Best of Windows — 2025
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Dev World·46w
💻 Choosing an OS in 2025: A Scientific Flowchart
A humorous flowchart breaks down how people actually choose their operating systems in 2025, suggesting that decisions are often based on personal preferences, lifestyle factors, and financial considerations rather than technical specifications or features.
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It's Foss·17w
Denmark Begins Its Exit from Microsoft — and This Is Just the Start
Denmark's Road Traffic Authority is piloting SIA Open, a government initiative to replace Microsoft Windows and Office applications with open source alternatives. The agency cites data sovereignty and avoiding vendor lock-in as key motivations. This pilot involves a portion of their 600 employees, with plans to expand to 15,000 government users across multiple state agencies. The specific open source alternatives haven't been disclosed yet.
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NetworkChuck·1y
Your Remote Desktop SUCKS!! Try this instead (FREE + Open Source)
A new open-source remote desktop solution supports Windows, Mac, and Linux and can be hosted personally, eliminating the need for costly RDP services. This solution addresses limitations of RDP, such as requiring Windows Pro and providing non-native performance for remote access across different networks. Alternatives like Guacamole, KasmVNC, and RustDesk offer diverse functionalities, with RustDesk being particularly praised for its features, performance, and hosting flexibility.
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Linus Torvalds Defends Windows' Blue Screen of Death
Linus Torvalds suggests that Windows' Blue Screen of Death errors are often caused by unreliable hardware rather than software bugs. He emphasizes that ECC (Error Correction Code) memory makes systems more reliable, and believes memory issues and hardware problems, especially in overclocked gaming systems, are frequently responsible for system crashes that users attribute to Windows instability.
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Community Picks·1y
It's time to move to Linux
Microsoft's new feature, Recall, which records everything on your screen, has sparked privacy concerns among users. Despite Microsoft's assurance of privacy, past actions suggest it may become mandatory. Alternatives like Mac also have issues with choice and autonomy. With improving compatibility, gaming, and device support, Linux is becoming a viable option, even though it still has minor limitations.
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DevBlogs·47w
Edit is now open source
Edit is a new, lightweight open-source command-line text editor for Windows, designed to be a default editor for 64-bit versions of the OS. It offers features like multiple file support, find and replace functionality, and word wrap, and will be available for preview in the Windows Insider Program before being bundled with Windows 11.
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Mental Outlaw·45w
Linux is Destroying Windows in Gaming Performance
Performance testing reveals Linux-based Steam OS consistently outperforms Windows 11 on identical handheld gaming hardware. The Legion Go S running Steam OS achieves higher frame rates in popular AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 (59 vs 46 FPS) and Witcher 3 (76 vs 66 FPS), despite using Proton compatibility layer to run Windows games. Linux also delivers superior battery life, sometimes more than doubling gaming time compared to Windows. The performance advantage stems from Linux's reduced system overhead versus Windows 11's bloat, including resource-heavy components like React Native-based start menu and integrated ads/AI features.
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The Best Desktop Linux For Windows Users
Windows 11's focus on AI features has degraded gaming performance by up to 65% for Nvidia users, prompting increased adoption of desktop Linux distributions. Zorin OS 18 attracted over 1 million downloads (78% from Windows users) with features like web app integration, Windows app compatibility via Wine, and suggested alternatives for Windows programs. Gaming-focused distributions like Bazzite and CachyOS now match or exceed Windows 11 performance out-of-the-box, while Microsoft's AI-generated code (30% of repos) and financial ties to OpenAI suggest the company won't reverse course on its agentic OS direction.
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Yegor's Blog·24w
Programmers, Don't Use Windows!
Unix-based systems like macOS provide programmers with powerful abstractions—everything is a file, processes connect through pipelines, and command-line tools compose naturally. Windows evolved from DOS with GUI-centric design, lacking the unified file abstraction and shell pipeline philosophy that has proven effective since the 1970s. The command line exposes logic as text that can be automated, combined, and version-controlled, while GUI interactions remain ephemeral and non-composable.
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Gamefromscratch·25w
Zed - The 'Visual Studio Code Killer' - Now on Windows!
Zed, a performance-focused code editor built in Rust, is now available on Windows after being Mac and Linux exclusive. The editor emphasizes speed through GPU acceleration and multi-core CPU usage, featuring instant startup times and responsive UI. It includes AI integration with support for multiple providers (Gemini, Copilot), built-in debugging, git integration, real-time collaboration, and an extension system. While the Windows port is functional, some features like language servers may require additional setup compared to the more mature Mac and Linux versions.
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ThePrimeTime·27w2025 The Year Of The Linux Desktop
Microsoft is removing workarounds for creating local accounts in Windows 11, forcing users to sign in with Microsoft accounts. Combined with ads in the start menu and privacy concerns around Copilot, developers are increasingly frustrated with Windows. Meanwhile, Apple's recent UI quality has declined. Linux distributions like Omachi with Hyperland offer smooth, customizable developer experiences that rival or exceed macOS, making 2025 potentially the year developers seriously consider switching to Linux.
