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don't let microsoft and apple turn your "old" machines into e-waste
2025-11-04
Since Windows 10 is officially a dead operating system, and MacOS "Tahoe" seems to be the end of the line for Intel-based Mac machines, some family and friends have been asking me if it is time for them to get new computers as they have been hearing online that their old ones are about to be "unusable". I have seen people online also planning on getting new machines so that they can run newer versions of MacOS and Windows 11.
You don't have to buy a new computer if your "old" one is no longer supported by these big companies. You can run GNU/Linux on them and continue to receive software and security updates for a long time to come as long as the machines are 64-bit, as 32-bit support has mostly gone the way of the dodo when it comes to Linux support. However, most machines made since at least 2007 are 64-bit computers, so you shouldn't have any trouble here.
One of my oldest machines that I still regularly use is my trusty Thinkpad x200, which was made in 2008. It is running Debian 13 with my window manager setup on it, and since I have boosted its RAM and hard drive, it continues to be the machine that has its place in my backpack as my main travel laptop. It has been with me for years, and I have taken good care of it, and it continues to serve me well. While it obviously cannot compete with a spec'd out desktop or my newer Thinkpad (a t440p), it works wonders for doing work in the terminal, browsing the web through firefox, and being to open up Telegram and Matrix, my main communication apps.
If you have been following my website for any amount of time, you probably know I'm heavily into the idea of permacomputing, making machines last, and avoiding e-waste. I think that creating e-waste and making people believe they have to go out and buy brand new machines for the latest corpo-OS like Windows or Mac, while throwing their older but perfectly usable machines away to be sent to a landfill, is ridiculous. These computers still have life left in them and can be used for all kinds of things, as general purpose devices, as media servers, whatever you might can think of.
If you have an older machine, and don't want to get rid of it just because Microsoft or Apple said they're not going to support it anymore, consider installing GNU/Linux on it and giving it a new lease on life! If you can't commit to Linux yet, then this is a great way for you to experiment with it and learn about it while you use Windows or Mac on a newer machine if you must. You're in charge of your machines that you paid money for, not these companies, and it is up to you when and if you choose to decommission them. By installing GNU/Linux on your machines, you will have functioning and updated software for a long time to come,a more private experience, and a computing platform that belongs to you, not these big companies that want to extort you and make you purchase new hardware every few years.
"But, AI!", you might say, "All those new features! What about my Microsoft account or my Apple account?" Think about it for a second, do you really need those things? Do you need to authenticate with some big company in order to use your own hardware that you paid your own hard-earned money for? I have seen so many people online getting pissed off about the Microsoft account requirement to log into Windows 11, and all the AI nonsense that is being shoved into every corner of the OS. Do you really need Co-Pilot? Do you really need OneDrive syncing all your local files to the cloud without your express permission? You probably don't, and honestly, the case for running these major OSes are shrinking over time as more and more workflows move to the browser, the only thing left holding many people on Windows is gaming, and even that is shrinking every day thanks to things like the Proton project.
Your machines belong to you! If you are interested in openness, freedom, and privacy on your computers, consider taking a look at GNU/Linux and installing it on your machine. You don't have to commit, and you don't even have to install - you can try out most distributions using "live drives", which is a live instance of the operating system that you can test on your machine before installing it directly to the disk. By flashing something like Debian, Ubuntu, or Fedora onto a USB key, you can run it on your machine and test it out, see how you like it before you fully commit and click the "Install" button. It's easy!
Here is a quick thing you can do to test it out yourself:
Installing GNU/Linux is easy. It doesn't have to be Ubuntu, or even any of the distributions I've named, these are just simple distributions that I think are good for new users. I began my Linux journey back when Windows 8 came out, and have used GNU/Linux exclusively ever since. I haven't had a "corporate" operating system since those days, and I haven't missed a thing from them. In fact, I see what they are up to these days, and I am glad I made the jump so long ago. Once you get used to how your new operating system works, you will probably feel the same! You're in charge of your computer now, and Linux makes computing fun again. You can do whatever you want to do with it without permission from Microsoft or Apple!
A great initiative was put on lately by GNOME and KDE called End of 10 that encouraged people to move off of Windows with Win10 being officially over. Microsoft has never been more hostile to its users, removing the ability to create local accounts, forcing sign in with a Microsoft cloud account, shoving ads into the OS, forced updates, the AI everywhere, the Recall stuff, many people install Windows and then spend hours "debloating it" and removing all the forced nonsense that is everywhere in the OS. Gone is the simplicity of Windows XP, Windows 7, the better days of Windows. Apple isn't much better in this regard, though as far as I know (and I could be wrong), you can still use a Mac without an Apple account.
If you're ready to take the leap, consider trying the steps above and giving Linux a shot on your own machines. You will be glad you did, and you won't have to worry about getting rid of perfectly good computers! Just because they're a few years old doesn't mean they're unusable. My 2008 Thinkpad is still rolling right along and doing fine with all the latest software, and your machines can be too! I hope you give it a shot instead of throwing your old machines out. You will certainly be glad you did!