Windows 11 is now an ad platform--this is why we're here

I urge everyone to install linux on an old notebook and see if it works for you with firefox as a browser and thunderbird for emails

first boot: no i don't want a 365 trial.

still first boot: no i don't want 365 'basic', either.

(you should know this msa already has a one-off office license on it, you fuckwits)

and yea, still in first boot: no i don't want game pass trial.

then game pass notifications shortly after from the 'store'.

this was this past weekend setting up a new desktop with 11 pro.

I love ads. I love what Microsoft and the likes are doing.

Said no one ever

I want to ditch Windows, I really do, but when I get free time I want to either play a game or tinker on some side project. I don’t want to fiddle with drivers and what not for my OS. A year ago I killed a few weekends trying to get a Ubuntu partition nice and cozy for gaming but I got fed up fighting with all kinds of issues on basic things. The fact that games actually running correctly on Linux is hit-or-miss as well... It’s a hard sell (even though it’s free). Microsoft seems to be hell-bent on convincing me to try out some other Linux distro at some point though.

We are introducing a new Game Pass recommendation card on the Settings homepage.

They are saying like they just invented something amazing, yet they are just pushing a fucking ad.

The Game Pass recommendation card on Settings Homepage will be shown to you if you actively play games on your PC.

How would you know what we actively do on our PCs, huh? Huh???

Good news is that you can turn off most ads, including app promotions in Windows 11's start menu.

For now, but you have to be extremely naive to believe they don't plan to change this as soons as they reach a certain number of users. They already did things like that in the past.

Small businesses that can’t afford a dedicated IT department and pro licenses are gonna love this. I’m sure Linux will pick up more users but the real winner will likely be Apple and Macs.

At this rate we maybe forced to watch a 1 minute unskippable ad before logging in

I'm very glad that my definitely-100%-legit copy of Windows 10 seems to have no idea how to upgrade to 11. It still gets other updates, my hardware is definitely compatible. The thought of upgrading to 11 just never seems to enter its mind. I suspect I'll be sticking with Windows 10 for a long, long time, until either Microsoft give up on this ridiculous idea in response to customer backlash, or Linux becomes a viable option for my usecase (Nvidia GPU, lots of proprietary software that I need to use for university and future career). It wouldn't be the first time I've held onto an older version of Windows for a protracted period of time, skipping a dreadful iteration or two, and then upgrading when Microsoft have learned their lesson.

Honestly, kinda glad that my win10 PC “doesn’t have the specs” to run win11. Stupid, because I’m running an 18-core Xeon w/ 128 gigs of ram and a 2070 super, but of course the stupid TPM chip. But oh well, guess I won’t be able to get ads on my own product.

The bummer is I’ll likely need to install it on something because I occasionally need to go back to windows to use certain programs… maybe someday wine will work well enough to actually use reliably…

cue the "one of our devs slipped and fell on a keyboard, completely coincidentally hitting all the right keys in the right order to code this. Completely coincidentally! "

Help your friends install linux today!

I regret upgrading to 11 on my home machine. I want to either go back to 10, or just migrate to Linux Mint. Only two things stopping me from jumping is a) My graphics are Nvidia, and b) making time for it.

3 things I'm still looking to get in one distro and Windows will be gone. Not looking to have my desk/lap turn into another ad platform like phones did.

Easy drive mapping for remote shares, most have this but some are a bit clunky.

Solid games support, mostly a WINE thing. One called Bazzite looks promising with a pile of pre-configured profiles.

Easy and reliable connection to a DC so the same creds can be used across multiple machines. This is probably the hardest part in Nix at this point.

Otherwise pretty well every app I use is web based and hosted on some local server, or has a Nix native variant.

I am someone that is a Microsoft professional by trade and have been for about 20 years. I have absorbed everything that Microsoft has ever done in the Windows, Server and Cloud ecosystems, but Windows 11 was what really broke this lovely glass dream.

Under Windows 10, I was ale to create a custom image and use advanced policies to block the crap, Windows 11 on the other hand you can still do the same but with every update, it reverts settings back to their "default" without notification or even recorded information.

I would say to anyone that has the "but Windows is better for gaming..." you are living in the 00s to early 10s! With the Wine program and Valves Proton program, I am able to run all games that I own (1000+ games... I am a Valve sales bundle addict alright?!?). I am able to play games such as Star Citizen, Planetside 2, PalWorld, Helldivers 2 with a few clicks of a button, and only a couple of clicks if the game is Proton gold or above.

From my testing on several distros I would say start with something friendly such as Mint Cinnamon or PopOS (linux die hards, remember not everyone wants to spend time figuring things out on a daily basis and these OS from my experience are the most Windows-esque - i mean I started with Garuda and I am stubborn to learn it instead of jumping to another distro). Then spend a bit of time just getting the basics of a Linux system of your choice, such as the file system and how to install packages (apps). Don't forget you also have platforms such as YouTube that people will show you click for click on what to do!

But... yes there is a but.... if you have an nVidia GPU your experience might not be as smooth. If you want to take a leap and have the best experience, have at least an AMD GPU and even better an AMD system. Unfortunately this is purely on nVidia still having their finger up their ass on open source drivers.

Makes me really glad that my Win 10 machine can’t be upgraded – despite upgrading to Win 11 being one of the selling points when I bought it. It may have something to do with the kludge to make Home accept a group policy. I’m also quite happy; I never intended to install Win 11 on it, so stopping the reminders that it’s ready to go was a blessing.

I’ve always planned to replace Windows with Linux anyway. Mint, either Ubuntu or Debian flavor, has been a great replacement on my 2008-era Macbook (still in use) after Apple pulled a similar stunt 15 years ago. I see no reason not to take the same route with more modern Dells. With advances in Wine for gaming, there's not much I need to do that Firefox and LibreOffice don't handle.

Probably something that could be dns blocked. Hopefully anyway.

How long before the majority of game development is defaulting to Linux/Unix instead of windows? Getting native Linux games to run on windows is only becoming easier and easier with WSL? To me it seems like less of a hastle than trying to go the other way like we do today with proton and wine. Can someone enlighten me?

Sheesh, talk about overreaction.

Almost all commercial software are advertising their manufacturers other stuff. Ever installed a graphics card driver? How many ads does that show for games and software that can run on the card? Steam also pushes sales by pop-up advertisements.

Google has been fined multiple times because they went much further than just advertising their own stuff.

Can you disable ads on an ad platform with a single setting? Didn't think so.

So no, Windows 11 is not an ad platform, not even close.

It's called "upselling" isn't it?

Anti Commercial-AI license

some are talking about this like it’s going to be the straw that breaks the camels back and suddenly everyone will flock to a Linux distro, but, realistically, most market share is based on what companies use for work stations, and companies ain’t gonna change unless it starts to seriously impact productivity or it cost them more.

For personal/freelance-work computers, some people will just suck it up because of inertia. Of those who just can’t stand it… most will probably buy a mac next time they get a computer. There will probably be an increase in Linux usership, but it’s probably gonna be a 5-1% change in market share, depending on how fucked 11 ends up being as time goes on.

Probably the biggest increase in market share will be from schools adopting chrome books or the like.

this is just proof that the internet will complain about the most meaningless things.

Carls Jr Microsoft Windows. Fuck you, I'm eating!