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# We Must Kill Windows For A Just Future
- URL: https://aftermath.site/we-must-kill-windows/
- Published: 2026-10-30T17:30:36.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T18:32:14.000Z
- Description: Nobody likes Windows. This cannot continue. We must come together and annihilate it. I hate to say it, but the way forward is Linux
- Author: Chris Person
- Tags: Inside Baseball Week 2026, windows, windows 11, microsoft, linux, Hardware

You never use Windows because you like Windows–you use Windows because it is there. This has been true my entire life. I have lived through the operating system’s ups and downs, including Windows Millennium Edition, which was worse than you could imagine and, somehow, worse than its reputation. But while Windows 10 was sorta okay, Windows 11 is wretched. The day-to-day experience of using it has deteriorated into something dreadful. If we continue to enable Microsoft, the walls will decay and fester eternally. We must escape this cycle of pain together. 

Microsoft as a company, minus many of the good gaming companies it bought and the employees at the margins allowed to make tiny useful pieces of software, is a rot plaguing the world. Be it its active [aiding in the genocide in Gaza](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/), its unhinged [commitment to AI](https://aftermath.site/windows-11-nope/), or just the fact that Windows and the 365 Suite have always sucked a little to use, the compromise that has existed with regular people for a long time has disintegrated. To the extent that computing can be moral, a moral future must be one without Microsoft generally and Windows specifically. We cannot assume that Windows will collapse under its own mediocrity; if that were true it would have happened decades ago. We must kill Windows. We must cut it out from our lives like a tumor; we must systematically consider what we need from it and seek to construct alternatives with purpose. It turns out that’s still quite hard, but every single day the process is easier.

## **The need for alternatives**

For clarity and as a point of policy, it is worth mentioning that while Xbox is the subject of a [“priority boycott”](https://bdsmovement.net/news/boycott-microsofts-xbox?ref=aftermath.site) by BDS, [Microsoft generally is categorized as a “pressure target.](https://bdsmovement.net/Guide-to-BDS-Boycott?ref=aftermath.site)” These are slightly different asks, as the BDS movement itself acknowledges how difficult it is to divorce oneself from Microsoft either personally or vocationally, asking on its [website](https://bdsmovement.net/microsoft?ref=aftermath.site) to “consider switching \[to\] free and open software instead of another, possibly complicit company.” This is in part due to the insidious, rent-seeking nature of Microsoft that has wormed its way into the fabric of everyday life: It is easier to cancel your Game Pass account than it is to tell your boss you’re not using Teams or to install Linux Mint on a company laptop. It is not a personal failing to be required to use Windows for your job.

Aftermath reached out to BDS, who provided us with the following statement about the boycott. Here it is in full.

