Serious question, why not just switch to linux? I installed W11 after building gaming / workstation this year, and I've grudgingly left it in place because I don't want 'anti-cheat' hassles that you sometimes run into playing games with steam / proton.
If WSL wasn't a thing I would have formatted it by now. Linux is just such a better experience for development. I also simply cannot shake the fear that windows is leaking every keystroke back to some MS service I haven't disabled.
Even while Proton is incredible - the experience with nvidia GPUs is still less than stellar. So if you want high resolution/framerate gaming - especially if you add HDR to that - you’re still stuck with windows.
I’d love to switch to Linux if I could, I use it or MacOS for everything else.
Exactly this. I was having a silly argument recently with someone that was trying to say Proton was just as good as DirectX/Windows, and it's really not even close in terms of support and stability, not to mention it only works with Steam initially.
I have noticed that there seems to be a subset of gamers that want so badly for Linux gaming to be a thing that they ignore the problems.
For the record it is great, they have done a very good job with proton and I am not diminishing that work.
But try to bring up this conversation on YouTube, reddit, or similar places and it becomes toxic very quickly. Even when presented with raw numbers. It has even gotten that way here a couple times.
And the Steam thing is a big sore point right now, for the average user once you leave Steam it is not as user friendly as just running Windows.
Valve's marketing also isn't helping the situation in the slightest.
I'd say it's an inate property of all communities based around a given platform. It's not necessarily "wrong" either as obviously if someone is willing to use a platform, then they will also naturally be willing to overlook it's deficiencies.
The discord arrives not because they do not acknowledge the deficiencies but due to a difference in priorities, what one person values another may not.
It makes sense to me that their would be tension between people who want full control of their system & privacy in exchange for occasional performance cuts and unsupported anti cheats vs those that are comfortable completely giving up their privacy & control in exchange for occasional performance boosts and invasive anti cheats.
It's wrong and always a problem when people start lying, either to themselves, others or both.
I agree there is nothing wrong and people advocating for their preferences, opinions, arguments, solutions, whatever.
However, when you get so attached that you need to start lying to say it's better or that the alternatives are worse, that's no longer rational and makes the people doing so no longer trustworthy.
This is true for all types of tribalism across all areas of society.
Interesting take, but what exactly are you talking about here? You are asserting that some people are lying but who? On what basis? Is this really as big a problem as you are making it out to be? (In the context of nerd platform wars?)
> You are asserting that some people are lying but who?
Anyone making clearly false claims, for example.
I had a recent discussion with a Linux devotee, for example, claiming gaming on Linux was basically as good as Windows and that Linux had full DirectX equivalents. Both things are false, the user knows they are false, but that user lied to themselves due to loyalty to their preferred platform.
Apple users do it so often, the term reality distortion field was invented to describe their behavior. Sony and Zboz fans do it as well. Not to mention people do it with everything, i.e. political parties.
For me it is because I dont care about most negatives that are usually brought up. I need my os to get out of the way and be robust and W11 does that way better than Linux for me. I do have an Ubuntu Laptop and occasionally also try Linux in a VM or dual installation on my main desktop but it is always far more hassle than windows.
For me my windows setups are dedicated gaming devices, nothing more. Any general computing I do (with some random exceptions due to convenience) is on my Mac.
So for me the number one priority is performance and compatibility. Which as far as proton has come, using the LTSC version on Windows easily wins on compatibility (especially once you leave Steam) and in some cases wins on performance.
LTSC also drastically reduces the metrics sent back to Microsoft.
macOS does offer a nicer overall UX than Windows, but the amount of telemetry Apple machines constantly stream to home base is disturbing. And unlike windows, I don't know of a way to turn it off.
If you run Wireshark on any Mac you will observe the high volume of requests to Apple-owned IPs. Even when the machine is otherwise idle. It's creepy.
On the other hand, Linux machines don't default to sending telemetry. P.s. Ubuntu is an exception to this rule which is one reason I'll never use Ubuntu again (they've included telemetry and embedded ads in the past). Debian and Pop_os both work remarkably well for desktop use these days.
Funnily enough, I ran 2003 and then 2008 server versions as my desktop for a long time. No cruft and great performance. Very easy to enable desktop stuff and disable server stuff also.
you just answered your own question, at least for gaming. the paid userbase for proton-based gaming needs to grow large enough to be taken seriously before most people can migrate.
Yeah, I ostensibly haven't switched back so I don't have to deal with anti-cheat issues, but if I'm really honest with myself I don't game nearly as much as I used to and when I do it's usually single player.
Yes but I understand that you might not want to cut off the possibility. I personally dual-boot, but for similar convenience reasons I have some of the games installed on both systems.
Even dual-booting is a bit of a pain, some of which I have solved by having a dedicated SSD for each OS. Windows sometimes misbehaves and it's easier to handle that if it has its own drive.
If WSL wasn't a thing I would have formatted it by now. Linux is just such a better experience for development. I also simply cannot shake the fear that windows is leaking every keystroke back to some MS service I haven't disabled.