mac user I very occasionally use Windows when I cannot find a suitable application in MacOS. Something like astronomical photo stacking. I also use it when someone uses a platform specific application to create something and it will not open properly on my OS. Something like Powerpoint comes to mind, and definitely M$ Publisher (although it is exceptionally rare that anything created in Publisher is worth opening).

I used to have to run it for the business, but persuaded my coder partner to go Mac and the code is all platform agnostic now. I use Parallels, and probably don’t have to. When I have to switch to the M series of processors Windows will have to go, unless M$ see the light and produce a useful RISC version of Windows.

[tereck]

I also use it when someone uses a platform specific application to create something and it will not open properly on my OS. Something like Powerpoint comes to mind

Ah, good point, thank you. Not everything is under my control. My cycling club did once go through a (very short lived) phase some years ago of sending stuff out as Powerpoint documents. There are cross platform readers of course, and I don't recall receiving anything unopenable recently, but I will gave that some deeper thought.

[Jaded]

Most Powerpoint docs will open on the Mac, but alignment, fonts and transitions are often just wrong.

[Mr Larrington]

Most Powerpoint docs will open on the Mac, but alignment, fonts and transitions are often just wrong.

Isn’t that just a feature of Powerpoint in general rather than any platform incompatibility wossname

[mrcharly-YHT]

Most of the Apps I use for work are Windows-only.

I don't play games on PC anymore.

Nearly all my leisure computer use is on Android (and by hour of use, it is reading).

[Polar Bear]

Not yet.  Android is the likely long term platform of choice but at present Windows is still required.

[Woofage]

I've run Linux on my computers exclusively for about 15 years. In the beginning there were some flaky bits (eg graphics drivers) but I haven't known any for as long as I can remember. As well as the ubiquitous web browser I use LibreOffice & Google for docs & spreadsheets (no need for presentations), Inkscape and GIMP for graphics, Shotwell to manage my photos and I run an old version of AutoSketch under WiNE for when I need some simple CAD (just home projects, and ICBA to learn a new app). There are also plenty of utilities for other more menial tasks (eg backup, text editing, music management and pretty much anything else you can think of).

[mike]

As a very basic user I haven't come across anything I cant do on a Mac in about 10 years.  I use MS office for work and nobody has complained about compatability for years either (they might complain about the content, but that's different!)

[phantasmagoriana]

Yes. My only "home" computer has been a basic Chromebook for a number of years now.

I do have Windows on my work laptop, but it's only ever used for work stuff.

[Auntie Helen]

At home I only have a Mac and it does all that I need. I don’t do gaming so that side of it was never an issue.

The choice of personal finance software was pretty thin but I found something in the end (Banktivity/iBank).

I use windows at work and absolutely don’t miss it at home. I’d rather do without it!

[quixoticgeek]

I've been using Linux as my main desktop for over 20 years. I got a Mac recently for free but I don't use it much.

J

[perpetual dan]

My personal computer is linux. Has been since 2020.
Very occasionally i can't do some kind of helping / collaboration because they're using something very windows based. (Camera club competition software usually.) Mostly google drive apps let me collaborate without compatibility issues.
I do have an ancient mac mini that gets brought out less than once a year for some device setup.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[nicknack]

All Linux here. Although I did buy an iPad 12.9 for music score reading last week. I have an old laptop that's dual boot with Ubuntu and Windows 7 but it's a while since I bothered with it.

[PaulF]

At home I did years ago; for work I use a Mac for 95% of what I do. So if I need Windows I Remote Desktop and run from there. Essentially it’s to run application that’s IE only or more importantly the 5% that hasn’t been ported over, SQL management tools, because I haven’t found a suitable OSX replacement and to change my password.

[barakta]

I have a dual boot Linux / Windows 10 machine. I use Windows less and less, mainly for my scanner whose drivers won't work under non Windows and Adobe Acrobat Pro for OCRing/scanning documents which I do in bulk after scanning them. I do also do PowerPointy bollocks in Windows as Google or Libre Office equivalents aren't great - although one of my employers is 'all Google' so even that is dying out.

Kim does all the cleverness to make my machine dual boot. Windows is getting bloaty more than the Linux as this desktop is now 7.5 years old since we built it. It is OK in Linux 95% of the time so I don't see the need to upgrade/rebuild yet.

