What a wonderfully mature and unbiased article to be finding on a technology community.
Being bothered by a company forcibly installing more ads for a trash anti feature to your computer isn’t “bias”.
Adding a small flavor of satire to commentary on ridiculous abuse of market dominance to establish a foothold in a new space isn’t immature, either.
What ads? It’s the actual feature, being provided as a free update.
Turn it off if you don’t want it.
What ads?
Have you actually used Windows?
I think there were some ads in the little side widget screen that took 2 seconds to disable so it’s now kind of usable. Anything else?
I figured it already was on 11 since they’ve added it to 10 also recently. You can at least turn it off pretty easily in 10 (though IDK if that’s just because I have Pro; didn’t need to use the GPM so I assume Home can disable it too).
Could you, like… Disable TPM in the BIOS and just go back to 10? The only reason it hasn’t auto-updated to 11 for me is because I never enabled TPM in my BIOS. And I don’t plan on doing so, either.
I’ve never done it but it appears that it is permissable. https://superuser.com/a/1745003
I have to work with power automate often (doing that gives me money, don’t judge). They recently did a make-over of the interface where you can make and adjust the flows. They made it even shittier. Didn’t fix any of the obvious super annoying issues with connections and references and them randomly being broken and stuff. Added copilot tho. Why? Now you can type “i’ld like it to send an e-mail!” instead of selecting the “send an e-mail” action, while taking up a fifth of the screen. Jesus fucking christ wrong priorities.
Today I installed arch on my dad’s computer. he can’t use one,but it’s a win nonetheless.
I don’t know what to think about the rushed inclusion of Copilot. It’s so very very flawed.
The only thing I can think of is that users are training it by using it and therefore Microsoft is getting free labor from you (as well as search/advertising revenue through their lock screens, dynamic as based backgrounds, live tiles, etc).
I think we’re the product here guys.
Of course we are. We’ve known this all along.
Ever since Windows 10, Microsoft has been treating Windows as an “OS as a service,” and their expected revenue source (at least from home users) is no longer license sales but whatever they can extract from users via subscriptions, ads, and selling their tracking data.
Abso lutely
It already does on my laptop. They also keep setting my default browser back to Edge. I don’t use my laptop much anymore and keeping up with the BS of having to disable stuff I don’t want running has become tiresome to the point where I don’t even want to use it.
I know, I know, something something install Linux! Question I have there is my laptop is a gaming laptop so my question to all you Linux folks is. Can I continue to game using Linux. Will it work with my Nvidia Graphics card and Steam. If so I might consider it.
Yes you can game on Linux. Lookup your games on ProtonDB to see if they are all compatible. Most games run fine unless they have kernel level anticheat that stops them from running. On Steam, you just have to enable Proton and windows games will install normally.
This was me a few weeks ago and I decided to install PopOS.
They make laptops that ship with nvidia GPUs so naturally they would want their OS up to date and working with the drivers. I do tinker here and there but so far I think it’s a good set-and-forget OS.
The issue with Nvidia cards is that some Linux distros don’t install their proprietary drivers by default and the open-source version is only just starting to catch up.
Most will ask if you want to install the OS with Nvidia’s drivers, or they’ll have an option somewhere in the settings for a one-click install.
I looked into it and tried it myself just today. For the most part it’s fine but you’ll have to be prepared to do some tinkering here and there. Most of the games I wanted to play are listed on proton as works but with some issues.
I set up popOS yesterday and tried to install satisfactory today via steam but it wouldn’t let me and when I filtered my games lost for Linux it shrank down to a very small list. Iirc it was listed on proton as gold or even platinum so there must be a way to get satisfactory to run but I honestly couldn’t be asked today so I set up dual boot and went back to windows for now.
I think that’s the way to got for a newbie. Set up dual boot and whenever you have the time & patience to try to get something to work on Linux go for it but when you just want to relax and play some games (or multiplayer) boot up windows.
I think Linux for everyday use is just fine even though popOS could use some UX designers.
Filtering the list for linux will only show games with native versions. As far as I know, Satisfactory doesn’t have one so you will have to use proton. Go into the steam settings and enable proton for all games. Or if you don’t want to enable it for your whole library, go into the game settings in your steam library and activate it for each game.
