Spyke

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View original on lemmy.today

69 replies

Windows 11 can be wrangled into something decent, but it requires an immense amount of wrangling on initial install to do so.

As an example, XP needed 8-12hrs worth of work before I was happy with the way I had it configured. Win11 needs about 32-48hrs of work and testing. Some bits - like violently bludgeoning File Explorer back into a halfway XP-like folder tree - takes deep, repeated dives into the registry to properly and permanently eviscerate things like the Library and Home (quick access).

2
lemmy.world

And their CEO is probably going to just get handed an extra 10 or 20 million in pay for sucking this bad, probably.

5
oyzmoreply
piefed.social

yes, and if the person sucks bad enough they get 10 times that and a new ceo position.

3

Users rejecting corporate GovOS forced telemetry upgrades.

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discuss.tchncs.de

After switching to Linux (CachyOS) over a year ago now, I think I've booted my still existing windows installation twice. Both times was at the very start to get some settings from installed software to migrate and to sync some data or something, I barely even remember. That has also been over a year ago.

Ever since I've switched, I stopped noticing I even have an operating system. I just use my PC. Unbothered by popups, updates and bloat are (re)appearing pinned in my start menu (no I didn't want to have candy crush installed). Literally everything just works, and I'm mostly using my PC for gaming.

I regret not switching much sooner.

33

I have a Windows drive on my current machine. I boot it every six to eight months just to see what people are talking about in forums. So I shake my head and boot back into fedora.

In theory, I'm keeping it in case I bring my oculus cv1 out of storage. In practice, I'm pretty sure I'll have bought a steam whateveritscalled long before that happens.

It's been literally years (possibly more than ten by now) since I've had to use it to run a game.

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I switched whenever it was that I woke up and Copilot was installed on my computer without my consent. 2 years ago? More? Idk. I bought new drives because I didn't want to dual boot, but also wanted to keep Windows "just in case." Well, I haven't booted from those drives once in that time. I did plug them in to get some files off them a few months ago, but they are back to collecting dust again. I think it's about time to finally wipe them and put them back to work.

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I actually got rid of windows instance entirely, I just realized one day that I hadn't booted it up in 6 months, thanks Linux.

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lemmy.world

In my experience, I use Windows 11 pro and don’t get any stupid pop ups like that besides when I need to update the OS or update other programs I installed myself. Maybe it’s different on the other versions? I dunno… but it’s never been that big of a deal for me. I disable a lot of shit on it so it doesn’t do that to be fair.

1

People usually have different tolerance level for pop-ups and distractions based on their neurobiology.

I have heard autistic people say pop-ups hurt and overstimulate them, ADHD people say they can't ignore pop-ups, while neurotypocal people say they don't even notice the pop-ups.

So both experiences can be true at once. You have no issues with pop-ups, while for someone else physically can't tolerate a single distraction without stressing them out.

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Vlynreply
lemmy.zip

When you say gaming, mostly indie titles and singleplayer?

I'd love to switch over, but a lot of games don't run on Linux (especially multiplayer games with anti-cheat). Yes, it's mostly on the developers, but it's annoying as hell.

2

You say "especially" when it's more like "almost exclusively". Almost all games not bundled with malware (kernel-level anti-cheat) work with zero or minimal tweaking. It gets a little harder if you like to play with mods, though.

Linux gaming has come a long way. Back when The Witcher 3 came out, there was no Proton and running a game with Wine involved a lot of tweaking. Even then, I got better FPS than in Windows but it was hard. Now, I don't even think about it. I just assume it'll work.

6

That's changing ATM as well, but i wouldn't say a lot.

It's like about ~10 of the biggest multiplayer games that's unsupported because of kernel level anti cheats. P much every other games work.

If you're in doubt about the compats of a specific title, check protondb :)

Everyone should be able to enjoy their life without the curse of microslop and the hauntings of it's pharaoh Gill Bates

6

Not who you asked but I've played Sims 2 and 4, stardew valley, Minecraft, grounded, Ark, Alice Madness returns, and something I'm blanking on right now. I've only had linux mint installed for 3 months now so I'm sure I'll try more games. I've had no issues. Well, I used issues with extras for as 2 but that was a simple, I didn't read directions lol.

