TLDR: StartAllBack, ExplorerPatcher and some other projects are being blocked on 24H2.
One more reason to switch to Linux
Hey OP, may I ask if this is actually news and not an sensanionalized post with an opinion in it.
One more reason to switch to Linux
Isn’t this fucking propaganda?
The fact that windows is now becoming Apple 2.0 is kinda crazy ngl lol, thought shouldn’t be surprising cuz every tech company is now doing enshittification at this point.
One tech company said “Hey, I can see the bottom!” and every other tech company replied “Race you there!”
Why is Microsoft trying to shoot itself in the foot once again? One of the big reasons I like Windows more than MacOS is the customizability. When your market share is declining, you shouldn’t add more reasons to switch to something else.
What they are doing has that upside of being an indicator of “how many people are really held by the balls with MS hand”. MS “shoots itself in the foot” and Windows users just eat it, then it can do more.
When you are a monopolist (or a bully, or a robber baron), this makes sense.
Windows 11 development was led by the UI team that led Windows 8, and a team responsible for more of the internal Windows development was responsible for Windows 10. You can kind of tell by Windows 11 being an arbitrary UI change with numerous regressions.
If you like customizability,vwhy not try Linux with KDE? It’s the definition of customizability.
Joke’s on you I have a desktop running KDE Neon
Seriously though, I’m not even that big into customizability, I just like having a taskbar with icons and some critical statuses (battery percentages anyone? Even Apple learned their lesson on that one.) on any side of the screen, and I like having good versatile touchpad gestures, achievable on GNOME with a couple extensions.
I really hate having the taskbar permanently affixed to the bottom of my screen. I’ve had it on the left side for decades now. They are really throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Someone at Microsoft “Customization is the enemy of progress!”
Same. Not being able to move the taskbar, alongside all the other downgrades to it and the start menu is what got me to check out Linux as a desktop OS for real, and not just out of curiosity. So far, I don’t see going back.
And I was even one of the few dozen people who loved Win8. At least there the points that got criticized were due to sweeping and bold changes. Win11 on the other hand feels like the same as 10 but with arbitrary features removed in the core part of the OS.
Really, did they actually take that feature away. Every executive to touch windows 11 needs fired.
We just need to stop using this garbage. Its not going to get better. Migrate to Linux and hope for support.
I’ve had it up top for years. Windows 11 is unusable in the current state. The new shell is utter garbage. And they messed up the control panel even more than I thourght possible.
Why? Why even fucking do this? What do they get? And why is their default ux so aggressively terrible?
They want you to use the search instead of a functional interface. That’s why they keep making the interface worse.
It let’s them spy on you through bing, allows them to fill the results with ads, and lets them hide system applications unless you know exactly how to find them.
Its also them gearing up towards funneling the entire UX through copilot for largely the same reasons.
The entire goal is to flip the operating system from the slave of the user to the master of the content.
Almost plausible, except their search doesn’t fucking work either. I have repeatedly had the experience of typing the exact name of a program I know I have installed only for it not to appear in the incremental results. Sometimes programs will appear if you type less than the full name but then disappear if you dare type all of it. Sometimes the only way for me to find programs I want is to use an alternative launcher like the one in PowerToys. The last time start menu search actually worked was Windows 8.1. I fucking hate it, and it has driven me to make the leap to Linux for my personal computer, I am loving it so far.
That’s… Exactly what I was talking about. Master of the content.
I am fully aware that the windows search hides things that you are actually searching for. Particularly if they are system preference apps, and it always goes to bing first regardless.
Also, I bailed as well. I use windows for work and school, otherwise I’m on linux.
Yeah, I think I was actually agreeing with you, I just had a rant that wanted to get out lol
Oh God, I wish that you are wrong! Because if you’re right, that answer is horrifying!
As to how rationales go, this is the clearest.
I hate it.
Yeah that sounds probable, and I’m worried what happens to all the data on windows machines when they do.
Hmmm, maybe Windows hired some of the GNOME developers
Not even gnome is this fucking awful.
I’m on 10 and been a top taskbar guy for years. Are you saying 11 forces you to have taskbar only on bottom?
Correct
Welp fuck. Guess I’ll start looking at Linux but every company I’ve worked for in the past 10 years is ALL Microsoft all the way
Wine does a Lotta shit. I know I have an NTFS drive running on my debian-family machine.
I have no idea what you’re trying to say
Basically, they like to drink wine.