> “Microsoft is a priority target for the Palestinian-led BDS movement because of Microsoft’s decades-long[ complicity](https://bdsmovement.net/sites/default/files/2025-03/Microsoft%20Company%20Complicity%20Profile-%20UPDATED%202%5F26%5F2025.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) in Israel’s apartheid regime, illegal occupation and[ ongoing genocide](https://www.un.org/unispal/document/icj-report-2024-25-01aug25/?ref=aftermath.site) against Palestinians. As a 78 year-old settler colonial state, Israel has relied on the advent of new technologies to automate apartheid, subject Palestinians to unprecedented levels of[ mass surveillance](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud?ref=aftermath.site), and today it[ relies](https://abolitionistlawcenter.org/2025/12/11/microsoft-faces-legal-action-over-role-in-israels-genocide-in-gaza/?ref=aftermath.site) on Microsoft’s weaponized dual-use AI to commit genocide. Furthermore, Microsoft has materially enabled Israel’s crimes against humanity, supplying technology to Israel’s[ prisons](https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7371?ref=aftermath.site), known for their[ systematic torture](https://www.btselem.org/publications/202601%5Fliving%5Fhell?ref=aftermath.site) of Palestinians.   
>  
> Microsoft is a powerful company but not immune to pressure. In one of the most significant BDS wins to date, Microsoft[ restricted](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/25/microsoft-blocks-israels-use-of-its-technology-in-mass-surveillance-of-palestinians?ref=aftermath.site) *some* of its cloud technologies to the well-known Israeli military espionage unit, Unit 8200\. This came after organized pressure from[ shareholders](https://afsc.org/newsroom/unprecedented-investor-action-demands-microsoft-answer-reported-involvement-gaza-genocide?ref=aftermath.site), workers, trade unions, and Palestine solidarity groups worldwide. Though this is a significant milestone for the BDS movement and human rights globally, Microsoft remains[ complicit](https://bdsmovement.net/sites/default/files/2025-03/Microsoft%20Company%20Complicity%20Profile-%20UPDATED%202%5F26%5F2025.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) in enabling Israel’s atrocity crimes, which is why Palestinians are calling for intensified BDS pressure on Microsoft.  
>  
> This pressure includes boycotting Microsoft’s consumer products, whenever feasible, cutting institutional contracts, rejecting corporate sponsorships and partnerships, and divesting from the company. There are viable alternatives to several Microsoft products, including Xbox. The BDS movement has launched the Boycott Microsoft’s Xbox campaign as a consumer boycott component of the larger Microsoft campaign. The goal is to utilize every possible pressure point and give people multiple ways to meaningfully engage with the BDS campaign against Microsoft. If it is not feasible to boycott Microsoft in its entirety, boycotting Microsoft’s Xbox, for example, while working with your union to move off of Microsoft Windows and Azure AI products, or pressuring your university to end partnerships with the company over ethical concerns, are forms of meaningful solidarity and pressure. The Microsoft campaign, like all BDS campaigns, is not about purity politics– it is about doing what you can when you can to end complicity. Through sustained, collective pressure, we can make Microsoft’s partnership with Israel an untenable business model.   
>  
> The BDS movement salutes all the gamers, game developers, game workers and journalists boycotting Microsoft's Xbox. By refusing to work with Microsoft as the company actively enables Israel’s ongoing genocide and apartheid against Palestinians, it is clear that the world of arts and games can be disentangled from Israel’s atrocity crimes and be used as a force for good.”

But it is not just BDS making the call for alternatives, as many people outside of the United States understand that the hegemonic nature of US tech is itself a liability to everyone in the world. (My colleague Tech Won’t Save Us podcaster and author [Paris Marx](https://disconnect.blog/getting-off-us-tech-a-guide/?ref=aftermath.site) has [written a guide](https://disconnect.blog/getting-off-us-tech-a-guide/?ref=aftermath.site) about this that I quite like.) As the United States becomes increasingly erratic, other countries are realizing that they need an offramp. France’s Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM) recently announced that they are in the process of transitioning to [a version of NixOS](https://github.com/cloud-gouv/securix?ref=aftermath.site) called SécurixOS and are working to formulate a long term plan. "The State can no longer simply acknowledge its dependence; it must break free,” David Amiel, France’s minister of public action, [said in a statement](https://www.zdnet.com/article/france-leaves-windows-for-linux-desktop/?ref=aftermath.site) in April. “We must become less reliant on American tools and regain control of our digital destiny." Similarly, the Dutch government is also developing its own variant of [NixOS called Digitaal Autonome Werkomgeving Overheid or Digital Automated Working Environment (DAWO](https://hackaday.com/2026/09/29/no-more-windows-for-the-dutch-government-its-linux-all-the-way/?ref=aftermath.site)).

“The world has now seen very clearly how the US government and the billionaires of Silicon Valley will work together to wield the dependence of countries around the world on the US cloud, digital services, and social media platforms against them — even going so far as to completely cut off members of the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, and former European Union officials,” Paris Marx told me via direct message. “US tech companies and their government can no longer be trusted, and that makes dependence on US tech an inherent threat to sovereignty — not to mention the existing threats to a healthy society that have been accumulating for years. As long as that dependence continues, the United States can use it as a weapon.”

