Actually I quite like it…
Its not the worst, and If I’m honest its not as annoying as the desktop view button, I hated that thing since day 1
It’s a useful feature but it doesn’t need space on my taskbar or a special button on my keyboard. That’s just marketing BS. The same as with the huge search bar, because I can just press the start button and start typing and it does the same.
Unfortunately Microsoft is incredibly bad at marketing. They generally succeed only at pissing users off. Now they’re doing the same again with copilot and dumping a ton of totally different products under the same name.
As long as it’s a easily toogled off as the search bar is, I don’t mind.
Them getting rid of the ability to have different windows of the same kind with full title bar next to each other IMHO is a much bigger pain.
I actually thought Microsoft was doing pretty well 2015-2020, then these past few years some of their decisions have felt really anti user
They were doing ok. But the github thing and the 11 thing and the edging and now this - I can’t wait to buy a machine that can run windows virtualised. I need it for my work apps, but this virt thing has been a dream of mine for a long time. Compartmentalization
github thing?
Bought github, doing shitty ai crap with it etc, forcing logins
How do YOU edge?
Microsoft edges me.
Step one: start Chroming. Eventually you get so high (kill enough brain cells) that you chrome with blue paint instead. That is called Edging.
I hated them since Windows 8. Ughh. Was the year of my Linux desktop. I still keep a Win7, WinXP and DOS/Win98 machine around but that’s it for me.
Microsoft, forever and always, will keep trying to pivot Windows to whatever they think the Next Big Thing is going to be, and then fuck it up every time. They tried to pivot to Mobile (Windows Mobile), then Tablets (8, 8.1), then digital assistants (Win 10 Cortana), then 3D (Win 10 Paint3D, 3D Objects folder) and AR (why a bunch of Win10 got the semitransparent glass aesthetic), now AI. Maybe they got ahead of the curve enough to be the “leader” in “AI” this time, but that doesn’t make it a Good Operating System.
It’s perfect timing too. Right as Linux becomes an extremely strong competitor (feature wise, not market share yet) they decide to enshitify more than they already were and decide to fuck the user. It made me leave about a year ago, and it’s been amazing since.
Honestly the steam deck came out at the perfect time
This is why they are doing it. They fear that Linux/MacOS/ChromeOS is eating their lunch. The problem is that their approach to preventing anyone else from eating their lunch is to make Shit Sandwiches.
Year of the Linux desktop!
It’s not clippy and if it replaces the pointless error diagnosis system currently running I’m all for it. I’ve had no issues with it as a product in ides just basically advanced spell check.
i know you hate to hear this, but you wont get rid of these shenanigans unless you move to linux.
proprietary software devs will always be looking for more ways to monetize you.
For the average user this is like a minor annoyance like once a month. Not worth switching OS’s over.
There’s been tens of dozens of annoyances over the last decade.
Literally not even boiling the frog at this point, the frog is fried.
Yeah, it’s a minor annoyance… another minor annoyance on top of all the others. And another personal data leak (or siphon) to go with all the others.
This on its own is not worth switching OSs for - but as a piece of a larger picture it’s yet another reason to consider it. And for some people this may be what tips the scales in their evaluation.
It’s a boil the frog scenario. Windows users will always cope with more and more shit thrown at them.
And Linux fanboys will get up on their high horses while googling how to fix their driver issues.
Driver issues usually only happen if the manufacturer doesn’t provide a Linux driver. Usually it is best to do some research to ensure the hardware will work before purchasing. Otherwise, the driver usually is included with the kernel so it is plug and play even for things that require manually downloading and installing on the Windows side.
Also, I’m not trying to get on any high horse. I personally think Linux is a great alternative to Windows and would love for everyone to at least try it out and see if it is right for them. It could save them tons of headaches and open the door to a new skill set, or just to breathe new life into that old laptop in your closet gathering dust. Linux has a lot of great uses that aren’t possible with Windows. Give peas a chance.
Oh, I use both, I was just poking fun. That being said, I unfortunately I don’t feel comfortable trying to get my parents on Linux… or even friends.
Most people just want things to work and won’t do any sort of troubleshooting themselves. “It just works” is worth the intrusiveness that comes with Windows.
Certainly better than throwing a perfectly working machine because Microsoft won’t support it 🤷♂️
This may have been true historically but I’m not sure it still holds up. I switched to Linux Mint as my regular OS a while back and the only driver issue I’ve had was that the installer didnt properly install my wifi card’s proprietary driver (which was working during live boot from usb), so I had to tether to my phone to download the driver through the driver manager. It even installed Nvidia drivers just fine.
