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Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

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Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#181

Post by jpk2f2 »

koyote wrote: post #141
socalgal2 wrote: post #117

I'm sure I will regret this, something will change and I'll be "F.U. Win11!". But, I'm on Windows 11 Pro (upgraded from Windows 10 Pro) and I have barely noticed a difference. Maybe because it's Windows Pro, not Home? Maybe because I have 2 profiles. The one I used to install it which required a microsoft account, and a separate, local only account which is the one I use always. I can't remember the last time I had t…

Some things that any semi-power user will notice and get angry at: * Needing internet and a microsoft account to install the OS * Start menu now requiring two clicks to get to programs list * Right-click requiring two clicks to get to the options you most likely want to use (e.g. 7z unzip or opening in a specific program) * Task manager being slow and laggy * Random ads asking you to install a game pop up in the noti…

I largely agree with your points, but in this context -

* A microsoft account is only needed for Windows 11 Home. A "semi-power user" is hopefully not using that edition of Windows...

* I'm also greatly annoyed by the right click - but holding shift when right-clicking opens the expected menu, removing the extra click requirement.

Some of my own annoyances though:

* The taskbar/windows button seems to just...crash...sometimes. It'll eventually restart, but extremely annoying. Left clicking taskbar icons still works, but right clicks or the start button don't work as expected.

* Additional clicks to change audio devices...drives me crazy on my main system.

* I like the autosaving aspect of notepad, but they've killed the main reason I used it - an instantaneous, lightweight text app. It's still quick, but is noticeably slower.

* Settings and Control Panel is still a mess, and even less usable than Windows 10 was.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#182

Post by beeflet »

Cu3PO42 wrote: post #176
edg5000 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you want to store secrets that don't need a user password to unlock and can't be stolen by taking apart the computer, you need a TPM I had a Win 7 system and just entered a password on boot, this decrypted the disk. It was supported without mods or TPM (maybe some registry tweaks though). On Ubuntu I do the same, no need for TPM. Am I missing something? My disk is encrypted. If they take it apart, they need my p…

The important part in the parent is "that don't need a user password". You just said you had to supply a (user) password. With a TPM you can set it up that your disk is unlocked automatically, but only if no-one changed anything in the signed boot chain. This is the default with Bitlocker on Windows and is also possible on Linux, though somewhat more finicky.

but why bother? I can fit enough entropy in my head to make my hard drive uncrackable, and I can back up my data even if some chip breaks.

It's just added complexity and corporate control so people can use worse passwords

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#183

Post by nobody9999 »

rolph wrote: post #83
gerdesj wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't bother - no idea what your parent is up to. Linux - the kernel is GPL 2 - that means you can use it to your heart's content. If you make changes, it would be nice if you shared them, please do. A Linux distro will generally have a similar license. Again the idea is that positive changes that you make are made available to everyone. That is the idea of the GNU Public License: If you take our freely available stu…

so if someone takes our freely available stuff, bundles it with a newly assembled system, and sells them, at a marked up price, like normal business does, it wont be an issue if no mention is made of GPL2 and what that means for the end user. the idea that positive changes are made available to everyone, is not yet broadly salient. at least now, poster is probably aware of that condition. you seem to be up on GPL2 ,…

>you seem to be up on GPL2 , what happens when someone packages distros on disk or stick, and sells them for profit ? thats something to be aware of as well.

Assuming that someone has customers, they have a viable business model, that's what happens.

That was, in fact, the business model of most Linux distros before we were all terminally online.

Don't be shy. Tell us what you're concerned about and why you think that's an issue.

Are you implying some sort of illegality or breach of license?

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#184

Post by wbpaelias »

sitharus wrote: post #93
d3Xt3r wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OnlyOffice might be a better option here - its UI is similar to MS Office, and it has a much better MS Office file format compatibility compared to LibreOffice.

I've never heard of OnlyOffice, but that really looks quite promising. I'll have a deeper look at it later, but even though it's all webapp based it can't really be slower than libreoffice...

