Most people pick their computer the way they always have. They buy what they know. Windows because that is what work uses. Mac because someone told them it was more secure. And Linux gets dismissed before it even comes up in the conversation — usually because of a reputation it stopped deserving about fifteen years ago.
That default thinking is becoming more expensive. Not in dollars, necessarily — though the hardware costs are real — but in something harder to put a price on: what your computer is quietly doing while you are using it, who it is reporting to, and what new laws are about to require it to do whether you like it or not.
This post goes through all three operating systems honestly based on what the companies’ own documentation says, what independent security researchers have measured, and where the legislation is heading. By the end of it you will have a clearer picture of what you are actually choosing between — not just the features and the price tags, but the question of whose computer it really is.
The operating system is the foundation everything else runs on. It controls what your applications can access, what information leaves your device, and who receives it. Most people assume their operating system is neutral — a blank canvas that runs their apps and gets out of the way.
It is not. And it has not been for years.
Before you open a browser. Before you type a word. Before you do anything at all. Your computer is already talking to servers you have never heard of, sending information you were never asked about, to companies who have a commercial interest in receiving it. The operating system decides what it says, and to whom.
Here is what each of the three major operating systems is actually doing.
Start with what Microsoft themselves publish. Their own privacy documentation describes two categories of data collection: Required and Optional.
Required data, as Microsoft defines it, is collected regardless of what settings you change. On Windows 11 Home and Pro — the editions in most Australian homes and small businesses — this includes your device identifiers, hardware configuration, installed software, error reports, and information about how you use your device. You cannot switch it off. It is not a setting. It is a condition of using the operating system.
Optional data is on top of that. Microsoft would prefer you leave it enabled. But even if you turn every optional setting off, the Required data collection continues.
The German Federal Office for Information Security — Germany’s equivalent of Australia’s ACSC, but with significantly more enforcement power — was not satisfied with Microsoft’s self-reporting. They published a 30-page technical analysis of exactly what Windows sends back to Microsoft, built a dedicated measurement tool so users could verify it themselves, and concluded that data continued flowing to Microsoft servers even after every available privacy setting was applied.
That is a government security agency, not a tech blogger, documenting that Windows privacy settings do not do what most people assume they do.
In May 2024, Microsoft announced Recall — a new Windows 11 feature for Copilot+ PCs. The concept: your computer takes a screenshot of everything on your screen every few seconds, analyses the content using artificial intelligence, and builds a searchable archive of everything you have ever done on your computer. Look at a document three weeks ago and forget which folder it was in? – Search Recall. Visited a website you cannot remember the name of? – Search Recall.
It was announced as a productivity feature. The security community treated it as something else entirely.
Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky described it as potentially ‘dangerous‘. An ethical hacker named Alexander Hagenah built a tool called TotalRecall within days of the announcement — a simple command-line program that could extract and read the entire Recall database from someone else’s computer. The initial version of Recall stored everything in an unencrypted database. Anyone who briefly accessed your computer — physically or remotely — could read months of your activity in minutes.
Signal — the encrypted messaging app recommended by security professionals worldwide — built a specific feature into their Windows desktop application specifically to block Recall from capturing your private messages. They called it Screen Security. It is enabled by default. Signal built a privacy shield against a feature built into the operating system itself.
Microsoft delayed the rollout, redesigned the feature, made it opt-in rather than automatic, and added encryption to the database. Recall eventually launched in a modified form. But the episode is instructive. A feature that screenshots everything you do on your computer — passwords, medical information, private messages, financial documents, everything — was designed, announced, and nearly shipped as the default. The intention was there. The community pushed back hard enough to change the execution.
Recall is opt-in now. It may not always be.
You already know Windows 10 reached end of support in October 2025. What that means in practice: security vulnerabilities discovered after that date will not be patched.
Cybercriminals specifically target end-of-life operating systems because the holes stay open.
Around 38 per cent of Australian computers were still running Windows 10 at the end of support date — roughly 8 to 9 million devices.
