Linux desktops finally learned restraint, and that’s the upgrade Windows still hasn’t made
Linux desktops finally learned restraint, and that’s the upgrade Windows still hasn’t made
Publish Date: 2026-05-31 14:30:00
Source Domain: www.xda-developers.com
I’ve never made one before, but I can imagine that making an operating system is a fine balance between doing as much as you can without going overboard. Do too little, and people will use another operating system; do too much, and you run the risk of burning out the developers, the userbase, or both at the same time.
Recently, the Linux kernels and the distros that rely on it have shown that, while they offer users a ton of options and customizability, they haven’t pushed all their chips to the center of the table and gone all-in. And that’s something that Microsoft can’t really say the same with Windows.
Linux desktops are finally letting go of legacy hardware
Some things just aren’t worth holding onto forever
Microsoft wants Windows to be compatible with everything ever released for the OS, but that sort of harms it, too. For instance, there’s a very good chance that Windows will never be an immutable operating system, simply because doing so would require breaking support for every app that depended on it.
Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping an eye on what’s going on with the Linux kernel. Lately, maintainers have been axing support for hardware that likely doesn’t see any use. And I don’t mean hardware that maybe release ten or fifteen years ago: I mean a 37-year-old Intel processor.
By removing support for things people aren’t using anymore, it helps the people maintaining the…
