When Windows 10 came out, the telemetry, MS account features, forced auto updates/reboots made my computer feel like it was no longer my own.
Having used Microsoft OSes since DOS, this was the straw that finally broke the camel's back.
After dabbling in Linux for years, this was motivation to commit 100% to using Linux as my main OS. It was mildly painful at first, but after sticking with it, I would never go back.
MS is making me sad. I like what they are doing in some areas, like WSL2, but on the other hand, they are taking cues from Apple on how to treat computing customers.
The "we'll protect you, but you need to login and install everything through our store" paradigm is an awful trade, in my opinion.
I don't know, I think they are bad in a different way from Apple, and in my opinion this way is worse. Apple enforces what is and isn't allowed on their platform with an "Apple knows best" attitude, but besides this the UX basically respects the user and gets out of your way.
Microsoft uses dark patterns to actively bully the user into doing what they want you to do.
Also WSL2 is fine, but I have the feeling they are only doing this because Windows was becoming the 3rd class development platform behind Linux and Mac. For modern development you need to be able to speak *nix, so MS did not have much of a choice here but to come up with some kind of solution.
Your last point is probably correct. Until WSL2 (and really WSLg) I didn't really consider having my dev machine run windows.
I also agree that the dark patterns garbage has to stop. If you want to shape my behavior, convince me it is in MY interest. If you are forcing my hand for your interests, I'll find someone better.
Same. After my third reinstall of Windows 10 thanks to broken forced updates I fully switched and I don't think I'll ever go back. I lost a lot of software compatibility but gained a sense of freedom, with an OS that doesn't feel like it's actively trying to ruin my day, but just...runs. Without doing anything weird by itself.
Exactly the same. I bought a new computer 2017, the telemetry, account nagging and forced auto updates + reboots became too much.
Updates could remove old Windows applications I had installed, change the default application association, or just break the installation. Every warning that I thoughtfully chose to dismiss came back with every update. Don't like to integrate your AV with the cloud? We will make sure you to warn you on every. single. update.
It felt like I didn't own the system nor that I was the administrator of it.
All this made me switch to Linux permanently. It made me take the steps from dualboot, VMs and experimentation.
For those few times per year when I need Windows, I connect a separate disk with Windows, boot it up and do my thing.
Usually the next time I come back to the computer, Windows has forcefully rebooted back to Linux. Thanks.
If Windows 11 requires an account, I guess I'll stick to my old Windows 10 installation until it stops working. Hopefully I won't need Windows for anything by then.
I am in the same boat, I dropped all Microsoft products in 2014. There is literally nothing I do with my PC for which I need Microsoft products. It's very unfortunate to keep seeing these things pop up. It's like MS does not care or value the users of the machines and their operating systems.
I switched to Linux entirely and used nothing else during approximately 2009-2014. I managed to do everything I wanted, including playing the latest games (with a bit of effort), and it felt so much better. What ultimately made me switch back was the lack of support for DX11 in Wine. I've heard that they've solved those problems now and gaming on Linux seems to be viable again.
I would love to switch back in response to this. Unfortunately, I've since transitioned to working fully remote and I worry using Linux for my work might not be viable.
i had pretty much the same feeling about not owning my computer anymore. someone person/people in redmond were deciding my computer should update and not me.
the last straw for me was one time when i had 10 minutes to kill before i headed out the door, so i sat down to do stuff on my computer, but when i turned out in it decided it wanted to update, and took most of the 10 minutes to do that. so dumb
Pretty much the same reasons why I also moved to Kubuntu. I fix computers for a living and even I found it a comfortable switch and actually find using Linux preferable to Windows 7. A lot of the command-line tools I use are faster and compiling software is a cinch. Thanks, Microsoft, for making my job easier.
I would love me to move to Linux completely. However healthy share of my income comes from my desktop products. And since I have tens of thousands of customers for those it would be a business suicide trying to convince them to use Linux. Even without it there are programs I use on Windows that are not available for Linux. So no, moving completely to Linux is currently unrealistic for me.
your can't just run the windows stuff in a VM? although it helps if you have a beefy enough system, otherwise it can be kind of sluggish if you have a lot of other things open in Linux as well. its a great way to keep windows at arms length though
using seamless mode in virtualBox is pretty neat too
>When Windows 10 came out, the telemetry, MS account features, forced auto updates/reboots made my computer feel like it was no longer my own.
Oh you don't know how good we have it. You just wait until Pluton comes out. Right now there is always a patch, a registry hack or some kind of modification that makes everything bearable. With Pluton you are 100% at the mercy of MS.
Having used Microsoft OSes since DOS, this was the straw that finally broke the camel's back.
After dabbling in Linux for years, this was motivation to commit 100% to using Linux as my main OS. It was mildly painful at first, but after sticking with it, I would never go back.