Win 10 Users. No more Windows F'updates!

[hsiangch_ong]

Lots of people still love and miss Windows 7. Microsoft should have really just added options so that if you want, you could configure your Windows to look/feel like whatever you want. Instead they have taken away options. Boo, Microsoft!!!

linux keeps being advertised as offering many choices.  however, a few things are being done to limit those choices.  whoever wants to remain on 32-bit software will have to prepare.  to remain offline and never upgrade.  wayland is being brutally forced as the only option.  for display protocol instead of "x11" or "xlibre".  in more and more operating systems.  wayland is the only option offered.  this is true basically for whatever carries gnome desktop.  such as ubuntu "flagship", and rhel and its orbit.

mx linux being compelled.  to offer iso's with "systemd".  which disgusts some people who aren't true fans and users anyway.  if you love kde plasma.  but hate "systemd".  oh well try again.

next year this might be followed.  with linux mint being forced into two things.  either keep going with ubuntu base.  but offer snap over "apt"/synaptic as the recommended way to install and maintain any application.  or get away completely from that.  and keep going with debian edition.  ubuntu lts "resolute racoon" next year might not allow.  the removal of "snapd" and its dependencies.  unless someone really wants a broken system.

more distributions than ever.  are responding to users who hate "native" package managers.  so they shamelessly allow installation via appimage, flatpak or snap.  whatever it takes to get a favorite program.

sadly as far as hardware support and other things.  linux still has to play second fiddle.  to windows and macos.

[madscijr]

I am not familiar enough with Linux to make sense of what you're saying. I have tried a few Linux distributions and desktops, and for me, none of them matched Windows in terms of responsiveness and ease of use. I can see the way Microsoft is headed, that like others, I'll be compelled to jump to Mac or Linux, but hopefully by then, ai will be powerful enough to where you can use it to configure your system to look & feel however you want. For now, I'm grudgingly rolling with Windows 11, but Microsoft gets a solid thumbs down from me for forcing this shit on the world. That goes double for OneDrive and quadruple for Copilot.

[bert22306]

Meh. Things might not turn out as bad as the pessimists assume?

I've been on Windows 11 from when it first became available to the Windows Insider Beta tier. But I too worried about this "agentic OS" evolution Microsoft is promising. This recent article explains what's shaping up.

https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/10/17...gentic-os/

One thing I don't need, at least not for the PC is use every day, is any form of voice input. Not helpful. However, I can see that in some other environments, it could be just what the doctor ordered.

From the article, it seems that any Copilot activity is controlled by the user. It doesn't seem to be mandatory.

Also from the article, it seems that these Copilot features are not going to be limited to just those PCs labeled "Copilot+." Which to me, is a whole lot better than were the draconian hardware requirements for PC compatibility with Windows 11 (where PCs barely more than three years old were classified "incompatible with Windows 11.") Microsoft got a lot of bad press over that. blog released by Microsoft’s Executive Vice President, regarding Copilot Actions, is titled “Making every Windows 11 PC an AI PC.”. At no point in the blog does it mention that Copilot Voice, or Vision, or Actions is limited to Copilot+ PC

[hsiangch_ong]

I am not familiar enough with Linux to make sense of what you're saying. I have tried a few Linux distributions and desktops, and for me, none of them matched Windows in terms of responsiveness and ease of use.

generally what i pointed out earlier.  should be a good thing for someone.  willing to stay on windows11 for now.  instead of diving into linux.  this is as long as the user is willing always.  to buy a computer every year.  which is as close as possible to bleeding-edge tech.  naturally this is what the "big interests" are headed.  helping to make decisions for linux.

however it's part of what you mentioned.  "linux isn't as easy to get into as windows."  an effort is made to change that.  with an universal package manager.  while allowing the "choice" and "versatility" the foss-hardliners expect.  for a few other people, "linux isn't as easy to use as macos."  because they are willing to pay premium dollar.  for the operating system as well as the hardware it is intimately tied to.  there were quite a few people.  willing to take off macosx for linux.  but even if a macintosh m2 could allow it.  there would be even fewer takers for linux.  again, it's because they decided to pay top dollar for what they have.