No. I’m kidding. WINE stands for WINE Is Not an Emulator, and it allows you to run Windows applications on a Linux machine. It’s far from perfect, but it can be a lifesaver when switching from Windows to Linux. What user melpomenesclevage is trying to say, is that you can use WINE to significantly blunt the blow / daily usability learning curve when switching, to keep some of your familiar applications as is.
Edit: here’s their site https://www.winehq.org/ the also explain it much better than I.
Sadly, wine does nothing for my work application.
Then wait until windows breaks it or it technically functions trapped in an unusable shell, and lose everything.
In Win98 we were able to put the taskbar anywhere natively and even could split those quick launch toolbars out of it and put it on another side by itself. I can’t believe MS is consrantly removing features. I’m a Linux user for decades now, but I still also use Windows at work and it’s always bothered me MS re-invents the wheel so often and every time the wheel looks a bit more like a rectangle.
The taskbar was movable since it was first introduced in Win95. I’ve always had a top taskbar, and will continue to do so in Linux.
One reason not to switch to linux: I want to play PCVR with my Quest 2. It has a really bad stutter when moving around using the only tool that works: ALVR, and this makes VR unplayable. I have not found an actual solution, just a handful of speculative issues threads that go silent as to what is the answer if any.
User won’t switch to Linux because of lack of software support, company won’t support Linux because of lack of user, such a vicious circle
Yeah you should stay on windows and never check out Linux. Hopefully ques too is great.
TL;DR: One more reason to switch to Linux
WINDOWS DID A BAD. EVERYONE JUMP SHIP, PRETTY PLEASE?
Completely irrelevant. Eff off with the Linux proselytizing, mate.
I mean it’s the only viable alternative. And it’s unquestionably that Microsoft has been making Windows worse recently.
It’s literally less viable than Windows. That’s an effing fact. Yeah, I’m an idealist too and I want a good FOSS operating system for everyone. But Linux isn’t a good FOSS operating system for everyone. It’s a slapped-together kernel with slapped-together software for tinkering nerds who hopefully can get the necessities and everything they care about actually working. And for people who want more-specific software, well, eff them, right?
And forget about normal people. Y’all say you want every year to be the year of Linux on desktop, with the implication of it going mainstream. But you also don’t want it to become mainstream, because “if you’re not a tinkering nerd, eff you, and we’re not going to do anything about it. Linux isn’t for everyone, except we also want everyone on it”. Most Linux fans are dumb cult members who do not want to consider these things.
Most people who use Windows could switch to Linux easily (the light users, those that surf social media and stream content)
People who game may have a harder time depending on the games they play (too many anti cheat games refuse to work on Linux)
People who are locked into specific software suites would likely have the hardest time (people who use Windows exclusive software for work, etc)
For me I’m a bit the first group (most of my PC usage) and the third group (Fusion 360 and Adobe Software (though I’m down to only Lightroom at this point)), but I’m also a power user for my systems in general. I’ve currently got 3 systems, 2 Linux machines and a Windows machine. I’m hoping that soon (before end of summer) I’ll be able to get that to 3 Linux machines and a Windows VM (just for Fusion 360 and Lightroom).
Honestly only in the last year have I even been able to do the switch as much as I have as Linux in general has become a lot more newbie friendly. And my main driving factor was Windows 11’s TPM requirement. All my systems technically have one, but it’s disabled on all my systems.
The only issue I’ve had with the flavor of Linux I’m using (Mint) is that changing the lock screen orientation and wallpaper was (IMO) harder than it needed to be. Especially considering that the steps it took to do it were both hard to find and easy to execute.
Daily run it for the last 5 months. Switched cause I was tired of windows. Have thus far not been unable to do even a single thing. Games run better in proton than on windows native for me.
What distro did you end up on?
I wound up on arch :) I used mint for a while, and used to use Ubuntu and Mint a lot when I was in high school. But there were a lot of features of each I didn’t want and wanted an option to opt out of. Arch had a learning curve to it, just becoming accustomed to working with rolling release software.
And like I play games and run media servers and a lot else off of this one desktop. I really don’t feel limited by it at all, except in cases like fortnite not allowing people to play on Linux even though it’s completely possible to do so.
I have a feeling I’m going to end up being an arch girl xD
Hahaha it’s my fav 😂 my partner just thinks I’m dorky about it lmao
It’s a slapped-together kernel with slapped-together software for tinkering nerds who hopefully can get the necessities and everything they care about actually working.
