Oh sure, why not throw a perfectly functional $1,300 into a shredder so we can make Microsoft happy? Oh yeah, I know, because fuck you Microsoft.
Linux users tell Microsoft to just get over it, dump your parasitic software and start over, because how hard can it be?
As hard as plugging in a USB with OS and follow instructions.
Minus all the caveats like not being reliable on anything with an NVidia GPU or just hating your specific setup for no reason (I am salty, I'm going to keep trying anyway)
I've recently convinced my daughter to try Mint on her system. She has GF 1650 and it worked out of the box with propietary Nvidia driver (nothing needed to install additionally, with the option to switch to open source driver). Really, it's not worse than on Windows.
As someone who did exactly this a year and a half or so ago: so much easier than you think.
This is kinda funny, just thinking someone believes you can "trade in" a PC at all. Even more so when they are trying to say those same Windows 10 machines will be so useless you need to trade them in in the first place, making the value of such a trade in what, next to nothing?
I never liked Windows 10, I had way too many issues with it. However, so many companies rely on old versions of Windows and it takes them years to upgrade to the latest version. The machines I use at work still have Windows 10 installed because the software we rely on isn't compatible with Windows 11 yet. This whole "trade in your old PC for a new one" is ridiculous. Thankfully there's many Linux distros that work with older hardware so you don't need Windows!
When management doesn’t want to upgrade from XP because it still works
"Trade in" like theres a dealership willing to give you some kind of fair value for your old computer. That said, if you're willing to be extorted by Microsoft, then you get what you have coming to you.
Alright then MS, (this is hypothetical as I haven't ran Windows as my main OS in years and don't plan on going back) since you want me to trade in my hardware, how 'bout I trade in your OS instead? :p
Hot take from an IT guy: save your important data, make a plain vanilla W11 boot USB (nothing fancy, no Rufus tricks), wipe your hard drive to zeroes, and install W11 like normal. I've reimaged a ton of older PCs and literally never seen it not work. My 10 year old Optiplex, supposedly ineligible for W11, runs W11 just fine.
Microsoft might someday break it, sure. That's not new. Microsoft products were always, in practice, available to us at Microsoft's pleasure. This is the same company that allows massgrave to exist on github because they'd rather we pirate MS Office than allow LibreOffice any oxygen. We'll probably be fine.
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