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My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

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Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you remove glibc in Linux, it will start breaking too.

Onedrive is not a core windows component. It’s not a dependency of other applications. It’s just a Dropbox replacement. Windows works, and has always worked, just fine without onedrive. Microsoft just doesn’t want you to know that, because they are obsessed with the idea of upselling you on subscription based cloud services.

> Onedrive is not a core windows component.

Unfortunately this is changing in the wrong direction for you or I.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#302

About a year ago I dumped Windows from my personal PC for good. I ran a Linux desktop at work for a decade, but my Steam collection get me with at least a bit of a tether to Microsoft. But Valve finally made Linux gaming a reality. I hope more people can make the switch someday because I'm quite happy with the system (Pop!_OS is my distro of choice these days).

My last version of Windows was 7. After that I used a MacBook for work for a few years, and I somewhat missed windows for gaming (but mainly used a PS4 during that time so I got by). Then, a few years ago, I switched exclusively to Linux (I’ve usually had a dual boot or a second machine running Linux, but it was rarely my exclusive OS), and haven’t looked back. I’ve since also got a Steam Deck which has completely re…

Would not say that Linux gaming works as well as Windows gaming. Plenty of things won't work in Proton, at least not out of the box, and you're kinda restricted to AMD GPUs. That's fine cause I don't play video games anymore, but people who really care about that will put up with a lot of MS's BS.

AoE2:DE is one example of incompatibility. Simple game (by modern standards) with no advanced anticheat.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#303

About a year ago I dumped Windows from my personal PC for good. I ran a Linux desktop at work for a decade, but my Steam collection get me with at least a bit of a tether to Microsoft. But Valve finally made Linux gaming a reality. I hope more people can make the switch someday because I'm quite happy with the system (Pop!_OS is my distro of choice these days).

The unfortunate side effect of valve supporting linux better is they seemingly gave up on mac os.

Apple was also kinda asking for it

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you remove glibc in Linux, it will start breaking too.

There’s actually a few different glibc replacements available for Linux. And if you think OneDrive is essential for Windows then I’d suggest you do a little reading on the history of Microsoft and how they falsely claim dependencies on their own software stacks. Especially the court cases around debundling IE4 with Win98, and DR-DOS vs Windows 95.

Well, "technically" - it wasn't a false claim. It WAS dependent on IE and other things. It didn't have to be dependent - MS made it that way on purpose, so things would stop working without (even though the dependency didn't need to be baked in).

It's akin to adding webview to your application to display a text file, even though you never would display an HTML file. It could have been done another way, but it wasn't.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cause it's not fun having to reboot every time you want to run a Windows program, especially if it means dealing with Windows nagging.

I can live with this if I occasionally want to play so-called “AAA” games. I don’t use Windows for anything else.

In a way, it's worse the less frequently you want to play, cause it means you'll have to wait for Windows updates every time. But it works.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#306

I can't even remove 'Recommended' from the start menu, not even on a Pro for Workstations. Every time I search on the start menu there is a web search, impossible to turn off. How is that acceptable? I install Edge Beta to test something, and the I uninstall it. All of the sudden my search provider in my normal Edge is reset. And the nagging everywhere. No I don't want 'back-up' my files (OneDrive is not backup, it's…

I am at a total loss as to why anyone is using windows in 2024.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some things I found helpful using Windows at work (at home I use Fedora): Debloat / Software Management: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil Command line software management (Scoop): https://pilabor.com/blog/2021/12/automate-windows-app-setup-... Comparison (Scoop/Chocolatey/Win-Get): https://daftdev.blog/2024/04/01/chocolatey-vs-scoop-vs-winge... I would also recommend starship ( https://starship.rs/…

PS sucks so I've always installed git bash and used it instead since I first discovered it ~12y ago Starship seems quite promising, this is the first time I'm seeing it. But I'm a bit confused on how it works, can you go into a bit more details? Can I use starship+ps to get all Unix and git tools or should I stick with my existing workflow with windows git bash?

Starship is just a fancy prompt that just happens to be crazy cross-platform (works on Linux, MacOS, and Windows shells), but it's super-informative, and easy to install/configure. Beyond that, you'll still need to choose a shell you prefer for when you want/need to use a terminal/console window for things. Contrary to popular belief, the shell is not obsolete by a longshot, even on Windows. On Windows, PowerShell is probably gonna be your best bet, as it's the current standard going forward. I use Starship on Fish shell on Linux and love it.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#308
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably all the executives, PMs, and designers all use Macs.

And half of software engineers (the other half have Linux laptops). I only use Windows as a game launcher (and I’m still on Windows 10), I don’t understand why anyone would need it anymore except games.

CAD software

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Onedrive is not a core windows component. It’s not a dependency of other applications. It’s just a Dropbox replacement. Windows works, and has always worked, just fine without onedrive. Microsoft just doesn’t want you to know that, because they are obsessed with the idea of upselling you on subscription based cloud services.

> Onedrive is not a core windows component. Unfortunately this is changing in the wrong direction for you or I.

I uninstalled onedrive from windows 11 and everything seems to work fine.

Don’t leave us in the dark. Is that option being removed in the future?

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use Windows Firewall to block outbound connections from the Start bar. It would be nice if some basic features like calculator would still work, but no luck.

If you have a w7 install the calc exe still works on 10/11

I think they mean calculation from the start menu search (on a default installation, it will Bing the calculation and show the search result, which I find absurd since it requires an internet connection to solve x+y). The calculator program still works fine offline, but is often overkill when you just want to quickly solve something

I'll note that Microsoft's PowerToys run solves this properly, just like MacOS's Spotlight and the built in search on most Linux desktops

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