Laptops are harder because they rely on more proprietary hardware and need more advanced power management.
Gaming is mostly respectable. The biggest exception is multiplayer games deliberately blocking Linux because it doesn’t allow them to install their rootkit anticheat.
I use nobara, which has some nvidia focused tweaks automatically handled for you, and has largely been pretty smooth. However, you should know that there’s a real possibility of needing to roll back, drop to the command line, or make some other tweak to resolve driver issues. It’s not a regular occurrence (and both AMD and Nvidia have also borked windows releases), but maintainers dealing with Nvjdia have been frustrated with some of their decisions in the past and still have to jump through hoops sometimes. Some distros more targeted at casual users do a decent job of abstracting it away though.
How can they know that the user has a 27" or bigger screen?
Screens report the size via HDMI and not only the name/resolution?
it’s gross and I hate it and stop it right now
I’m going to say it before anyone else does.
Linux.
These words are accepted!
As much as i agree, the vast majority of people will just continue using what they had before, and still complain about how nothing works
and the vast majority of Linux Devs will just continue building what they were building before, and still complain how windows users dont migrate to Linux (cough usability cough)
If linux came preinstalled by default and vendor supported, regular people would use linux as well. Usability is actually pretty good these days, arguably higher than Windows since you don’t have to deal with this BS.
Yes, you can buy Dell laptops with Ubuntu preinstalled and supported, maybe Lenovos, not sure, but it’s not the default, available only on custom builds online and on business (expensive) laptops, so most regular people don’t bother.
Edit: well, there’s the SteamDeck as an example of mainstream vendor supported system with linux, I guess. Some people go through the trouble of installing Windows on it, but most people don’t bother and stick to what it came with.
This. People buy hardware and use whatever comes with it.
This is why and how ChromeOS became used. Google didn’t just put it on a website, they got manufacturers to make products with it.
The Steam Deck is the best thing to happen to Linux since… Linux. It’s the first time average tech illiterate folks have gotten a taste of Linux on their own systems, and it’s driven the development of compatibility tools (Proton) to a hitherto-unheard-of degree.
It convinced me to switch to Linux.
Before SteamDeck comes. I am between KDE, Gnome and Xfce. But, after I bought a Steam Deck. I am now totally KDe Plasma users on my desktop and steam deck
KDE used to be the feature complete, heavy, memory intensive DE. But now we aren’t running Linux on abandoned laptops but on modern hardware. The average PC is so powerful that it’s completely irrelevant. All in on KDE/Plasma as well
I feel bad for anyone with no linux experience who bought a steam deck. There’s a good amount of weirdness with the UI sometimes, and modifying desktop mode controls can lead to it ignoring inputs until steam launches on occasion.
I know these issues stem from this being a brand new device with a brand new form factor, using whacky proprietary track pads and shit. But someone who’s only used windows might attribute them to linux and be left with a bad taste.
It’s good that the Ally exists so we can have a windows handheld to compare against.
The only reason I don’t switch to Linux is because of all the nerds on here telling everyone to switch to Linux.
But seriously, I use my laptop for work and I’ve used Windows for years and know how it works. I don’t want to switch to a completely new OS that I don’t have a clue how to use, especially when I need it for work. I also don’t know whether the software I use will work on it either.
If there’s an easy tutorial and a way of knowing whether everything I need will work, I might consider trying it.
haha lol yeah we do get a bit annoying here … For me it’s the opposite though, I use linux for work, and I’ve used it for so long I almost forgot what Windows looks like.
It’s silly how people react to this, a feature that can be turned off with a simple setting toggle, by recommending that people should instead install a whole new operating system and tech stack. If opening the preferences menu and clicking a toggle is too complicated or too much of a hassle then installing Linux isn’t going to be better.
It isn’t about flipping a switch, it about how many times I’ve had to flip that fucking switch because a company keeps changing how I have my PC setup because they want more money.
They’ve never had this feature before.
And as far as I’m aware Copilot is a free service.
It’s not just one thing. It’s been a barrage of crap for years and years. That pile of manure gets awfully heavy as you make it taller.
