Support for Windows 7 ended yesterday. Now you have to pay for future security patches. Therefore it would be advisable to stop using this operating system version and look for another alternative.

A common suggestion is to switch to Linux and I agree that you should do so if you are not dependent on any Windows-exclusive programs and there are no alternatives to them. But there are also reasons to continue using Windows (but please version 10).

I have tried many different Linux distributions and desktop environments. Currently I use both Ubuntu and Fedora Silverblue, both with the Gnome desktop. I like Gnome very much and find it to have a very clean, modern and intuitive design. I like working with a Gnome desktop and since a few versions Gnome has even become much faster and more resource friendly than it used to be.

However, I also use Windows 10 (on my Microsoft Surface Go) and there are things I prefer on Windows over Linux:

For one thing, the design of the user interface seems much more consistent. Everything looks professional and is consistent. Even in the most used programs there are no visual glitches or anything.

I also have to praise the usability of Windows. Just the other day I discovered how to use the touchpad more effectively with gestures and click less or not at all. Under Linux it is usually a bit more difficult with touchpads.

And, this may be because I use a device directly from Microsoft, but most things just work. When I close the Surface Go, it goes into sleep mode. With my ThinkPad, even though ThinkPads are said to be quite compatible with Linux, it doesn’t always work that well. Sometimes I have to restart the ThinkPad the hard way because the hibernation has messed up something and I can’t even restart it in the normal way.

I like Linux because it’s free and open software, I usually don’t have to worry about telemetry and I have almost endless possibilities for customization. I also like that I don’t have to bother with drivers and also when it comes to resource usage (CPU, RAM and memory), Linux is ahead in my opinion.

But when it comes to user interface and usability, my vote still goes towards Windows 10.