KDE for Windows 10 Exiles

Upgrade your software, not your computer

Your computer is toast

Running Windows 10 on your computer? On October 14 Microsoft wants to turn it into junk.

It may seem like it continues to work after that date for a bit, but when Microsoft stops support for Windows 10, your perfectly good computer will be officially obsolete.

Electronic junk covered in grimy dust.

Windows 10 will degrade as more and more bugs come to light. With nobody to correct them, you risk being hacked. Your data, identity, and control over your device could be stolen.

New versions of your apps will not run, but Microsoft will still block you from upgrading to the next version of Windows until you buy the new computer they decide.

You will be forced to spend your hard-earned cash and will be unwillingly polluting the earth and water as your old machine rots in a landfill. The air will also be polluted with the emissions that come from manufacturing and shipping a new device you don't really need.

Even if you agree to this tech extortion now, in a few years time, they will do it again as they have done many times in the past.

But things don't have to be this way...

What you can do

Upgrade the smart way! Keep the machine you've got and switch to Linux and Plasma.

Linux can give new life to your laptop. Combined with KDE's Plasma desktop, you get all the advantages of the safety, stability and hi tech of Linux, with all the features of a beautiful, modern and powerful graphic environment.

And it'll work on the machine you already have. Even machines that are 10, 15 years old can happily run Plasma, a modern, safe operating system that won't let you down.

You can get Plasma from many Linux flavours (here are a few).

You can install Linux yourself—installing Linux is not as hard as it used to be, but you must read the instructions to do so very carefully!

Or, if you have never installed an operating system before, we have events and places all over the world. You can go with your machine and someone will help you out.

Why Plasma

Here are some reasons to choose Plasma as your next upgrade from Windows:

Plasma is easy

Plasma immediately feels like home. With its launch menu for apps in the bottom left-hand corner; workspace where you can drop apps, files and folders; and tray for important widgets, you will instantly locate everything you need.

Plasma adapts to you

Plasma lets you move things around and change their looks to your liking. You can make Plasma look and feel like Windows (any version), macOS, or something with no equivalent in the closed source world. Make Plasma your own and show us what you did!

Plasma comes free of licensing costs

It doesn't matter if you are installing Plasma on one computer or fifty—no-one is going to bill you for it. All our code is open source and KDE itself is a non-profit run by volunteers.

Plasma is powerful

Looks are not everything. Plasma also packs dozens of useful features that make it a pleasure to use.

Did you ever feel constrained by just one desktop? Linux users regularly use four! But you can have more if you like—and arrange them on cube.

For the technically minded, need to connect to your web server to update your blog, or your cloud to upload photos, or even your software repository for development? Just pop open Dolphin, Plasma's file explorer, and use its connectivity tools, that include FTP/SSH clients, cloud integration software, Git/SVN/Mercurial, and more. For more on how Plasma makes your work easier, check out our For Developers page.

Need to connect to your office machine to send of a report or to help out a colleague with an issue while stuck at home? Plasma has desktop sharing system baked in.

There are many other desktop environments for Linux. Check out GNOME, XFCE, Mate, Cinnamon, LXQt.

Get ready

You may be wondering if you will still be able to do what you did on Windows.

Linux does take some getting used to after years of using Windows, and you may need different programs to work and play.

But there are three tricks that will make the transition easier:

1. Rely on the Free Software community

... And ask a lot of questions! Linux users are a proud bunch and will happily guide you so you quickly become at home.

This works for when you want to install Linux! The EndOf10 campaign provides a list of organizations and live events where you can go for help.

Here are some more places run by the KDE Community where new users are not only welcome, but encouraged to participate:

2. Do not expect the same things you would use in Windows

... but instead look for the programs that will do the same job on Linux.

Many Linux systems come with the most commonly used software pre-installed. This allows you to hit the ground running: Firefox is there for web browsing; LibreOffice comes with the programs you need to write documents, create spreadsheets, design presentations, etc.; and Okular lets you open, sign and annotate PDFs (and many other types of documents).

Note that these are not demos or bloatware! They are complete programs with all their features for you to enjoy and use forever. That is what Free Software is all about.

But when you need more specialized applications...

3. Trust your package manager

Linux package managers provide you with a BIG catalog of software. Plasma comes with Discover, an app store/software manager.

It contains mostly free and open software, and an intuitive search function. If you don't know the name of the application you need, type in some keywords related to what want it to do in the Search box and Discover will suggest something.

Services like Flatpak provide extra software which can also be installed from Discover.

What you should not do

Don't go hunting for software on the web! Linux is all about keeping yourself safe and the resources explained above do that.

What will you miss

Keeping all your files and folders will require some planning, but it is not hard. Get yourself an external hard disk you can plug into a USB port and dump all the stuff you want to save on that. You will have no problem reading it from Plasma later on.

As for the rest, for most of the good stuff you will be covered. Most hardware (WiFi/Bluetooth and video cards, even drawing tablets, etc.) will be recognized and configured by the system automatically—no more hunting for drivers.

But you can say goodbye to all the bad stuff:

Viruses for Linux are pretty much unknown, so you can forget that worry. You won't be seeing any of those scam antivirus popups either.

No more ads

It may seem that you got Windows for free, but it definitely comes at a cost. Microsoft routinely injects advertisements into your desktop, in free apps, in your apps launch menu, in the help and guides, even in your file browser. They will go as far as shamelessly displaying full screen ads for upcoming software. These ads eat up you bandwidth, leach power from your computer, degrade the performance of the operating system and in general just interfere with your day. There is nothing like that in Plasma.

No spyware leaking your activity

Say goodbye to hidden processes spying on every word you type in every app. And no more uploading of your documents to someone else's cloud to train their AI behind your back, stealing your work for someone else's profit. KDE is charity run by volunteers, not a company. We have no commercial interests. We also have no interest in your personal data and will fiercely help you protect it.

No forced updates

When updates are available, you will see a discreet icon in your tray or a pop up will appear. You chose when you want to update, now, another day,... whenever you are ready.

No surprise app changes

You pick what apps open your files. You will be always fully in control which does what and when. Once you pick an app to open a certain type of files or as your default web browser, that is what the system will stick with. Plasma makes you the boss.

No forced registrations, subscriptions, hidden costs

You don't need a Microsoft account, or register with any other company, or pay a subscription for anything that doesn't need it.

In fact, unless you are doing something that requires a connection to the Internet, like uploading pic to the cloud, posting to social media, or streaming a movie, Plasma doesn't even need to be connected to the Internet.

Everything that can be done locally on your computer, is done locally on your computer, and nothing outside your box needs to know anything about it.

What are you waiting for?

Jump in! Get rid of Windows today and forever, save your money, save the planet and enjoy computing as it was meant to be.

Check out more things you can do on the End of 10 website.