As an example. they still haven’t fixed the Settings/Control Panel stuff. That has been in the works for what, over a decade now? A core feature just…allowed to rot.
I’ve been dabbling with Ubuntu for my home assistant and my Plex media server and every damn time I find myself asking ‘why isn’t there a GUI for that?!’
This is an unpopular opinion every time I bring it up. Usability and consistency sucks in Linux. There are just so many basic things that will frustrate users coming from Windows. I can’t even get my laptop (Framework 13) to sleep properly. Then there are is still a ton where you have to use the command line to get it done. A user shouldn’t have to go into the command line to get their fingerprint reader to work because the GUI doesn’t work properly.
The only thing that actually makes Linux practical for average users these days is that most everything is now web based by default so most users only interact with a couple programs for most of their day.
The Linux community really needs to get some UX experts in their projects and actually make an effort to improve usability rather than just doing it the way they like to do it.
And windows is full of simple things that are just as broken. And constantly makes changes (OP being another in a long list of examples) injecting obvious advertising masquerading as features.
Windows certainly isn’t perfect, but though familiarity and at minimum exposing a reasonable amount through the GUI, way more users can use Windows daily without issues.
The advertising and tracking, that’s the big problem, I don’t see a currently acceptable OS solution once Windows 10 is EOL.
Most of the issues you describe are because usually computers come with Windows preinstalled with all the drivers and configuration set up by the oem to “just work”, so replacing the OS inevitably means fiddling with it. People who e.g. try to install Windows on a SteamDeck will face similar difficulties.
Oh, I agree. I did however manage to talk my mom into letting me put Mint on her PC and she hasn’t complained even once. Small victories.
Same here. I installed Fedora on my old dev laptop, that my mom uses now, and she’s been really happy with it. Says everything just makes sense, coming from windows
Please keep saying that to my bosses until they listen.
I will if you want.
I’ll help also
We can get some penguin themed camping gear and clothes and post up in front of their bosses’ house and have loud conversations about Linux.
I’ll bring the snacks!
I’m only in if it comes with a Clippy skin.
So seductive
I wonder if Microsoft will get the point if people keep asking it “Can I use msconfig to disable copilot?”
msconfig for those unaware:
Saving for the next time I decide to switch to the windows drive, how ever long that takes
I do think that microsoft copilot is good enough for alot of people. I really like it, much more than chat gpt. And that they give you “GPT 4” for free which is cool
Would I love it being forced? No
They will create the same situation as Ubuntu Snap. Is Snap bad? Actually not. Is everything else regarding Snap like Snap Store or the fact that they force it down your throat good? No
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Suck GPT Wintards!
It looks like Microsoft try to do everything to be hated.
When did Microsoft forget how to do stuff? No one ever said: Wow! I really, really like being forced to use something! My reaction to being forced to use it didn’t instantly diminish my desire to use this product!
Even IF their product is good, they crush my desire to try it with shit like this.
Ultimately, most people stay with the default option, that’s why they have to be aggressive. Look at the amount of screenshots even in advanced PC communities with ugly useless search bar enabled, which is taking 1/3 of the taskbar. I’m not even speaking about casual users who have no idea that it can be disabled.
yeah, it’s fucking exhausting to go through and disable the 10’s or 100’s of options they set by default that you don’t want. I have a computer that I have disabled updates on because they kept resetting my deeper configs with updates. I’m not getting another windows computer unless I have to because god that shit took so long to set up.
Not sure what you mean. Do you know about Active Desktop in Win98? They’ve been doing shit like this since forever.
Sums it up right there. Goes for most of tech in the past decade or so though. Lots of incremental upgrades and nothing really mind blowing. Imo AI is not. At least not yet.
Not a fan of it being forced upon anyone but I’ll add lately that I’ve been using it to spit out Python scripts and ansible playbooks to stunning efficiency that makes my life much easier.
I tried Bard last year and it sucked, maybe Gemini is better now. I could see myself paying for one of these eventually, given how much more free time I have with the kids (or at the bar!).
It’s just an Edge web view. You can get the same results by just navigating to its web site. Doesn’t need to slow down boot time every time for that.
