14
Already on Linux.
Life is good 👍
One of the main places windows is used, like it or not, are organizations and companies. Especially small ones. Specially ones that are not in wealthy countries. And the only thing that keeps them from switching to linux is microsoft office. (Most importantly Word, excel).
My company has ~20 people and I would switch them over to linux if it wasn't for word and excel.
While libreoffice is great on it's own, companies send eachother xlsx and docx files. And libreoffice isnt great at reading or writing them. Specially complex ones. I don't think it's much of libre office's fault, but more the shitty incompatible, unstandardized microsoft formats.
Currently I'm the only Linux user in the team, and I constantly advocate Linux, but I know if anybody switches, compatibility with microsoft office is going to be a problem. I can take the risk with the tech team but not the office section (hr, sales, secretary accounting etc.) really.
This is the same thing that keeps my parents on windows. I do agree it’s not libre offices fault
Since most of Lemmy users are Linux fans, this headline sounds nice but is a bit misleading if you read the original post from Mozilla:
How can I get the newest features of Firefox?
If you want to keep your Firefox up to date, with all the latest features and security updates, you need to upgrade your operating system to Windows 10 or higher. In some cases, Microsoft may require newer hardware in order to support the newer operating system. After upgrading, you can easily reinstall Firefox and keep all of your settings.
Or, if your current hardware can't handle Windows 10 or higher for some reason, you can switch to a Linux-based operating system. The vast majority of Linux distributions come with Firefox as the default browser. Please see the support websites for the version of Linux that you're interested in.
sounds nice but is a bit misleading
To me it even sounds kind of scary. If they are telling users you need to switch your OS to continue using our app, that is going to isolate users and further decrease user base and market share. And apps that no one uses usually die. So for people who like Firefox, it doesn’t sound so nice. I’m also a Linux user, but I’m not sure if this is a positive way to drive users to Linux. (Thought it does mention windows 10 upgrade hardware requirement limitations, which might be a positive way to drive users to Linux, thanks Microsoft.)
Those versions of windows haven't had support for years. They shouldn't even be connected to the internet.
I’m not very techie, so when I took my brand new Lenovo (cheap) laptop from w11 to Linux mint, it really felt like an achievement. I haven’t used a command terminal since college, and I straight up made a bootable usb and wiped w11
Hell yeah brother
With the list of old Windows vulnerabilities so extensive Firefox could simply just install Linux for users like that.
Most of them (I assume such VMs don't use browsers) would just click [Agree] and then [Next] a few times, never knowing what was it about, maybe not even noticing any differences.
/s
So, basically Microsoft's "we know what's best for you" style? No. Fuck that, no matter the purpose.
I was joking.
I added the "/s" to be extra clear.
I didn't think of anyone taking that statement seriously (like how wound it even work?).
Apologies. I've seen weirder shit proposed recently. 2025 has severely damaged my sensors responsible for detecting irony, sarcasm and satire.
As for "how would it work": on systems as old as Win 7, it would be trivial to escalate privileges and install all kinds of shit.
I do agree with you, I could have written it significantly better (in my brainhole the notion of a browser/browser dev installing you an OS bcs it would mean less work for them was just funny, but I failed in communicating it).
Also lol, yeah, 2025 did a number on irony/nutty theories/near future predictions. 2026 is no better, like whym there aren't any HDDs left, what kind of worldwide catastrophe hit Earth & caused that??
The install bit - so getting through admin Win would prob be easy (that was the og joke), then the code would have to partition the disk (ok), install Hannah Montana Linux (ok), but then also reboot to that partition - can that be done without Grub on a primary boot partition or the user accessing BIOS?
can that be done without Grub on a primary boot partition or the user accessing BIOS?
I was assuming you'd just write GRUB onto the primary disk and set Hannah Montana Linux (lol, excellent choice of distro!) as the only boot option (because who needs os-prober and a selection timeout when you've got the best of distros on disk, amirite?).
I suppose the most problematic part is the partitioning you handwaved as "ok". Afair, Windows does not allow for live-resizing of the system partition (as it should). But I suppose there are ways around that, particularly if you've got another drive or spare partition of adequate size. (OEM recovery partitions come to mind; as much as 10 GB can be enough for a viable Linux system partition.)
The PC Gamer article's title also says "upgrade or". That's a heck of a detail to editorialize out of the title.
