Windows 12: Paintbrush now comes with ads to Microsoft’s subscription AI Paintbrush service. Also bucket fill is now a $0.49 DLC.
“What to make quick copies of certain areas of the image? Buy 100 packs of both ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste’ tokens now on sale in the Microsoft store! Each use of Copy or Paste function uses only 1 token. Make sure you stock up for ‘Back to School’!”
That’s despicable. Us real users will subscribe to Windows (I’ll subscribe to the basic package with the CMD/powershell add-on package). Windows will bundle the subscription with my Office 365 subscription so I only have one easy monthly payment! Plus my Fusion 360 and Photoshop subscription, Backblaze subscription, Google Drive subscription…
Remember when Microsoft said Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows?
Technically it was just a Microsoft Tech Evangelist that said that, in a non official capacity, and I’m pretty sure the sales people took him to the torture chamber after that.
From a technical point of view, there was nothing stopping Microsoft from making Windows 10 a rolling release, so I can see how some naive fools might have convinced themselves that their employer wouldn’t be shitty to their users for the first time ever.
at some point we’ll be renting windows, not buying it. so there will be a “last windows you’ll ever buy”. if microsoft had their way, we’d be at that point now (they’ve run trials on subscription-based windows way back in the early win7 days). but us lowly users are probably ‘safe’ until whatever’s after 12.
I would agree if not for the fact they keep making it easier to get windows for free. I haven’t bought windows in over a decade, activation is easy af, the days of sketchy malware riddled keygens are long gone.
The truth is worse, imo. They don’t need individual consumers to pay for the OS, OEM licenses are where they make bank anyways. At the consumer level, you’re never gonna sell enough copies, even on a subscription model, to profit more than you would be from giving it away for free, getting everyone using it, and then simply selling their data until the end of time.
The Microsoft thing to do is start using Xbox naming, but offset from the Xbox brand. Windows 360. Then Windows Series S for home users and Series X for corporate. Then use Windows One for confusion’s sake. The first service pack can be called Windows One X.
I used to like picking up old hardware and modding it for fun. When Xbox One launched, searching for mods for the OG Xbox became really annoying, because all of the old forum posts during the Xbox 360 decade(s) called the first Xbox “Xbox 1” frequently, not dreaming that the third platform would be named “one”.
Don’t let your guard down. Maybe this time they’ll fully pull the TPM/UEFI trigger and make it impossible to install any other OS on new PCs… they have lots of leverage over manufacturers to tighten the screws on the BIOS and boot process.
The European Commission would appreciate the multi billion euro “donation” from Microsoft if they did something so obviously anti competitive.
I agree, but also when has a threat of a fine ever stopped a capitalist from doing what they want? They just call it the cost of doing business.
The kind of fines that are based on global revenue are at least enough to slow them down. Right now we are a bit in a phase of Whac a Mole phase of the EU doing new directives with these kinds of fines and American companies trying to find loopholes, but I don’t see how Microsoft would weasel out of this one.
I don’t think they would hard shoot themselves in the foot like that thankfully/sadly? idk my opinions on it. They would start with company graded devices before doing a consumer lockdown, since they are less apt to get massive backlash from that, they have tried already and backtracked iirc with lenovo systems
I hope you’re right. But the only reason it hasn’t gone as far as it has it because everyone watches them and pushes back. I remember the ARM-based Windows laptops they tried pushing, which had fully-locked bootloaders (WinRT?) That’s their endgame…
Win 12 is obligated to be good due to the “every other version of Windows” rule, which has been true forever.
Windows 11 has tabbed file explorer, a package manager, it’s quick, the interface looks nice and feels nice, and it’s been really stable for me. I don’t know where the complaints are at, it’s been great. All they need to do is regress all of the ads-in-your-OS stuff from 10. Bring back the start menu that doesn’t hang for 30 seconds looking something up online before showing you your installed programs.
Is Windows 11 worse than 10? I honestly haven’t noticed much difference (after moving the taskbar icons to where they belong on the right).
The issue is that Win11 requires a computer with TPM built in and that only applies to computers from the last couple years. Just speaking from personal experience, most of my friends with PCs can’t upgrade to 11 even if they wanted to.
I’ll take an ugly OS that works properly over a gorgeous one that doesn’t any day of the week.
Reddit hivemind is back to downvote any opinion that they disagree with. Like the other commenter said, I prefer functionality in place of design.
Even though I found 11’s UI far more polished, the UX is a disaster with yet another refresh of elements that didn’t need any changes.
Okay I’m not very technical but I hate Microsoft with every fiber of my being and want desperately to break from them but can’t bring myself to switch my regular and gaming PCs to Linux. It just feels like too much work like I’d be starting over and most of all I just fear change. Is there a good YT series/channel or blog or something I can check out that might make things a little less intimidating?
Dude, with the exception of Gamepass, Linux gaming is really easy.
If you’re okay with Redhat/Fedora, using Nobara Linux (it’s a spin-off, unofficial, but by the guy who does a lot of the Proton [magic compatibility sauce] stuff, GloriousEggroll, who AFAIK is a dev at RedHat) literally installs everything you need.