If complicity in a ongoing genocide was not enough, Microsoft has hitched its future on artificial intelligence. It is a move that is an existential risk to the economy, a security risk, and somehow the most annoying thing the company has ever done with its OS in its entire history. Microsoft is a key part of the cadre of useless jackasses [making the computer expensive](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/). Though Windows 11 had some nice additions at the beginning (Powertoys, [Winget](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows%5FPackage%5FManager?ref=aftermath.site), the sound design), the experience itself has become garbage as they have shoved more and more half-broken shit into the operating system. Basically no person on Earth wanted the [controversial Recall feature that took snapshots of your computer](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/microsofts-new-recall-feature-will-record-everything-you-do-on-your-pc/?ref=aftermath.site). [Copilot](https://www.theverge.com/news/909640/microsoft-removing-copilot-windows-11-buttons?ref=aftermath.site) is a nightmare that nobody seriously uses on an OS level, and Microsoft has said their goal long term is to get people [“addicted” to their AI assistants](https://www.404media.co/microsoft-wants-to-make-people-addicted-to-scout-its-new-ai-assistant-internal-documents-reveal/?ref=aftermath.site). Microsoft’s very conception of what they envision the operating system becoming, an “[agentic OS](https://www.theverge.com/news/821948/microsoft-windows-11-ai-agents-taskbar-integration?ref=aftermath.site)” is glassy-eyed, tech sector cult pablum masquerading as visionary and a direction I am fundamentally opposed to for a machine that I use to play *Balatro* and answer emails.

Every mandatory update to Windows 11 is a slot machine that might make your computer run like a dog that ate a bag of dark chocolate. It has gotten so bad that Microsoft’s chief of Windows Pavan Davuluri had to write a we-acknowledge-this-OS-sucks-ass blog to address how unusable and intrusive the entire rats nest has become, and [made a commitment to do better](https://www.theverge.com/news/897834/microsoft-windows-11-quality-performance-commitments-changes?ref=aftermath.site). Not to call the man a liar, but I am going to tell you, as someone who had to interact with Windows for decades, that in the long run that isn’t going to happen. If you believe that even a little bit you are a rube and should consider your life choices. 

There is a black hole at the heart of that company, and no minor gains that Windows claws back will ever make up for the inescapable gravity of Microsoft products getting shittier over time. They will extract rent from you and your employer at every plausible juncture and give you garbage in exchange. You must accept in your heart that Windows is a lost cause. Once you do, the work begins. 

![standing penguin on sand near snow covered mountain covering the sun from view at daytime](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1517783999520-f068d7431a60?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDh8fHBlbmd1aW5zfGVufDB8fHx8MTc5MzMxMjQ1NXww&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=2000)

Photo by [Ian Parker](https://unsplash.com/@evanescentlight?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=api-credit) / [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=api-credit)

## **Have you heard the good word about Linux?**

Around 2010 I remember waiting in line to get into PAX East and being approached by a guy handing out burned CDs. He was distributing copies of Linux, either Mandrake or Red Hat, to everyone waiting in line. Had I heard the good word? I had. I have tried many times before to divorce myself from Windows over the years, each time with varying success. I have existed between hardcore PC building and being a Mac person my entire life — a status that remains to this day in the hodgepodge of devices in my office.

From a purely conceptual perspective, the well-meaning dweeb handing out burned software in line has been vindicated. The arc of history is long and bends towards open source software. I should be clear that Linux is not morally good on its own; it can and often is used for evil ends. Linux has the same slop problem every other piece of software has, and [Linus Torvalds needs an intervention over AI coding](https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/14/linux-kernel-goes-full-ai-slop-code-hides-chatbot-commits/?ref=aftermath.site). But Linux is also free, and not simply in the monetary sense of the word. 

