Hello Linux my old friend..........

Windows was kind of cool until Windows XP (Windows 2000 was also really good), because at the time you felt like you had software where you could see that lots of engineering went into it, and most importantly that you could feel you owned (EULA-aside obviously): you pay once for the license and it's done, the OS is immediately usable. Recent Windows versions went through enshittification and Microsoft now harasses you from time to time to join their online services. Even on the first boot you immediately get harassed to create a Microsoft account and allow them to use your data, and you need to say no many times. Microsoft still makes you feel like you aren't done paying.

It's frankly hilarious how Microsoft is killing its own product. Windows went from something that used to be good and felt like a real software engineering product (Windows 2000 and XP) to something now that feels like a sketchy malware-infused phone app.

Ha! They can blow me all the way to my full Linux conversion at that point.

How to lose marketshare speedrun?

I have been using computers since before there was an internet. I have used DOS and now Windows 10. Is there a good place to learn about Linux with a GUI and which one I should purchase? I'm so tired of M$.

Edit: I am primarily a PC gamer that uses Steam and this is what has kept me from using another OS in the past.

That will be the final kick in the pants I need to switch to QubesOS. How much fucking money do they actually need?

If they do this. I'm going to use WINE on QubesOS...but then again. If the only penalty for not paying is ads, there's going to be ways of blocking those.

I L O L from Linux.

Subscriptions need to fuck off. I made a stand a few months ago. I will not subscribe to anything at all unless i'm getting INSANE value.

Cancelled streaming, random apps, patreon etc. I now have usenet and backblaze b2 for about £3 a month each. Saving me a fortune 🏴‍☠️🦜

I don't think this is anyway a serious option. They aren't idiots.

Microsoft please make the default OS a subscription. I want what happened to Reddit+Lemmy+etc to happen to Windows+Linux

I doubt that Windows 12 itself will require a subscription. There will probably be a subscription for all the AI trash Micro$oft has been implementing into the OS.

I'm probably going to get flammed for this, so let me just say I'm already a Linux user.

We need to cool our jets here. Windows 12 isn't even confirmed yet, and there's no proof that it will require a subscription. That being said, a subscription service isn't necessarily a bad thing if it will allow users to have access to features they need, or replace other existing subscription services like xbox game pass, cloud storage, media, etc...

I've seen some people saying that there's no way Microsoft is this stupid. Some really, really, really obviously bad choices (see: Wizards of the Coast's OGL debacle) have been made because MBAs got greedy and convinced themselves it would be fine. I find it hard to believe that Microsoft would fuck up this badly, but it's not out of the spectrum of possibility. What I think is more likely is that this is one of those 'leaks' where they're testing the public reaction, like when Wizards leaked the changes to the OGL via journalists. Hopefully (or not, if you're a Linux fan) Microsoft plays it smarter than Wizards, because Wizards saw the immense public backlash, gave the sorriest corporate half apology ever, and then proceeded to double down, and it blew up in their face big time.

If only Photoshop and After Effects worked on Linux / Wine I wouldve switched long ago..

Proton will be ready by then.

Honestly OneDrive is actually very good as far as cloud storage platforms go. It just works. I paid for a subscription for a few years.

But starting around the 1000th time Microsoft tried to install even more bloatware I started looking for alternatives. For the low low price of "spend a few minutes learning about Tailscale" and buying a few extra hard drives, I've got 24TB of storage. My most important stuff gets encrypted locally and backed up to B2. I use Immich to manage my photos, so now I dropped my Google Drive subscription as well. Still on the fence about Nextcloud's office suites but LibreOffice works great.

The only reason I still use Win11 is because gaming on Linux still has some issues with the games I play.

It's Linux time then.

Yeah, I'll just get Linux.

They are doing the same with Windows that they did with Office. Win12 will come as either one time purchase or subscription based but over the course of 10 years they'll push harder and harder on getting people into the subscription version. Once it has enough uptake, and it will get there, they will then start pushing the "Why run it on local hardware when you can put it in our cloud and access it from anywhere?".

They're already doing the Virtual Desktop thing in both M365 and Azure now so it'll be a pretty easy transition when comes.