With how aggressive Microsoft is becoming with ads, services, and data collection they could at least make Windows itself free.
But no, you still have to pay £100+ per license to have the pleasure of putting up with this crap.
Piracy is not a real solution to the problem. Microsoft allows these sorts of things to exist in the background because they would rather lose out on some sales than lose market share.
Kinda the same thing as winrar. They rather have consumers get used to it so the companies they work at have a higher chance of buying licenses. That’s where the real money is.
Ding ding ding!
Like how Adobe puts minimal effort into protecting from cracks for their software.
They’d much rather have little Jimmy and a million others pirate PS at home and get used to the workflow, so that businesses pay out big recurring fees for Adobe’s tools, which they will if that’s what everybody knows how to use.
aka spyware
Piracy is their weapon. If not for piracy, ex-USSR countries wouldn’t transition to Windows till around 2009, and I’d expect that in such an alternative reality they wouldn’t then too.
Every generation has this moment, where they learn to hate Microsoft (or Micro$oft). Then, 4% install Linux, 6% buy a Mac with half the RAM for twice the price; and everyone else to keeps complaining.
deleted by creator
I feel like you’re describing Windows here lol
That was the status quo when I tried Linux ~5 years ago. Nowadays, Linux is much more plug and play (and I’m specifically referring to Pop OS).
Cool, but didn’t everyone tell me I should use Mint, for a bunch of reasons including “it’s arguably the most beginner-friendly”?
From what I read, Mint is better for lower-end PC specs, but otherwise, I’d strongly recommend PopOS.
I see. I’ll look into it, thanks.
Linux mint user here.
Sound works even better then windows, Printers needed terminal work to install, but forums were very helpful. https://safereddit.com/r/linux/comments/rpgn28/my_grandma_called_and_thanked_me_for_installing/
deleted by creator
Thanks for trying linux!
I don’t use pop os or gnome personally and I’m not part of any cult or whatever.
I found a accessibility setting that changes stuff to be white but I don’t think I got what you wanted 🥀I know kde plasma has a white general look, and can be themed much more than gnome in pop os seems to be.
it also has 3 finger click in its setting under the touchpad option
Also, try Fedora 39 kde spin https://fedoraproject.org/spins/kde/ I mention this because fedora has the new linux tech in it so your laptop might behave better with this os.
Oh, thank god. Plasma looks good for me. Easy to look at and professional. Assuming I understand how it works, which popular distros can use Plasma? Update: After some quick research, I think I want to use Kubuntu? Does that sound like a good idea?
Sounds good to me, never used kubuntu myself though.
deleted by creator
My dad is 60 and uses Mint for years now. That enough “grandma” for you?
deleted by creator
As much as I like Linux, and use it almost exclusively on desktop/laptop, every time I see something like this I am reminded how much I hate the fact that Apple of all companies is about the last bastion of commercial and consumer operating systems who isn’t trying to derive the bulk of their revenue from advertising.
Even Apple is falling. Their ad business (yes, they have one) makes billions and is the fastest growing part of the company. The app store is already quite ad-riddled, and the other parts of iOS are geared to get you to subscribe to all the Apple services.
In some sense yes, but advertising for its own stuff is advertising too. It nudges you to use their whole ecosystem.
The most annoying thing for me is that you can’t remove the iTunes component in mission control (the settings deck).
It does nudge you…but it’s not full screen ads that take multiple clicks to get through every week. I was a Windows zealot through W7…W10 got bad…W11 got me to start using Apple and Linux.
Ads have evolved into a cancer that is just growing and growing, making everything around them worse.
The best part is when spammers and ad generators realized how easy it is to use GPT to automate and increased the number of spam bots and ads.
Another day, another piece of enshittification by MS, another reason to talk about our Lord and Saviour, Linus Torvalds, if you can spare a few minutes.
I don’t see any enshitiffication features and ads in Windows 11 that Lemmy and tech news are reporting. I wonder if it’s because I’m in the EU.
They may have not implemented it yet. I see a lot of things reported that they are still testing.
Yeah, the start menu ads were / are ‘only’ in the beta build.
I tried building a Steam box with the bootleg version of SteamOS from the deck… Can’t remember the name of the distro. Steam Games ran great for the most part, but getting Epic, EA and Ubisoft to work was a nightmare. If Linux can get that sorted, I’d never use Windows again.
You don’t need the bootlegged version of SteamOS, there is ChimeraOS (GitHub).
Also Steam runs great on a lot of distros, I use
ArchMint btw. ;-)For Epic Games, GOG and Amazon you can use Heroic Games Launcher (GitHub).
Heroic is amazing. Rather than running the crappy Epic client via Wine, you just install this native piece of software that then launches each game via Wine/Proton/whatever else and pretty much just works every time, complete with things like EAC
Bottles and Lutris would help in this case for you.
It didn’t work before, maybe I’ll try it again when I have the time.
Yeah, it’s definitely better now then it was before believe it or not. I honestly just avoid them at all cost even on windows. I hate games that ship their own launcher even though I bought it on steam
Epic runs nice using Lutris 😃😃
I want able to get it to work unfortunately. This was a few years ago though.
Different now - works flawless with lutris
I run both the Epic Store as well as the EA App via Bottles, and I had both up and running in about ten minutes.
You can also install both launchers under Steam via Proton. The process is a little more involved, but far from difficult.
Now that Linux can run pretty much all the games I play on the PC I don’t think I’m going to have much use for windows at home anymore
May I suggest getting a mini PC if the home PC is going to be used by everyone else at home?
