The countdown to the end of support for Windows 10 continues (although as expected it has been extended to 2026) and although I have converted three of our daily machines (my laptop and two streaming boxes) to Linux mint we are retaining two gaming machines (and their respective backup machines) and converting all four to run a legal, supported, Windows 11.
The CPU and motherboard on the converted machines have to be supported, so anything not on the Microsoft list can only run an unsupported (rufus) type win11 installation or an alternative OS such as Linux. There are complexities involved in both directions, linux in particular if you have had a lifetime running Microsoft, but I should add, there are certain irritants with the "new and improved" version of windows, the main one being we were very happy ticking along using the almost obsolete version.
This is an Asus Prime H470-Plus with an Intel i3-10100 CPU which used, cost me $100 on marketplace. It replaces the previous Asus Z170-Pro with Intel i5-6600K in the backup machine. Online the "obsolete" i5-6600k scores Multithread 6307 with single thread 2316 and the i3-10100 Multithread 8551 and single thread 2596 which are just numbers that indicate that the old one is capable of running my game and the replacement will also be fine. The only critical difference is that the old one is not supported.
In the last five years, since Windows 7 (a perfectly fine operating system) was switched for 8.0 and 8.1 and then 10, my life has been a constant game of musical chairs and at times, even though I owned licenses, I had to buy keys to purchase new versions, that is the way the industry wants to do it, sell the same thing to the consumer, over and over.
This is number four and I admit, having been "in the business" now for over thirty years, the hurdles required to transfer license ownership have become taller and frustrating, and of course, the technical hurdles have also increased in size since both Intel and Microsoft decided that they would phase out old hardware if you wanted to use the latest and greatest version of the OS. That is the aspect of all of this that annoys me most, mainly as the phased out hardware is extremely capable of performing the mundane tasks of a daily driver and the business want to send good electronics to the landfill.
Out with the old, in with the new.
No more MBR, in with GPT, now TPM 2.0 and embedded, now secure boot and "keys" that will somehow keep us all safe (which they will not) and then of course, two more final hurdles involving convincing your Microsoft account that you deserve the so called "upgrade" and then of course, waiting for your system to take it's sweet time to give you the Windows 11 update.
That's where I am today.
Waiting.
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