Why wait for Microsoft to catch up with what we've been doing for decades?
Get Plasma, a modern, fully functional, clean, privacy-respecting, non-intrusive operating system now, regardless from where you live and ditch Windows for good.
KDE is an international technology team creating user-friendly free and open source software for desktop and portable computing. KDE’s software runs on GNU/Linux, BSD and other operating systems, including Windows.
If you encounter a bug, proceed to https://bugs.kde.org, check whether it has been reported.
If it hasn't, report it yourself.
PLEASE THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE POSTING HERE.
Developers do not look for reports on social media, so they will not see it and all it does is clutter up the feed.
Been wondering about jumping ship to Linux after I got some hands on experience through the Steam Deck, but I hear that they don't have the same wide compatibility with various Hardware, plus there are a lot of programs you can't get.
If I want Clip Studio Paint, be able to play games with anti cheat AND be able to stream comfortably with OBS and the XLR microphones I have... Can I reasonably expect to be able to do all these things without a hitch?
Hardware support is pretty damn good now, but may require some research beforehand to ensure you get a system with no driver gotchas. Honestly, I have more trouble with driver setup on Windows than on Linux these days. That said, I won't buy a computer that comes with any incompatibilities, so your experience may vary.
Gaming is easy on Linux now (assuming your system is set up properly) thanks to Steam's Linux compatibility layer, which is built with WINE. They also have it on the Steam Deck, so you've actually probably used it already, you just didn't know.
The only sticking point is Clip Studio Paint. Apparently it can be set up using WINE, but it's not going to be as good as a native experience. Or at least, that would be my guess.
I actually love the steam deck, but there are some favs that I can't play due to anti cheat, plus I like playing a lot of older titles on GoG. Do those work just as well?
Depends on the title and the nature of the anti-cheat code. If it basically acts as a system-level rootkit, then you may be out of luck.
I'd check the big community-driven games database that keeps track of compatible games here: https://www.protondb.com/
In some cases, minor tweaks and settings changes will make games work fine, even if they're not officially supported.
As for GoG games, there's Lutris and Heroic Games Launcher, both of which can use Steam's compatibility layer for running Windows-only GoG games. Again, there may be tweaks involved and your mileage may vary, but the communities for both are extremely helpful.