That is not a footnote. That is a significant portion of the country running software that will become progressively more exposed with every passing month.
If you are one of them, this is relevant to your decision.
Apple’s privacy marketing is consistent and well-funded. ‘Privacy. That’s iPhone.’ The implication extends to Macs. And to be fair, macOS is genuinely better than Windows in several meaningful ways. Apple’s primary business is selling hardware, not advertising. There is no Recall equivalent. There are no advertisements in the operating system. These are real differences.
But macOS is not neutral, and it is not yours in the way Apple’s marketing implies. Here are three things most Mac users do not know.
Every time you open an application on a Mac, the operating system contacts Apple’s servers to verify the application has not been tampered with. This is called Gatekeeper, and the specific mechanism is called an OCSP check. Apple’s own support documentation confirms this. What Apple’s documentation does not emphasise is that this happens every time, it cannot be disabled through any user-facing setting, and the request includes information about which application you are opening and when.
Security researcher Jeffrey Paul documented this in detail, noting that macOS OS updates also require a boot ticket cryptographically tied to your specific chip’s serial number — transmitted to Apple’s servers unencrypted on every major update. Apple promised to encrypt this and provide an opt-out. Years later, the promise had not been fully delivered. Paul’s assessment: ‘Presumably there are no plans to offer users the ability to disable OCSP checking, which leaks which apps are being launched on your system, when you launch them.’
Michael Bazzell spent over 20 years as an FBI cybercrime investigator before leaving to run what is widely regarded as the world’s most authoritative privacy education program. His book Extreme Privacy is the reference text for journalists operating in dangerous environments, people fleeing surveillance, and anyone who takes digital privacy seriously.
Bazzell has documented in detail what macOS sends to Apple during normal use — data about the apps you open, your location, your network configuration, and your connected devices, during every minute of usage. His conclusion, published in Extreme Privacy, is unambiguous:
“If you are using ANY version of Linux instead of Microsoft or Apple, you are probably achieving better privacy and security in regard to your digital life.”
That is not a Linux enthusiast making the case for Linux. That is a former federal investigator who has spent decades studying surveillance, writing honestly about where the evidence points.
This is the fundamental constraint that hardening attempts cannot solve. You can configure macOS carefully. You can install a firewall. You can avoid an Apple ID. But macOS is inseparable from Apple hardware. The operating system itself — with its background connections, its Gatekeeper checks, its update requirements — is permanently part of the machine. You are buying hardware that is permanently tied to a company whose servers your computer contacts every time you open an application, regardless of any settings you change.
A fully configured privacy Mac costs upwards of $2,100 for the most basic model. The configuration reduces Apple’s visibility. It does not eliminate it.
Linux is not one thing. It is a family of operating systems built on the same open-source foundation, developed by communities around the world, distributed in hundreds of different versions called distributions — or distros — each designed for different purposes and audiences.
Linux runs the servers that power most of the internet. It runs the computers at CERN, the European physics research organisation that operates the Large Hadron Collider. It runs on Android phones. It powers the International Space Station. It is not a hobbyist curiosity. It is the operating system of choice for organisations that cannot afford to have their systems compromised.
The reputation Linux has among everyday users — command lines, complexity, things breaking — comes largely from the early days of desktop Linux, when it genuinely did require technical knowledge to use. That era is over. The current generation of Linux distributions aimed at everyday users are polished, stable, and designed specifically for people coming from Windows.
Of the hundreds of Linux distributions available, we chose Linux Mint for FreedomTech computers for two reasons: it is one of the most privacy-respecting options available, and it is one of the easiest for people switching from Windows.
Linux Mint is built and maintained by a small nonprofit team. It has no commercial shareholders. No advertising revenue. No business model that depends on knowing what you are doing on your computer. Its privacy policy is two sentences: if we do not need to collect data, we do not collect it.