linux is supposed to call.  to people trying to preserve equipment.  for 15 years.  or much longer than the expected life expectancy of a portable computer.  consider that 64-bit linux.  as it has been in this decade so far.  cannot be installed at all on macintosh.  equipped with powerpc.  in another forum i belong to.  someone had a mac g4 or g5.  had to recommend freebsd to him.

things like "systemd" and wayland.  were created with an ambition.  to take market share away from windows.  but it's only half the battle.  i think gnome needs a change.  not only ergonomically and visually.  but in their way of thinking as well.  kde had to make a drastic jump.  from what is now known as trinity.  to plasma which is version 4 of their desktop.  they are being more successful.  winning over people away from windows.  however it's more because plasma looks and acts more like windows.  linux mint used to be offered with kde plasma as well as with cinnamon.  i believe that is the source of frustration.  for half the people who would like to leave windows11.  but "i can't because they have a fugly desktop.  not like windows at all."

there's too much fear of the terminal.  fedora and ubuntu are awesome in an attempt to address it.  ubuntu tells you what command you need to give.  to install a program you want.  fedora goes a bit further if i'm not mistaken.  doesn't even require "superuser" permission to go ahead and do it.  it wouldn't bring up a pretty gui that would show the user.  where to start and how it's being done.  or when that program could or should be updated.

however there is too much griping about what's happening.  elsewhere with either of them.

i've never gone into windows11.  it will stay that way.  rather than buy another computer.  i would be glad to declare myself retired completely.  from desktop computing and online life.  even though android would never be my solace.  no other mobile gadget would replace what i could still enjoy now.

[SMcNeill]

For me, it's all about software usability.

Windows has... everything.  It works with all printers, speakers, tvs, projectors, cameras, phones, mice, joysticks, trackballs, keyboards.

Linux... may or may not have a driver for that, yet.

Windows has every modern and ancient game known to man.  I go to any torrent/download site, want to search for any particular game, it's there on Windows.  For example, I like the Dragon Quest games.  DQ I/II Remaster just came out.  Want to guess what platforms ir runs on, and which it doesn't?

My productivity software is... Windows.  My home network is... Windows.  Everything I have is basically just plug and play with Windows. My iPad connects.  It interfaces with my Android phone.  Alexa has interfaces with it for smart access.  It does remote networking and remote pc control with all my devices.

Can Linux handle all that?  It doesn't have drivers for my tv card.  Won't work with my ancient dot matrix printer.  Won't play my games.  Everybody who uses Linux always asks, "Can I make Windows executables somehow?"  Folks that make stuff for Linux always make a windows version.

Yet, you seldom hear about that in reverse.  Most windows users couldn't care squat about compiling on Linux.

[bert22306]

For me, it's all about software usability.

Windows has... everything.  It works with all printers, speakers, tvs, projectors, cameras, phones, mice, joysticks, trackballs, keyboards.

Agree 100%. Linux may or may not yet support the hardware I use, and anything Apple forces you into their walled garden.

I use my personal desktop PC for just about everything these days, from editing photos, writing documents, writing programs, and also listening to radio from anywhere in the world, listening to music (through a decent component sound system), and watching movies and TV. Much as the corporate world wants compatibility with hardware and software from any number of vendors, I also want that flexibility at home. When I get to replace my "starting to get old" LG HDTV, which is my main PC monitor now, I don't want to be confined to some subset of available options. Just go to Best Buy, buy what I like best, without having to worry about compatibility with the PC.

Not much different for our laptop, which my wife uses most of the time. When we're home, it's always closed, plugged into a separate monitor, with external keyboard and mouse, sound system, and printer/scanner. There too, never having to worry about what hardware and software we need.

