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Comment by cbdevidal | Hacker News Reader

Also years of Windows muscle memory here, especially the keyboard shortcuts. I’ve used Windows since 1997. I’ve decided I’m done. A new PC arrives in a month. It’ll be running Ubuntu. I’m done.

Maybe there is a Linux language similar to DirectX you might transition to? Maybe test code in a VM? (Although that gets you right back into Win11.)

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> Maybe there is a Linux language similar to DirectX you might transition to?

Yes: DirectX. Just make sure that it runs in Wine or Proton.

Nit: DirectX is a bunch of APIs and libraries, not a language. Same for Wine and Proton.

DXVK works great for DirectX 11. However, it's rather annoying to debug through this intermediate layer. I wouldn't recommend this for development.

Sure is nice as a user. I get better frames in some games than Windows users do!

>It’ll be running Ubuntu. I’m done.

https://status.canonical.com/

You're in for a bad time. It's been three days and they still can't get updates to work.

Get Debian if you must. Use something sane like Guix and OpenBSD if you can.

I have no problem using Debian (I’m actually a Linux sysadmin by profession) so I have no problems later switching distros. But as of today, I’m happy with Ubuntu on my road laptop and I would no doubt be happy switching the home PC, too. (Actually the road lap is Lubuntu and it currently has zero visible AI influence.)

I've been watching Linux from a safe distance for 25+ years. The one thing that remains constant over the decades is that whenever someone says "You're having this problem? Well what did you expect, you're using X distro. Obviously you should use Y distro, then all your problems will be solved" and then another person comes along and says "No, you idiot, Y distro is completely broken, any sane person would use Z distro!" And if you play that game long enough, you eventually complete the circle.

Haven't seen this specific "you're using wrong distro" so far. I'm more often bumping on a general rude attitude of people answering. As if asking questions, looking for solutions is not what all these distro forums were made for.

It's always the exact same distro, and it has been for 10+ years. Nobody is recommending it anymore but users still come with issues due to that.

There are different distros for different taste/needs, but Ubuntu always has been the worst choice of all.

Zero issues with Lubuntu on my road laptop for over a year now. I’ve tested most of the apps I would install at home.

Not everyone hits the edge cases.

That's funny, because half of what I remember reading about Linux is people writing "Forget all these other distros, just go with Ubuntu, it just works!"

When was that? I haven't seen Ubuntu recommended seriously for more than 10 years.

Mint or others have been the goto

To be fair, they're allegedly experiencing under attack by the Iranian government. I doubt Guix or OpenBSD would be able to sustain service under a similar attack, though granted there's a reason Cannonical is the target and not OpenBSD.

https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/05/ubuntu-infrastructu...

Quite the extrapolation from "A group sympathetic to the Iranian government" -> "the Iranian government" especially considering the source: "posts on Telegram and other social media".

OpenBSD can be downloaded from a variety of mirror hosts (including ones hosted by Cloudflare).

So OpenBSD would probably be able to sustain service at least in terms of being able to download updates.

Same. I used to develop Windows apps with Borland C++ once, that's how old I am. Last year, I finally installed a second Linux Mint boot - for Windows games!

The level of disregard for quality from MS is just obnoxious. We are really crossing some kind of line here, I think, where taking the pain of migrating once seems easier than dealing with all this nonsense.

(I had to clean install Windows after that infamous update with system check infinite loop at boot time).

Ubuntu will also introduce AI. Why not use pure Debian? (and the distribution flame war starts)

they want to start with 26.10, will be interesting if they include it with a long term release

These suggestions are like telling someone that that is being harassed to maybe wear something different.

While it would, yes, likely avoid the problem happening again, it shifts the responsibility to the party that should not be at fault.

Meanwhile the harasser is like “what’s wrong? I took an anti-harassment class?”

It's more like telling someone in an abusive relationship to leave the abusive relationship.

Do both. Insist that the authorities reform the abuser AND leave the relationship.

In a real life abusive relationship that would look like both calling the cops and leaving. In the case of software, demand reform and also switch OSes.

> These suggestions are like telling someone that that is being harassed to maybe wear something different.

Weird analogy - it's telling someone who is paying to be abused to simply stop paying...

If Windows was actually free, as in download a copy and use it as you wish, then sure, maybe you might have a (very tiny) point, but it's not like that at all.

Many legit users have a license applied to their Microsoft account that predates the current situation. That is to say, a license carried over from windows 10 and possibly as far back as windows 7, since there was a time where Microsoft was offering free license transfers. Many people see windows 7 as being not shitty and abusive.

> there was a time where Microsoft was offering free license transfers

I don't think they ever stopped. Maybe they ceased advertising it, but installing Windows 10 over 7 or 8 would silently inherit the license far past the original terms. The time-limited offer was just a FOMO-inducing marketing scam.

You don't choose to use Windows. You have to. Because it's the only OS that supports whatever tool you need for your work. Windows is mandatory in many situations, which is why it can afford being obnoxious.

your analogy would be fitting for a jurisdiction that had no sexual assault laws or way for victims to defend themselves. In which case "Don't provoke an attack" is sound advice.

in other industries, you can sue product manufacturers if their defects cause you inordinate grief, lost wages, or excessive repair costs.

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