An independent researcher published a detailed network analysis of a fresh Linux Mint installation using Wireshark — the professional tool used by security researchers to measure exactly what a computer is sending. The findings: the only network activity was a time synchronisation check — a basic function that sends no personal information — and a connectivity test. No connections to analytics servers. No data sent to any corporation. No advertising identifiers. No usage reports.
The Linux Mint team has also confirmed this themselves in their own public documentation: ‘Linux Mint does not collect any telemetry whatsoever.’ The reason this claim is meaningful — and why it is different from a corporation making the same claim — is that the code is publicly visible. Every line. Anyone in the world can read it, audit it, and verify the claim independently. There is nowhere to hide anything.
Linux Mint’s Cinnamon desktop is designed specifically for people coming from Windows. The layout is immediately familiar: taskbar along the bottom of the screen, start menu in the bottom left corner, system tray in the bottom right. Files and folders work the way you expect. Right-clicking gives you the menus you are used to.
Installing software is point-and-click through a graphical Software Manager — no typing required, no technical knowledge needed. Updates appear as a notification and install with a click, exactly like Windows.
LibreOffice comes pre-installed and handles Microsoft Office files — Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations — without issue. Brave browser runs on Linux exactly as it does on Windows or Mac. Netflix, YouTube, online banking, video calls — all work as expected.
– In 2024, PewDiePie — one of YouTube’s most-subscribed creators — publicly switched to Linux after frustration with Windows, specifically praising the absence of background processes he had not asked for.
– In 2025, Denmark’s government announced it was moving away from Microsoft Office to open-source software.
– Germany’s state of Schleswig-Holstein is migrating 30,000 government computers to Linux.
These are not fringe decisions.
| Windows 11 | macOS (hardened) | Linux Mint | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sends data to the company | Yes — cannot be fully stopped | Yes — app checks cannot be disabled | No — confirmed by independent network testing |
| Shows you advertisements | Yes — Start menu and File Explorer | No | No |
| Code is publicly viewable | No | Code is publicly viewable | Yes — anyone can audit it |
| Can be fully removed from hardware | Yes | No — tied to Apple hardware | Yes |
| Familiar layout for Windows users | Yes | Different layout, adjustment required | Yes — designed specifically for Windows users |
| Cost of operating system | Included with PC or licence fee | Tied to Apple hardware purchase | Free |
| FreedomTech entry price | N/A | $2,100+ | $795 refurbished |
| Endorsed by independent privacy experts | No | Only with significant ongoing effort | Yes — including former FBI investigator Michael Bazzell |
| Must comply with government age verification laws | Yes — commercial company, no alternative | Yes — commercial company, no alternative | Structurally resistant — open source, no revenue to threaten |
Everything covered so far is already happening. But there is a development underway right now that makes the choice of operating system significantly more important — and it is already in effect in Australia.
In October 2025, California signed Assembly Bill 1043 — the Digital Age Assurance Act. It requires every operating system — Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux — to collect your date of birth during device setup. That information is then transmitted to app developers via a real-time connection every time you download or open an application. The law takes effect January 2027.
The stated purpose is protecting children online. That is a legitimate goal. But here is what the law actually constructs: a permanent, real-time data pipeline running from your operating system through every app store to every software developer — tied to your identity from the moment you first set up your device.
California is not alone. Colorado passed similar legislation in March 2026. Brazil’s version came into effect on 17 March 2026. And Australia is not waiting.
From 10 December 2025, Australian social media platforms are legally required to prevent under-16s from creating accounts. From 27 December 2025, search engines including Google and Bing must age-verify Australian users who are logged in, with fines of up to $49.5 million per breach. Full implementation is required by June 2026. The methods available include photo identification, government digital ID, AI-based facial scanning, and analysis of online behaviour.
The direction of travel is clear. Age brackets today — under 13, under 16, under 18, over 18. But what the law actually builds is infrastructure that has never existed before: a mandatory, real-time connection between your verified identity and your operating system, flowing to every application you use. Once that infrastructure exists, expanding what it carries is a regulatory change, not a technical one.
