We live in weird age, where using Windows is becoming harder than Linux (even though it has its own issues).
We’ve been there for a long time.
Broadly speaking, outside of some specific niche workflows, Linux has been pretty easy for a long time, and Windows has a lot of unintuitive stuff that we only think is easy because we’re used to it.
Linux and Windows certainly both have their failings, but it feels like Linux’s generally stem from the lack of full time developers on projects, whereas failings in Windows often feel like a deliberate user-hostile choice.
If only CS2 ran better on linux 😔
CS2
It has a native linux client: https://x0.at/I1ZV.png
I always “Recall” how shitty windows is, whenever I see the word mentioned.
I opt-out.
Me too… well using linux is technically opting out to that right?
It’s the only way to be sure Microsoft won’t sneakily turn it back on.
At least until they sneak it into VS Code’s telemetry. …only sort of joking.
VS Codium to the rescue.
neovim to the rescue.
I spent a couple of weeks trying to get used to vim and in the end I just figured that whatever performance boost I’m supposed to get by not having a UI, I lose by having to learn vim.
People who use it need to be on some kind of government watch list.
Just like opting out of using a Microsoft account to log into windows, the grips will get tighter and tighter over time until you are forced to use butt hole ID to unlock your screen.
While I very much dislike that too, it’s very easy to opt out. Just use Windows Pro, Enterprise, or education.
I haven’t used windows home in decades, I deal with new installs of pro/enterprise all the time. You have to jump hoops now to create a local account.
Nah, you just select domain join. I did that a few weeks ago on a Win 11 enterprise install.
But if you deal with new installs “all the time” you should really consider automating the setup and domain joining, instead of manually creating local accounts and then domain joining.
Copilot+ PCs have specific hardware requirements beyond the ones necessary to run Windows 11. The most significant is the requirement for a neural processing unit (NPU) that can process more than 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS).
So in other words, copilot will be a huge enormous waste of electricity as it’s continuously training some shitty AI. Gottit.
Install Linux already, be done with this windows nonsense
I agree. But people also need to be ready for some of the Linux bullshit brings. I’ve switched recently and it’s never 100% smooth sailing. But at least no tracking and proprietary bullshit.
Bullshit like what? That most stuff just does as advertised?
Yeah, there will be technical issues here and there, but are you really going to claim widows doesn’t have technical issues?
I’ve been doing Linux desktop for over 25 years now and every time I look at windows it’s always because of some bullshit technical issue and I always have to wonder why people pay for that shit
Yeah, this can be an unpopular opinion on Lemmy, because there’s a giant Linux circlejerk. But the unfortunate reality is that changing to Linux does have some major stumbling blocks. The “switching is so easy, just do it” crowd totally glosses over it, but that’s kind of rhetoric doesn’t help long term adoption. Because if some new user has only heard “switching is so easy” and immediately runs into issues, they’ll be more likely to go “well if it’s super easy and I can’t figure it out, I guess it’s just not for me” and abandon things.
There’s also a very vocal (and toxic) part of the Linux community that basically just screams “RTFM” at every newbie question. New users shouldn’t be expected to dig into a 350 page technical document just to learn the basics of their new OS.
Yea… The biggest wtf moment was
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Logitech doesn’t have Linux drivers… I didn’t know this before switching. It’s not really Linux’s fault, but users won’t care. The fact that something as basic as a mouse and keyboard need tinkering sucks
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Nvdia drivers are wonky and buggy it took me 2h to configure my two monitor setup. Again, really not Linux’s fault, but people won’t care
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Same random bugs like suspend not working, or extern drives randomly mounting, it’s little things
So yea… I like Linux way better than Windows now, but “just switch everything works” simply isn’t true and we have to be honest.
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One has to wonder if Recall just isn’t as profitable as they had hoped.
No individual aspect is profitable here it i about data collection and depth of service.
Collection of personal data is arguably worth money to them though, for advertising and whatever else they’re doing.
Don‘t say no one was warned…
every linux user: Oh no…well anyway
It is good to use linux. But this has an impact on everyone to some degree. You may use Linux, but does your family, friends, your doctor, your teacher or boss, and whoever else who has some of your personal data?
You do bring a good point. Every doctor will havemy phone number on file and recall will screen shot that. I cant do anything to stop that. Same with every other piece of data.
At least my doctor won’t have screen shot of everything, web page, picture, word doc, friends lists, political news, I view on screen.
Someone will have vital information stolen from a recall hack on a 3rd party
My data being in the hands of a 3rd party at all is arguably a larger risk than said 3rd party running Windows. No single individual can control what OS any particular 3rd party runs, and if you hand data over to a 3rd party, at some point you have to trust them. If you don’t trust them, find someone you can trust.
Don’t make everyone else’s choice of OS my problem.
Tbh I’d pay money for a foss alternative here. There are smart systems in KDE and Gnome already but if it could recall exact details on free software it would be awesome.
You can install key and screen loggers if you want. Could even setup offsite backup and rclone it all wherever you want.
On a separate note, I just installed a Linux partition on my laptop to dual boot since I still need windows for AGI32 and Autodesk. Next weekend, I’ll be shrinking my windows partition, move my files to a new partition and mount it in Linux so I can access files both ways.
Feels so good to have absolute control of my computer again.
I’m glad I got out when I could because Recall is such a dodgy ‘feature’.
So reading more into it, it’s (currently) only on the bogus copilot+ PCs they were peddling? I’m happily on bazzite, but this is good news for my stubborn mates that haven’t touched copilot+ shit.
I would not count on them telling the truth.
