… as explained here.

Basically Microsoft presents this “incredible” product, and then says in the same breath: “Oops, not for your current setup. Maybe you should consider buying a new PC?”

Really!? 😠

If only Linux were ready for mainstream use…

  • Cosmo@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I bought Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 … a one-time non-subscription purchase. Today I found this:

    I was able to figure out how to “re-activate” without signing up to 365. But damn sure seems like a dark pattern to me

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radio
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    18 days ago

    What is it specifically about Linux that doesn’t work for you?

    I’m asking because I’ve been using it for almost a quarter of a century as my main desktop.

    • Einar@lemm.eeOP
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      18 days ago

      I answered a bit further down a bit lengthier. Hope that’s OK. 🙂

      To be clear, I enjoy my Linux environment. But could I leave Linux on my parents’ devices who recently bought a new printer and use a facial recognition camera? I’d be worried…

    • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Not OP, but it’s still lack of hardware support for me. I tried to daily Linux on my laptop and gave up in frustration after several months because a few key pieces of hardware are not supported and seemingly never will be.

    • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      18 days ago

      UI/UX mostly. Yeah you can do a lot of things, but the experience doing it isn’t as easy. Ex: gimp. Which has gotten a lot of hate here recently (and deservedly so)

    • ShunkW@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      The only reason I don’t use Linux all the time are video games - which are getting better, and streaming because DRM doesn’t support it and I can tell the difference between 720p and 4k. Otherwise it’s my main OS.

      • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
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        18 days ago

        Video games are nearly perfect today. The only ones that don’t work are the ones where the publishers have gone out of their way to exclude it by enforcing their anticheat nonsense.

    • Taiatari@lemmynsfw.com
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      18 days ago

      Tried setting it up once on an old pc to have it as a kinda streaming thingy behind the tv. Never finished the project. First I was overloaded with options. Which Linux version, picked Ubuntu because why not? Did the download and could not find a USB stick at home that’s bigger than 2gb. Tried installing on a hard drive in my pc didn’t work. Gave up after that.

  • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I hate how hard they try to force you to use a Microsoft account with it. And yes, the hardware requirements are too stringent. Microsoft works hard at taking away agency from users and empowering the users’ corporate bosses and data miners instead.

    On top of all that, it’s 2024, Microsoft…a lot of people are struggling to buy groceries or pay rent/mortgage. They don’t want to be forced to buy a new PC.

    As for “just use Linux” crowd…you know what? I agree! And some people will migrate. But it’s going to be sort of like the reddit > Lemmy migration. Don’t get overly excited about it.

  • MeatStiq@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I downgraded from 11 to 10 and disabled TPM. Fuck you Microsoft. I’ll pay for antivirus once support ends.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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      18 days ago

      I like how Microsoft managed to not just shoot there own foot but somehow managed to rip off there own legs. They are driving Win10 market share but also telling people to move on.

  • technomad@slrpnk.net
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    18 days ago

    Why do you think Linux isn’t ready for mainstream use? Just curious. edit: nevermind, I see you’ve already discussed this.

    I went full switch recently, and haven’t hit any major roadblocks yet. I feel like I could’ve done this years ago too.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    18 days ago

    I would guess that there’s some mode or version of Windows that turns those things off, because there are gonna be Windows 10 kiosk machines, and the kiosk/digital billboard crowd is not going to tolerate Microsoft throwing full screen stuff up.

    • B0rax@feddit.de
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      18 days ago

      Look for Windows LTSC (long term support channel) it is bot sold to private customers, but it doesn’t have all that crap nobody wants.

    • DudeDudenson@lemmings.world
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      18 days ago

      It’d be funny if there was a version of windows for kiosks and displays that was just a debloated windows 11

  • Blaster M@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    My largest showstoppers with Linux is the lack of DRM support, the lack of “just works” installs, no Parsec (I’ve tried Moonlight/Sunshine many, many, many times, it never works for me), and … this one little thing …

    I would use Linux more if either Virtual Desktop or Steam Link worked in Linux. As it stands, neither work, and current implementations of VR in Linux are still alpha / experimental beyond Index / SteamVR direct tethering, not an option for someone that has a cheap standalone headset.

    • PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee
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      18 days ago

      Parsec’s own website offers a linux download. I’ve never used the software, but are you saying it doesn’t work?

        • Anti_Iridium@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          It’s been a couple of months since I have used it. (Moved and haven’t set my server up yet). Does hardware decoding on Linux work now?

          • Blaster M@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Depends on the gpu driver, the distro, and how many hoops you feel like jumping through to enable support.