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knatschusreply
discuss.tchncs.de

For me it wasn't alot, pubg would be fun to play every once but the developers basically killed it with the bots update anyway. Rust has a nice but sadly small linux community and alot of other shooters like squad and the finals should just work. Rocket league just needed a line in the start options to work after the anti cheat update. Overall i was positively suprised how many games still run.

2

Huh, cool that The Finals work, seems like developers can enable EAC for Linux. Bit dumb that not more do it.

I'm hoping with the Steam Machine getting more popular that we get even more of a shift in the future.

1
slrpnk.net

I've also only booted mine twice. Both times because apparently you can't update an Xbox controller from anywhere but windows or an Xbox and all I wanted was to Bluetooth connect my controller to linux so I could get an extra cabin in stardew valley 🤣

1

The current Xbox is still a decent emulation machine if you want to play old 360 and some OG Xbox games plus it does have access to retro arch so you can even play everything below 7th gen consoles. Not a bad system if you can find one used.

1

Yeah, sorry Microslop, you lost me years ago with Windows 8 and the absolute shit-show that was a tablet/touch GUI shoved onto the desktop for no good reason. XP was where Windows peaked. Windows 7 was the last one I actually used. Windows 10 and 11 are literally malware.

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lemmy.grey.ooo

Bring back windows 2000.. Being forced to upgrade to XP just to get wifi integration was saddening, and the point where I jumped ship.

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I was the only person I knew at the time with 2000. Everyone was either holding on to 98 because millennium sucked out when xp came they went right to that.

1

This is the thing that bugged me about newer windows. I grew up with windows starting from 3.1 and each version had some fundamental improvement (removing ram limitations, WiFi integration, plug and play support, and just a bunch of shit) that would make you want to "upgrade" and even stinkers like ME still did somethings well. Now? Fuck me if I found anything better after 7 with the windows experience. I still boot up 7 in my living room for my media PC, and its to this day still better then 10 and certainty 11. In fact its the last windows device I even have now.

Like really, what is the rational in going to a new windows product in the last 10ish years? Broken features? Forced bullshit? Co pilot? Having the search be replaced by a Bing/co pilot eldritch horror? Its not security, windows has not been secure for a long while.

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lemmy.world

Just spent the weekend moving to Kubuntu. It only took about 5 hours and my computer is snappier than it's ever been. I have been on Windows for 30 years. Microsoft, you should be scared. You can't compete with free competition.

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feddit.org

The only way to meaningfully compete with freeware is a feature advantage: if your revenue can sponsor developers to focus on polishing and improving your system beyond the free alternatives, there will be a market of people willing to pay for (immediately*) better products.

It's what keeps Excel a step ahead of Calc: between a rather clunky UX and frankly awful documentation for some features and functions, Libre just doesn't quite have the same maturity. It's good enough for the majority of use cases, okay for some more and I'm really only aware of one feature I miss (Power Query or equivalent) or haven't found. But it's not as polished, and for some, that alone is reason enough to stick with paid products.

Conversely, it's why more people are starting to move off of Windows: between user experience improvements, smoother installation, the spreading realisation that most stuff happens in browsers anyways and Proton making a lot of gaming a lot more accessible, Windows is losing that edge in features. If the list of anti-features and drawbacks grows large enough, the familiarity alone just doesn't hold people any more.

You can compete with free competition, but that requires an eye on the market. And performance-impeding spyware just isn't must-have for everyone.

*as opposed to supporting open source devs to the point where they could focus on their software, hopefully leading to better products some time later, which is less gratifying and less reliable than paying for a project you get right now

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AmyAyereply
nord.pub

Yeah, the real "Year of the Linux Desktop" only occurs when devs actually get input from UX designers and stop designing clunky as fuck UIs.

3

I strongly feel the only reasons Linux is actually gaining traction right now are

A) proton/wine getting good enough interfaces for regular people to start using them (steam, heroic, hopefully bottles someday gets easier to use)

B) KDE making strides with their desktop envoronment.

C) flatpaks being easy to use and fairly reliable once someone learns to prioritize them

All still have a LOT of work to do with UX, but they are close enough to good that its less of a hurdle for new people to pick them up.