[Kim]

I'm pretty much all Linux on the desktop.  I have a couple of Windows VMs that I occasionally spin up for things that need Real Excel, Garmin Basecamp^[1], and the nasty software for the label printer^[2].  Scanning gets outsourced to barakta.

I currently have custody of the Official BHPC Jam-Filled Babbage-Engine, which is running Windows 11.  The race timing software works just fine on Linux or Mac, but we need Excel to run the VBA macros that do sign-on and post-processing of results.


_{[1] Necessary for making Routes that can be navigated properly in Follow Road mode.
[2] 95% of what I need can be done on the front panel, but occasionally I need fine control of layout or arbitrary graphics.  There's an incomplete attempt at a CUPS driver that isn't very good at different label sizes.}

[Kim]

Kim does all the cleverness to make my machine dual boot.

For 'cleverness' read: "unplugs the Linux SSD every time Windows threatens to do something to the bootloader", interspersed with occasional frantic googling when Windows goes ahead and fucks it all up without bothering with threats.

[SiD]

Mac user for 30+ years.
Going windowless used to be really difficult - almost impossible really.

Since Office 365 is now a coud based i.e. browser based as opposed to platform based – almost (there are still some small things) all issues are removed.
I work for 2 separate companies – one is Mac orientated (design) the other Windows (member support).
I use the same MacBook for both organisations.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Mac user for 30+ years.
Going windowless used to be really difficult - almost impossible really.

Since Office 365 is now a coud based i.e. browser based as opposed to platform based – almost (there are still some small things) all issues are removed.
I work for 2 separate companies – one is Mac orientated (design) the other Windows (member support).
I use the same MacBook for both organisations.

Eh?

I'm using Office 365 and it very definitely is a local installation.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Let me pitch in.. I have been a Linux enthusiast since it was first invented. I switched from Solaris to early Linux boxes on PCs I don't know how long ago.
Since then I have made my living building and managing Linux supercomputers.

On my desk I use whatever the company I am working for has as standard. Usually a Windows laptop.
Companies run on Excel and Word, and probably will do for a long time.

When I need to communicate with Linux systems I sue MobaXterm - which is just marvellous. ssh RDP VNC and sets up ssh tunnels so I can use remote Web resources just like local

[Kim]

That used to be my survival technique when poor hardware support made Linux on the desktop impractical.  An SSH or X-session isn't particularly challenging for the host OS, and took a lot of the frustration out of Windows 9x.

Over the years Linux hardware support has become decent, and Windows has become a lot more stable and better performing (albeit increasingly confusing for the user).  Now it's pretty much a case of what software you need to run, and since 90% of the time that's a web browser, it doesn't really matter.  So it comes down to whether you *really* need a headline application like Excel or Acrobat that isn't available on Linux for commercial reasons, or some niche product that's only available on whatever platform out of general inertia.

I know unisex spaceadmins who live on a Chromebook, because all they need is a browser and an SSH client.

[SiD]

Eh?
I'm using Office 365 and it very definitely is a local installation.

I log in via https://www.office.com
All documents stored in cloud and editable in the browser.

[Kim]

All documents stored in cloud and editable in the browser.

What could *possibly* go wrong?

AIUI Office 365 can be both a desktop application and a web app, and in classic Microsoft tradition, they've obfuscated this in their use of product names.

(Presumably they consider the subscription model to be at least as lucrative as selling operating systems as a loss-leader.)

[FifeingEejit]

If you install the one drive app on Win10 you can then sync your cloud storage and hard drive storage
If you then install the desktop versions of the Office applications (I believe all personal licences have this) you effectivley have standard office desktop with cloud back up and viewing.
I find it handy because
a) I can also easily access the stuff via my phone
b) I can also easily access the stuff on my TV NUC
c) MS charge about the same as Google do for 1Tb of space and when it comes to apps Google utterly suck.

Biggest problem is i have all my photos on it as well as on my NAS, I am near 1Tb, MS insist on monthly payment for extra space, so dreading hitting that.
Also if your employer has the option, the equivalent of the home user version of office gives you a discount, which i found out about 2 weeks after I renewed last year but I now have the code on my account so it'll be cheaper next time.