            There shouldn’t be any hoops. This should all be native by now.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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      17 days ago

      So AMD, Nvidia and Intel all have DRM support as that is what draws content to the screen. Without DRM you wouldn’t have a GPU. You can see it in /dev/dri

  • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
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    18 days ago

    Linux is mainstream ready. A lot of people still just use a web browser. For decades now Linux came with an intuitive GUI driven installer, a whole live Linux OS running on a CD when windows still used a dos like setup. Linux has worked great for decades to use a web browser, which is a lot of what people do on computers.

    • Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee
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      18 days ago

      Therein lies the problem. The kind of people who only use a web browser have absolutely no need to use Linux as there are far better options

      The kind of people who would like to switch to Linux do far more than just use a web browser, and Linux still doesn’t “just work” after all this time

      • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
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        18 days ago

        I mean, I daily drive it and play games and edit video in Davinci Resolve. Works for me.

    • Unreliable@lemmy.ml
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      18 days ago

      I mean I’ve been daily driving Linux and more recently Bazzite specifically for games and everything else without issue.

  • Corroded@leminal.space
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    18 days ago

    What are you trying to do that you don’t think you can do on Linux? Also there’s ways to install Windows 11 on unsupported systems.

    • Einar@lemm.eeOP
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      18 days ago

      Tbf, I work with Linux regularly and it’s great for me. But for the average user who wants basically zero learning curve like your average Android provides? Linux is a hard sell. To repeat what has been said so many times here:

      • Games. It’s better than it used to be, but Windows just does it better. The same goes for general software compatibility. Windows Store apps, for example, generally don’t run at all.

      • My surrounding never wants to open or see a command line. Ever.

      • Driver & hardware support. Windows still beats Linux here. And this is an important one.

      • Easy compatibility between distros. What works on one may not work on another. That’s a problem.

      Like that.

      Really, for someone willing to learn how their PC works, Linux is a good choice, maybe even a great choice. I love my Linux PCs. Am on OpenSuse at the moment and its been a fantastic experience. Couldn’t avoid some of the problems above, of course. But this isn’t about me.

      For someone who just wants to click and install games, plug in random hardware and start using it a few seconds later, never touch an update interface and basically wants a system that just works intuitively because that’s what they’ve known for years… Windows is a better choice. And I say this with a sad heart, because I really wish that Linux was the competitor that Microsoft fears.


      Edit: thanks for the reminder; I will likely install Windows 11 (the unsupported version as it were) for my immediate surrounding, apart from some techies. 😄

      • senorblackbean@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        I hear ya. I bought a AMD CPU+GPU laptop to run Linux on, but a month later I’m back to Windows.

        While the default graphics driver worked most of the time, I had random graphic card crashes on a 20 year old Wine-ran game. Even the official amdgpu driver had issues (PITA to install as its not being maintained). No issues with newer games through Steam (Proton is amazeballs) fortunately. I also had random issues with a second monitor not being detected that were probably graphics driver related. Some random UI focus issues were likely a window manager issue (KDE).

        Sleep/hibernate doesn’t work ‘out of the box’ and I couldn’t get it working reliably after screwing with grub. It was a gamble if it would actually power down or just go back to the lock screen. I don’t know why its so difficult for a basic thing that’s been around for decades.

        So now I’m back on Windows, everything works as expected. Honestly I love Linux and its leaps and bounds better from what it was, but Windows is a still better choice for hardware support reasons. I’ll give it another try if AMD gets it together with their driver support.

      • Moorshou@lemmy.zip
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        17 days ago

        I want Linux to succeed, and be the competition to Windows, so I deal with these “downsides” honestly, the limits in my theory, cause me to only purchase good hardware and software.

        Is the mainstream even what should be targeted? I’m reading comments on how people are actually getting worse at using computers.

        • Einar@lemm.eeOP
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          17 days ago

          To answer your question, I think Linux absolutely should target the mainstream, as it already does in some ways.

          For example, by making Linux more accessible to the average user, the community grows, which will probably lead to more support, more software development, and so on.

          It is true that not all users have the same level of computer skills. Especially for that reason Linux should become even easier and even more intuitive to use.

          In short: the more people use it, the more support it will get.

  • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    17 days ago

    Microsoft hasn’t detailed ESU pricing for consumers yet, but the company did previously reveal it will offer these extended updates to consumers for the first time ever

    They’re actually gonna make us pirate security updates huh

  • dimath@ttrpg.network
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    18 days ago

    I would say Linux was more ready for mainstream use 10 years ago. Now with Wayland and (god forbid) Nvidia is quite unstable. And if the best advice is “do not buy Nvidia”, then indeed it isn’t ready for the mainstream use.