Try OpenBSD, it’s very clean.
And for people who want more-specific software, well, eff them, right?
They are already effed, the only thing which will possibly allow them to escape Microsoft’s grip is Microsoft’s goodwill. They can wait for that if they wish so.
If you want to solve the Linux problems, first thing you need is to go against the common Linux mentality.
I see much more problems with Windows and you seem a Windows user who can’t switch due to something, which means you too realize the need, and still with Windows culture which created such a situation you are giving advice?
Some self-awareness, please.
Get a big, well-organized group like Mozilla to produce an accessibility-ready, normie-ready, mainstream, FOSS version of Linux.
There are a few. OpenSUSE, Fedora, Mint.
If you’ve tried Arch first due to thinking that you are very smart - that’s your own mistake (that aside, Arch is fine too).
And then they pay the devs to do things they don’t want to do, such as focusing on specific issues instead of doing whatever they feel like at the time, and on QA-testing.
That’s how it already works for many years.
Hardware compatibility and hardware efficiency first.
Drivers are normally supplied by hardware vendors. If they don’t make drivers for Linux, it takes work which may not be worth it, and the person who bought crappy hardware is at fault more than Linux developers.
Get a big, well-organized group like Mozilla to produce an accessibility-ready, normie-ready, mainstream, FOSS version of Linux.
Linux Mint works out of the box and has every tool a normie would want installed and functional by default. The product you are asking for exists.
You’re being cringe, mate. The majority of people that use a computer could switch to Linux tomorrow and be totally fine.
I switched my parents to Linux months ago and they haven’t noticed the difference. And my parents know as much about computers as I know about quantum physics, just a hair more than jack shit.
So funny how people like you claim to support FOSS but then constantly dump on Linux and FOSS software. You spread FUD about FOSS, you talk about how it’s only good for nerds and “cult members.”
No, you’re not a realist or pragmatist or whatever you might think of yourself. You’re a corpo simp who won’t support FOSS unless it’s perfect in possible every way. Go take a toss and seethe.
Nah fuck that, call Microsoft out. Fix the fucking Control Panel/Settings nonsense. Stop fucking doing things just because I didn’t say not to. Stop adding all Microsoft apps to startup by default. There’s plenty of reasons to egg corporations and this bullshit is very light-handed. They have the resources and power to make great things, they chose to chase this dragon and leave their OS a fucken mess. They deserve it. Especially with all these Linux distros that are free popping up left and right. At one point we have to fight back against these huge ecosystems that become complacent, fall into dark patterns, and that point was yesterday.
I didn’t say I wasn’t calling Microsoft out. I just said I didn’t want to be proselytized with Linux, that Windows is still a more viable OS. It’s not zero sum— Microsoft can be shitty while still being more viable than Linux.
I just said I didn’t want to be proselytized with Linux, that Windows is still a more viable OS.
Why did you say that when that’s false?
Why did I say what when what’s false?
That Windows is a more viable OS. That’s clearly false. It’s a mess from fresh install and doesn’t get better after a few months.
This argument is so disingenuous and/or dumb that it’s not even worth addressing.
I can see why they’d do it. Windows is a corporate product and MSFT wants everyone’s experience to be tailored to exactly how they think is best. Gives some Apple vibes.
I think at this point MSFT knows the average user is just gonna keep using Windows so they don’t really care about tailoring to individuals. I expect to see a lot more of this.
The thing about Windows, or the thing that is going away, was that it has the possibility of being modified and customised, which made it more freedom respecting than macOS.
From the windows registry, group policies, PE functionality, Windows was the commercial platform for tinkerers, businesses and professionals. It’s basically what made Windows awesome.
Now, with ads in the menu, Microsoft being horny for apple’s app store vendor lock-in since Windows 8 and depriving the user of any kind of control, we finally see Microsoft emerge as one of the most evil companies to ever exist.
Why? Read their history, because even with the good things they did with Windows, there’s a thousand bad, and you should never play devil’s advocate for them. They, nor Apple, deserves it.
Also: use Linux or BSD, pls.
Aaand another reason to stay with 10.
Amazing how Windows die-hards will go to literally any lengths not to switch to Linux.
The moment Adobe Creative Cloud works on Linux, I’ll switch. Until then I’ll have to stick with Windows.
