That was my reaction when I read about them pulling copilot and such. I think it's probably the reaction of every software nerd.
this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026
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Too little to late.. I already left and fell in love with Linux
Welcome! Isn't it a breath of fresh air to use an OS that isn't trying to turn your computer into an advertising and upselling platform? It has its issues, but it's a huge relief to escape the constant inundation from Microsoft.
(Obligatory: I use arch BTW)
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Welcome to the club buddy! we've been waiting for you!
Same here. Got fed up after every damned update to subscribe to this, want to setup backup to cloud, setup office. Switched to Linux and now not a single subscription popup in sight. It’s been bliss. Spent the weekend with the misses sorting out 30 years of photos and getting to know exif editor 🫣
[edit] exif not exit editor.
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What sucks is - windows is the easiest to jump off. There are tons of viable alternatives.
There is nothing for mobile.
I mean. There ARE mobile os options. Just you need to have very specific phones, and they're all old and outdated tech.
Yup, and getting fewer every day.
There are some projects (postmarketOS and half a dozen people forking it for other distros) trying to get kernel and drivers worked out, Linux is still sadly lacking at a bunch of the best tricks Android and IOS use to save power (most notably freezing applications), we'll get there eventually.
The Halium stuff +Ubuntu ports works if all you're worried about is privacy and as you said have a supported phone.
Postmarket can't make it through the morning on a charge. Halium is Android kernel and drivers and also has power issues if you decide to run android apps. Neither one can do anything with NFC.
But they do exist. It does give me hope that people are actively working on these projects, useless for daily driving or not. In a better timeline we'd have more than 2 properly viable mobile OS options.
Yeah, I guess I came off more negative than hopeful. Supposedly on of the big phone makers is partnering with someone doing pocket linux, and there's Furi, Jolla and Volla. The real shining star is the EU rights causing (many/most/all?) phones there to be able to be unlocked and open to flashing. But open for the US is getting much more rare, and with oneplus' recent hardware fuse breaking on flashing, I'm just feeling like (amongst many other things here) we're losing the battle to privacy and open hardware.
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The Start menu has gotten worse with every update. It is getting ridiculous.
I can no longer click start > type in the program I need > hit enter.
Start menu, you had one job!
Why not? What has changed? My start menu functions just as it did in w7, the only gripe I have is that by default it tries to search Internet before PC. Simple solution: disable web search in start menu. Once u configure the w11 start menu properly it's no different than in precious versions! It is a shame they push the suggested apps and internet search crap but once u debloat it it's pretty much refreshed 7 with support for modern hardware.
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I think it's really easy for Lemmy users to assume that the general population has the same technological interest and literacy that they do.
The Windows 11 users they are talking about are from an /r/pcmasterrace thread.
The vast, vast majority of consumers don't give a shit. They don't care enough to even think about whether their computer is actually secure, they don't care that they don't own their OS, and they don't care that AI is being shoved in.
Their computer is a magic box to them, and they don't care to know more.
I am not a tech wizard. As soon as my new minipc got home with Windows 11, I installed CachyOS on it. I found out later that it's based on one of the "difficult" Linux variants, but everything went super smoothly (I might have just been lucky. i don't know, don't take this as advice!).
Yes I had to follow a few instructions on creating an installation USB key. That was the hardest part. But my relationship with windows had become too abusive. I do want my computer to "just work" and let me do my stuff, but that's not what windows is doing any longer
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I do think the vast majority of users see things like copliot all over the OS, and then watch their PC run like shit, and assume it's the new fandagled thing ruining their experience regardless of whether they care about AI or not.
Especially if they update and the entire computer is then broken, like with the recent bug where it would break particular SSDs.
That wasn't a Microsoft issue. It was a bad driver from the company.
I'm well versed, been in IT for decades, and my only substantial gripes about 11 (when it launched) were the removal of taskbar features and the capitalism issues with the store, ads, and telemetry. And I suppose the unreliability of the OS to update itself is just fucking embarrassing.
Now with the AI BS and their fuck you, you'll get nothing and like it attitude, I'm now actively against them. Except for farming and selling your data and not being able to reliably update eating hours of users time, I don't really care all that much. They're trying to be secure, they could do a lot better.
Win 10 was serviceable, apps worked, developers tested against it, it wasn't hard to look after a herd of them. Updates were still shit, but it's been that way since 8.