I had tried installing Linux on my home PC back in the 2000s, but it didn’t stick the second I realized I couldn’t play *Final Fantasy XI* on it. I have lived on and off with elements of Linux in my life — multiple network devices I own run some variant of Debian Linux, I regularly had WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) enabled, and I have often put my machine in dual boot for specific use cases. I have two Macs and a PC at my desk and use the same unified shell for both. My choice of OS has never felt more arbitrary.

Over the last few years, things have changed. Every day Windows has gotten worse and Linux on the desktop has gotten better, due to the work being done by countless people as well as companies like Valve. To this end, the Steam Deck and by extension the Steam Machine have been revolutionary, a relatively seamless experience given that they are running Windows executables in Linux. At this point I use both more than any other console, and my Steam Deck is starting to rival maybe the DS in terms of my own personal playtime. 

The environment of SteamOS, a more appliance-like variant of Arch Linux with many of the Arch-isms stripped out, has served as a fine example of what a Linux device can and should be for normal people. Though more technical than something like a Switch 2, it still falls in the “it just works” category. Proton, the compatibility layer that allows Windows games to run in Linux, is not perfect, but when it’s good it’s very good. It works so well that Microsoft is [internally targeting games running on Proton in SteamOS as a benchmark ](https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/what-is-windows-k2-everything-you-need-to-know-saving-windows-11?ref=aftermath.site)for how Windows itself performs. Frankly, that’s an embarrassing state for them to be in.

Compounding this was Microsoft’s half-hearted attempt to launch a few Xbox handhelds, comically named “ROG XBOX ALLY” and “ROG XBOX ALLY X.” The basic implementation of Windows on these devices was a disaster at launch, a company in the trillions trying and failing to beat Valve and falling on its face. People almost immediately installed Linux on it, usually gaming-focused variants like Bazzite or CachyOS. That experience was so [transparently superior that the entire thing backfired on Microsoft](https://www.theverge.com/games/807711/xbox-ally-sleep-fail-bazzite-fix-performance?ref=aftermath.site), further cementing Linux as a viable option. Not only had they lost to the Steam Deck, they’d lost on their own device. 

![a computer screen with a program running on it](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1714846201575-4f06e069dc6f?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDEzfHxpbnN0YWxsaW5nJTIwbGludXh8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzkzMzEyNTMzfDA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=2000)

Photo by [Lukas](https://unsplash.com/@lukash?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=api-credit) / [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=api-credit)

## **Transitioning**

If you are going to take Linux seriously, it is best to start with a computer you don’t need to be precious with. For me that was my living room PC, a stalwart, pre-pandemic small form factor PC I used to run basic games, stream movies, and use Moonlight to stream from my big rig. There are a dizzying number of flavors of Linux to choose from, casually referred to as “distros,” which Linux nerds tend to have strong opinions about. 

Here’s what I will say: just pick one and try it out. You actually can try it quite simply without installing it on a drive by booting the OS from a flash drive. Trying out different versions of Linux is incredibly easy once you get the hang of it. [Mint](https://linuxmint.com/?ref=aftermath.site) is no-nonsense and user friendly, but when it comes to gaming-focused distros [Bazzite](https://aftermath.site/horror-games-art/), [CachyOS](https://cachyos.org/?ref=aftermath.site) and [Nobara](https://nobaraproject.org/?ref=aftermath.site) are three of the main contenders. I went with Bazzite, and have a fondness for it that may or may not apply to you.

[Bazzite](https://bazzite.gg/?ref=aftermath.site) is a form of [Fedora Silverblue](https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/silverblue/?ref=aftermath.site) and fairly user friendly. It is more appliance-like and works in a slightly similar way to SteamOS by making it difficult to change system files and generally prevents the average user (as well as many bad actors) from breaking their computer. The structure is often casually referred to as “immutable,” although the Bazzite team [explicitly disagrees with and pushes back against this characterization on technical grounds.](https://docs.bazzite.gg/General/terms/?ref=aftermath.site)

[CachyOS](https://cachyos.org/?ref=aftermath.site) is one of the main competitors here and takes a slightly different approach. It is descended from Arch Linux and is intended for people who really want to tinker around for the absolute best performance even if it breaks their computer. I’m too old for that shit most of the time, and I enjoy the choices that Bazzite has made in favor of stability, so I went that route. It’s also not as inflexible as people online would have you believe, although anything involving a kernel module that isn’t included requires workarounds. 

