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Microsoft is making Windows into the Nigerian Prince of operating systems. Classically, Nigerian Prince scams are so obvious that they weed out all the people s

Microsoft is making Windows into the Nigerian Prince of operating systems. Classically, Nigerian Prince scams are so obvious that they weed out all the people smart enough to avoid being swindled, leaving the easy pickings to be plucked without much effort. Windows is the same. By Microsoft removing all bypass measures that make it tolerable, their remaining user base will just end up being people who don't care about security and privacy, people who won't complain about being inundated with ads, AI, and bingware, people who have no idea that a modern operating system should be fast, customizable, and open. That 90% customer base is easy to fleece with 10% effort, so why bother with the 10% base that will require 90% effort?

faust201 9mo ago
My guess is that they are focused only on to cashcow -> enterprise, office, (and all Copilot BS). Sadly very few of IT people I know of move to Linux or macOS for this specific reason. Just like XP users tolerated the tons of systray, toolbar crap - most are tolerating AI shit. To be fair to even knowledgeable people, most are happy to live their live on Smartphone (+ maybe tablet). Most get a corporate laptop from work. Or gamers that are already used to Windows. So inertia.
- moltopoco 9mo ago
  Many gamers are married to Windows exclusive games like Fortnite etc., but gamers are also more rebellious than corporate IT staff and many have actually built their computers from parts, so they are not scared of flashing a USB drive. I'm optimistic that this group is the next one to break away from Windows.
  - tavavex 9mo ago
    Gaming is the biggest thing that keeps me on Windows, followed by the fact that I use an Nvidia GPU, followed by a very localized case of inertia where I have so much data, settings and programs concentrated in my OS install that migrating it all over is going to be a monumental pain in the ass. But luckily, Linux gaming has gotten way better and I don't play the kind of games that categorically refuses to run there (anything with highly involved anti-cheat systems), so once my version of Windows becomes unsupported, I'll bite the bullet and make the Linux install into my primary one. I think people like me are the real first line that's most likely to switch - techy people who play games (which had so far kept them on Windows) and that suffer firsthand at Microsoft's attempts to get them directly in addition to already being treated horribly by default. This group is less afraid of changing things up and has more incentives to switch. But if we talk of gamers in general, it may take a while until a meaningful number of them switch over, even though they are far more motivated than the average PC user. Even though they're the prime candidates, it's going to be a very, very steep uphill battle.
    - zenoprax 9mo ago
      > ... localized case of inertia where I have so much data, settings and programs concentrated in my OS install that migrating it all ... Your first step is start swapping out Windows-specific programs for cross-platform alternatives. Eventually you'll have to just cut the rest loose and make the jump though. Don't bother dual-booting either or you'll just delay it further. I made the transition a few years ago and it was far less dramatic than I imagined.
      - tavavex 9mo ago
        Luckily, there's not that much Windows-only software I must use. Unluckily, it's pretty essential: - Fusion 360 (the only alternative seems to be learning a different, likely far more involved CAD) - Paint.NET (a simple, quick, no-nonsense image editor - while there are image editor alternatives, as far as I can tell there's nothing quite like it) The bigger issue that might keep me dual-booting are graphical features. Things like VR and HDR are already known to be janky on their "native" Windows implementations, so I'm scared to imagine what any of that is going to be like on Linux. Neither are common use cases, but I still want to hold onto those where possible.
        zenoprax 9mo ago
        I feel that pain. I was using Lightroom since 2009 or so and I it took me many hours over many Saturdays to extricate myself from its grasp. That being said, my efforts to abandon it was the only thing that exposed a lot of problems (metadata, duplicates, etc.) so... it worked out in the end.