They have desktop apps too, in my machine I'm only using the desktop stuff.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#185

Post by silisili »

koyote wrote: post #141
socalgal2 wrote: post #117

I'm sure I will regret this, something will change and I'll be "F.U. Win11!". But, I'm on Windows 11 Pro (upgraded from Windows 10 Pro) and I have barely noticed a difference. Maybe because it's Windows Pro, not Home? Maybe because I have 2 profiles. The one I used to install it which required a microsoft account, and a separate, local only account which is the one I use always. I can't remember the last time I had t…

Some things that any semi-power user will notice and get angry at: * Needing internet and a microsoft account to install the OS * Start menu now requiring two clicks to get to programs list * Right-click requiring two clicks to get to the options you most likely want to use (e.g. 7z unzip or opening in a specific program) * Task manager being slow and laggy * Random ads asking you to install a game pop up in the noti…

Oh goodness yes. I was forced from Linux to W11 Pro for my new job. Use wsl2 they said, it'll be fine.

And wsl2 is mostly fine. But that doesn't stop the rest of the OS from being a dumpster fire. Why is it asking me to install or play Xbox games constantly? It feels like I have malware...

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#186

Post by kortilla »

rolph wrote: post #83
gerdesj wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't bother - no idea what your parent is up to. Linux - the kernel is GPL 2 - that means you can use it to your heart's content. If you make changes, it would be nice if you shared them, please do. A Linux distro will generally have a similar license. Again the idea is that positive changes that you make are made available to everyone. That is the idea of the GNU Public License: If you take our freely available stu…

so if someone takes our freely available stuff, bundles it with a newly assembled system, and sells them, at a marked up price, like normal business does, it wont be an issue if no mention is made of GPL2 and what that means for the end user. the idea that positive changes are made available to everyone, is not yet broadly salient. at least now, poster is probably aware of that condition. you seem to be up on GPL2 ,…

Yes, you are allowed to sell devices with Linux on them. I’m shocked that you think otherwise. Android is pushing Linux to billions of devices and doesn’t have to pay anything.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#187

Post by jpk2f2 »

erentz wrote: post #180
koyote wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some things that any semi-power user will notice and get angry at: * Needing internet and a microsoft account to install the OS * Start menu now requiring two clicks to get to programs list * Right-click requiring two clicks to get to the options you most likely want to use (e.g. 7z unzip or opening in a specific program) * Task manager being slow and laggy * Random ads asking you to install a game pop up in the noti…

> And then there's little bugs everywhere that just grind away at you on a daily basis: When I create a new folder or file in a directory in explorer it hangs for a bit and doesn’t show up unless I click refresh. Ditto if I save a file to a directory that is open in explorer. Thinking about trying to get a copy of Win 10 IoT LTSC instead at this point.

You don't need IoT, just the normal LTSC (2027, and then security updates until 2032, iirc). And there are easy ways to swap to it, present on GitHub...

Main downside is other applications dropping support for 10, if relevant. I only swapped my main system due to Fusion 360 notifying me they were dropping 10 in January 2026.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#188

Post by Dylan16807 »

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #108

Nobody thinks this is a weird reaction to an OS update that's been out for years at this point and barely makes a difference over the previous version? There's no 'Recall'. Co-pilot isn't all over in your face so removing it isn't really a priority. Edge isn't forced on you, it's just part of the bundled software just like a bunch of other items as in every Windows for decades. Not saying it doesn't get hairy if you'…

> been out for years

Because now is the real push to get everyone off 10.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#189

Post by bigstrat2003 »

foxandmouse wrote: post #81
Aurornis wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Make sure libreoffice is included Probably an unpopular thing to say here, but in my experience pushing non-tech people to use libreoffice as part of a Linux transition is a fast track to getting them to hate Linux. Using Google Docs has been much more welcoming in my experience. Something about libreoffice doesn’t resonate with a lot of non-tech people.

Couldn’t agree more, if you’re pitching Linux to a non-technical user, you need a gentler off-ramp, not a cliff dive. LibreOffice is a UI time capsule..more archaeology than productivity. Most millennials would think they’d accidentally opened a flight simulator.

> LibreOffice is a UI time capsule

I'll grant that it's personal preference and OP should do what his customers prefer, but what you said is a good thing. UIs have sucked for some time now, so something which deliberately uses an older style is generally far superior.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#190

Post by somerandomqaguy »

tombert wrote: post #128

Even if I didn't give a shit about the privacy stuff, I would like to just reiterate something I said a few days ago. My mom got an automatic update to Windows 11, and it bricked her computer. It wouldn't boot; it would spin and then say it needed to go into repair mode, and then doing repair mode didn't do anything. My initial thought was that the disk was hosed, but of course my parents had a bunch of priceless doc…

There was a live USB version of windows; Windows to Go. Microsoft stopped supporting it about 6 years ago for some reason.
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