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De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

arstechnica.com

61–70 of 347 posts

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#61

Suppose you are buying a new laptop ... does anyone else feel sad that their operating system has effectively turned into some weird social media marketing tracking data harvesting hybrid of a thing? But in the name of progress and security, you can't stay on Windows 10. So for me it's this weird middle ground right now .. waiting for either Windows to U-turn, die out, or for more work apps to port to OS X.

Sure wish there were some kind of free and open source alternative written by human beings

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#62

> Microsoft's post notes that Windows uses the region picked during Windows install to offer the EEA-exclusive options. Only a PC reset can undo the options. Looks like I will be telling Windows that I live in the EEA next time I install.

I too will only install Windows in Ireland from now on.

Unless they changed something substantial, that is where you buy it from.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#63
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a mac for the first time this year. Honestly, it feels like taking a shower after getting home from the beach on a sunny day when you've been wearing sunscreen. Everything just works with no extra garbage, no constant intrusive updates, no hassle. The only issue I had was the lack of alt-tab, and that was solved by an app called alt-tab.

I find macOS annoying no matter what I do. AltTab is nice, but the window management still sucks in my opinion. The security bandages used to work around traditional desktop security models makes it feel incredibly annoying to use; I'll try to set a keyboard shortcut (not a global one mind you) in iTerm2 and suddenly I need to enable iTerm2 to have accessibility access? Disabling SIP is needed for a myriad of things…

> and suddenly I need to enable iTerm2 to have accessibility access?

This is a strange thing to complain about, you have to do it literally once and it takes less than 5 seconds and 5 clicks. And I would rather have a nice settings panel showing what apps have access to what, rather than the mess that is Windows privacy settings.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#64
post #22
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a few minutes you can make Windows 11 look pretty close to Windows 7 (or 10) by disabling personalization, content , widgets, new tab content. In edge disable all of the new tools and bing integration. You’re right about the hassle of doing it manually, and I wish there were a global “Windows 2k mode” that ran the OS as lean as possible.

> In a few minutes That's a pretty big understatement to be honest. I don't use Windows anymore, but I still occasionally set up Windows for other people and there's so many annoyances that it's difficult to even enumerate all of them. Off the top of my head: - MSEdgeRedirect to stop Windows from opening Edge even when it's not your defualt browser. - Shutup10++ to quickly disable a bunch of crapware/unwanted feature…

Takes less than a few minutes with this PowerShell script:

https://github.com/n1snt/Windows-Debloater

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#65
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for apple music constantly popping up?

This has never happened to me. I exclusively listen to music on my phone, and work every day on my Mac. I have never had the Music app open itself up, not once. Nor I have I experienced anything that is even related to music, such as asking me to subscribe to a service.

It doesn't pop up on its own, but it is the default response to a lot of actions.

Accidentally press the play button? Apple Music. Charge your iphone through your computer? Apple Music.

I find it pretty annoying, but it is also easy to eliminate the default behavior

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#66
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a mac for the first time this year. Honestly, it feels like taking a shower after getting home from the beach on a sunny day when you've been wearing sunscreen. Everything just works with no extra garbage, no constant intrusive updates, no hassle. The only issue I had was the lack of alt-tab, and that was solved by an app called alt-tab.

I got my first mac through work this year and I hate the UI. It's very nice that it doesn't come with as much bloat (but it does still come it, e.g., Apple news, music, etc). I absolutely hate the window management. Inconsistent behavior on double click of the title bar (Chrome maximizes and Slack doesn't) is annoying. Lack of snapping and tiling (a la super-arrow) drives me nuts. That command-tab will switch me to a…

> Inconsistent behavior on double click of the title bar (Chrome maximizes and Slack doesn't) is annoying.

This is actually on third party app devs, not apple. Note that double-clicking the titlebar works the same in stock apps, as well as in most mac-only native apps.

Cross-platform apps like Slack often hide the native titlebar and draw their own which doesn’t implement all the native behaviors or even try to mimic them. Papercuts like this are part of why Mac users are more likely to be discontent with cross-platform apps.

For many Electron apps a decent work around is to install them as PWAs, which can be done with both Safari (File > Add to Dock…) or your preferred Chrome-cousin. Those draw proper titlebars.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#67

Suppose you are buying a new laptop ... does anyone else feel sad that their operating system has effectively turned into some weird social media marketing tracking data harvesting hybrid of a thing? But in the name of progress and security, you can't stay on Windows 10. So for me it's this weird middle ground right now .. waiting for either Windows to U-turn, die out, or for more work apps to port to OS X.

It all makes sense once you know that Windows 11 actually started out as a tool to help medical schools train doctors to spot symptoms of stroke, Microsoft Stroke Simulator 2019.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#69
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun thought experiment: How would you disable access to your website after someone refuses your cookies? iow, you should always click NO.

If they don’t send a cookie, pop up the banner. If they click No, redirect them to another site. If they click yes, save the cookie.

What if they visit the same site again? Can you just ask again and again?

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#70

Suppose you are buying a new laptop ... does anyone else feel sad that their operating system has effectively turned into some weird social media marketing tracking data harvesting hybrid of a thing? But in the name of progress and security, you can't stay on Windows 10. So for me it's this weird middle ground right now .. waiting for either Windows to U-turn, die out, or for more work apps to port to OS X.

Xubuntu is excellent
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