I recently switched to Linux. I'll tell you my story.
I have been an avid fan of Microsoft most of my life. I have had the pleasure of enjoying the XBOX, XBOX360, WIndows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP, 7, 8, 8.1, 7 and 10. Wait a second. Remove 10.
That's where everything changed. I made the switch to 10 and was thrilled with it. It had lots of functionality that I hadn't had before (voice search and whatnot). It booted super-fast. And when I get my XBOX ONE, I'll be able to play it on my PC!
Unfortunately, it gave me some ads. Sometimes while I'd be doing something, it would give me an add. Once, it even minimized Heroes of the Storm while I was playing with some friends and told me to try Office 365.
This is my OS. My fundamental belief in what an OS should do is allow you to use your computer. A better OS gives you more control through more tools, better tools. But I couldn't make the ad go away. And it minimized without telling me. I was pretty pissed off. But I ALT+TABed back into my game and didn't even die.
About a month later, I noticed that my computer was getting slower. 1fps in Heroes of the Storm. Sometimes roughly 0.05 fps. I checked up on what my computer was doing and learned that it was performing updates. I had a Core 2 3.0 GHz, 4GB 64-bit system. Apparently when Windows updates, it needs to use both cores to crank through something for an hour or two. So I needed to turn on my system for a few hours before playing anything.
That's irritating. But I have an older computer. It's acceptable, I suppose. I just need to remember to leave it on sometimes. There's a way to trick it into not doing that, but only on a wireless connection and I don't have Wifi on my main desktop.
Then a few weeks later, while playing Heroes of the Storm (it's not all I play, I swear!), Windows decided it was time to update, so it shut down. Shut down. Without asking me. In the middle of an online game. Now I'll be judged as a leaver on HotS and die an internet-lonely person with only real friends and family! BooOO!!!
At that point, I was pissed. I no longer had control of my PC. Windows did. I couldn't play except when Windows said I could play. I didn't buy all of my hundreds of dollars of hardware and a $129.99 copy of Windows so that Windows could use it. I bought it so that *I* could use it.
But I calmed down and found the setting that allows Windows to not shut down whenever she feels like. But at that point, I still felt like I no longer had control. I felt very violated.
At the same time, a thread on GOG had gone the way of Linux, as they sometimes do. I looked up my top 5 I wanted to play and they were all available on Linux or Xbox 360. (DivinityOS (coming soon to Linux), Pillars of Eternity, Witcher 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Spinter Cell: Blacklist) and my 2 games I can't live without for their multiplayer-connections to old friends and family (Company of Heroes and Heroes of the Storm -- both playable through Wine).
So I did it. First, I chickened out and tried to make a dual-boot into Windows 7 and I was just going to hope it wouldn't force me to WIn10. But while I was installing, I kept thinking about 2 things: 1) My wife's Win7 constantly pesters her to upgrade with a huge blue pop-up. That's annoying. and 2) Win7 dies in 4 or 5 years. Then I'm on 10 again. And that's not acceptable. And the way things are going with the whole MS ecosystem and design philosophy, I don't think it'll ever improve any time soon.
So I quit. I reinstalled Linux (Mint - Cinnamon) and after 2 days of asking questions here and scouring the net, I finally got it installed and working.
It's not as simple as Windows at first. But you're so used to WIndows. Once you get your feet wet with Linux, you start to see it better.
And now, I'm very happy with my PC. I can use almost everything I want to. I'm still learning (I still haven't figured out how to install the required libraries for Witcher 2 -- and why those aren't included with the install package is beyond me), but I'm confident that I'll get it figured out.
I spend a little more time figuring things out than I used to. But it's really not bad. And now, I look for games with Native Linux support b/c they're easier to work with and it narrows the playing field quite a bit. I sort of like not being able to play everything b/c I had too much before anyway. With SteamOS, I think more things are going Linux, too.
So that's my story (a few details were fuzzy, so I smoothed them out -- I can't remember my 5 top games then, so I just put in my 5 top now :D).
My PC's MOBO died a few weeks ago. It made it 7 years and most said it'd only last 3. I got it for $40 and it came with a $30 HDMI-to-DVI adapter. It was really, really cheap with terrible reviews. But I got it working and did me very well for many years. And now that I'm getting a faster processor (just a G4400) and DDR4 RAM and a nifty gaming MOBO (still a bit cheap -- no overclocking :D), I could reinstall Windows 10 and get a little bit of functionality back. But for the cost of Direct X 12 and a bit easier-going on the learning side, I'm gaining control of my PC again. And that's worth it to me.
