6 ms·

How much will it take for users to stop using Windows? It seems like corporations can put whatever they want in products and people will just continue to consum

How much will it take for users to stop using Windows? It seems like corporations can put whatever they want in products and people will just continue to consume them. Maybe it's time to switch to Linux if you don't like to be tracked and have ads everywhere for a product that is not free.

rypskar 6y ago
Where are all the ads in Windows? I have Windows on most my computers and Ubuntu on one. The only place I see ads are in Ubuntu when connecting through ssh. Right now there are ads for MicroK8s and Canonical Livepatch.
- wokkel 6y ago
  I get Spotify, Candy crush and Office buttons in my start menu that I didn't install. It's not the same, but pretty close in terms of the OS doing things I didn't ask it to.
  - adolfojp 6y ago
    A bare installation option would be nice but bundling software with operating systems isn't new. As sad as it may sound Candy Crush is the new 3D Pinball, which you could argue was an "ad" for the full version of Full Tilt! Pinball.
  - vocatus_gate 6y ago
    Tron's stage 2 debloat script will remove all the bloat apps. https://github.com/bmrf/tron/tree/master/resources/stage_2_de-bloat/metro https://github.com/bmrf/tron/tree/master/resources/stage_2_d... I run the Tron project, it's open-source and these scripts are updated frequently based on community input.
- DanBC 6y ago
  Windows 10 has a bunch of different versions. I'd be interested to know if ads appear in each of them at the same rate. Here's an article talking about where ads appear: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3039827/7-ways-windows-10-pushes-ads-at-you-and-how-to-stop-them.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/3039827/7-ways-windows-10-pu...
- m0xte 6y ago
  Yep only thing I see is in powershell: "Try the new cross-platform PowerShell https://aka.ms/pscore6" https://aka.ms/pscore6" There were a few pre-installed apps but that's completely normal to be honest. If you go in a shop and buy a PC then it's usually full of that shit. If you remove it, it doesn't come back. They're not really ads but things the average user will want (I want office!!!)
- flohofwoe 6y ago
  Win10 ads depend on region, if you're in Europe you'll most likely won't see them, probably because they're illegal, or because Microsoft is testing the waters in other regions first. In Germany I have only ever seen OneDrive popups in Win10, which can be considered either a "suggestion" or an "advertisement".
Cthulhu_ 6y ago
For me, I'd like an OS that Just Works with what I do with it; Linux has never been it. Linux desktop has always been a compromise - it KINDA works. Professionally, I've used all three major operating system branches. Windows was a hack when it came to things like terminal support. Linux needed me to hack into config files pretty quickly just to make it work, and it's lacking the UI polish that the other operating systems have. Mac combines the best of both worlds. Privately I've always used Windows, simply because all games work on there at the intended performance. It's not in the way.
m0xte 6y ago
Quite frankly a lot more than this. The reason is that at the end of the day I need to be productive. While I viciously oppose this sort of stuff, I've turned off enough of it not to be bothersome and what is left is an extremely reliable, flexible and easy to drive operating system. I am a very experienced Linux user both on desktop and server side of things. In fact 90% of what I do targets Linux but all the desktop solutions are quite frankly a mess. After 20 years of infighting and rewriting the universe, there is no cohesive desktop that even makes any sense at all and isn't bug ridden. I am forever fighting small things and edge cases to get anything working. Within a few days, it gets toasted and back to windows. I don't have enough hours left before I'm dead to actually argue with these things. And as for MacOS, the hardware went down the toilet, you tend to have to fight the OS at every available opportunity, the pricing is quite frankly terrible and it's utterly inflexible. It's Apple's way or a punch in the balls. No thanks. At best I'm hanging on lightly to iOS as that's not too problematic when it's being inflexible (apart from HEIC which is a pain in the ass) I also beg people to find a better place where I can throw together an 8-core workstation class machine with 32Gb of RAM, 4k 27" display, decent GPU, replaceable NVMe storage and high quality input devices for < £1300 that actually works reliably and the software doesn't get in the way.
- adolfojp 6y ago
  I got tired of trying to make Linux on the desktop happen when XFCE told its users that not being able to resize windows by dragging their borders was "not as much of a usability issue as some suggest". When every Linux desktop complaint gets dismissed with a variant of "you're holding it wrong" a bit of mandatory anonymous telemetry by the alternative doesn't look that wrong.
  - Paianni 6y ago
    Xfce doesn't represent all DE's and WM's. Chances are that statement came from a single dev anyway.
    - adolfojp 6y ago
      https://xubuntu.org/news/window-resizing-in-xubuntu-and-xfce/ https://xubuntu.org/news/window-resizing-in-xubuntu-and-xfce...
Strom 6y ago
> How much will it take for users to stop using Windows? When the benefit of doing so is greater than the cost of switching. That may be true already for some group of users like web developers. However most other user segments are critically underserved on other OSes and so the experience isn't even in the same league.
hendersoon 6y ago
If all my games worked on Linux, I'd run Linux. And no, VM/IOMMU/Looking Glass is not a solution, it's a total pain in the butt and you're still running Windows anyway.
- ubercow13 6y ago
  How's it a pain? I mean it's fiddly to set up but using it isn't much of a pain. And it's almost like having a little partitioned-off 'games console' inside your PC where you can keep all the ugly proprietary software and games. I think it's great.

