After 30+ Years on Windows (from DOS to Win 11), I formatted my SSD and went full Linux Mint. No dual boot. No regrets!
My journey with personal computing started in the early 1990s, staring at blinking command prompts before Windows 95 ever hit the shelves. Over the last three decades, I have used and lived through virtually every major Windows milestone: the DOS era, Windows 95, 98, the chaotic days of Me, the rock-solid Windows 2000, and the golden era of XP. I religiously tracked the leaked Longhorn builds before Vista arrived, embraced 7, survived the identity crisis of Windows 8, and spent thousands of hours across 10 and 11 on various hardware setups.
My Linux itch started back in 2010 with Ubuntu. Over the years, I became a serial distro hopper whenever curiosity struck: Fedora, openSUSE, Manjaro, Ubuntu Budgie, Windows-like distros like Wubuntu, and various desktop environments. Yet, Windows always remained my safety net.
A few days ago, I made the jump. Despite holding genuine, legally activated lifetime licenses for both Windows and MS Office, I backed up my files and completely wiped my SSD. Zero dual-boot crutches.
The transition wasn't completely friction-free—I had to troubleshoot some hardware quirks and driver behavior to get everything running smooth. Along the way, I spent considerable time exploring both Zorin OS and Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). But once the dust finally settled, I made Linux Mint (Cinnamon) my sole daily driver.
The machine feels snappy, clean, and entirely under my control—no background telemetry bloat, no forced interface redesigns, and no operating system fighting for my attention. After thirty years as a Windows veteran, it feels strange to say, but I have finally arrived home.
