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De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

arstechnica.com

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Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#221

Post by ahartmetz »

BlarfMcFlarf wrote: post #171
magnio wrote: post #53

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but how on earth did the EU pass a regulation[0] with such far-reaching implications? First Apple opening up to third-party app stores and RCS, now Microsoft giving users a bit more leeway. How come none of the big tech lobby against it in the EU? If it survives the waves of appeals, the DMA will probably change the entire technology landscape in the near future. Not that I'm complaining…

Because while corruption* is still rampant in the EU, it’s not at least directly protected by the constitution like in the USA, so occasionally some legislation that benefits normal folks over megacorporations manages to sneak through. *also known as lobbying with so much money you can buy millions of times as much “free” speech as everyone else.

IMO it's quite simple - lobbying works best at home. Most governments serve the interests of local industries more than they should, and Silicon Valley is quite obviously not in the EU. Apart from not employing many people and not paying a lot of taxes(!), some of SV companies' values are a little alien to Europeans.

Influencing a not completely corrupted government is not as simple as money in - laws out. That would work equally well everywhere.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#222

Post by throwaway2037 »

BlarfMcFlarf wrote: post #171
magnio wrote: post #53

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but how on earth did the EU pass a regulation[0] with such far-reaching implications? First Apple opening up to third-party app stores and RCS, now Microsoft giving users a bit more leeway. How come none of the big tech lobby against it in the EU? If it survives the waves of appeals, the DMA will probably change the entire technology landscape in the near future. Not that I'm complaining…

Because while corruption* is still rampant in the EU, it’s not at least directly protected by the constitution like in the USA, so occasionally some legislation that benefits normal folks over megacorporations manages to sneak through. *also known as lobbying with so much money you can buy millions of times as much “free” speech as everyone else.

In the EU, really? I can see it in the US, but the amount of lobbying spend in EU must be 1-2 orders of magnitude less.

Also, all highly advanced democracies have some lobbying. It is not viewed widely by political scientists as corruption.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#223

Post by karmakurtisaani »

Jean-Papoulos wrote: post #201

The EU just keeps winning on the big tech front, it seems. I'm honestly not sure how they keep doing it ; is the motivation to keep away influence from big tech ? Giving a bit of stick now so the carrot is more efficient later ?

They just care about EU citizens more than American tech companies. If they were European mega corporations, I'm sure it would be different.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#224

Post by pavlov »

hurril wrote: post #220
pavlov wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "the system carefully opened it for me to delight me with some low-quality not-even-local news" To be fair, Apple does this exact same thing on their operating system. On a freshly installed iPhone, swipe right at the home screen. It takes you to the widget screen which is loaded by default with Apple News showing random junk. Microsoft deserves the flak for turning Windows 11 into a billboard, but Apple isn't immu…

But they don't do the exact same thing at all. One comes preloaded with apps you didn't choose and news or ads right on the task bar. Apple does none of that.

Apple preloads the phone with commercial apps that I didn't ask for like Apple Music, and those apps will get automatically triggered for some content. They show news and other unsolicited content practically in the home screen (the widget screen is just a swipe away, every user will stumble there). What's the difference?

I think people are a bit blind to Apple's defaults. They compare a fresh Windows 11 install to their own customized iOS install with a decade of history, and conclude that Microsoft is so much worse. But the out of the box experience for a new user isn't all that different, IMHO. (MacOS is still better than Windows in many respects, but it's been steadily moving closer to iOS and comes with an ever-growing pile of Apple default apps loaded in the Dock and set as defaults.)

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#225

Post by globular-toast »

gloosx wrote: post #187

I remember the first time I used a Windows system last year after tens of years on Linux/OSX, and it was really a somewhat strange experience: the moment I connected the ethernet cable I was instantly looking at random flashy news articles from another part of the world. Not in the browser, not in some kind of "News" app, but right in my taskbar! The most amazing part is that I did not even have to click on it – the…

I'm glad I saw this coming over ten years ago and ditched Windows back then. I probably told people at the time and they laughed.

Imagine having advertising in your own home. Ugh!

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#226

Post by haspok »

gloosx wrote: post #187

I remember the first time I used a Windows system last year after tens of years on Linux/OSX, and it was really a somewhat strange experience: the moment I connected the ethernet cable I was instantly looking at random flashy news articles from another part of the world. Not in the browser, not in some kind of "News" app, but right in my taskbar! The most amazing part is that I did not even have to click on it – the…

The really shocking part of this is that people actually pay money for this experience. This reminds me of the adblocker wars: those who play smart and cheap are better off than those who play dumb and expensive. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#227

Post by johnsea »

makingstuffs wrote: post #33
just_boost_it wrote: post #23

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 know of this app which allows you to port that functionality: https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ Disclaimer: I have never used it, one of my colleagues mentioned it a while ago.

It works well; I use it together with Karabiner such that shortcuts are closer to what I have on Linux and Windows

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#228

Post by alok-g »

>> Camera, Cortana, and Photos can now be uninstalled

When a user would uninstall an app, would it actually be removed from the system, or just the icons and entries would be. Motivation for asking: Several built-in apps are listed in the Apps section of the settings as having just a few kB in size, which does not match how bloated in size apps typically are in the current times. I've seen mouse drivers occupy hundreds of MB. My guess is that the apps are much bigger than those kB values and the installed Apps settings section is set to let users believe otherwise.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#229

Post by vbeeaz »

magnio wrote: post #53

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but how on earth did the EU pass a regulation[0] with such far-reaching implications? First Apple opening up to third-party app stores and RCS, now Microsoft giving users a bit more leeway. How come none of the big tech lobby against it in the EU? If it survives the waves of appeals, the DMA will probably change the entire technology landscape in the near future. Not that I'm complaining…

Because the EU does not have a tech sector, so they can pass any tech regulations without any fear for blowback.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#230

Post by globular-toast »

aorth wrote: post #106

Fantastic! How do we get access to this "European" version of Windows 11? Asking for Europeans who don't live in Europe, and for non-Europeans everywhere who want less Bing, Edge, and upselling in their OS.

The European version is Linux, made in Finland!

(Ok, it's a joke and I know GNU is American too).

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