"I need options" (and not another Linux rant)

mrgum6y

So I'm sure people are going to say its emotional or projectionism, and maybe mostly rubbish; I'm tired of having to be a technician/engineer/admin. I wanted to be a musician, a performer and creative.

This year Microsoft ended support for Windows 10. Making 3 of my 4 studio PCs redundant. "Throw them away" said Microsoft "they don't support TPM! Buy new ones! $$$ You need to use AI, all your data is safe with us."

So like many others, I have backup these machine with my MS account and qualify for a years extra support. (Then start to look for LTS licences.)

I'd like to ask NI for an community update on there future roadmap of what OS they are going to support in the future.

Are NI going to stop supporting Windows 10 installs in 2026? or 2031?

Why should they care?

I feel like Microsoft pulled the rug from under me. Why should I buy more Instruments or library's, when future access to my library my disappear.

The November sale is on today and I'm not going to buy a thing! This is how I feel, my projection, my emotional place.

Here is some ideas:

I have a pile of other laptops, all better spec than my machine plus internals, NI can use exclusively. How feasible is it to have the machine plus firmware, adapted to run natively on a laptop? Please don't reply "oh there is too much PC hardware to support to do that!" Pick a spec; VESA video, Realtek audio and I'll find a laptop that works.

Start looking at how to get Komplete or Maschine onto SteamOS. Can you imagine the new customers? I think there are around 10 million Steamdeck users now. Can you see how painless it would be to buy a steam machine and have Native Instruments Access just work? SteamOS, Bazzite, Proton all things that are making this easier. I feel there was a huge shift in the landscape and NI should plan now for how things may be soon.

GoFundMe, Kickstarter and others exist. If it all to expensive and a commercial risk I think there may be numerous existing customers that might support such endeavours, but ask us, include us in the conversation.

Like I warned you at the start, nothing but the emotive projection from a cheap ass user that hasn't even bought the collectors edition. However I would like to remain a NI customer, Microsoft maybe a little less so.

Vocalpoint

"I feel like Microsoft pulled the rug from under me. Why should I buy more Instruments or library's, when future access to my library my disappear"

After 10 years of awesome support and service with Win 10 - you feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you? 10 Years? Seriously?

You need to buy a Mac if you really want to feel pain. 10 Years is a gift.

Longer term - Windows 11 runs great and will be supported for many more years to come. You need simply make a plan and execute.

If it's hardware you have a beef about - no one can help you with that. It was your decision to keep products long past their usable shelf date. Everything is retired eventually - so we all need to be aware and plan accordingly.

And yes - NI will eventually stop supporting Windows 10 - as will all other vendors - but that will most likely be a long while from now. NI is aware that Windows 10 is still everywhere out there.

And as far as Linux goes - this is about as definitive as it gets - direct from NI:

VP