It might still be an issue for more barebones or heavily customisable systems but I’m fairly certain nobody’s recommending people switch to Arch for their first Linux experience.
I am on Linux. I just posted about what Windows users are saying.
oh, i reckon most people in this nice little corner of the internet are communist programmer atheists using linux and firefox, and are likely some flavour of queer.
Ya got me on the atheist and firefox thing
yeah, ive been meaning to switch, but it doesnt really compare in sheer quantity of little crappy things stacked on top of one another.
i think the main thing though, is that i can switch away from ubuntu and still be on same ol linux. and switching the rare stuff i dont like is as easy as doing it once and never worrying again.
Canonical has nothing to do with Arch Linux, so I don’t see what’s the issue.
And I don’t see why Arch is relevant to the discussion. My point is that software being non-proprietary is not a guarantee for preventing fuckery like Microsoft’s. Profit-maximizing companies will maximize their profits, proprietary software or not. Canonical, which sells a non-proprietary Linux distribution, is an example of this.
I’m surprised Windows users even want windows 🤷
Given the reality that Linux simply isn’t viable for some people (including myself), I highly recommend using this tool.
https://christitus.com/windows-tool/
Between this, and manually uninstalling a lot of bloat (or using a specific type of windows install) and a few other tweaks, windows becomes significantly more usable.
Disabling garbage in the task bar, removing Cortana and indexing services, etc etc, it can also add a fairly decent uplift in performance.
I’m sure there is still telemetry being collected but significantly less and less impact on my user experience and day to day performance.
Oh and make sure you turn off auto/feature updates!
One of the most minimalistic blog posts I have seen in a while (content wise). It has only 2 sentences, a link and a quote. Some YouTube comments have more content…
Yeah let me just go to the super informative and trust worthy windows copilot .news website
Definitely a good source for my news consumption lmao
I put Copilot on MY taskbar —Microsoft
Exactly. It’s Microsoft ffs. They don’t care what consumers want. The only time they do anything truly beneficial is when the EU makes them.
The only time they do anything truly beneficial is when the EU makes them.
Except when they made programming languages
I mean sure, c# is better than java, but c# also makes you dependant on MS and all their shenanigans. Java is free of such burdens. Oracle sure is a dependency, but you’re free pick another vendor or fork your own.
They also created TypeScript which is a huge improvement over js imo. And with C# you can use Mono, so you really aren’t locked into MS automatically.
Plus, they made VS Code free. I hate MS but they do make solid tools for developers.
Of course they prioritise Windows and Azure, but still, .NET works on Linux well, and it’s licensed under MIT, so you’re allowed to fork too.
But on the other hand I won’t waste my time defending Microsoft here, because they have people for doing it.
Really trying not to be that “use Linux” person, but it’s easy to underestimate the impact this has on user perception. It was communicated to me by these actions that this isn’t my computer. It kept pissing me off, so I went with something that respects me.
I think Microsoft is okay with that because their operating system isn’t a main profit center anymore. It’s cloud stuff.
Over the years, Microsoft has been quietly taking away control from the users.
There’s been a transition from normal settings that you can do whatever you want with, to “yes / remind me later” settings that Microsoft uses to badger you until you submit, to finally just no setting at all - just quiet compulsory data collection and surveillance; with various bits of mysterious software that you can’t uninstall or disable or halt - because you’re not the admin - Microsoft is.
It wasn’t always this way.
It’s not even good for non technical users. Microsoft takes admin responsibility, but then they manage it poorly by applying updates that haven’t been properly tested and using your system as the guinea pig.
I’ve seen this happen to family. Forced update comes in, breaks system.
The Win10 machine I got in 2020 will be my last Windows computer now that gaming on Linux is basically solved.
Can you tell me how gaming on Linux is solved? It’s the only reason I use windows still.
Start with protondb
People have talked about proton and how it can play practically everything these days (I even got it working with games that don’t work with modern windows) but if you play multiplayer games with anti-cheat, here’s a useful site https://areweanticheatyet.com/
In my case, many of my games are purchased through Steam, which automatically handles Linux compatibility for most games. The product page of the game lists the compatible operating systems as SteamOS, Linux, or SteamPlay. You can also set up proton directly for other games, which is a fork of Wine that has really good gaming support these days.
I wouldn’t call it a completely solved problem. It’s always possible to find games that just won’t work, but most of them do. Even most DRM works. If the DB covers the games you care about then you’re golden.
