- Windows 10’s EoL is only a couple years away. Migrate to Windows 11, or switch to an alternative?
- A tale of interoperability: why we don’t need to worry so much about buying hardware as much as we worry about switching software.
- Tomorrow’s work should get started just as easily as today’s. Interoperability helps to make that possible.
Windows 10 reaches its end of life support on the 14th October 2025, at which point, its users are faced with a decision: Either make the switch to Windows 11, seamlessly moving all of your files, apps and data over; or, make the switch to an alternative (namely, any Linux distro) and go through the hassle of setting everything up again, if that new operating system even supports the applications and data you previously loved using. Maybe it doesn’t – Microsoft’s not gonna help you out there. Good luck installing Wine!
When you migrate to Windows 11, tomorrow should proceed in exactly the same fashion as today. It’s a complete no-brainer for most end users to switch to Windows 11. The switching costs are low, it’s convenient, and they aren’t grieved enough to even entertain such a dilemma in the first place. All within the natural order of how the big players would like us to think about switching costs: You can check out any time you like, but your data can never leave.
Although it’s cumbersome to move your stuff from Windows over to another operating system and vice versa, it’s worth considering that, at least for Windows and Linux, we never have to give the companies that make our devices – the companies that make the hardware components, further up the supply chain – a second thought. Windows runs on a Dell just as well as it does a Lenovo, or HP, or Acer, or or or or…
Time was, back in the day, if you wanted to buy or build a PC in the US, IBM was pretty much the only game in town. It owned 70% of the computer market share:
https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/ibm-and-microsoft-antitrust-then-and-now/
In 1969, the US government’s Department of Justice launched an antitrust investigation into IBM’s monopoly over the market. In what became known as “antitrust’s Vietnam,” IBM spent twelve years fighting the DoJ’s Antitrust Division – so much so that it outspent the department every single year. This money was not spent lightly, however. Monopolies have a lot of money to spend, and oftentimes it feels like them throwing enough money at something is enough to make it go away, but anything that can’t go on forever eventually stops.
They could not monopolise the hardware components it used for its PCs, and started using third-party components. They couldn’t tether its hardware to its software; when IBM chairman John Opel asked a friend serving on the board of the United Way if she knew someone who could source an OS for IBM’s PCs, that friend turned out to be Mary Gates, whose son was the head of a recent software startup called Micro-Soft (hyphen included). You may have heard of him – and his company’s operating system definitely fit the bill.
The aftermath of this case essentially made hardware interoperable. This interoperability is why, when we buy a new laptop, we don’t have to worry about the brand on the front, and whether its “PC clones” have the right components to run your operating system of choice. By giving us the freedom of movement and freedom of choice, interop benefits everyone.
Cumbersome though moving operating systems may be, it’s that principle of choice that matters to me. Before Windows 10’s time is up, I’m thinking of moving to Linux. Mainly, just because I can, but I also don’t like being subject to even more telemetry that I didn’t consent to. Any action I can take to have greater agency over my personal data, I will endeavour to take it.
Anyone who’s exclusively used Windows as their operating system of choice owes it to themselves to check out Zorin OS (other accessible Linux distros are available). It’s a Linux distro that strives to create a user experience that is roughly 1:1 with Windows or MacOS:
I’ve installed Linux on other devices in the past, and it’s still a marvel that we have the choice of choosing an alternative that not only just works, but just works like the big shot operating systems. It’s my experience that setting up an operating system that allows me to be in direct control of my daily computing experience, as I like it, is both satisfying and empowering. Maybe I didn’t build the OS, or the free, libre open-source software alternatives it provides, but I was able to use the freedom that the law gives me to tinker with devices that I own myself, and create a user experience for myself that the vendors didn’t intend.
There’s other reasons for switching to Linux, but I never feel like I articulate those reasons with the clarity and nuance they deserve. Any time I open my mouth about this sort of thing, I read back on it, and I look like a frothing, swivel-eyed loon. But in a word: I bought the device, I own the device, I have the right to install another OS on the device without breaking the law. I have the right to tinker. The right to tinker is in a similar spirit to invoking GDPR to force companies to disclose what information they store about you, and to remove that information when you leave their service.
Linux isn’t inherently better than Windows or macOS, even if I think it is because it doesn’t have things that I don’t like about Windows. Some folks are plain indifferent about how their data is collected and used – any opportunity taken to judge them for this is a missed opportunity to inform. What matters so much more than the OS you choose is the power to choose itself. Whether you switch to an alternative OS, or stick to what you know best, ensuring that choice is protected, such that tomorrow’s work can get started just as easily as today’s, benefits everyone.
“Windows 10: End of Life and What Comes Next” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.