The first thing you notice when you install a Linux-based OS is that it’s a very fast process. Linux nerds have other stuff to do, and the installer has no reason to install a bunch of meaningless bloatware and services that you will inevitably have to turn off with a script later. The process takes no time at all, and you’re booted into the system quite quickly. This lightness extends into the experience of using the OS itself. No longer burdened with the aggregated cruft of Microsoft or even Apple, you are free to simply compute on your own terms. This part is truly liberating. It is like feeling an invisible weight being lifted from your body, a leaden presence you had always suspected but could never confirm was there. Your old machine soars, like a beloved family pet being given back its youth. 

“The most striking thing I noticed as I started moving to Linux compared to Windows and even MacOS,” [podcaster](https://takecontrol.content.town/?ref=aftermath.site), writer and desktop Linux advocate [Will Smith](https://bsky.app/profile/willsmith.fun?ref=aftermath.site) told me, “is that no one is trying to sell me stuff in my OS or trick me into using their services. It felt strange (positive) to use an OS that centered my experience. Take the Windows Start Menu’s search feature. When it was originally rolled out, typing something searched the applications installed on your computer. These days, it sometimes does that but other times it inexplicably shows you Bing search results, even when you typed the name of an app on your PC. It’s a perfect example of business synergy for Microsoft degrading user experience. Don’t like this feature? The toggle to turn it off isn’t in the UI, it’s hidden in a registry key.”

In Linux there is no adware out the gate, no Copilot, no news tickers to disable in the Start menu. There are no dark patterns attempting to trick you into some thoroughly mediocre service that is, optimistically, fourth best in its category. You do not have to look up how to disable OneDrive in Linux. The right click does not have a submenu where they hide all the useful stuff that was in Windows 10\. Installing the OS doesn’t require you to search for your Microsoft login or buy a cheap gray market product key from a country where the software doesn’t cost like $120 retail (although at this point Microsoft is basically begging people to keep using Windows 11). Basically every time I have installed Windows it has involved looking up a “debloat” guide, wherein I run some scripts and go into the disgusting guts of the operating system to make it not run like a wounded animal when I right click. This alone is more work than anything I’ve ever had to do in Linux.

There’s also a lot to love about Linux on its own terms. Though the directory tree takes a bit of time to get used to, and it has many little quirks that come from the circumstances of its development, those have been slowly improving or smoothed over for the new user. Bazzite specifically uses KDE Plasma as its default desktop environment (a GNOME desktop environment also exists, although Plasma is better supported and optimized for gaming) and has a feature called [KRunner](https://userbase.kde.org/Plasma/Krunner?ref=aftermath.site) that will bring up a dropdown menu if you just start typing into the desktop. Because it tends to yield good search results, you are almost guaranteed to find the program you want almost instantly if you just type the name and press enter. KRunner can also do math and unit conversions, so if you type “8 oz” it will very quickly know the exact conversion of that into pounds and kilograms. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/10/desktop.jpg)

There's a lot of desktop environments out there that many people have strong opinions about. But if you're coming from Windows, KDE Plasma does what it says on the tin.

Unlike the Microsoft Store, which I have only ever used under duress, many versions of Linux have their own little storefront that is well-curated and full of software that’s free and that you’d probably download anyway. In Bazzite this storefront is called Bazaar, and it downloads and manages an app format called Flatpak. The Flatpak as a format still needs some work, but it’s gotten to a much more stable place. This is not the only way to install apps, and I have seen many purists and Arch users avoid this format for nerd-ass reasons, but I find it to be convenient for many apps if I don’t feel like using a package manager. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/10/image-9.png)

Bazzite ships with [Bazaar](https://docs.bazzite.gg/Installing%5Fand%5FManaging%5FSoftware/Flatpak/?ref=aftermath.site) that makes downloading flatpaks easier. SteamOS uses [discover.](https://apps.kde.org/discover/?ref=aftermath.site) You don't have to install things this way, but it's convenient.