[bert22306]

On a couple of complaints made on Windows 11, I wanted to clarify one and to explain something I just discovered on the other.

1. Need Microsoft account.

Yes, but this is no big deal. All you have to do is get a free hotmail or outlook email account. Similarly, I had to get a free gmail account, to be able to transfer the content of my old Android phone to a new one, some years ago.

2. Where is my copilot icon? I thought it was supposed to show up on my taskbar.

Maybe I'm the only guy who didn't know this. The icon did not show up. Checking my personalization settings, the switch to turn copilot on does not exist, in my settings.

Search for the reason, it turns out that you need a "Microsoft 365" (used to be Office 365) subscription, roughly $100 per year, to have the privilege. Seems like a really easy way to not allow my Windows 11 to become an agentic OS? It's also a way to disable Copilot in Windows 11, for those who do have Office 365 but want nothing to do with Copilot. Go to taskbar settings and switch it off.

Copilot still works fine on Edge, though, where it seems like a pretty good addition to the Bing search engine. Much as AI search is in the Google search engine.

[Pete]

I prefer Windows over Apple and Linux, but Microsoft pisses me off with their force their crap down your drive when you don't want it marketing. I could have lived just fine with Win 7 or the original Win 10 on whatever earliest version that had all bug fixes baked in. All their Win 10 updates ever did for me was make it longer for my machine to boot and log onto the internet plus it also took my time in Task Manager shutting off the update apps so they wouldn't slow my programs down; programs that worked perfectly fine in the beginning, but now have noticeable lag when those update installs start creeping their way through my internet connection. God I miss Zone Alarm. (It restricted apps from accessing the net). Anyway, if I could get a larger capacity machine with an Earlier version of Win 10, I'd be happy, but I have a suspicion that machines, which are not up to the latest Win 10 version, before they went to paid updates, would still be bothered with updates, at least until such time the machine running it was up to the final free update status. Anyone else believe that to be true?

Pete

[Mad Axeman]

On a couple of complaints made on Windows 11, I wanted to clarify one and to explain something I just discovered on the other.

1. Need Microsoft account.

Yes, but this is no big deal. All you have to do is get a free hotmail or outlook email account. Similarly, I had to get a free gmail account, to be able to transfer the content of my old Android phone to a new one, some years ago.

Win 11 can be installed without a Microshaft account. I did it a couple of weeks ago to a laptop that had a new SSD. If I remember right it I had to disable wifi, connect using a network cable, unplug when it gets to the sign in bit and it'll allow just a local account. You can get all the instructions on various youtube sites.
It does take a few hours once W11 is set up to go through all the settings and turn off so much crap that they insist that you use. Onedrive is the first to be disabled along with Edge.

I'm not a lover of Microshaft and considering trying one of the many alternatives on one of my other laptops. Having said that I'm quite happy with Win7 on my Toughbook (some software I need for work won't run on anything newer) and 10 on all the others. Still got XP on one that I still use for stuff like Doom and Duke Nukem etc.

I wonder if I've still got my Win 3.1 install floppies ?

[madscijr]

I prefer Windows over Apple and Linux, but Microsoft pisses me off with their force their crap down your drive when you don't want it marketing.

I'm currently without a computer - Windows blew up and my SSD is unreadable. There was all this stuff in the news about how the Windows 24H2 or whatever update bricks solid state drives, then a bunch of stuff "debunking" it. Well, maybe it isn't all bunk after all. I have been backing up, not as often as I should apparently, so if I can't recover my files it might not be catastrophic, but it will be damn annoying. I don't know exactly where the blame lies, but I know that Windows is the thing on the computer that changed (and changed again... and again... all these damn endless updates of buggy beta release software! Is it me or has continuous development come to mean a bunch of bozos selling their wine before it's time? This kind of thing is wearing away my patience with them, there has to be a better way.