Windows: OS or Bad Habit?

GrumpyCanadian · 2025-05-09T03:40:30+00:00

There was an interesting opinion piece on The Register that presented Windows as more of a bad habit aiming to become an addiction than an OS. The author argues that, having reached the likely peak in the growth of installed Windows systems, MS is resorting to alternative methods to monetise the installed base, and this will only continue to worsen the experience and shove things we don’t want (as in extra MS subscription services, ads and “promoted” apps) down our throats. I notice that there is no discussion of the issue of companies and “app” publishers helping themselves to ever increasing amounts of our data. Windows isn’t an OS, it’s a bad habit that wants to become an addiction What do others make of his arguments and proposed “solutions”? Personally, I would like it much better if Microsoft just went back to being a real software company, and paid proper respect and attention to the task of making a real, helpful, useful operating system that offers a positive user experience. They get more money when they deliver a better version of the product than the prior version, that deserves to be purchased. Chasing this pipe dream of perpetual growth serves nobody, and will only flush their reputation even further down the crapper. This isn’t innovation; there’s a colloquial term for it that begins with “ens”.

urbanriot

ElQuintron

Mint is the universally recommend distro to switch away from Windows, I can also vouch for MX Linux and another solid, user friendly distro.

Why is that? The interface? I don’t believe I’ve tried that distro.

Donut417

OmegaWolf747 You might want to consider pop! OS, it’s more gaming focus. Im waiting on Steam OS support for more hardware myself. As Valve is working on getting it working on more hardware. Also consider you may take a hit from running it in a VM.

If I ever built a new “gaming pc”, I dont game as much so I dont really see much of a point. But Id likely just install Linux as the main OS.

ElQuintron

urbanriot Mint or MX Linux?

ElQuintron

Donut417 You might want to consider pop! OS

pop! OS is supported by a major laptop manufacturer, so it probably avoids most issues people have with Linux and laptops.

ugly95

urbanriot Yea but how much longer will boomers be a noticeable user group? Their population is dwindling in the workplace and they’re starting to move away from computers and into tablets for their twilight years.

Would it just be boomers? I would think even going as far as millenials, would have grown up using a desktop/laptop. There are just as many non-tech savvy users in those age groups. But, it is also true that those generations are also just moving everything to their phone.

It’s all hard to speculate, because it involves a lot of broad generalizations.

urbanriot Thinking about it, how are Google and Apple monetizing this experience? Through advertising, data storage fees, and app stores

Yeah, I think with Apple, at least, it’s all part of the convenience factor. Everything is pretty much backed up to the cloud. You mess up something on your device and they have the customer service and cloud backup to set you up again.

I’ve barely used any Apple products. I think they were pretty early on moving to storage in the cloud for their iPads and iPhones. Did they even ever have things like microSD slots on their phones?

It seem like Microsoft tried to shift hard into AI recently. But CoPilot is free, I think, so I’m not sure where the monetization is in that.

Donut417

ElQuintron Actually it’s not just support. System 76 who is the one behind pop! OS, also makes laptops, desktops and workstations all running Linux. They offer both PopOS or Ubuntu preinstalled on their machines.

urbanriot

ElQuintron “Mint is the universally recommend distro to switch away from Windows” - why this distro?

ElQuintron

Donut417 Agreed.

Edit: By support I meant commercial backing from a large-ish corporate entity that makes laptops, so we’re both on the same page there.

ElQuintron

urbanriot Linux Mint has a very safe installer, and Cinnamon/Mate/XFCE are fairly easy to navigate if you’re coming from Windows or OSX. My kids used it for a few years until they wanted Windows specific things. I feel there are other distros that are just as easy, but chances are you won’t find as many resources as there are for Linux Mint.

GrumpyCanadian

ugly95 Did they even ever have things like microSD slots on their phones?

Are you kidding? That would give away one of their best ways to gouge their customers: the ridiculous prices they charge for more on-device storage. Apple has always done it that way, even when memory upgrades involved nothing more than adding SIMMs or DIMMs. For anything relating to increasing memory or storage space, Apple engaged in borderline highway robbery.