Windows has been so shitty for so long that it is common practice to avoid any system update for as long as possible until the operating system forces you to upgrade or you click the wrong button by accident. I have lost days of my life to annoying Windows updates. Linux, on the other hand, I update almost daily. Bazzite specifically has a really nice updater they just did a refresh on that will not just update the system but also update brew (the package manager it uses) and your apps. They also recently introduced a piece of software called “Bazzite Portal” that automatically installs several useful pieces of software and services, like setting up Sunshine and installing Da Vinci Resolve in Distrobox. This is a tremendous quality of life improvement. I no longer dread my computer downloading something.

## **A quick note on Apple**

I would be remiss if I did not briefly mention Mac, and I begrudgingly must say you do gotta hand it to them. Apple’s commitment to making their own ARM-based chips has paid larger dividends than any single hardware decision in history, and the computers themselves are so fast and efficient even at an entry level that even the MacBook Air, Macbook Neo and Mac Mini is enough computing for most people. I have one of each and they rock. You can even run [Asahi, a version of Linux](https://asahilinux.org/?ref=aftermath.site), inside some of their hardware if you like. 

That said, Apple is not what I would call a benevolent company when it comes to basic repairability or control of your computer. Their innovation is downwind of a draconian control of their hardware and by extension a monopoly on upgrades. It’s also a bad sign that macOS 27 removed the toggle to turn off Apple Intelligence, [necessitating users to create a debloat script](https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1004672/mac-delete-apple-intelligence-ai-tool?ref=aftermath.site) to get that 12 GB of storage back. Though Apple has somehow stumbled into a bizarre market position where they were making (prior to the price bump caused by the RAM shortage) the only halfway decent entry level computers, we cannot trust them long term.

## **Friction points must be addressed**

Though innovations with Proton have allowed gamers to experience Linux in a way that is downright revolutionary, and many of the basic edges have been sanded off of much of the Linux experience, there are still choke points and hurdles that prevent people, even the ones who really want to switch, from moving over to Linux. 

In order for Windows to be truly threatened as a desktop platform, each and every one of these potential choke points must be actively interrogated and addressed. This cannot be a passive experience where one casually expects others to pick up the slack; this must be a collective systemic eradication of the decades of tiny functional monopolies that have attached to Windows like barnacles. It is these tools, some significant and complex and others minuscule and load-bearing, that contribute to the continued bloated inertia of Windows. I have asked many people in an attempt to begin mapping what is required.

## **Adobe (and its alternatives)**

The most obvious choke point is Photoshop and everything involved with Adobe. While that software runs on Mac as well, you’re out of luck when it comes to an alternative that isn’t terribly annoying. Unless someone invests millions into GIMP, the Linux-based alternative with an embarrassing name that I deeply dislike using, I don’t see it happening. But that said, Adobe is almost as evil and sluggish as Microsoft, and so freeing ourselves from Adobe is also a requirement. 

[I Hate AdobeAdobe is a wretched, exploitative company that loves generative AI. Many are coerced into paying money for their software and the software runs like garbage.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-ef64c2f8-8818-4be7-a651-ad63819868ee.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/adobe_devil3-36e67ea3-1698-43bd-a4be-bb43812edf32.webp)](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-adobe/)

I spent [an entire piece discussing how much I loathe Adobe](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-adobe/), and of its commercial alternatives, Affinity is the closest one that gets most of the way there for Photoshop and Illustrator. Recently they were bought by Canva, who have started to give the entire suite away for free as an aggressive tactic to fuck with Adobe and upsell people onto Canva subscriptions. I am wary of trusting them long term but the base program is not full of annoying garbage, and people have made the suite sort of work in Linux via WINE. There is potential there.