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Windows 11 felt like a downgrade before all the AI bs. Microsoft values me more as an advertising opportunity than a customer.
I had avoided it until late last year when I had to reinstall a friend's borked install after it had somehow managed to shred its registry hives.
Holy shit. That installer is an embarrassment. First it couldn't get past the first reboot until I found out that you can set it to use what looks like the Windows 7 installer for the first steps. Then I had to deal with a dog slow installer that needs half a dozen reboots for some unfathomable reason. Then an endless cavalcade of sales prompts, including one for an Office subscription where they try to hide the price from you. All to end in, well, Windows 11.
I simultaneously installed Fedora Kinoite on his old laptop. I don't think the Fedora installer is one of the better ones but it was so much easier and faster to set up the machine that it was almost comical.
Seeing both systems side by side really drives home just how clunky Windows is. And how Microsoft installers are barely better than they were 15 years ago, but now they have ads.
I read "reevaluating its AI strategy on Windows 11" as "finding a more subtle way to shove that botulistic sausage down their customers throats".
Yeah, exactly, they never said they are removing any AI. Just will be slapping some paint on it.
botulistic sausage
Epic new band name
Or Roblox username!
It does sound kind of like those randomly generated Xbox live usernames from back in the day
Microsoft's promises to fix the OS and stop pushing AI
Never heard such a promise.
Do you believe them that they gonna stop AI? It's a billion investment that needs results for the shareholders!
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Windows 11 feels like Microsoft is actively punishing me for being foolish enough to keep using their products. Adding some janky AI bullshit machine to this garbage fire feels now they're just taking the piss.
No joke, one of the last straws for me was their stupid copilot popup on the active cell in Excel. Hated that garbage. Also their refusal to let me just use the file explorer to save my files. Maybe I'm an old fogey, but every new addition felt like a step backwards. I have now switched to Linux and am having a decent time (not for everyone tho and I totes understand if others don't want to make the switch).
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They'll stop pushing AI by integrating it throughout the system similar to how Internet Explorer is tied to everything. Except much more invasive.
Their goal is certainly not reducing AI, it's making it seamlessly incorporated in everything you do.
The last REALLY good Windows was Windows 2000... and i am going to defend this hill until you take this yellowed out PS/2 keyboard out of my cold dead hands.
Curious now, why 2000 ?
Why not xp ( after sp2 ) or windows 7?
I'm a big 2000 fan but yeah xp was mostly just 2000 with a more consumer oriented gui. 7 might actually be better, can't think of any specific downgrades from 2000 to 7
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I'll believe it when I see it
Why? Why even wanna see it? Just walk away, go to Linux, and find that suddenly you own your computer again
there's no chance my company stops using Windows any time soon
and until then, I need MS to stop doing their goddamn best to make it impossible for me to do my job
Unless you are locked in by hardware or some very specific software, you can make a very compelling case on how much your company can save on MS licenses every year.
Unfortunately it wouldn't be practical as it would mean replacing and replicating everything that exists on SharePoint, Azure, Power BI and a multitude of other MS services used by thousands of users.
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Great news, you don't have to bother, just switch to Linux. I did, and I don't have to spend a single moment worrying about what Microsoft is doing to their garbage.
Sorry, I can't hear you over all the Linux on my computers since last year. Did you say "promises to shit on the OS and super push AI?" Yeah, sounds about right for Microslop.
Weell...
Microsoft my sweet summer child, it's not just the ai. It's the Spyware wrapped in a Windows shell. Call me when I can install without needing an MS account.
even being cynical towards microsoft at this point looks to me like sheepish adoration. If you have any hope that microsoft might start doing better you are naive.
In this update this month they prioritized the app store over local results. I tried to type powershell (work computer) on the start menu, and now it offers me the app store link BEFORE my installed powershell. Yeah I'm sure they're going to change course.
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I also wonder how much of this was spurred by Linux even beginning to come to the mainstream mind and how simple most distros are to just install and run (Bazzite, CachyOS, Linux Mint).
You've always had Linux go around tech circles, forums, enthusiasts, etc. but big YouTube channels out of that circle are talking about it and hardware manufacturers are distributing it in place of Windows in the case of the Steam Deck, and it's just building more and more momentum.
I think it's easy to take for granted how (relatively) mainstream Linux is getting, but if you think today how many people talk about *BSD, that was Linux not even 10 years ago.