I am someone that is a Microsoft professional by trade and have been for about 20 years. I have absorbed everything that Microsoft has ever done in the Windows, Server and Cloud ecosystems, but Windows 11 was what really broke this lovely glass dream.

Under Windows 10, I was ale to create a custom image and use advanced policies to block the crap, Windows 11 on the other hand you can still do the same but with every update, it reverts settings back to their "default" without notification or even recorded information.

I would say to anyone that has the "but Windows is better for gaming..." you are living in the 00s to early 10s! With the Wine program and Valves Proton program, I am able to run all games that I own (1000+ games... I am a Valve sales bundle addict alright?!?). I am able to play games such as Star Citizen, Planetside 2, PalWorld, Helldivers 2 with a few clicks of a button, and only a couple of clicks if the game is Proton gold or above.

From my testing on several distros I would say start with something friendly such as Mint Cinnamon or PopOS (linux die hards, remember not everyone wants to spend time figuring things out on a daily basis and these OS from my experience are the most Windows-esque - i mean I started with Garuda and I am stubborn to learn it instead of jumping to another distro). Then spend a bit of time just getting the basics of a Linux system of your choice, such as the file system and how to install packages (apps). Don't forget you also have platforms such as YouTube that people will show you click for click on what to do!

But... yes there is a but.... if you have an nVidia GPU your experience might not be as smooth. If you want to take a leap and have the best experience, have at least an AMD GPU and even better an AMD system. Unfortunately this is purely on nVidia still having their finger up their ass on open source drivers.

Ditched Windows late last year and jump to Linux as my main driver. I've had Linux servers for years but it is completely different when it's your main driver.

I mainly play games and from the over 100 games that I tried to play only 2 had issues and I was unable to get them working (BattleField 4 and FaF Forever).

Honestly Wine and subsequently Proton is the true game changer when it comes to games BUT I'm on an all AMD hardware and had 0 issues with driver stability, however a friend of mine on an Intel/nVidia has had a couple of issues which were eventually resolved but took a bit of wait for fixes and updates.

Saw couple of friends playing it and thought to give it a try... But oh boy... 45 hours in less than 2 weeks.

Send someone can say that I'm enjoying it.

Windows 11 was the straw that broke the camel's back for me as an MS specialist with 20+ years of experience.

Under Windows 10, making a golden image was all you needed to make sure that malware (yes some MS services share the same traits as malware!), bloatware and telemetry were not active, even on major updates (a couple of exceptions but overall that was the case)

Windows 11 no matter what you do, on a major update it will reset to Microsoft's "recommend" settings even wiping out task scheduler scripts and reg entries. That is malware behaviour and should be treated as such.

Honestly, I know I will sound like a broken record but if you have any value on your privacy, get on Linux. There are distros out there that are very friendly but remember with anything new, there is a learning curve and the steepness is based on how willing you are to learn, don't be afraid.

Factorio without bitters. The music of desolance, alone on the planet trying to get efficient so you can leave and go home. I don't know why it is so relaxing, but it is... just having time to plan and build exactly what you had in mind is bliss.

On the other hand if you want some adrenaline, play bitters in deathworld.

One of us, one of us. I did the same only 2-3 hours into my first ever Linux install.

That's an amazing jump and congratulations on doing it.

I like the wishes of the creators saying they want to be used for good causes, but we all know the true case of these types of machines, military, which is exactly what gundam is.

I will start. I want to see a game that mashes factory building with either FPS or RTS, where one or more players create a supply chain inside a zone/factory and the other one or more players utilise the ammo, weapons, vehicle etc.

Get Mozilla Firefox and add uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and Ghostery plugins.

For over the top action, but a Raspberry Pi with an ethernet port and install PiHole and change your router DNS to the IP address of the PiHole and bask in glory that 99.999% of the crap out there, will not come or go out of your household.

For me are mystery and clue games such as Myst and 7th Guest. The scenery and thought of adventure that these titles used to bring as very rare and although Goragoa was quite recent, it was far too short.

The first ever game of harvest moon was on the switch last year. I repaid the debt by fishing and collecting shells as I couldn't figure out how to dig as I couldn't obtain a pickaxe to finish my first ever quest. After 6+ hours of foraging around the staeting area, I realised that if you sleep, the quest progresses and you get the pickaxe...... Yea!