I give until 2027 for win 10 pc that cannot upgrade to become large botnet
or just rollback to win10. it’s still got a few more years - then transition to linux which will be even more stable by then (hopefully)
I’ve been hearing that since windows 7
And it continues to be true. Linux continues to get easier and easier to switch to. For gamers as an example, just look at how much focus Valve and engine creators have put into native Linux support.
I shyly installed Linux in dual boot months ago because I want a boring PC just does what I tell it to do. With Proton I was pleased to find that gaming is pretty easy. I actually haven’t had a reason to boot into Windows since.
Better to get that year of Linux under your belt where you have the dual boot fallback
Currently my plan is having a Windows VM on my NAS that I can just dial into on my network for the stuff I still need Windows for.
Though I haven’t done it yet, it’s the goal.
A wasted opportunity to natively support these features and make the user base happy.
Good news hidden in the article:
Like in the case of StartAllBack, you can bypass the block by simply renaming the executable to something else. If you want to upgrade to a newer build, delete the app, update your system, and then launch it using a renamed executable.
@OP: People who are modifying Windows this deeply are not going to switch to Linux. If you’re going through this much trouble, you’ve already tried Linux several times and left disillusioned every time. Linux does not compete with Windows as a desktop operating system and I doubt it ever will. It simply does not offer the compatibility and ease of use (including for power users) that Windows - for all its faults - has.
Linux does not compete with Windows as a desktop operating system and I doubt it ever will.
Surely it doesn’t, the former is a good system, the latter is monopolistic shit supported by people with duckling syndrome and those who know no better.
EDIT:
does not offer the compatibility and ease of use (including for power users) that Windows - for all its faults - has.
I hope you don’t mean those google-fu masters by “power users”, but otherwise this wouldn’t make any sense.
There’s a wide gulf between googlers and power users, and between power users and the “truly skilled”. I’m a Systems “Engineer” with nearly a decade experience in Tech Support, SysAdmin work, building custom system integrations/interop layers, and building custom automations.
Got no problem doing deep troubleshooting, compiling from source, finding issues in open source code bases, fixing them, submitting pull requests, etc.
Doesn’t mean I want to have to do all that regularly when I have other shit to get done.
Absolutely my experience too. Every once in a while I give Linux a chance on my personal desktop, only to find it working great… until it doesn’t for whatever reason and I’m left losing minutes to hours figuring out what and how it broke, browsing forums etc etc; usually to great frustration.
I simply cannot afford that kind of nonsense for my work devices. I regularly do and have used macOS for work for the best part of the last two decades and have never, not once, found the system broken or in a state that I needed to fix things after updates. That OS just works. Always. Of course you’ll find weird stuff happening in the Apple user forums as well, but in my personal experience Mac OS is rock solid out of the box whereas Linux can be rock solid if you want to invest a lot of time in it. And for work, I cannot.
Anyone could just as easily say:
Windows does not compete with macOS as a desktop operating system and I doubt it ever will. It simply does not offer the compatibility and ease of use (including for power users) that macOS - for all its faults - has.
Windows isn’t compatible with Final Cut Pro, has a lackluster implementation of Adobe Photoshop comparatively, and has no support for common cli shells such as bash or zsh (without creating an emulated subsystem ala Cygwin or WSL). Setting up a Windows desktop for my day-to-day tasks is a huge pain as opposed to macOS or a Linux-based desktop OS.
You are right about some points, though what the original comment meant by compatibility is probably industry software.
People who are modifying Windows this deeply are not going to switch to Linux
I did. I was a heavy Windows customizer and deeply understand it as an operating system and target for application development. I left because, at some point, I realized the OS I (one way or another) paid for was treating me like a product instead of a user, and I resent that. I don’t like the feeling of slowly losing grip on the OS as it slides into becoming adtech tooling for marketing interests instead of the thing that runs programs for me. Despite my entrenched Windows knowledge, none of my primary personal computers run it anymore, including my gaming PC. Adaptation is a lot easier than most people expect, in my opinion.
Dude, the fact I like I can customize windows is EXACTLY why I’m switching to linux now that Microsoft wants a piece of that apple pie
People who are modifying Windows this deeply are not going to switch to Linux. If you’re going through this much trouble, you’ve already tried Linux several times and left disillusioned every time. Linux does not compete with Windows as a desktop operating system and I doubt it ever will. It simply does not offer the compatibility and ease of use (including for power users) that Windows - for all its faults - has.