        dotancohen 9mo ago
        Which lightroom replacement are you using on Linux?
        zenoprax 9mo ago
        I was hoping you wouldn't ask :P I don't have a replacement at all but this coincided with a reduced desire to tinker with and touch up my photos in general. I'm currently working on a modular Unix-y/CLI-focused way to safely ingest photos (archive originals with PAR2; then move from source and rename), reject/rate as needed, ensure timestamps are correct (UTC for DSLRs), geotag with whatever GPX I have, and then eventually some sort of LLM-based tagging. Exif will do a lot of heavy lifting here. All I really need now is a way to rate my photos and I'll probably use Digikam for that. Raw processing doesn't have a CLI solution that I like so I'll probably have to use RawTherapee or something as well.
esalman 9mo ago
I can't help but feel that 10% "smart" users have failed the rest of the 90% users.
- franktankbank 9mo ago
  10% is approximate casual Linux user base
elektrontamer 9mo ago
The thing is linux desktop is pretty damn good for a lot of people for their day to day needs. It's just the office tools and gaming. Cloud tools like google docs can handle the office side and valve can sovle gaming. But there still remains the issue of convincing people. My mom works as a translator and all she needs is email, something to edit documents in and a browser, thats it. She was able adapt to ubuntu pretty fast even though she's not the kind of person who likes learning new tech. There must be millions of users just like her. But people are very resistant to change and few have an annoying linux evangelist like myself in the house to push them. We need to get them young somehow. I'm thinking around highschool.
- ykonstant 9mo ago
  Is there a way to chain launch a "qemu VM --> windows 10 client --> autodesk product" in a transparent way? If we could do that reliably and with a stripped down win10 image, I think the serious office users could just pretend they are running autodesk or whatever software in linux. The big downside I presume is this will not work with software that need tight interaction with custom hardware (mocap suits etc).
  - stuckindoors 9mo ago
    'Winapps' and 'winboat' on Linux allow a windows image to run in a Linux docker container and permit just the app to be streamed to the Linux desktop (after initial setup). I haven't played with it yet..but you could theoretically set up a windows host on a different remote server via tailscale or netbird and have them RDP into the windows docker container remotely. Unfortunately my parents run macos and these tools are not meant for Macos. But like you said there are apps like UTM that provide a nice shell for QEMU on macos. Not as nice as streaming just the app, but a good start. These work great on new macmini with apple silicon.
  - exceptione 9mo ago
    Yes, doing that by hand would be three lines of bash to launch it. virsh start ms-malware11 # or any other method to launch your vm sleep 20 remmina -c /home/me/ms-malware11.remmina Make a shortcut to above script and the only thing the user needs to do is click it . It requires a bit of setup on Linux. First install a win11 vm, you can do it graphically via `virtual machine manager` from libvirt. Then install remmina and configure a profile `ms-malware11.remmina`, also graphically. In that profile, under Advanced, have Startup Program "AutoDesk.exe" or whatever that is called. Then Autodesk runs like any linux application, the user doesn't see it runs in a vm. This feature depends on RemoteApp feature in Windows. This is something your mom probably wouldn't setup by hand, but anybody here should be able to.
tavavex 9mo ago
> people who have no idea that a modern operating system should be fast, customizable, and open What a ridiculous idea. Any serious person knows that a modern operating system must, above all, be profitable, profitable and profitable. Caring about people doesn't make you any money, and since you already make up most of the market, it's not like you need to entice anyone over. A slightly less provocative and crass version of the above, yet one that still conveys the exact same message, is probably what most of the higher-ups of the software world believe. At least the ones that call the shots seem to.