rypskar 6y ago

Where are all the ads in Windows? I have Windows on most my computers and Ubuntu on one. The only place I see ads are in Ubuntu when connecting through ssh. Right now there are ads for MicroK8s and Canonical Livepatch.

wokkel 6y ago
I get Spotify, Candy crush and Office buttons in my start menu that I didn't install. It's not the same, but pretty close in terms of the OS doing things I didn't ask it to.
- adolfojp 6y ago
  A bare installation option would be nice but bundling software with operating systems isn't new. As sad as it may sound Candy Crush is the new 3D Pinball, which you could argue was an "ad" for the full version of Full Tilt! Pinball.
- vocatus_gate 6y ago
  Tron's stage 2 debloat script will remove all the bloat apps. https://github.com/bmrf/tron/tree/master/resources/stage_2_de-bloat/metro https://github.com/bmrf/tron/tree/master/resources/stage_2_d... I run the Tron project, it's open-source and these scripts are updated frequently based on community input.
DanBC 6y ago
Windows 10 has a bunch of different versions. I'd be interested to know if ads appear in each of them at the same rate. Here's an article talking about where ads appear: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3039827/7-ways-windows-10-pushes-ads-at-you-and-how-to-stop-them.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/3039827/7-ways-windows-10-pu...
m0xte 6y ago
Yep only thing I see is in powershell: "Try the new cross-platform PowerShell https://aka.ms/pscore6" https://aka.ms/pscore6" There were a few pre-installed apps but that's completely normal to be honest. If you go in a shop and buy a PC then it's usually full of that shit. If you remove it, it doesn't come back. They're not really ads but things the average user will want (I want office!!!)
flohofwoe 6y ago
Win10 ads depend on region, if you're in Europe you'll most likely won't see them, probably because they're illegal, or because Microsoft is testing the waters in other regions first. In Germany I have only ever seen OneDrive popups in Win10, which can be considered either a "suggestion" or an "advertisement".

Cthulhu_ 6y ago

For me, I'd like an OS that Just Works with what I do with it; Linux has never been it. Linux desktop has always been a compromise - it KINDA works. Professionally, I've used all three major operating system branches. Windows was a hack when it came to things like terminal support. Linux needed me to hack into config files pretty quickly just to make it work, and it's lacking the UI polish that the other operating systems have. Mac combines the best of both worlds. Privately I've always used Windows, simply because all games work on there at the intended performance. It's not in the way.

m0xte 6y ago

Quite frankly a lot more than this. The reason is that at the end of the day I need to be productive. While I viciously oppose this sort of stuff, I've turned off enough of it not to be bothersome and what is left is an extremely reliable, flexible and easy to drive operating system. I am a very experienced Linux user both on desktop and server side of things. In fact 90% of what I do targets Linux but all the desktop solutions are quite frankly a mess. After 20 years of infighting and rewriting the universe, there is no cohesive desktop that even makes any sense at all and isn't bug ridden. I am forever fighting small things and edge cases to get anything working. Within a few days, it gets toasted and back to windows. I don't have enough hours left before I'm dead to actually argue with these things. And as for MacOS, the hardware went down the toilet, you tend to have to fight the OS at every available opportunity, the pricing is quite frankly terrible and it's utterly inflexible. It's Apple's way or a punch in the balls. No thanks. At best I'm hanging on lightly to iOS as that's not too problematic when it's being inflexible (apart from HEIC which is a pain in the ass) I also beg people to find a better place where I can throw together an 8-core workstation class machine with 32Gb of RAM, 4k 27" display, decent GPU, replaceable NVMe storage and high quality input devices for < £1300 that actually works reliably and the software doesn't get in the way.

adolfojp 6y ago
I got tired of trying to make Linux on the desktop happen when XFCE told its users that not being able to resize windows by dragging their borders was "not as much of a usability issue as some suggest". When every Linux desktop complaint gets dismissed with a variant of "you're holding it wrong" a bit of mandatory anonymous telemetry by the alternative doesn't look that wrong.
- Paianni 6y ago
  Xfce doesn't represent all DE's and WM's. Chances are that statement came from a single dev anyway.
  - adolfojp 6y ago
    https://xubuntu.org/news/window-resizing-in-xubuntu-and-xfce/ https://xubuntu.org/news/window-resizing-in-xubuntu-and-xfce...

Strom 6y ago

> How much will it take for users to stop using Windows? When the benefit of doing so is greater than the cost of switching. That may be true already for some group of users like web developers. However most other user segments are critically underserved on other OSes and so the experience isn't even in the same league.

hendersoon 6y ago

If all my games worked on Linux, I'd run Linux. And no, VM/IOMMU/Looking Glass is not a solution, it's a total pain in the butt and you're still running Windows anyway.

ubercow13 6y ago
How's it a pain? I mean it's fiddly to set up but using it isn't much of a pain. And it's almost like having a little partitioned-off 'games console' inside your PC where you can keep all the ugly proprietary software and games. I think it's great.