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Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

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Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#301
post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy a car from a dealership does that make you less of a customer of the manufacturer?

If you buy a car from a dealership, then yes indeed you are "less" of a customer of the manufacturer. Consider this relationship: Toyota makes a car to the specifications of general motors, who brands the car as a "Pontiac Vibe" and sells the car to a Pontiac dealership. The Pontiac dealership then sells you the car at mostly a wash because you're also financing the purchase and they want to sell "your" loan to a loa…

I don't believe you've proven the point you're attempting to make.

Tesla is a rather famous example of a car manufacturer that doesn't have a dealership model. Do you imagine that GM or Toyota is somehow less interested in how their cars are either liked or disliked by their target audiences than Tesla is? That seems pretty hard to imagine.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#302

I installed Windows on my Steam Deck to run some games a couple weeks ago. It came pre-loaded with tons of apps I didn’t request, and basic functionality that required me to sign in with an account. What a joke of an OS. I gave up, no game was worth the hassle.

I hope the steamdecks popularity makes game companies think better of supporting photon out of the box or maybe even considering a pure linux target.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#303
post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hilarious how the first Linux user's response to a Windows user's unease is immediately "open the terminal" As long as that's how it goes, it will never be the Year of the Linux Desktop.

Typing (or pasting) a command into a terminal will always be more reproduceable than anything GUI.

Sure, and I'm personally fine with it. I'm one of those kooks at work who requested a Linux workstation, much to the chagrin of the IT department.

But as long as there is a conversation between Windows and Linux that includes using the terminal, you've lost the "normie" segment of the population, which is going to preclude most people from even considering it.

This fact is invariably met with much wailing and gnashing of teeth by Linux bros who think that there's no problem at all with it.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went ahead and installed Linux the moment I realized I had to go through a ton of hoops in order to install Windows 11 offline. I'm only ever going to use Windows for work machines that someone else is paying me to use, and even then, I might just start asking for a Mac instead. I'm over this awful OS nonsense they're doing to Windows. Whoever is in charge of the OS clearly does not care. If I were manning the ship…

I've been using linux as my primary desktop for the past 20 years. Is it perfect? No, but it's damned powerful for development, fast, and fully customizable. Ironically, my love of linux on the desktop has also kept me gaming on console. I've strongly considered building a pc and the thought of having to use windows (proton has come a long way, but a lot of games I'd like to play aren't supported) is enough to give m…

Yeah, dual booting for gaming is a pain. That's why I do most of my gaming in a Windows 10 VM these days. I pass through a GPU and use looking glass for I/O and it's great! I just have Windows living on one of my virtual desktops and can instantly switch between games and host applications.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this response kind of puzzling. I'm telling you about my subjective use of iOS. As far as I'm concerned, the App Store is a core part of iOS. iOS isn't a useful OS without the App Store. I can't install apps or manually update them without seeing ads. It's not really a matter of definitions, it's simply a matter of how I use iOS. I've prefaced all my comments on this subject by pointing out that I'm describing…

It completely makes sense to find ads for apps in the App Store.

I don't see ads in F-droid, so clearly it doesn't make that much sense.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#306
Old Microsoft is back, unashamed to aggressively push their own services from a still monopolistic platform. What this tells us is that tech regulation is a joke, fallen asleep.

They were fined for this exact practice a long time ago. To simply do it again in this fearless way is really telling. They're confident that they can get away with it.

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been looking more and more at this since I got a Steam Deck and found surprisingly good compatibility on almost every game. If Steam OS was made available for your run-of-the-mill gaming rig I'd install it in a heartbeat and give it an earnest test run. That said, there is still a latent unease from my last misadventure with a Linux gaming PC from 2017, which ended in a LOT of restarting into Windows whenever th…

I haven't tried it yet but: https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown My only speedbump at this point is non-steam games, specifically in my case overwatch2 and diablo4. Can I run the battlenet launcher and it's games on steam os .. can i do it and not be banned by their 'anti cheat' spyware?

I saw that page right after I made the comment and googled it, but it seemed a little light on details and I was suspicious that it was the old Steam Machines distro as opposed to the frankly quite pleasant distro on the Steam Deck.

EDIT: Yep [1], it looks like that page is for the old SteamOS

[1] https://repo.steampowered.com/steamos/README.txt

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#308

Do people not realize how easy these are to turn off? I've been running Windows 11 for over a year and haven't seen a single ad.

I shouldn’t have to “turn off” ads in the first place.

Why am I paying $100+ for Windows Pro if they’re still gonna plop ads onto my desktop by default?

Re: Microsoft plugging more ads into Windows 11 Start Menu

#309

It’s funny for what is essentially a ‘file manager’ Microsoft makes it hell to manage your files. My friends and family and constantly confused by the 10 different interfaces there are for file management. Desktops are a mess of of half trash files. The cloud integration the file explorer is a confusing mess. The UI for saving a file from Office is the absolute worst. I’ve had to help someone just save a file and it…

Same for "My Documents". If they are mine, then why are 7 trillion programs and processes dumping their random garbage in it?

Or how about Modern office programs, where saving something to disk instead of the cloud is now many clicks away.

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