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Zed·26w
Windows When? Windows Now — Zed's Blog
Zed code editor launches stable Windows support with native DirectX 11 rendering and DirectWrite text integration. The release includes full WSL and SSH remoting capabilities, allowing developers to edit files on Linux systems directly from Windows. All Zed extensions work without modification through WebAssembly Components and WASI sandboxing. AI features including edit predictions and ACP-powered agents are fully supported on Windows. The team maintains dedicated Windows engineers and will ship weekly updates matching their Mac and Linux release cadence.
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A Java geek·20w
My first real Rust project
A developer shares their experience building their first production Rust project: a health monitoring component that polls sensors and sends email alerts. The post covers the technical rationale for choosing Rust over JVM languages (short-lived processes, cross-compilation, memory efficiency), selecting appropriate crates (reqwest, config, lettre), leveraging Rust's derive macros for trait implementation, and troubleshooting Windows compilation issues with the GNU toolchain.
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Hacker News·22w
Meta just killed native WhatsApp on Windows 11, now it opens WebView, uses 1GB RAM all the time
Meta replaced the native WhatsApp Windows 11 app with a WebView2-based version that loads web.whatsapp.com in a container. The new version consumes 1-2GB RAM compared to the native app's 100-300MB, exhibits sluggish performance, and has notification issues. The change reverses years of investment in native development, moving from Electron to UWP and now back to a web wrapper. Users will eventually be forced to upgrade as Meta plans to phase out the native version.
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The Register·28w
Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead? No, wait – it's on Windows
Zed Industries has released a public beta of its Rust-based code editor for Windows, addressing a critical gap since Windows is used by 49.5% of professional developers. The beta is available through Discord with general availability planned for October. Performance tests show Zed uses significantly less RAM than VS Code (142MB vs 730MB) and includes WSL integration for Linux development workflows.
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omg! ubuntu!·25w
Zorin OS 18 Broke Download Records on Windows 10 EOL Day
Zorin OS 18 achieved over 100,000 downloads in just two days following its launch on October 14, 2025, coinciding with Windows 10's end of support. Over 72% of downloads came from Windows users seeking alternatives to avoid hardware upgrade requirements for Windows 11 or paying for extended Windows 10 support. The Ubuntu-based distribution includes features specifically designed for Windows migrants, such as expanded Windows application compatibility, OneDrive integration, and web app tools. If even a small fraction of Windows 10's 40% global market share switches to Linux, it could significantly boost Linux adoption and the open source community.
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PowerToys 0.95 is here: new Light Switch utility, faster Command Palette, and Peek with Spacebar
PowerToys 0.95 introduces Light Switch, a new utility for automatic light/dark mode switching based on time or location. Command Palette receives major performance improvements with a new fuzzy matcher, reducing search times by up to 95% in some cases. Peek now opens with the spacebar by default, Find My Mouse supports transparency, and shortcut conflicts can be ignored or unassigned. Additional updates include Mouse Pointer Crosshairs customization, DSC v3 support, and ZoomIt smooth zooming.
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Windows isn't an OS, it's a bad habit bordering on addiction
This opinion piece argues that Windows has become more of a bad habit than a useful operating system, with Microsoft pushing unwanted updates and monetization strategies onto users. It suggests exploring alternatives like macOS and Linux, which offer varying degrees of freedom and user experience. The article encourages users to plan for a detox from Windows dependency and consider other platforms that align with future technological trends.
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DEV·1y
How to Install DeepSeek-R1 32B on Windows: System Requirements, Docker, Ollama, and WebUI Setup
This guide provides detailed instructions for installing DeepSeek-R1 32B on Windows using three different methods: Docker, Ollama, and WebUI. It includes the system requirements for both minimum and recommended setups, steps for installing each method, and considerations for choosing the best installation method based on user needs and hardware capabilities.
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Announcing WinUI Gallery 2.7
WinUI Gallery 2.7 introduces sample history and favorites functionality, new samples for TitleBar and ThemeShadow controls, upgraded StoragePicker APIs with Windows App SDK 1.8, fresh typography and button styles, and over 100 community-driven improvements including accessibility fixes and UI polish.
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PowerToys 0.93 is here: faster Command Palette, new dashboard UX and more
PowerToys 0.93 introduces significant performance improvements through AOT compilation, reducing startup memory by 15%, load time by 40%, and installation size by 55%. The release features a redesigned Settings dashboard with clearer utility toggles and shortcuts, a new Spotlight mode for Mouse Highlighter that dims the entire screen except around the cursor, and enhanced Command Palette functionality including restored clipboard history and app pinning capabilities.
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Microsoft promises to make WinUI 'truly open source'
Microsoft announced plans to make WinUI, their modern Windows UI framework, fully open source after years of developer frustration over slow progress and bugs. The transition will happen in four phases, starting with more frequent code mirroring to GitHub and eventually making it the primary repository. However, the timeline remains unclear due to dependencies on proprietary Windows components. Developers remain skeptical about Microsoft's commitment, citing years of stagnation and questioning whether sufficient resources will be allocated to improve the framework.
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The Verge·48w
Microsoft reveals its rejected Start menu redesigns
Microsoft has revealed several concept designs for the Windows 11 Start menu, showcasing alternative layouts that were considered before finalizing the new design. Key features include greater customizability and the option to disable the recommended feed, enhancing user accessibility and personalization. The redesign process involved testing with more than 300 users, using eye-tracking and feedback to refine the design, which is currently being tested with Windows Insiders.
