131–140 of 647 posts
I actually enjoy Microsofts other products like VS Code, Xbox, Etc. But Windows has never been my favorite OS, and now I actually dislike using it.
Please please MS just put someone in charge with taste who can veto this trashy rubbish. Whatever gains you're perceiving from this on your profit chart isn't worth the compounding deterioration of your products experience.
You should've learned having taste is an instant disqualifier for employment at Microsoft after Windows 8.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Companies should really accept a "No" from their users. No I don't want to use a microsoft account just to use my computer. (Without jumping through hoops) Don't ask me again the moment I say "No". You can see the same with all those dialogs that only have "Yes, do $THING" and "Remind me later".
I don't see how we get them to accept a "No" when they know they can make more money by relentlessly badgering the users until they say "Yes".
Few vote with their wallets anyway, so it's a winning strategy.
> As Microsoft puts it: “We are continuing the exploration of badging on the Start menu with several new treatments for users logging in with local user accounts to highlight the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account (MSA).” What is Microsoft really thinking here? You have to go out of your way (and probably do a web search) in order to figure out how to install Win 11 without using a Microsoft Account. So…
Apple has a similar problem. On setup it wants me to set up siri, payment, etc. My options are to setup now or do it later. There needs to be a third option that I will never setup these things and never ask me again.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Companies should really accept a "No" from their users. No I don't want to use a microsoft account just to use my computer. (Without jumping through hoops) Don't ask me again the moment I say "No". You can see the same with all those dialogs that only have "Yes, do $THING" and "Remind me later".
I don't see how we get them to accept a "No" when they know they can make more money by relentlessly badgering the users until they say "Yes".
Move over to linux. KDE has the eye-candy, XFCE has the simplicity and OpenBOX is distraction free. Games work well and so do dev tools.
How's HDR working over there?
Inception: I couldn't really see the image about too many ads in Windows 11 because TechRadar had it all covered up with an Axe Body Spray ad.
Apple music popping up everytime I accidentally hit play on my keyboard is a far more annoying ad than anything windows is doing.
The play/pause keys should work with any media player, (and might, or might not) but they’re in no way advertising random crap on your face when you’re trying to work.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple has a similar problem. On setup it wants me to set up siri, payment, etc. My options are to setup now or do it later. There needs to be a third option that I will never setup these things and never ask me again.
I don't think Apple recurringly hounds you to sign in when you hit "Do it later" though. I read "Do it later" here as a subtle reminder that "the option is not gone. You can do it later on your own in your system settings if you want", as opposed to "ok we'll ask you again later unprompted :)"
Move over to linux. KDE has the eye-candy, XFCE has the simplicity and OpenBOX is distraction free. Games work well and so do dev tools.
And most distributions have the permissions structure of, well, 1980's Unix. I know it's being worked on, but it's a little crazy to think that on most Linux systems you still don't get a permissions popup when your calculator app wants to turn on your microphone. You can't grant access to your contacts or email on an app-by-app basis. I say most because it has been largely solved on Android, for example.
You could also play a bit with writing SELinux or AppArmor policies, although I grant that most people don't give a fuck and just want to get their computing done.
Opting for a Wayland-compliant display server instead of XOrg will also provide you with similar benefits such as preventing applications from capturing your key-presses without you knowing or recording your screen without your permission.
edit: I have no idea how I forgot about this, but immutable file systems are a thing now and they work pretty well, you can go for something such as Fedora Kinoite [0], Fedora Silverblue [1][2], OpenSUSE MicroOS [3], or VanillaOS [4] where all applications you install will be Flatpaks.
[0]: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/emerging/
[1]: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-silverblue/
[2]: https://silverblue.fedoraproject.org/