I want the calendar agenda flyout back on my taskbar
i have it on mine and i actually use it. i don’t see what’s the big deal; it’s tucked over in the far bottom right of the screen out of the way and it’s not intrusive.
That’s all cool and good. What Microsoft needs to be doing is not adding shit to people’s PCs without their consent and make it easier to remove them (preferably during installation)
i mean i had to go in and add copilot to my taskbar manually and i can go into taskbar settings at any time and turn it off.
Screen corners are prime real estate. They have infinite size beyond the screen, allowing you to quickly fling the pointer to them. It’s a big reason things like app menus or the Mac’s Mission Control are accessed by the screen corners.
Wait, there’s a whole website dedicated to copilot? #ffs
I wouldn’t be shocked if the articles itself are written using an AI tool. :D
So true!!
How many times are we going to have to teach you this lesson, old man. Don’t fuck with the task bar.
Even the small things. When work upgraded to Win11 overnight and I logged into the Start being in the middle, I almost lost it. Yes, I could fix it, and a few other things, but I had a moment.
I hadn’t minded it if it were on the center. As you know, it was actually somewhere around the center, changing its position every time I added an icon or whatever in the taskbar. And they were proud enough to call it a UX revolution. WTAF…
I don’t mind the taskbar in the middle, it’s like Apple’s dock. What I really hate, is the news popup on the left… and I don’t even mind the floating Start menu, I’ve been using MadAppLauncher for like a decade or more.
I understand it’s not for everyone but I jumped ship to Linux 10 years ago or so. The defining moment was me disabling Cortana only to have her reappear after an update.
At least with Linux when I’m fighting the OS it doesn’t feel like the OS developers are fighting back.
Same motivation here, but it took me until last year to make the switch. Pushing Office on me combined with all the good things I’ve been hearing about gaming on Linux was enough to push me over. I installed in dual boot, but I have never wanted to nor had the need to boot into my Windows install in at least three months.
I did the same thing about the same time as you. I did boot into Windows at one point and it updated, and it absolutely fucked my system. It removed or disabled the boot loader and I think it fucked up the partition table too IIRC. I then removed everything Windows and installed another distro I wanted to try and it’s been smooth sailing since, with no reason to regret removing Windows.
Edit: I was able to recover the partitions, but the Windows section of the bootloader I was never able to get working again after getting it to boot into my Linux install. That’s the moment I decided to just clear out that drive and switch distros.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard a similar story. Windows is often not a good neighbor in multi boot configurations.
I use Arch BTW
Funny you say that ah
For real though I use a down stream arch distro.
Installing arch manually is a good learning experience but I’ve got other things to do.
Ironically, Microsoft would later remove Cortana itself in an update.
Yep. I tolerated Edge reinstalling itself for a long time. I used 3rd party tools to try to make Windows my own, but they failed repeatedly.
If MS would sell me a license to own my computer, I would buy it, but they don’t offer that. Instead it’s ads and spam and data collection. And I want nothing to do with that.
Switched to Fedora at the beginning of the year and couldn’t be happier.
Man. Work moved us to windows 11 and you couldn’t ungroup windows on the taskbar… We use RPG / as400 and throughout the day you’ll end up with 4-5 windows… having them all grouped is annoying when I have to hover over a popup to see which window I need.
Googling revealed that win11 wasn’t shipped with that functionality and it was only patched into the operating system in late q3 of last year.
So annoying and a huge productivity hit for me.
Guess no one at Microsoft realized people use computers differently and more options is always better than one. Or they intended to have the option and either forgot to include it or it was buggy. Either way it was #2 on my “how do you disable this” list, and I had to deal with it for a while. I get how grouping can be good for some things, but when you want to be able to bounce between various windows and some happen to use the same app, it was a pain.
That’s why on my kde desktop at home it has a check box that say “allow these windows to be grouped” and I can check / uncheck as needed.
It works so much better. Imho
I logged into the Start being in the middle
I’m sorry, what!?
At this rate, I’m definitely going to hold onto 10 until they *pry it away from me.
(Yes, I use Linux as well but gaming isn’t perfect on it, etc…)
They killed the vertical task bar with that update, which seems like such a pointless thing to disable.
IT don’t like it. Lock the taskbar. Lock the taskbar.
What lesson is that? That MS can do whatever they want and there’s fuck-all you can do about it?
How did that work for Windows 8?
It’s literally just the Edge feature transplanted onto windows. I wouldn’t be surprised if they integrated Edge/WebView2 into Explorer just to do this.
3rd times the charm, right?
