The countdown has begun. On 14 October 2025, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. This will leave millions of users and organisations with a difficult choice: should they upgrade to Windows 11, or completely rethink their work environment?
The good news? You don’t have to follow Microsoft’s upgrade path. There is a better option that puts control back in the hands of users, institutions, and public bodies: Linux and LibreOffice. Together, these two programmes offer a powerful, privacy-friendly and future-proof alternative to the Windows + Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
The move to Windows 11 isn’t just about security updates. It increases dependence on Microsoft through aggressive cloud integration, forcing users to adopt Microsoft accounts and services. It also leads to higher costs due to subscription and licensing models, and reduces control over how your computer works and how your data is managed. Furthermore, new hardware requirements will render millions of perfectly good PCs obsolete.
This is a turning point. It is not just a milestone in a product’s life cycle. It is a crossroads.
Depends on your gaming habits. Check ProtonDB for Steam games compatibility, check Lutris for others. Some anti-cheats (especially kernel level anti-cheats) don’t work on Linux, if devs decide to make it work on Linux, they can. For example they enabled Linux version of anti-cheat and Hell Let Loose works fine for some time now. If you mostly play single-player games, you’ll probably be fine.
If you want every possible gaming related programs to be pre-installed, you might wanna go Bazzite. If you want to explore on your own pace, Mint is a solid choice. If you want something like Bazzite but mostly empty, there is also Aurora.