Thinking About Windows 11 Pro and Desktop Linux
Updated 2021-October-31

For years I’ve thought that I should pay extra⁠[1] to use Windows Pro rather than Windows Home, mainly because I want…

So far I have not done this because:

  1. I help people with Windows Home and want to be familiar with it.

  2. For me, it’s a pain to buy Windows Pro because I’m mainly a cash-only person and don’t like to pay for things over the internet.⁠[2]

  3. It’s always scary to change an operating system.

 

But now that Windows 11 Home requires a Microsoft account to set it up, I thought “OK now, finally, I’ll start using Windows Pro” (because Windows 11 Pro does not require a Microsoft account).⁠[2] And then I thought some more and realized “Nope, actually now I will switch to Linux.”

This means a few things:

  1. Microsoft will lose my business.

  2. Microsoft will lose the business of some of the Windows users that I help because I will switch them to Linux too. I’m thinking that either elementary OS or Pop!_OS is a good Linux distribution for Linux newbies. If you have thoughts about this, please comment below.

  3. Unfortunately, I’ll need to find a new primary cloud storage provider because sync.com currently does not have a Linux desktop client.

  4. Maybe 2022 will be the year of Desktop Linux!⁠👏

 

If I switch from Windows to Linux, I’ll write some Infinite Ink articles about it.⁠ ◊

 

Endnotes

1. The full price of upgrading to Windows 10/11 Pro is ~$100 in the US and ~£120 in the UK for each Windows device.
2. I care a lot about privacy and security and do not want to be profiled or tracked.

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