## **Game development**

Though Windows games work in Linux, game development is more complex. Building for Linux is not monolithic in the same sense that building for Windows and Mac is. I have talked to many game developers, and the consensus is still clear: if you are building Windows games, unless you are doing some goofy Godot stuff, Windows is still required. “I think the biggest choke point is inertia, compatibility, and market share,” game developer Rami Ismail told me via DM. “The majority of your players are going to be on Windows, so developing on Windows as your main platform makes a ton of sense.”

> “I think the biggest choke point is inertia, compatibility, and market share,”

Robert Yang, an independent developer I have long been a fan of, actually did take the plunge on Linux. After initially struggling with Mint Linux and Kubuntu in a slightly disastrous way, he tried a more gamer-centric distro. “I switched to my Linux husband's distro CachyOS. And everything in CachyOS just worked out of the box,” Yang told me via email. “I clicked the ‘install gamer shit’ button on the Hello screen, opened Steam, then installed and ran *Cyberpunk 2077* on Ultra settings with zero problems. Everything worked. I didn't have to install a single driver. If I had to recommend a distro to a new-to-Linux game developer now, it would be CachyOS, where it has strong defaults but still gives you a full desktop and stuff.”

Though things went swimmingly on the game end, the real choke point for Yang turned out to be Unreal. “I figured out the X11-Wayland workarounds that lowkey broke the editor ([as of 5.72](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/unreal-editor-5-7-ui-interaction-is-broken-on-linux-for-3-month-already/2652325/?ref=aftermath.site)),” Yang said. “The bigger problem was deeper. I'm working on a big commercial Unreal 5 project with a bunch of engineers. Every time they edit the C++ code, they upload new compiled game files (‘binaries’) for the non-programmers to use... and these binaries only work on Windows. It's currently difficult / impossible for Windows machines to build Unreal DevelopmentEditor targets for Linux devs.” If Yang was himself an engineer or not reliant on the rest of a team, this would potentially be different. But the reality of working in that situation backed him into a corner, forcing him to crawl back to Windows.

“So this is the age-old wall, where Linux itself is capable, but Windows-Linux interoperability (from the Windows side) is still a barrier,” he said, “especially if you're new to Linux and not doing everything exactly the Linux way yet.”

## **Anticheat**

Though Proton has made it so that many games are playable often with little difficulty, there are complications. For complex reasons, many publishers refuse to implement anticheat on Linux based platforms. It is technically possible to do, but getting there without compromising what makes Linux secure is the difficult part, and many of the things that make Linux attractive to the user make securing the client side in a game difficult. When I spoke to Pierre-Loup Griffais of Valve for the Steam Machine interview, he indicated that Valve was well aware of the problem but did not want to implement a quick fix that would compromise the integrity of SteamOS on a long timeline. 

[Epic Announces Redone Linux Anti-Cheat Support (Yeah!) And A Vibe Coded Game Launcher (Boo!)Epic should focus on the important, boring, Linux stuff instead of bragging about agents spitting something out.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-4d593f92-80ca-4d9f-afb0-c1eb3dd1c91c.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/epic_client-a3d7fe39-852a-40e1-8fde-c729c89d7aaa.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/epic-anticheat-vibe-coded-launcher/)

There has been some movement on this from Epic, although the timing was bad.

## **Hardware**

The thing about Linux hardware is that when it works it works brilliantly and you don’t even have to ask. I have a Zebra brand label printer that I loathe a little, in part because setting it up in Windows was pure torture. And yet I didn’t have to install anything with Linux, it just kinda figured it out and worked. When the drivers are in place it’s seamless. 

But that is not always the case: Some pieces of hardware simply do not have robust support in Linux. My audio interface, for example, is an RME Babyface Pro FS. It is a beautiful piece of hardware and what I use to record audio, plug in my headphones, and control my speakers. Though it technically functions in Linux in what’s called “Class Compliant” mode, none of the software to control it functions, and RME themselves have repeatedly expressed no serious interest in providing Linux support despite the requests from many people on their forums. Not every company is like this, and apparently MOTU (makers of the wonderful Motu M2 and M4) has had quite decent Linux support for quite some time. I am able to find workarounds, it’s not the end of the world, but I yearn for a time when the audience for desktop Linux has gotten big enough that I’ll never have to think about this. 