Today it is age brackets. The infrastructure being built could carry anything governments decide to attach to it tomorrow. That is not a conspiracy theory — it is how infrastructure works.
Microsoft and Apple are large commercial corporations with revenue in the hundreds of billions of dollars, global workforces, and physical offices in every major jurisdiction. When California attaches a $7,500 per-violation fine to non-compliance, or Australia threatens $49.5 million per breach, they comply. They have already demonstrated this repeatedly.
Their business interests require it.
This is not a criticism of either company specifically. It is simply the reality of being a large commercial entity operating under government oversight. When laws change, their products change. You have no meaningful say in it, because the decision is not yours to make.
Linux Mint is built and maintained by a small nonprofit team. It has no shareholders. No revenue stream that governments can threaten with nine-figure fines. No commercial presence to protect. The financial and legal leverage that works against Microsoft and Apple does not exist in the same form with an open-source nonprofit.
But more importantly than the legal question: Linux Mint is open source. Every line of code is publicly visible and auditable by anyone in the world. If anyone — whether a government, a regulator, or a bad actor — attempted to add data collection or surveillance infrastructure to Linux Mint’s code, the global community of developers who audit and maintain it would see it. Not eventually. Immediately. And within days, a version of the software without it would exist. That is not a theoretical protection. It is how open-source software has worked for decades.
GrapheneOS — the open-source operating system we install on every FreedomTech phone — made this position explicit in March 2026. When California and Brazil’s laws came into focus, the GrapheneOS team stated publicly: ‘GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone around the world without requiring personal information, identification, or an account. If GrapheneOS devices cannot be sold in a region due to their regulations, so be it.’ That is a nonprofit team telling two jurisdictions to go ahead and ban them rather than compromise their principles. No commercial operating system could make that statement.
Over 400 computer scientists signed an open letter arguing that these laws do not meaningfully protect children — because self-reported age is trivially bypassed by anyone motivated to do so — but do build surveillance infrastructure with no clear limit on what it gets used for in the future.
Today it is age brackets. The infrastructure being built could carry anything governments decide to attach to it tomorrow. That is not a conspiracy theory — it is how infrastructure works.
When you choose Linux Mint, you are not just choosing an operating system that does not currently report to a corporation. You are choosing an operating system that is structurally resistant to being forced to do so — because the mechanism that makes compliance possible for commercial companies does not apply in the same way to open-source software with no revenue to threaten.
That distinction has never mattered more than it does right now.
This is the most common concern, and it is worth addressing directly. The answer, for most people, is no — and the reasons are concrete rather than reassuring.
Linux Mint’s Cinnamon desktop is designed from the ground up for people coming from Windows. The people who build it know exactly who their audience is. The taskbar, the file manager, the way software installs, the way updates arrive — all of it is modelled on what Windows users already know. Reviewers who have spent decades on Windows have described the transition as seamless and noted their setup looked nearly identical to their Windows machine within a short time.
The applications most people use every day — browsers, email, document editing, video streaming, music, video calls — all work on Linux. In many cases the same application you use on Windows has a Linux version. In others, a free alternative does the same job and opens the same file formats.
We configure every FreedomTech computer before it leaves us. Brave is installed and set up correctly. The privacy settings are already in place. You do not need to do the setup work. It is done.
And if, after giving it a genuine go, Linux is not for you — we will revert your computer back to Windows for the cost of return postage and a small labour fee. In all the Linux computers we have built and sold, fewer than two customers have ever taken us up on that offer. That is not a sales line. That is the actual number.
When you use Windows, Microsoft has ongoing access to information about what you do on your computer. That is documented in their own privacy policies, confirmed by independent government security agencies, and demonstrated by the near-release of a feature that screenshots everything you do every few seconds. When new laws require them to collect more, they will collect more. You have no say in it.
When you use macOS, Apple’s servers are contacted every time you open an application. A former FBI investigator who has spent his career studying surveillance needs a third-party firewall to limit what his Mac sends Apple. When new laws require more, Apple will comply.