EU, please do something about that.
As much as everyone pushes Linux, it’s not a suitable replacement in a lot of scenarios
But it is a suitable replacement in a lot of scenarios. Most scenarios. The only time it isn’t is in niche specialty situations.
Not really. Adobe creative cloud is used my almost all graphic/media professionals, yet doesn’t work on Linux… that’s not very niche
And fwiw, most computer users still aren’t Adobe CC users.
That is a niche. its a large niche, but its still a niche.
graphic/media professionalsadobe usersAlthough it’s a bloated mess, it’s the standard for a reason. Affinity is starting to catch up, but the complete Adobe suite has no real competition.
The problem is mostly that those niches count up, so that quite a lot of people fit in one of those niches.
I happen to fit in 3 niches at the same time: VR, Music and Professional design.
VR? No linux. Music production? Depending on your VSTs, No linux. Playing Music live? Depending on VSTs, No linux. Professional design? No Linux.
I currently actively trying to switch to Linux, despite its apparant shortcomings in above applications. It’s quite the challenge. Wine seems to install quite some stuff, but from what I’ve read it’s a crabshoot if stuff breaks after every update…
What are some of these scenarios?
Bloat vs. Bloat. FIGHT!
Explain what you mean by bloat please
There is nothing you can’t uninstall on Linux. Linux distros, let alone desktop environments, really can’t qualify as bloat
There are even enough mainstream distros to let you choose one that meets your needs with little or nothing you need to trim
Yeah thanks, i know. Just saying, KDE is massive.
No.
Is there something like PowerToys Run for KDE? That’s one of the utilities I would miss the most when switching to Linux.
Yeah, KRunner, and it’s been around longer than Powertoys.
I never really used it on Windows so I don’t know if it has all the same features, but there’s probably some way to make whatever you need from it work.
The whole point of PowerToys was essentially to implement the features Windows was missing that the Linux DEs had already.
This sound like something they would totally do.
Next up, an ad anytime an executable is run!
Are you sure you want to run an untrusted executable? Microsoft Store contains lots of safe, curated apps that are 100% definitely not crappy ad-filled spyware.
Everything could be operated by ads. Run a program? Watch an ad. Open the start menu? Watch an ad.
Jesus Fucking Christ. They really want people to switch to Linux, don’t they?
Microsoft should stop trying to become another Apple. This is not going to work.
as soon as they require a microsoft account to use versions of windows, they are apple… minus the mobile, but plus a metric shittone of things apple doesnt.
not that any of that is good, microsoft should die in a fire… but theyve spent 20 years building an OS-as-a-service platform and its coming to fruition. they might be slow, but rest assured they will get their captured, vertically integrated audience.
You don’t need an apple account to use a Mac. If you just want to enter a username and set a password, that’s all you need to do. If you want everything synced between another Mac or iPhone and so on, sign into iCloud. But you don’t HAVE to, just skip it.
Ow My Balls
Great to know. Not that I ever fucking use that menu, opting to use the sleep button on my keyboard instead.
Anyone who can should switch to Linux. Most of us can, I have done so on my laptop. I have tried gaming on Linux too and it’s fucking fantastic though I personally had an edge case issue that barely anyone will ever meet and had to go back. Do not let that discourage you from trying, however. Cyberpunk, as an example, was wonderful on Linux. No issues. As soon as my issues are sorted, something that will happen sooner or later, I will switch that pc in an instant!
Is there somewhere a guide in how to get started with gaming on Linux?
Tbh it’s pretty easy. Install Linux, install Steam.
Try Linux Mint, specifically. Very easy to install, runs on everything, just works. And gaming really is as easy as installing Steam, even for non Steam games.
Mint is great! Not my personal choice but it does work out of the box and is easy to use!
It’s perfect for anyone who wants to switch from Windows with minimal hassle. There are plenty of other great distros, of course, but choosing one can be a bit overwhelming at first. That’s why Mint is such an easy recommendation. It’ll get you started, may well be all you ever need and once you’re more into it, you’ll better understand what to choose.
Exactly! I think Mint is a great choice. I wouldn’t recommend anyone unfamiliar uses anything else unless they have very specific needs.
What of Indie games that I download from the developer’s page or other stores?
Also, how is the update process of Mint these days for make versions? Is it a complete reinstall of the system? I might opt for a rolling distro for that purpose.
The major updates can be done though the software manager and have been completely painless for me so far. If you are concerned with always having the latest stuff, Mint might not be ideal for you. They’re pretty conservative with updates so they can be a few versions behind on some stuff. That’s the downside of the “everything just works” mantra.
use heroic for gog, epic and amazon games, and bottles or lutris for random exe’s and the other stores. you can also add random exe’s as non-steam games to run them. Also do keep in mind to install things from the app store, not the web
WTF happened to Microsoft? What a fall. Is this a leadership thing?
They were always about screwing over consumers to make money. The only thing that changed is that they’ve become increasingly unsubtle about it.
Their way to screw customers with W2K was very persuasive. Such a clean UI, everything looking so relaxed and, eh, not commercialized. That startup sound. Those wallpapers.
Later I learned that that’s also when they released those Unix services for Windows (may have swapped words), with which you really could have something practical with an X server and POSIX-compatible applications and so on.
And compared to W9x it was very stable.
Turns out you can make more money by reducing usability and user choice in an entrenched product because hardly anyone will baulk and jump ship to a different product.