[SteamOS is Getting Native NVIDIA GPU Driver SupportValve is officially adding NVIDIA GPU driver support to SteamOS, as confirmed by the company's software developer Pierre-Loup Griffais. Until now, AMD has been the primary choice for SteamOS, both for CPUs and GPUs, since all of Valve's products are based on AMD hardware. However, this is…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-v1793263030-c5a413ec-17f6-435f-b293-6101d88777f1.ico)TechPowerUpAleksandarK![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/mHaXCsXO8JlBDiWS-79e28afd-bc88-43ca-b879-70545467f85a.jpg)](https://www.techpowerup.com/352763/steamos-is-getting-native-nvidia-gpu-driver-support?ref=aftermath.site)

For gaming, one of the big bottlenecks is still Nvidia driver support, although I run an Nvidia card in Bazzite. At this point it works well enough, and the experience has improved significantly since I started. Valve has also opened up SteamOS to Nvidia cards, so progress seems to be moving on that front. It’s also worth noting that the competitive edge that makes Nvidia attractive has lost its luster. DLSS, Nvidia’s upscaler and most attractive feature, is not as unique as it once was, with FSR 4 and competitors catching up. Even if you wanted the unsettling and uncanny features of DLSS5, software like Optiscaler has made hardware lock-in for that more or less disappear. On top of this, Nvidia does not seem to give much of a shit about PC hardware generally let alone Linux support specifically; consumer GPU sales are minuscule compared to their other commitments. AMD is far more cooperative with the open source community, and so if you’re planning a build just go that route.

## **Individual apps**

When I asked people online ages ago what their specific pain points were, I got a deluge of answers I’d never anticipated. Viable alternatives to Microsoft Office and Adobe were high up on the list, but so too was audio production software like Ableton, Cubase and MAX/MSP (Bitwig and Reaper seem to work well in certain contexts, although there are still points there with non-Linux plugins). Audio in general needs to be less of a pain in the ass, although I’ve seen definite improvements in the last few years. CAD and modeling is rough, and programs like Autodesk Fusion, Rhino, and Civil3D don’t really have a Linux option. Other quick hits people mentioned were desktop publishing, screenwriting tools like Scrivener/Final Draft, hyper-specific software for laser cutting, and translation software like SDL TRADOS or Kilgray memoQ.

Perhaps even larger than killing Windows itself at this point is the need to find workarounds and alternatives to Microsoft 365, which is mandated by so many workplaces and encompasses many services beyond Office, like SharePoint and Teams. These services run on macOS as well and in a browser in some capacity, making the Windows-ness of it a little more palatable, although they lack a native Linux client. Opting out of them is often nontrivial or made complicated by your profession. It cannot be understated that a future without having to use Microsoft Teams is also worth fighting for. 

If you ask 20 people in 20 professions why they are vocationally chained to Windows, you will get 20 answers. Any plan to fully wipe Windows off the map requires an active interrogation of every possible industry that uses it and a plan for how to remedy it. We cannot simply assume that someone will come along and fix the problem in their spare time, uploading something to a repository. This has to be an active effort. 

But for once, I do believe in the future. It was always a running joke that this year would be the year of Linux on the desktop, but for the first time in a long time I am starting to see the shape of it. Windows has never been weaker, a sclerotic mess of spyware, adware, dark patterns and AI you never asked for. Though the Linux install base is still small, we are so close to having it in our sights, of being able to finally take the kill shot and never again having to deal with this operating system that has plagued us for all our lives. I do not know how anyone can even begin to coordinate something this complicated– I will admit it’s easier said than done, but I feel in my soul now that it’s possible. 

I believe we can kill Windows. We have to. Our future depends on it. 

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