When you use Linux Mint, no company has ongoing access to what happens on your computer. The code is public. The network traffic has been independently measured. And the structural architecture of open-source software means that forced compliance with surveillance mandates looks fundamentally different than it does for commercial operating systems.
The question is not which is most convenient. It is whose computer it actually is.
With Linux, the answer is unambiguous: yours.
Every computer we sell runs Linux Mint — specifically the Cinnamon desktop edition, chosen because it is one of the most privacy-respecting and easiest-to-use distributions available. We configure every machine ourselves before it leaves us.
For more on why Australians are making the switch, read our guide to Linux laptops in Australia
Brave browser is installed with the privacy shields configured correctly. Mullvad VPN — independently audited, no account required, Swedish police have already tried and walked away with nothing — is pre-installed and ready for activation (requires a monthly fee)
The system is ready to use from the moment you open the box.
Our refurbished builds start at $795. Our new builds start at $1,175. Both run identically — same operating system, same configuration, same privacy protection. The hardware is different; refurbished ex-corporate machines are excellent quality at a significantly lower price point.
If you have been thinking about making a change — whether because of Windows 10 end of support, frustration with Windows 11, concern about where age verification laws are heading, or simply because you have decided you would prefer a computer that works for you rather than reporting about you — we are happy to talk through what suits your situation.
Your documents, photos, spreadsheets, and other files transfer across without issues. LibreOffice opens and saves Microsoft Office files — Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations — in formats anyone can open on any computer.
Photos, videos, music, and PDFs work exactly as expected. If you use cloud storage — Proton Drive, which we recommend — your files are accessible from Linux the same way they are from any other operating system.
The main exceptions are software that only exists for Windows — certain specialist accounting programs, some design applications, niche industry tools. If you rely on specific software, it is worth checking whether a Linux version exists or whether a free alternative covers your needs before making a decision. We are happy to advise on specific cases.
Yes. Online banking runs through your web browser, and Brave on Linux works with every major Australian bank. If you use a specific banking application rather than your bank’s website, it is worth checking — but this has not been an issue for our clients.
No. Linux Mint Cinnamon is a fully graphical operating system. Installing software, adjusting settings, managing files — all of it is done by clicking with a mouse. The terminal is there for people who want it. It is not required for everyday use.
Updates appear as a notification and install with a click. Linux Mint receives security updates for five years from each release — meaning stable, supported computing without needing to replace your hardware or pay for extended support.
Linux has a significantly stronger track record than Windows when it comes to malicious software. The architecture of Linux makes it much harder for malicious programs to gain the access they need to cause damage. There are no known widespread viruses targeting Linux desktop users. Standard sensible habits — not clicking suspicious links, not downloading software from unknown sources — still apply on any operating system.
This is the right question. California’s law theoretically applies to all operating systems. But Linux Mint is built by a nonprofit with no commercial revenue to threaten. More importantly, it is open source — every line of code is publicly readable. If anyone attempted to add government-mandated data collection, the global developer community would see it immediately. This is a structural protection that commercial operating systems cannot offer. Windows and macOS will comply with whatever laws require. Linux Mint’s architecture makes that kind of forced compliance fundamentally different in nature.
We will revert your computer to Windows for the cost of return postage and a small labour fee. In all the Linux computers we have built and sold, fewer than two customers have ever asked for that. We back Linux Mint with that offer because we are confident you will not need it.
Gaming on Linux has improved substantially in recent years. Valve’s Proton compatibility layer allows thousands of Windows games to run on Linux — sometimes with better performance. If gaming is your primary use case, Windows remains the more straightforward choice. For everyday computing, productivity, privacy, and security, Linux Mint is our recommendation without qualification.
If you are weighing up your options — coming off Windows 10, frustrated with Windows 11, concerned about where age verification and digital identity laws are heading, or simply deciding you would prefer a computer that does not work against you — we are happy to have a straight conversation about what would suit your situation.
Browse our range of privacy computers and Linux laptops, or reach us at [email protected]. For quick questions, join our community on Telegram
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