Steam → Steam
GoG/Epic → Heroic Launcher
Amazon/Blizzard → Lutris
Gamepass → You have to use the cloud version with Edge browser
Click, install, game.
There’s only a few Anticheat PITA titles still (I believe Valorant is one) that won’t work.
Notable to the list of titles that won’t work is Destiny 2.
Having said that, I’ve been using Linux as my daily driver for everything, including gaming, since June, and I haven’t run into many issues. It’s certainly worth the minor hassle entailed to get some titles to work, if only to get away from Windows 100%. You can always dual boot.
If you aren’t very technical, I would also consider Linux Mint. You won’t always have access to the latest and greatest, but it’s simple and very easy to learn if you’re coming from Windows.
That’s really great if you don’t play online games, but 90% of what my gaming pc is used for is online, competitive gaming that doesn’t work on Linux.
Pretty much any game with an anti-cheat is a non-starter since anti-cheats being Linux compatible tends to mean they’re less effective. (Yes EAC is a config switch, but it runs at a less effective level on all platforms if enabled)
hit me up and I’ll walk you through it if you want. there’s tons of online resources but I know it’s always easier to have a helping hand from someone who’s done it before. I’m no expert, but I’ve been daily driving Linux for years.
I saw something about dual booting. I know you want to game but start small. Try a virtual machine. They aren’t difficult to setup and there are hundreds of easy tutorials. Get a feel for Linux. See how you feel and then dual boot. When you are comfy then migrate the truth is this community pushed Linux hard and that’s because it is mainly FOSS and it is private or more private rather.
However, no matter what anyone wants to tell you. Linux absolutely has its quirks and sometimes they get technical. There is a learning curve and some issues can divulge into multiple problems. This kind of thing can be frustrating but shouldn’t stop you from learning and experimenting. I like Linux but I also appreciate that Windows for an average consumer does what it needs to.
The other thing is there is one OSX and up. There is one Windows version. There is an insane amount of Linux distributions. The easiest to learn are Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and if you want something more lightweight and true to force you to learn then you can just install Debian.
You can have multiple operating systems installed and choose which one you want to use during boot. So just install GNU/Linux on a separate partition or a separate drive (a bit easier). Then try to use GNU/Linux as your main system. Install everything you need on it and configure it they want you want. Only switch to Windows when you absolutely have to. So you don’t have to be a GNU/Linux expert right away and you can choose when to remove Windows. It can be a gradual change.
I don’t know any good videos for beginners, but you can just look up answers to specific problems when you need them. If you will still have Windows, there is nothing to worry about. You can always ask for help here as well. So don’t wait and install GNU/Linux today! Choose the distribution you want to use, find a video on how to install it and start using it.
Here is a link to a video explaining the Free Software movement if you are curious why this operating system was created https://youtu.be/Ag1AKIl_2GM. Maybe it will motivate you.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/Ag1AKIl_2GM
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Depends what you need to do, there are apps abd games that if you can’t leave behind you’ll either won’t be able to run or you will have to do a lot of work to get running. If you don’t use the Adobe suite and your games are officially supported on Linux (check them out on protondb.com) then you’re good to go.
If you want distro suggestions I can tell you my opinionated selection.
Sorry, I have watched so many videos, yet I don’t remember exactly who goes in depth and presents with a simple step by step guide
You’ve got some time to plan out your transition :)
I’d pick up a Raspberry Pi 400 or a renewed Steam Deck depending on your budget. Those devices have amazing communities and both will build familiarity and confidence with the environment just through play. Find a project that interests you with one of those devices and follow along trying to re-create it. That’s where you’ll find most of your blog/YT stuff. I’d be happy to help try and find a project if you’d be up for talking about some of your interests or hobbies.
IMO the most important thing is to start using cross platform applications (E.g. LibreOffice, the GIMP) on Windows as well as you start learning the Linux environments. Especially if you are coming from the windows 7 or earlier era of gaming PC building, actually installing Linux is a piece of cake. Once you have confidence with the programs you’ll be using and the resources available you’ll have conquered a lot of the fear.
Honestly you’d be fine starting out with installing linux yourself 90% of the time, but I think it’s worth the peace of mind to start out with a pre-installed distro on a well standardized platform like the rPi 4 or the Steam Deck.
I don’t usually recommend a VM for learning linux TBH. It is a cheap way to get access, and for labs it can be convenient, but virtualization is kinda hit and miss on consumer UEFI and CPUs. Grabbing a rPI 400 is a far more consistent user experience.
I’d suggest setting up linux in a virtual machine first to get familiar with it first. There’s many many distros out there and if you don’t like the one you’re trying, just try another one. When you have one you like, you can install it for real.
It’s not nearly as hard as people make it out to be. For most distros you’ll likely have a system with a browser, libre office, steam (except games aren’t going to work well in a VM), etc. up and running in about an hour or two. It only really gets tricky if you’re trying to get some janky hardware working.
