KDE Welcomes Windows 10 Users to Linux, Says Microsoft Is Doing "Tech Extortion"

The KDE project, which maintains the Plasma desktop environment and dozens of open-source applications for Linux and other platforms, is making the case for Windows 10 users to switch to Linux. KDE says you should “upgrade the smart way” by switching to a Linux distribution with the Plasma desktop environment.

The‘End of 10’ projectkicked off as a cross-community effort to help people move from Windows 10 to desktop Linux, as we get closer to the June 30, 2025 end-of-life date for Windows 10. Many people from KDE are involved in the project, but End of 10 avoids recommending any specific Linux distributions or desktop environments in an effort to “represent all of our communities.” Individual members and communities are still free to promote their own work outside of the campaign, though, and that’s exactly what KDE is doing.

The new ‘KDE for Windows 10 Exiles’ portal explains why people might want to try Linux with the Plasma desktop and KDE applications, instead of buying a new computer just to have Windows 11. Plasma “immediately feels like home” to Windows users with its default launch menu and taskbar configuration, and there’s “no spyware leaking your activity.”

KDE says, “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. Windows 10 will degrade as more and more bugs come to light. […] 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.”

The KDE team is also shying away from recommending any particular Linux desktop distribution, only saying “you’re able to get Plasma from many Linux flavours” and linking to thepage for Plasma distributions. That list includes options like openSUSE Leap and Tumbleweed, Fedora KDE, Majaro KDE, and Kubuntu.KDE Neon, the only distribution directly maintained by the KDE project (and my personal favorite), is last on the list. Those distributions all have the same Plasma desktop and most of the same KDE system applications.

Importantly, many KDE and Qt applications are fully supported on Windows and Mac, so you can try many of the core apps before you replace your entire operating system.Kritafor image edits and digital art,Kdenlivefor video editing,KDE Connectfor phone and desktop synchronization, and other apps have well-supported Windows versions. The portal page doesn’t go into detail about that, since the main focus is switching to Linux entirely, but trying those apps might be a great in-between step for potential converts.

It’s great to see the Linux community create useful guides and resources for people with Windows 10 PCs. With any luck, it will keep a few more computers out of landfills.