Well that’s a take
I mean, go off about it not competing, that’s some BS. But Linux doesn’t offer the compatibility and ease of use that Windows has on a day to day basis. There’s not really any argument to be made there.
Frustrating antipatterns, poor design decisions, poorly communicated reasons for functionality loss with updates (what this article is about), and settings requiring hoop jumping to touch aren’t unique to Windows and magically never present with Linux.
Linux is amazing, neccessary, and I sincerely hope it continues to grow as a valid competitor eventually taking over, but it’s still really rough in a lot of areas as a power user.
There are a handful of very user friendly distros for people who just need to do basic stuff on their computer and have it just work. Web browsing, document editing, even playing games that are just semi-popular (instead of only the most popular) all tend to work to a reasonable degree of “it just works” now.
There’s also an amazing amount of customizability and power placed in the hands of the user if they’re willing to dig into the guts of it. Run your own customized kernel with the specific patches you want, re-code part of a driver to meet your needs. Build an entire distro from source code up, piece by piece, exactly to your wishes. Compatability layers between different desktop environments. Mess with your drivers. It’s all open to mess with.
But what often gets left behind are people in the middle. I need a lot more than just basic functionality, and I have no fear about compiling stuff from code or making pull requests. I have the skills to make Linux work. What I don’t have is the time in my life to be digging in the guts regularly to get shit working on my computer, which is still far too often a requirement with Linux. Just look at discussions in the Linux communities here to see how absurd it can be to get a RDP or VNC client working, depending on your particular setup and graphics card.
It’s like the difference between getting a Honda Civic and working on a project car. You might need to change a tire, brake pads, change the oil on the Civic. You don’t need to mess with engine valve timings.
I really enjoy tinkering with Linux when I have the time, but most of my life I need my shit to just reliably work so I can get my shit done. I prefer my computer to be a tool far more than a project, and Linux is still too much of a project for a lot of people.
I would describe myself as firmly “in the middle”, and I honestly don’t disagree with your points overall. However, I think Windows isn’t really “easier to use” than most Linux distros, it’s just what most people are used to.
That doesn’t take away from your argument, as being familiar with an OS will make it easier to use and that’s completely valid, but someone who’s used Linux all their life would similarly face struggles using Windows. User inertia is a huge factor contributing to Windows’ marketshare.
People who are modifying Windows this deeply are not going to switch to Linux
Yeah. Not just to avoid a quick file rename.
Although, I started out as someone who modified Windows that deeply, and I ended up on Linux.
One of my reasons for switching was when my favorite Windows mod stopped working, and there was no recourse.
This sounds like it goes beyond that and the Windows team is actively pushing modders out?
I think this will have an effect, and we will get more migrations.
I switched when a Windows update for the third time in a month forcibly changed the default pdf and html file association to edge.
That was like 5 years ago, and I’ve never looked back.
Yep, Microsoft is also blocking some github scripts for disabling telemetry,etc. They are just making it worse for themselves
I think a lot of people have a few killer apps that just don’t work on Linux even with WINE. Hell, I’ve heard that VR is not worth it on Linux. There are edge cases like that, that need to be sorted some way. Hopefully whatever Valve is doing wrt their supposed standalone VR headset helps there.
I think this is the real answer for those that have the knowledge on how to switch but dont. Windows steadily eroding the ability to customize its user experience is actually a driving factor in why a lot of us are getting over our familiarity bias and laziness to switch to Linux
This comment is simply wrong. Linux doesn’t compete with Windows desktop because it’s already ahead of it.
Windows for gaming, Linux for everything else. With the way I use it, I don’t see the desktop, much less notice any changes between updates.
By now you can use Linux for gaming too. Compatibility layers like Wine or Proton came a long way thanks to the steam deck.
I have tried. For the games I like to play, this is not the case, sadly. Windows provides a vastly superior gaming experience in my case.
No doubt windows is still better (or more seemless) overall in regards of gaming especially since Linux kinda emulates (but not really) a windows environment which requires some fiddling here and there and there are still some issues with some Anti Cheat powered games. But still you technically can game on Linux 😄
Unfortunately, our lives don’t perform at the technical level but the practical. Gaming performance for the games I like are abysmal on linux. I appreciate linux for what it excels at but I would never suggest it to someone that wanted to game.
@schwim
As far I read on internet and benchnatks, If you have a working #Vulkan, the average performance between Windows and #Wine (proton) is equal. That means also, there cases where a Windows Games performs beter on a Linux with proton.
