Analysts have warned Windows 10 end of life plans could spark a global torrent of e-waste, with millions of devices expected to be scrapped in the coming years.
Research from Canalys shows that up to 240 million PCs globally could be terminated as a result of the shift over to Windows 11, raising critical questions about device refreshes and the responsibility of vendors to extend life cycles.
Linux can breathe life into older laptops (if the HW is supported). It’s not for everyone (and downright infuriating in some ways) but it it does work very well for many things.
It is only frustrating for folks used to a different os.
FWIW, I used it as a daily driver for many years. And that was back in the days when things weren’t as easy.
Unfortunately, to run the stuff I need to run, I’m pretty much stuck with Windows and WSL. (But with Linux on my old laptop.)
I’m probably not the audience that needs convincing, though.
So, “give those to poor kids”, and use your proprietary software in the OS you are allowed to use. Not seeing the issue.
The OS they are able to use is Windows 10. They likely don’t meet the TPM requirements to update to Windows 11(as if you’d wanna use it anyways); so when W10 goes EoL, they will be SoL(shit out of luck) on getting future security patches. Which is y’know, bad, especially on the machine you do actual work on.
Not sure I follow (especially wrt poor kids?) - maybe I’m just missing the reference. I applaud using Linux on old stuff to breath life into it. But I suspect mass adoption would be harder than one might think. Easy to convince tech savvy folk to dive in and wrangle with it (for its numerous advantages and disadvantages), but the majority of folks won’t (they’d sooner move to Apple - with even more waste, proprietary bs, and cost).
Not saying this should be the case, merely that it is the case. (The more adoption, the better chance of better support from developers/HW manus, etc. There’s just a leap that seems very hard to make. Wish I knew how to bridge it, but the obstacles seem less of a technical thing than a social/psychological thing)