From the Mozilla post it cites:
After this, no security updates will be provided and you are strongly encouraged to upgrade to a supported Microsoft Windows version.
Or, if your current hardware can't handle Windows 10 or higher for some reason, you can switch to a Linux-based operating system. The vast majority of Linux distributions come with Firefox as the default browser.
I agree switching to Linux is the better option. I want to try Bazzite.
Bazzite is amazing, nearly bulletproof even?
I had a few times where it booted to the grub emergency shell, but it literally just fixed itself. Just reboot and it uses the other A/B slot. And the next update attempt just fixes whatever the problem was. That's only happened twice in the last 5 months since I switched. Most longtime Linux users should be very familiar with the grub emergency shell, but I've never been on a distro where it just fixes itself. I don't ever have to think or worry about updates, it's just a reliable daily driver. It's sick.
As people have said, Bazzite is immutable. You can install system packages/libraries if you absolutely need to, but you really should run your custom stuff in a Distrobox instead. Distrobox is preinstalled, supports graphical apps automatically, and most of the time you won't even notice it's not your real OS.
I think Bazzite is more stable and usable than Windows now. I'm tempted to switch my parents to it, it's been much more fault tolerant than Windows 11.
Pretty sure Mozilla has the numbers on how many installations each OS has, so it’s probably a legitimate decision. HOWEVER, if they want to maintain their position on Linux, I highly recommend changing the default behavior of Ctrl+Shift+C to match how it works in Helium, where it simply copies the selected content instead of opening Developer Mode, which cannot be closed again using the same keystroke.
I doubt they'll change that, since Ctrl+Shift+C also opens the dev console on chromium based browsers on Windows (just tried it with Chrome and Edge). Not sure if that's the behavior on Linux, since I only use Firefox there.
Also, I really doubt that Ctrl+Shift+C behavior is going to factor into people's decision anyway. That's a very niche problem to have.
What's wrong with Ctrl+C to copy? Its the default shortcut on pretty much everything except terminals.
Whats wrong with using the metric system to represent quantities? Its the default on pretty much everything except fueling planes or operating satellites. /s
The conflict arises from having two different defaults for the same action. Since users frequently switch between these environments, the lack of a universal shortcut causes constant friction.
The key issue is that the request is to change behavior in one place (browser) to match that of a rare case (terminal), causing a mismatch with the frequent case (office suites, mail programs, ...). The terminal is the odd one out, not the browser, and ought be the one to change the default for the reason you provide.
In practice, a terminal is a special case and not just a text input window, and current convention is that Ctrl + C aborts / cancels.
(You could of course have a duplicate hotkey, but now you are inconsistent w.r.t. other browsers, and there will be someone else who will be annoyed by the difference)
You can change that in about:keyboard in the new Firefox versions
Ah the classic Linux community response to any complaint.
- The default either actively ignores what every other software does or purposely uses something other than everything else for no apparent reason.
- Someone brings up the fact that it makes no sense why it's different and how it makes the user experience worse.
- Someone else recommends a half baked solution that still doesn't really solve the problem and doesn't address the fact that the specific weirdness being default is the issue. So it ignores the actual complaint and only provides a half solution.
- Nothing is ever done to address the issue and it remains for decades constantly annoying new users and being one of thousands of small issues that turn potential curious new users away as they accumulate.
Proposing a fix is better than no fix? I didn't know it was possible, and now I'm looking into it.
Changing the default is a social issue, so of course it's more difficult than changing one's current setting.
Absolutely, all behavior can be changed somehow. But the default defines the product :)
If you're still hanging on to old hardware. Linux is the way to go baby
At this point, if you have hardware, Linux is a good choice. New or old. The older it is might change which distro, but still a good choice.
"Most browsers, including Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, have already ended support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1."
To me Millions of flies can't be wrong: eat shit. is a crappy argument but at least they're
"If your current hardware can't handle Windows 10 or higher for some reason, you can switch to a Linux-based operating system. The vast majority of Linux distributions come with Firefox as the default browser."
I mean, it's a lot of work to make security updates for a browser on an operating system that doesn't get security updates anymore. Why spend money fixing the weapons on a sinking ship?
Is there a good distro to pick for a surface tablet?
My understanding is you need a specific kernel, which likely limits your choices somewhat (dunno, don't have one, but that seems like a good place to start). Seems totally doable though.
this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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