I assume the cause is also that some gamedeveloper enhance a game for steam deck also.
I propose to retest your case again.
Why is Microsoft even deciding what programs I can run on my computer in the first place? They’re not malware, they shouldn’t be doing this at all.
It’s the Windows Defender component. Blocking things that interfere with your computer is literally what it was designed and intended to do.
I still can’t believe Linux only have 5% of OS market share
They are forced to use Windows, like me
My last two jobs require(d) me to run windows. At one, I spent 95% of my time in a Linux VM so it was more tolerable.
That’s a good option, only if you have a powerful PC. Mine is not enough powerful for WSL to run
Usually just VirtualBox VM’s – i’ve never touched WSL except for the original version way back in the 90’s I think.
in the 90’s
Woah. You’re off by a lot. WSL isn’t even 10 years old.
I was thinking of the earlier incantation called Windows Services for Unix.
I hate it when software requires incantations to run
I can’t even use virtual box at work, every time anyone downloads it, Oracle sics their licensing trolls at us, ignoring the fact that it’s free for all outside of the extension pack
I’m STILL pissed off that Oracle bought Sun
Are you guys installing the extension pack? That’s when the licensing weenies get to work. My old job ended up blocking oracle.com which was really fun for trying to read java docs. I would have to set up an ssh tunnel to my home server in order to download vbox release.
The Microsoft devs have time to do shit like this, but haven’t yet gotten the Settings screen as functional as Control Panel was two decades ago…
You overestimate the agency of a developer.
Do NOT blame the devs for this. They are not the ones to decide the direction of the product or the priority of the tickets they work. Blame upper management for making these poor decisions and the product managers for being spineless and not pushing back.
But Steve Ballmer told me “Developers Developers Developers Developers”
Are you saying that was a lie?
He also squealed IIRC
Does anyone else wonder which medication Steve Ballmer was prescribed but didn’t take? He always struck me as a walking check engine light.
Oh was he an alcoholic? See I got more cocaine vibes out of the man.
Unfortunately, blaming the devs seems to be a recurring problem. I remember seeing this in a YouTube comment thread (paraphrased):
why can’t i insert a bible reference without it becoming blue? i write proverbs 14:23 and youtube turns it into a damn timestamp. f-cking lazy developers, they removed dislikes, now keep preventing adblock and cannot detect a simple quote??
I replied with something like:
Hey, stop blaming the devs. It was not their decision to make the unpopular changes, and making a system for detecting if a comment is referring to a book with chapter:verse syntax (not just the bible, and all their versions & translations) is not something they would pay for. For the record, you can refer to Proverbs 14:23 or any other verse without making it a link. I can show you how but first repent and apologize for undervaluing people’s hard work.
(Yes, there’s just a ZWSP after the colon. It can be mapped to a key combo if one uses it often.) He did not answer but maybe didn’t see my reply buried way underneath – it was YouTube comments, after all. Legend says that bible references in his video description keep messing up his worship chapters.
i think its because these words are used interchangeably.
when people say ‘devs’ i believe they mean the microsoft team in general
Maybe they are pushing back, which is why Control Panel still exists?
Meanwhile the new settings panel is telling me my network is peivate while control panel and network share settings tell me it’s domain authenticated.
…while you’re sitting in an internet café
It would be funny if true.
Sadly the reality is me calling with a client because this one single PC refuses to apply the damn GPOs… :(Every day I’m thankful for having found a job where in such a case I can just send out a pre-imaged replacement pc from the pile and have them send the old one back.
I would like to. Sadly there are programs on it that can be reinstalled and configured by the respeonsible 3rd party but are still annoying.
The best: No other pc has trouble applying the damn gpo.
Even the DNS resolutiom seems to work on this shit thing… :|
The devs are the people who, after seeing everything that Microsoft’s done for the past 30+ years, decided to take a job there anyway.
That’s not a very valid argument.
First and foremost, most devs probably see it as a job and they do what they’re told. They don’t have the power to refute decisions coming from above.
Second, in this economy where jobs are scarer than a needle in multiple haystacks, people are desperate to get a job.
Third, yes, there may be some Microsoft (M$) fan-people who end up being devs at M$. Sure, they may willingly implement the things upper management may request. However, I’m not sure whether that’s true for most of the people who work at M$.
Your comment suggests to shift the blame to the devs who implement the features that upper management request for. Don’t shoot the (MSN) messenger.