Microsoft finds an unlikely ally — Linux developer defends Windows against BSoD jokes

Windows and Linux have a long-standing rivalry as operating systems. And while the former holds a competitive advantage over the latter due to its massive market share and broad app compatibility, Linux is starting to gain some traction, especially after Microsoft ended Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025.

For instance, Zorin OS, a Linux distro, gained approximately 780,000 users from Windows, a little over a month after Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows 10. While this might be coincidental, the timing is impeccable and hard to ignore, potentially suggesting that the operating system's death fueled the transition.

Similarly, Bazzite recently delivered a petabyte of ISOs in a single month as Windows 10 users continue to seek for alternatives beyond Microsoft's Windows 11 forced updates.

BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) errors are synonymous with Microsoft's Windows operating system, designed to alert users of a critical system failure related to a specific operation, with the potential to cause a device crash and forced reboot.

Microsoft has been trolled by users due to frequent BSoD errors, which seem to be becoming a common occurrence when interacting with the Windows operating system.

But perhaps more interestingly, Linux developer Linus Torvalds recently defended Microsoft's BSoD errors in Windows while building a PC with Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips (via IT'S FOSS).

Building the PERFECT Linux PC with Linus Torvalds - YouTube

Watch On

Torvalds reiterated the importance of having the ECC on your PC, which essentially makes it more reliable. He warned that the absence of the ECC on your device could lead to critical memory issues.

The Linux developer claimed that hardware is a greater cause of BSoD errors in Microsoft’s Windows operating system than software bugs. He further noted that gamers who overclock their devices are more likely to encounter these errors, making their systems less reliable.

As you may know, Microsoft changed the iconic blue error screen to a simplified black one with the aim of ensuring third-party security software follows the new rules designed to stop bad updates and drivers from taking down the OS.

Did you know that there are three different types of Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors? The Windows 3.1 Ctrl+Alt+Del screen, aka the screen of unhappiness, the Windows 95 kernel error (which most users consider the blue screen of death), and the Windows NT kernel error, which was authored by John Vert.

Follow Windows Central on Google News to keep our latest news, insights, and features at the top of your feeds!