These articles are probably important to really drive the point home, but I also have a bit of a sense that they are akin to saying "the face eating leopard is eating people's faces".
Idk as I approach ten years without windows, the decline has been obvious for a long time. But I suppose when you try to stick with it and use the system there is a part of the brain that really tries to look past this stuff, and then one day you look at what it is with clear eyes and find yourself so disgusted you have to write about it.
Anyway, Ubuntu isn't perfect, and actually does do a teeny bit of advertising to you, but it isn't anything like this. Give it a shot if you haven't. I used to have to really wrangle with it to get stuff to work, but some combination of I finally learned how to deal with it and also it got better means I don't have to do that anymore.
> But I suppose when you try to stick with it and use the system there is a part of the brain that really tries to look past this stuff, and then one day you look at what it is with clear eyes and find yourself so disgusted you have to write about it.
Maybe a combination, plus, like any OS user, you learn what you like and don't like, and you customize it to get rid of the stuff you don't like. I'm using Windows 10 and there are very, very few things to complain about 99% of the time. But sure when I do a fresh install, I'm reminded of things I don't like for roughly 5 minutes, and then I don't think about them again for like 2 years straight. So you can see why it wouldn't matter?
On the other hand, if you use Windows 11, and you don't disable the News and Weather widget, you will be reminded constantly how horrible it is. (I tried Windows 11 on a laptop for a few hours, and it a trash party.)
Now, I tried Linux Mint for just over 2 months, and lots of things were awesome, but there were things that sucked, and I could not for the life of me fix them, including losing brightness controls in situations, very frequent hangs on boot, and some games playing much, much worse than they do in Windows. (There were also a ton of games that played just as well as they do in Windows!)
It's the problems that are in your face, especially if you cannot configure around them that will eat at you over time.
All valid points. I will say that while the trash in your face in Windows is an issue, the stuff that really gets me about Windows is their persistent desire to surveil users in every way possible. I put up with some difficulties in linux because it is generally very anti-surveillance, and that is a bigger issue for me than ads in my start menu. The ads in the start menu just serve as a reminder of what I really mean to Microsoft - I am a consumer who can provide value to Microsoft, rather than with Linux where I am a user who should be provided value by the operating system.
Itβs not just that. I personally only use Windows 10 for gaming, and no Windows besides on the daily basis, though I used to be a huge fan. Going back once in a while to see what Windows n+1 is up to, is almost like a mourning experience.
Idk as I approach ten years without windows, the decline has been obvious for a long time. But I suppose when you try to stick with it and use the system there is a part of the brain that really tries to look past this stuff, and then one day you look at what it is with clear eyes and find yourself so disgusted you have to write about it.
Anyway, Ubuntu isn't perfect, and actually does do a teeny bit of advertising to you, but it isn't anything like this. Give it a shot if you haven't. I used to have to really wrangle with it to get stuff to work, but some combination of I finally learned how to deal with it and also it got better means I don't have to do that anymore.