I checked my Windows 11 work laptop a while ago, and that shit was enabled. Did not see that in any UI, but using command line. Said that shit was enabled and active, but apparently it was not yet doing anything. I will have to check again next time I am firing that machine up again, because I absolutely trust them to re-enable it without my consent, those bottom-feeding scum suckers.
Obligatory info on how to check and disable recall in Windows 11:
- Click on the Start button with the right mouse button and select “Terminal (Administrator)” or “Windows PowerShell (Administrator)”, or if necessary log in as administrator and confirm.
- In the Terminal or PowerShell, enter the command
DISM /Online /Get-FeatureInfo /FeatureName:Recalland press the Enter key. - If the entry “Enabled” appears next to “State”, the recall function is already activated. In this case, the function can be disabled using the command
DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:Recall - Close the window.
From this page.
Thank you for this, valuable info right there.
Yeah. My entire windows machine is locked down specifically to combat the copilot ms365 plague. I’m also using Bazzite and generally loving it. But I have a work machine for work things and some of my programs require windows to work.
Oh give it time it will appear after an update on everything else, “accidentally”.
“But most significantly, Microsoft has made Recall a feature you must opt in to using rather than opt out of using, and it’s possible to remove it completely.”
Important bit
only until they find out most people never enable it. Then it will be forced on
Yeah, this is just the thin end of the wedge.
Although I suppose you could call windows itself the thin end of the wedge, this is a slightly wider part.
For now, anyway. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Also it’s not available on x86-64 CPUs. You need an ARM CPU with an NPU. Microsoft’s reasoning is so that the AI shit can be processed locally to protect your privacy. Apparently they’ve never heard of GPUs before.
opt in for now.
“Whoopsie, we turned it on for everyone by accident after an update! We made a fucky wucky!”
😎 Me having set only security updates in my windows, after it tried to install the 24H2 update.
They will claim it’s security based
If they want to pay 2-3 Billions to EU for breaking laws, let them. I will also make so money suing them.
Didn’t they require one of these bigger upgrades to still get security updates? I thought I read something about 23H2 (or similar) not getting updates anymore.
“Whoopsie, turns out we lied and recall was enabled from the start and just pretended to be off” 😄🤷♂️
“we noticed you uninstall Recall. Probably just an accident. We reinstalled it in an unremovable way and enabled it for you. You’re welcome!”
Edit: autocorrect
Good! In my opinion this entirely changes the feature to acceptable.
They will eventually change the default to “on.”
At that time, my view of the feature will change to unacceptable. Until then, it is acceptable.
Most MS controversial features go through “opt in -> opt out -> mandatory” pipeline examples are Telemetry, Windows Live account, Spotlight (ui ads), etc.
This is good. There are probably some edge cases for this. I work in IT for some companies using industrial automation. Being able to roll back and watch what people do when errors or problems occur is a good feature. Similarly on high value servers I would like this as well.
Being able to turn it on is better than having to apply policies to disable. I don’t see this as a big problem anymore.
There is a big concern of it recording confidential information that could be leaked as well.
I’m not sure if you understood the comment you responded to…
In 2005 Windows was like 95% of the desktop/laptop market. Today it’s 70-75%. Since then mobile phones usurped a lot of functionality that used to require a desktop/laptop. Windows dependency is going to keep trending down both in just desktop/laptop or including mobile devices
I guess that means I have to break out the old GOATSE wall paper.
GOATSE
This is a huge opportunity. All of us Linux geeks now need to be on mainstream social media platforms and actively seek out and help everyone who expresses an interest in switching from Windows to Linux.
Let me save you the trip. I have an old trash spec hp all in one that’s had the bag beat out of it, what is the best lightweight Linux distro to make this a usable web browsing and PDF file viewer? (To be used in my garage to look at FSM, wiring diagrams, play music, Google crap etc nothing demanding). I’ve tried mint and it works ok but thinking lighter weight ?
FSM
Finite-state machine?
Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Forgetting Sarah Marshall?
FSM in the context of a garage probably means Factory Service Manual, i.e. the service manual for a car or motorbike
Its female siamese midgets, how can you not know this?
fatal sex maneuver
Damn Small Linux is very lightweight and comes with browser and PDF viewer preloaded. It doesn’t have a GUI software installer though, so you will have to use the terminal if you need to install stuff.
I installed MX Linux on an old tablet/ laptop with 2GB RAM AND 30GB storage. Works very well except for the webcam, but that’s because the hardware is made so that only windows can use it correctly.
You could try Linux Mint XFCE edition. Comes with a more lightweight desktop environment.
At that point you might as well just run Debian Testing with XFCE. Or Xubuntu. Basically the same thing.
Other Debian-based distros with XFCE are going to be very similar, yes.
Xubuntu is going to install Snaps if you install some software through apt, though, which imo is kind of gross. That’s the reason I switched to Mint. But if you like Snaps, it’s arguably a better choice.
Debian might be slightly harder to set up. However, from what I hear, it’s easy enough for most people now.
If you’re already familiar with regular Mint, XFCE Edition is going to have the same key bindings, update manager and driver manager, so it should be slightly easier to use.
I see you have only two different answers so far. which is just not playing the game. i’ll give you another two; there are at least 15 “best lightweight linux distro”. For your use, I’d pick any one at random, try it out on a bootable usb.
Personslly, I’d try stock debian and choose LXQT for a lightweight desktop.
puppylinux also deserves a mention, I always have a bootble PL usb lying around somewhere. Its reliable , fast for a usb, very good potato-compatibility, has loads of useful programmes and utilitiea already in there. I’ve never actually installed it permanently though. Scared of making a commitment to slackware that I don’t understand.
I’d avoid Damn Small and Tiny Core though - unless you really need them. Cool as they are they are well out of mainstream.