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piefed.zip

My desktop has been running Linux for a while now, but I finally got tired enough with the repeated flops from Microslop™ that I switched my 6 year old Surface I use for surfing from the couch over to Mint.

Not looking back at this point.

10

If you ever distro hop on that, let me know how a touch centric distros works on it like Ubuntu touch. Was thinking of picking one up for couch browsing. RIP in peace my hackintosh Dell mini 9.

3

I been testing it out for about a month and it is a nice OS, and been enjoying the HDR support. Did wonder why videos didn't play initially though when I didn't have trouble on Linux Mint and Ubuntu until I found out I had to install RPM fusion. But, after that smooth sailing so far.

3
lemmy.today

Win 10 LTSC IoT edition already has security updates until 2032, and if you activate Win 10 with MAS you'll almost certainly be activated with this version automagically.

Signing in with a Microsoft account is what they really want you to do. This is why they never fixed the glaring vulnerability that allows you to hack the password from local accounts. It's also a general symptom of the fact that Microsoft doesn't really care if you pirate their software anymore, they care about you disabling telemetry because they make more money harvesting personal data than they do charging for software - even subscription software like Office365.

45

Signing in with a Microsoft account is what they really want you to do.

And for the sake of your personal data, it’s the absolute last thing you should ever submit to.

The number of people who have lost their entire digital life thanks to losing access to their Microsoft Account (doubly so now that BitLocker auto-engages, which makes direct extraction from the drive impossible) is just too damn high.

Always, always create a local account on install. That path is still available, even through USB installer builders like RUFUS.

1

Yep, that's why every Microsoft game (even on Steam) now relies on "gaming services" to authentic.

It's not about piracy, Foza gets pirated a lot and always has. If you're pirating it, you can get around it. But if you have a legit copy, Microsoft uses that as an excuse to ID your computer and tie a name to it.

I really think it's gonna be a big thing, they just kind of slipped it in without telling anyone. They're gonna fuck around trying to constantly increase profit margins and lose their monopoly.

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bigFabreply
lemmy.world

I'm so surprised I'm able to use my 2026 Win 11 laptop with local account.

2

Yes, but I doubt that's the reason. After all, I had to unplug the internet modem during initial setup 😆

2

I literally called this when they announced that they would only do it for a year. Of course it was going to fucking backfire.

We're in an economic crisis, the AI shit is pumping tech prices through the roof (literally Microsoft is responsible), and they want people to get new computers? Fuck off, dipshits

30

I already switched my devices to Kubuntu.

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lemmy.ca

Microsoft is like a nepobaby that has inherited their status and continues to make bad decisions to piss it all away without any severe consequence.

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nyanreply
lemmy.cafe

Well, if there are headlines about it, it isn't actually all that quiet.

1

But it was quiet before that. It just means there wasn't any sort of announcement. Which is important context, don't you think?

2

Back when they pull this shit, my PC bought on 2014/15 can't support win11(using i5 4440), which basically force me to upgrade my PC or risk getting infected, then i swapped to Mint and Mint look at my hardware and goes "ehh 🤷" and let me install anyway. The experience is significantly better, no begging me to activate cloud backup, no begging me to swap to an OS i can't install.

Now i bought a new PC before the price went dogshit and put on cachy + KDE and can't be happier, not much different than using Windows, and that old system would be upgraded to a better cpu before giving it to my nephew.

5
sopuli.xyz

Microsoft pushed

  • Vista and then people chose 7
  • 8 and people chose 10
  • 11 and ...
4
lemmy.world

As a Linux user, horseshit. windows 11 is better for 90% of users than Linux is and anyone who says otherwise is lying out their ass. If a single thing you need to do is from terminal 90% of users will think your product is shit. Why? Because it's not designed for them. I've used ~7 distros over the last 10 years. None of them has something that can compare to the app store, play store, or even the Microsoft store. We use Linux because we like ___. The majority use primary aimed at them OS's because it is aimed at them, and does it in a way that is easier for them.

They spend millions making sure that "I'm not sure" step can be done with a GUI menu.

