3 ms·

I haven't experienced the "facts" you describe - which makes me think they are opinions, or personal perceptions on pretty standard product practices, rather th

I haven't experienced the "facts" you describe - which makes me think they are opinions, or personal perceptions on pretty standard product practices, rather than facts. Whenever there is a major update, they put a big button for me to enable Bing and a smaller button for me to not do that, and I just need to click on the smaller button. They sometimes enable brand new features I don't want by default, but they do that to make features discoverable; in years of Windows use, all I needed to do is disable the things I didn't want. I'm not a Windows fanboy. It's just an operating system, not a way of life. While it does have some things I don't like, I'm quite productive using it and I'm a satisfied user. If it wasn't trivial to disable/reject these things, Bing would have a 50%+ desktop market share and that's not what we see. People aren't going in mass from Windows to Linux/Mac, what is happening instead is that desktop OSs are becoming less and less useful as people who used to be desktop users do everything they need on mobile platforms.

soraminazuki 3y ago
An opinion? Are you suggesting that all the abuse I've been subjected to by my Windows machine was just all in my head? Well, that's weird because instances of those abuse are well documented. The sheer number of those cases, the length Microsoft goes to, the level of contempt they show towards their users is unheard of in any other operating system in existence. I double checked, and I'm pretty sure my "perception" is in agreement with verifiable facts. > Whenever there is a major update, they put a big button for me to enable Bing and a smaller button for me to not do that, and I just need to click on the smaller button. This is not true. They're making it progressively harder to opt out of unwanted features. It's even impossible in some cases. Anyways, I clearly remember Windows booting into an unskippable full screen nag. The option to mass-accept various violations of my privacy was shown as a big blue button. The other option was concealed in a wall of text as a link, barely recognizable. After clicking on the link, I was greeted with a bunch of options that I had to toggle off, one by one. This isn't normal or acceptable. It's evil and manipulative, and the fact that they chose to do this at boot, when people need their computers the most, is beyond infuriating. Here's just a little taste of the Windows experience: # Privacy Violations Windows 11 Update 23H2 is stealing users' IMAP credentials - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38212453 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38212453 I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9976298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9976298 Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053352 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053352 # User Interference and Coercion Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103683 Microsoft intercepting Firefox, Chrome installation on Windows 10 Insider build - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967243 Outlook now ignores Windows' Default Browser and opens links in Edge by default - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36492329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36492329 Microsoft blocks EdgeDeflector to force Windows 11 users into Edge - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29251210 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29251210 Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37461449 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37461449 Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29579994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29579994 Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30055222 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30055222 Microsoft tests Windows account menu error badge when Microsoft Account not used - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35443361 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35443361 Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23486887 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23486887 # Ads Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11167964 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11167964 Why can an ad break the Windows 11 desktop and taskbar? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28404332 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28404332 Windows 10 nagging users with Bing advertisements - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27337382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27337382 Microsoft begins showing an anti-Firefox ad in the Windows 10 start menu - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22288599 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22288599 Windows 10 Tip: Turn Off File Explorer Advertising - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13835733 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13835733 # Unwanted Features Windows needs to stop showing tabloid news - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35323121 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35323121

soraminazuki 3y ago

An opinion? Are you suggesting that all the abuse I've been subjected to by my Windows machine was just all in my head? Well, that's weird because instances of those abuse are well documented. The sheer number of those cases, the length Microsoft goes to, the level of contempt they show towards their users is unheard of in any other operating system in existence. I double checked, and I'm pretty sure my "perception" is in agreement with verifiable facts. > Whenever there is a major update, they put a big button for me to enable Bing and a smaller button for me to not do that, and I just need to click on the smaller button. This is not true. They're making it progressively harder to opt out of unwanted features. It's even impossible in some cases. Anyways, I clearly remember Windows booting into an unskippable full screen nag. The option to mass-accept various violations of my privacy was shown as a big blue button. The other option was concealed in a wall of text as a link, barely recognizable. After clicking on the link, I was greeted with a bunch of options that I had to toggle off, one by one. This isn't normal or acceptable. It's evil and manipulative, and the fact that they chose to do this at boot, when people need their computers the most, is beyond infuriating. Here's just a little taste of the Windows experience: # Privacy Violations Windows 11 Update 23H2 is stealing users' IMAP credentials - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38212453 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38212453 I noticed some disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9976298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9976298 Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053352 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053352 # User Interference and Coercion Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103683 Microsoft intercepting Firefox, Chrome installation on Windows 10 Insider build - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967243 Outlook now ignores Windows' Default Browser and opens links in Edge by default - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36492329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36492329 Microsoft blocks EdgeDeflector to force Windows 11 users into Edge - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29251210 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29251210 Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37461449 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37461449 Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29579994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29579994 Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30055222 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30055222 Microsoft tests Windows account menu error badge when Microsoft Account not used - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35443361 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35443361 Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23486887 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23486887 # Ads Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11167964 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11167964 Why can an ad break the Windows 11 desktop and taskbar? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28404332 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28404332 Windows 10 nagging users with Bing advertisements - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27337382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27337382 Microsoft begins showing an anti-Firefox ad in the Windows 10 start menu - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22288599 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22288599 Windows 10 Tip: Turn Off File Explorer Advertising - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13835733 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13835733 # Unwanted Features Windows needs to stop showing tabloid news - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35323121 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35323121