faust201 9mo ago

My guess is that they are focused only on to cashcow -> enterprise, office, (and all Copilot BS). Sadly very few of IT people I know of move to Linux or macOS for this specific reason. Just like XP users tolerated the tons of systray, toolbar crap - most are tolerating AI shit. To be fair to even knowledgeable people, most are happy to live their live on Smartphone (+ maybe tablet). Most get a corporate laptop from work. Or gamers that are already used to Windows. So inertia.

moltopoco 9mo ago
Many gamers are married to Windows exclusive games like Fortnite etc., but gamers are also more rebellious than corporate IT staff and many have actually built their computers from parts, so they are not scared of flashing a USB drive. I'm optimistic that this group is the next one to break away from Windows.
- tavavex 9mo ago
  Gaming is the biggest thing that keeps me on Windows, followed by the fact that I use an Nvidia GPU, followed by a very localized case of inertia where I have so much data, settings and programs concentrated in my OS install that migrating it all over is going to be a monumental pain in the ass. But luckily, Linux gaming has gotten way better and I don't play the kind of games that categorically refuses to run there (anything with highly involved anti-cheat systems), so once my version of Windows becomes unsupported, I'll bite the bullet and make the Linux install into my primary one. I think people like me are the real first line that's most likely to switch - techy people who play games (which had so far kept them on Windows) and that suffer firsthand at Microsoft's attempts to get them directly in addition to already being treated horribly by default. This group is less afraid of changing things up and has more incentives to switch. But if we talk of gamers in general, it may take a while until a meaningful number of them switch over, even though they are far more motivated than the average PC user. Even though they're the prime candidates, it's going to be a very, very steep uphill battle.
  - zenoprax 9mo ago
    > ... localized case of inertia where I have so much data, settings and programs concentrated in my OS install that migrating it all ... Your first step is start swapping out Windows-specific programs for cross-platform alternatives. Eventually you'll have to just cut the rest loose and make the jump though. Don't bother dual-booting either or you'll just delay it further. I made the transition a few years ago and it was far less dramatic than I imagined.
    - tavavex 9mo ago
      Luckily, there's not that much Windows-only software I must use. Unluckily, it's pretty essential: - Fusion 360 (the only alternative seems to be learning a different, likely far more involved CAD) - Paint.NET (a simple, quick, no-nonsense image editor - while there are image editor alternatives, as far as I can tell there's nothing quite like it) The bigger issue that might keep me dual-booting are graphical features. Things like VR and HDR are already known to be janky on their "native" Windows implementations, so I'm scared to imagine what any of that is going to be like on Linux. Neither are common use cases, but I still want to hold onto those where possible.
      - zenoprax 9mo ago
        I feel that pain. I was using Lightroom since 2009 or so and I it took me many hours over many Saturdays to extricate myself from its grasp. That being said, my efforts to abandon it was the only thing that exposed a lot of problems (metadata, duplicates, etc.) so... it worked out in the end.
        dotancohen 9mo ago
        Which lightroom replacement are you using on Linux?
        zenoprax 9mo ago
        I was hoping you wouldn't ask :P I don't have a replacement at all but this coincided with a reduced desire to tinker with and touch up my photos in general. I'm currently working on a modular Unix-y/CLI-focused way to safely ingest photos (archive originals with PAR2; then move from source and rename), reject/rate as needed, ensure timestamps are correct (UTC for DSLRs), geotag with whatever GPX I have, and then eventually some sort of LLM-based tagging. Exif will do a lot of heavy lifting here. All I really need now is a way to rate my photos and I'll probably use Digikam for that. Raw processing doesn't have a CLI solution that I like so I'll probably have to use RawTherapee or something as well.

esalman 9mo ago

I can't help but feel that 10% "smart" users have failed the rest of the 90% users.

franktankbank 9mo ago
10% is approximate casual Linux user base

elektrontamer 9mo ago

The thing is linux desktop is pretty damn good for a lot of people for their day to day needs. It's just the office tools and gaming. Cloud tools like google docs can handle the office side and valve can sovle gaming. But there still remains the issue of convincing people. My mom works as a translator and all she needs is email, something to edit documents in and a browser, thats it. She was able adapt to ubuntu pretty fast even though she's not the kind of person who likes learning new tech. There must be millions of users just like her. But people are very resistant to change and few have an annoying linux evangelist like myself in the house to push them. We need to get them young somehow. I'm thinking around highschool.

ykonstant 9mo ago
Is there a way to chain launch a "qemu VM --> windows 10 client --> autodesk product" in a transparent way? If we could do that reliably and with a stripped down win10 image, I think the serious office users could just pretend they are running autodesk or whatever software in linux. The big downside I presume is this will not work with software that need tight interaction with custom hardware (mocap suits etc).
- stuckindoors 9mo ago
  'Winapps' and 'winboat' on Linux allow a windows image to run in a Linux docker container and permit just the app to be streamed to the Linux desktop (after initial setup). I haven't played with it yet..but you could theoretically set up a windows host on a different remote server via tailscale or netbird and have them RDP into the windows docker container remotely. Unfortunately my parents run macos and these tools are not meant for Macos. But like you said there are apps like UTM that provide a nice shell for QEMU on macos. Not as nice as streaming just the app, but a good start. These work great on new macmini with apple silicon.
- exceptione 9mo ago
  Yes, doing that by hand would be three lines of bash to launch it. virsh start ms-malware11 # or any other method to launch your vm sleep 20 remmina -c /home/me/ms-malware11.remmina Make a shortcut to above script and the only thing the user needs to do is click it . It requires a bit of setup on Linux. First install a win11 vm, you can do it graphically via `virtual machine manager` from libvirt. Then install remmina and configure a profile `ms-malware11.remmina`, also graphically. In that profile, under Advanced, have Startup Program "AutoDesk.exe" or whatever that is called. Then Autodesk runs like any linux application, the user doesn't see it runs in a vm. This feature depends on RemoteApp feature in Windows. This is something your mom probably wouldn't setup by hand, but anybody here should be able to.

tavavex 9mo ago

> people who have no idea that a modern operating system should be fast, customizable, and open What a ridiculous idea. Any serious person knows that a modern operating system must, above all, be profitable, profitable and profitable. Caring about people doesn't make you any money, and since you already make up most of the market, it's not like you need to entice anyone over. A slightly less provocative and crass version of the above, yet one that still conveys the exact same message, is probably what most of the higher-ups of the software world believe. At least the ones that call the shots seem to.