-2
artyomreply
piefed.social

None of them has something that can compare to the app store, play store, or even the Microsoft store

There are lots of reasons someone might choose Windows but...this ain't it. The Linux app managers are way easier to use, require no account, and aren't full of ads and malware.

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lmuelreply
sopuli.xyz

In addition to that… I don’t think I’ve seen anyone use the Microsoft store? They all download stupid adware ridden installers from the first result on bing or whatever lol

12

Yeah, I was going to add that application management is so much better in Mint than the Windows store has ever been. Winget works alright, but you gotta use powershell for it, so "90% of users will think your product is shit."

1

Some programs' download link redirect you to Microslop Store, so at least some of them use it either voluntarily or involuntarily.

1

are you serious? or maybe you just accidentally ran headfirst into a corner of one of your walls?

-6
piefed.ca

Average users are fine on Linux. I set up my parents on it and they are able to launch their browser, email, etc and not bother with terminal. They didn't have trouble adjusting from Windows and MacOS to Linux.

Only ones who have trouble are those who rely on specific software for work like Adobe or gamers who can't go without certain Windows only games. But, average non gamer and non professional who wants to just use it for basic tasks are fine.

And depending on the distro like ones with long term support the UI isn't going to keep changing up on them.

7

Seconding this. I put my mom's laptop on Mint because that was easier than supporting her on Windows. She freaking loves it because she's not constantly bring pestered to sign into accounts, and she has an easy way to get software and features added to her computer without needing to call me.

1

I don't know, I installed Bazzite on my parents' PC and they don't use or need terminal at all. Same thing for my aunt's laptop with Aurora. I don't even give technical support anymore since I installed these.

7
lemmy.zip

Ehh, i agree with that appstore thing and simple to install .exe, but Shelly can basically do most of those now, and that isn't even the thing that hold back the transition. People still using windows because software dev doesn't make it for linux. Software like POS, professional design suits, game dev tools, all mostly run on windows. Those people also use whatever the newer windows available, including win8 that most people hated. For gamers? None of those matter. People like me shifted to linux and did not find any difference in everyday use.

Also i don't really interact much with terminal, 1 or 2% of the whole time using it i think? It's to both setup auto mount(none of the option in the setting works, they need to fix this shit) and also updating cachyos software, which is 99% automatic and 1% y and enter, to the point i feels like it isn't even considered a terminal. In fact i avoid doing anything with terminal because i despise it, yet i can use linux without too much of an issue.

Edit: i tried mint+cinnamon and currently using cachy+kde, both have the same experience, and i don't need terminal to install anything.

2
muhybreply
programming.dev

You can use Gnome Disks (gnome-disk-utility) to edit fstab via GUI. I've been using this for years and never had to manually edit fstab even though I can.

2
lemmy.zip

You, my friend, is a lifesaver! Every search result point me to using terminal to edit it, and of course i edit it via word editor and access fstab using file explorer, i only use terminal to get the uuid. Imo it should be accessible via the setting, but gnome disk would do too.

1

Glad to help! To be fair, a lot of tutorials do it on terminal because it's consistent for every distro out there. However Gnome Disks is stupidly easy and that's why I like it. I install my system, I install Gnome Disks, then switch to manual option and set automount for my other drives and that's it.

2
feddit.nl

Microsoft has always had a tick-tock release schedule where they alternate between sucking and releasing liked OS-es. 98 meh, 98SE yeah. ME no, 2000 yay! you can argue about XP but Vista was a No, then 7 was loved, until 8 we don’t talk about 8, then came 10… etc.

2

We can argue about 7 and 10 as well. 7 was "loved" only in comparison and because xp support was starting to end and many people were soft forced to upgrade and 7 was just the only viable choice left over before Linux. Same with 10, support for 7 was ending and people were forced to cross over to 10.

Currently same is happening with 10 and 11 is being avoided like wildfire, so once again people assume 12 is going to be good, which heavily depends how much is Microsoft going to pander to AI, as some leaks have come out that 12 is heavily AI focused, obviously these being leaks so take those with a grain of salt.

In addition nowadays linux has made decent progress and is an actually viable choice to avoid being forced to cross over to 12 and making 12 look good.

2