Quitting Windows

Breaking up is hard to do. And this one hurts: I've broken up with Windows. After using Microsoft's operating systems for more than 30 years, it's slowly, painfully, and inauspiciously come to the point where I can no longer justify or tolerate using Windows. (As you may already know or could have guessed, I'm a Linux guy now.)

I suppose the obvious question is "Why?". Is there ever a single, convenient reason that explains the ending of any longstanding relationship? I certainly don't have *one* to explain this decision. My OS needs are fairly reasonable. My demands are not that great. I need an OS that...

• Runs my applications.
• Lets me explore and search through the file system.
• Has a comfortable, familiar, unchanging GUI that lets me find apps and OS features quickly.
• Has a scripting system for automation.
• Is stable and secure.
• Respects my privacy.
• Doesn't have ads.
• Etc.

Microsoft delivered on most of that all the way back in the 90s. But as the years and releases went by, fewer and fewer of my needs were met.

• When a new major release landed, I'd often discover the "things" I was looking for were no longer where they used to be.
• It was a coin flip proposition as to whether the Windows GUI was "normal" and appropriate, or bizarre and disjointed.
• Crapware/bloatware was always an issue with Windows on a new machine. It wasn't ideal, but I learned how to overcome it by reinstalling the OS and acquiring the necessary device drivers. Yeah, it was the PC manufacturers who were to blame for all the unwanted preinstalled software, right? Maybe. But eventually Microsoft got in on the action too. I'd see icons/shortcuts all over the Start menu as placeholders for Microsoft products and services they were shilling. That evolved to popups or banners in MS apps trying to sell me something (mostly Office and IE/Edge).
• The Start menu became an internet gateway that seemingly ignored your local machine. Search was laughable. Finding anything on your own hard drive (I know...outrageous and demanding) was an exercise in frustration.
• Windows updates would revert my configurations/settings--especially the ones that protected my privacy. And after all these years, I never found the magic formula to suppress automatic reboots. I've lost data almost every time that happened.
• Somewhere along the way, Microsoft wanted users to create an account with Microsoft.com as a prerequisite to install Windows. Yeah, you could get around this "requirement". But it was a heavy-handed tactic by Microsoft akin to forcing users to opt out of an invasive privacy feature. Total dick move on their part.
• If there was a straw that broke the camel's back, it was Recall. Microsoft's contempt for its users and their privacy pushed me over the edge.

My livelihood is dependent on SQL Server. I don't know what the future holds for me and Microsoft. But they're clearly at the mercy of capitalism and its impossible demands for infinite growth. If they can't innovate, they have to pretend like they are. They've been pretending for a long time now with their OS. I'm not happy about quitting Windows and leaving my decades of experience behind. But I'm relieved to get off the ride. It hasn't been good for a long time.