For a short while, some of their desktops had SD card slots, but the cult of thinness won again, and the slots were removed. Why anyone would care about thinness when we’re talking about a desktop, I have never understood.

real_aurgathor

urbanriot Yea but how much longer will boomers be a noticeable user group? Their population is dwindling in the workplace and they’re starting to move away from computers and into tablets for their twilight years.

There is a big difference between content consumption and creation – all you need for the former is a smart phone or a tablet, but if someone wants to create content, the limitations of those will be quickly known. My current system is a bit old, but it still has 48 Gig of memory, over 20 TB of disk space, and connected to a 40″ 4k and a 27″ 1920×1200 monitor.

Even though I’ve had mostly laptops at work lately, they’ve had docking stations and could still drive 2 - 3 external monitors that way. A good portion of tablets (exc. Surface Pro and a few other business tablets) were not designed with the possibility of multiple external monitors.

ugly95

urbanriot “Mint is the universally recommend distro to switch away from Windows” - why this distro?

I switched from Windows to Linux Mint.

Mint’s flagship desktop environment is Cinnamon. And it feels very familiar when switching. Out of the box, it’s fairly similar to Windows 7. Having the look and feel of a classic Windows desktop sort of removes one barrier to entry.

It’s also based on Ubuntu long-term support release. This is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, late in the update cycle you can end up with some really old packages that prevent you from using the latest versions of some software. But, as @ElQuintron said, it also provides a lot of resources for troubleshooting. Ubuntu tends to have the most resources available, and usually what works for Ubuntu will also work for Mint.

I think most people recommend starting with Ubuntu or Mint. Ubuntu uses something similar to Gnome for their desktop environment. It’s a little more alien. But, then Ubuntu also offers a Cinnamon version.

Ubuntu is also focusing on their Snap packages lately, which some people don’t like. I think that’s more of an ideological thing. I think new users probably wouldn’t know what’s going on there.

Mint’s default software is decent too. I’m actually not sure how they compare to Ubuntu.

Somewhat-Reticent

ugly95 ideological

More like a concern over tail-wag-dog influence.

ugly95

Somewhat-Reticent More like a concern over tail-wag-dog influence.

I didn’t mean to suggest that the concerns about Snap aren’t legitimate. I just meant that, from the perspective of a new user, having to use Snap or Flatpak (Mint prevents Snap use by default) probably isn’t going to affect ease of use.

ugly95

urbanriot Microsoft doesn’t have this… so how will they make money from the consumer market without pissing people off?

I just saw this buried in an article:
In 3.5 years, Notepad.exe has gone from “barely maintained” to “it writes for you”

Like Rewrite and Summarize, Write requires users to be signed into a Microsoft Account, because using it requires you to use your monthly allotment of Microsoft’s AI credits. Per this support page, users without a paid Microsoft 365 subscription get 15 credits per month. Subscribers with Personal and Family subscriptions get 60 credits per month instead.

Selling credits to access AI features. And different subscription tiers that will offer different amounts of AI credits.

Donut417

urbanriot Google can do it because they have Google search and Google’s ChromeOS directs people to their money maker.

I wonder how long thats will last however. Last I knew the DOJ was investigating Google for Sherman Act violations. The talk was both Chrome and Android might have to be spun out of Google to remedy the situation.

urbanriot Honestly I think it’s going to happen sooner than later

I dont see it outside of Enterprise. Most people wont pay for it. Hell many dont even buy a key and just use Windows unactivated, or activate it by “Other” means. I moved over to a Mac full time, however still use a PC for gaming. If Microsoft charged Id just move to Linux. Steam Deck has made Linux gaming more accessible. Sure some games wont work, but I dont really play those games to begin with.

computerman2

I plan on replacing Windows 10 Laptop as soon as i possibly can, with a Windows 11 Compatible Gaming Laptop and other household Desktop will be also Windows 11 Compatible

As for Subscription if it ever happens & reasonable amount, I’ll pay it, considering I already pay for Office 365, and plan on continuing that as well, as i do use OneDrive, do use Outlook Classic, MS Word & Excel at times.

Been on windows since Windows 3.1 days, Linux don’t think would support all my games, and daily tasks that i do, so personally going to stick with Windows 11

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