Honestly, between the telemetry data collection, the strange hardware requirements, advertisements, bloatware, and unknown future licensing model, Linux is looking like an attractive option. At this point, I only use Windows for Office and gaming, and Linux + Proton has gotten really good lately. I don't see a reason to use Windows on my personal machine any more.
this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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We don't use the word "Spyware" like we did twenty years ago. It's baked into Windows now.
They could bring back BonziBuddy and nobody would bat an eye
Bonzi Buddy is called Cortana now.
This needs to be a “this is her now. Feel old yet?” meme.
At this point, Bonzibuddy is damn near benign compared to what we're dealing with now.
Linux is fine for people like you and me who are comfortable installing our own operating system, and trouble-shooting any problems. Most 'normal' people though will continue to walk into a store, buy a laptop, and use whatever came installed.
Of course, the year of Linux on the desktop actually happened some time ago without anyone noticing. It's called ChromeOS, and that's a whole different can of worms.
While true, how much troubleshooting does windows require? Because as I sometimes use windows, it's not that much less work to get it to do what you want it to do, or solve issues, than linux.
Especially since it feels like windows tries to fight you every step of the way.
When windows needs fixing, people take it to the best buy genius bar or whatever
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Most distributions require little to no troubleshooting, and if they do, someone has probably already posted the solution online. It's pretty rare these days that you run into a problem that someone else hasn't and you're stuck figuring it out yourself.
The only pain point is trying to find the Linux equivalent of the Windows apps that you commonly use. Web browsers are the exact same, but that's about it. A fair amount of apps to offer Linux counterparts though.
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Once people get over the initial Windows indoctrination, Linux is simple to use and doesn't require tons of complex troubleshooting like people think. Before the COVID lockdown I tried for the Nth time to get my dad to use Linux. I had it installed and told him to stick with it for a few weeks (he only browses the web and plays solitaire). If he still didn't like it, I'd reenable Windows. Well that few weeks turned into 6 months. Now both he and my mom have been happy Linux users for about 2 years.
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Until you realize that many orgs have software that only works on windows.
Its not a great situation
Storage is super cheap these days. Just buy an extra hard drive for Windows and boot into that on the rare occasion you truly need to use Windows. Or just use a VM.
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I could probably tolerate Windows 11 if:
- the start menu search didn’t search the web and just searched my system.
- the widget panel wasn’t just a wrapper for their shitty news aggregator that seems to only gather celebrity news
- If I have windows pro, I don’t want notifications to use Edge or see TikTok, Amazon, Candycrush, etc. in the start menu (I know they aren’t downloaded but what “pro” wants any of that shit)
the start menu search didn’t search the web and just searched my system.
Windows 10 has the same problem, that one isn't unique to 11.
Widgets I don't think there's anything that can save that. 10% of the space is set aside for actual widgets, the rest is just their "news".
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I used a regedit to fix the web search part of it. Starallback is what I use to fix the rest of it. After that, it's almost like I'm using Windows 10.
Changing audio output does still take an extra click compared to before, but I've just been dealing with that.
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I can understand that sometimes hardware needs to be deprecated, but windows 11 is trying to ditch hardware that is still quite new. And with all the chip problems and expenses it has not been so feasible to "just" get something more up to date.
If I'm going to buy something with the same money that I bought what I have now I'm going to end with about the same pefromance of what I have.
Yeah the hardware I'm running can easily run cyberpunk and any other modern game with satisfying FPS. Yet, it has no 8th gen CPU so I'm not able to upgrade. If I would upgrade my CPU just for win 11 I would have to replace my mainboard and then my GPU would bottleneck which would be, well, sad, so I would feel like I need to upgrade it too ... And well, we know where this leads. I'm just not in for this ride just for Windows 11. I already use Linux on a different drive and prepare to fully switch to Linux. It's just for gaming that I still use Windows and I feel like Linux could really "profit" from Microsofts decision to ditch Windows 10 under this conditions.
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ITT: People who just read the headlines and not the article, and then going off on their own Windows rant/Linux evangelism instead of discussing the article.
I read the article and I still evangelize Linux.
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~~The Windows 11 problem~~
The problem: Windows 11
FTFY
I swear I'm not a Linux snob, but Linux is legitimely better for the average user than Windows. If you just need to use a browser, as MANY people do, Linux is more lenient on hardware and doesn't lock you into an update screen of helplessness. I highly recommend ZorinOS, it has an option specifically for older machines.
Sorry but I hate this argument. Most people use a phone for that anyway. And my 70 year old mom is going to ask my dad and if he can't fix the problem someone else and guess what. They never worked with Linux. I can tell you that a lot of the buttons and controls have looked the same in Windows for way too long. Admittedly from Windows 10/11 this gets worse.
Also they will need software from the local photo place, some shit old legacy app that they refuse to let go, banking software that isn't Linux compatible.. it's never "just browsing" from my experience and it's not worth the hassle. Especially if I'm cornering myself by becoming the only 24/7 on-call admin for my family.
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generally would have agreed with you but since i got a new Monitor i have had nothing but Problems.
Granted i don't make it Easy for Linux by having 3 monitors at 4K:60Hz 1440p:144Hz 1080p:60Hz but still
all my Browsers always crash. I assume it has to do with Scaling since they like to especially crash when i move them between monitors. Then Gnome randomly crashes. It's a nightmare.
was forced to come back to Windows 11 because of all that Bullshit. I guess the upside is much better Security on Windows, but still. Although that added Security is pretty useless since every fucking Program needs administrator rights for some inconceivable reason.
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They used to say that 10 would be the last version and they'd just update that
Apparently that was never the official line, and was just something a "dev evangelist" (marketer) said at some conference and it stuck
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Windows 11 definitely has its issues, but I don’t think the author of this article has sufficient knowledge to be writing articles about it.
There’s not a great solution for switching to UEFI in an existing install
MBR2GPT is baked into Windows and works great as long as you don’t have a jacked up partition layout.
Windows 11 demands a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 security coprocessor, which isn’t in many PCs that meet all the other requirements.
Part of the reason that Intel 8xxx and Ryzen 2xxx processors are the baseline “requirement” is that they have fTPM 2.0 embedded in the silicon. It’s actually in the overwhelming majority of devices that meet the other requirements.
There appears to be no loss in functionality when bypassing the installation requirements… so why do they exist?
Microsoft could provide a more limited Windows 11 experience to PCs that don’t meet the strict requirements
By providing and sanctioning a “limited” experience, Microsoft would then have to dedicate resources to supporting that experience. I’ve worked with tons of legacy devices that had odd quirks that required workarounds in Windows 10, so I can’t really blame them for wanting to limit how they spend their support resources.
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It’s easier than ever to switch to Linux, especially if the thing holding you back was gaming.
i actually switched back to Windows from Linux because it didn't work well with different resolutions and scaling and my Programs kept crashing.
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I say we boycott windows 11
Already with ya! I’m never touching 11. I still use 10 for games, but debloated and telemetry disabled.
When I reformat I’m going Linux, with a small 10 partition for VR/games that run better on Windows.
Oh man, been doing that for 10 years!
I've stayed away from Windows 11 because of the bloatware and TPM requirements. Turns out, my old processor that was rejected by Microsoft actually had TPM 2.0, it just needed to be enabled from the BIOS. Well, I installed it a few days ago and everything look great. The bloatware was a problem but there are FOSS apps for that. The UI looks clean, the taskbar is uncluttered, and I feel stupid for not updating before. I don't know if I'm the minority here but I think that for most users Windows 11 is easier and more accessible.
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