Well, Microsoft is getting ready to annoy its faithful Windows 10 user base with yet another prompt. This time, Microsoft wants Windows 10 users to switch from using a local account to their online Microsoft account.
Man, Microsoft really seems like they don’t want power users on their OS anymore. Forced AI junk, Ads, MS accounts, and all kinds of other junk. Waiting to see what the Linux Desktop adoption numbers are this fall.
2023 was the year of the Linux laptop for me. 2024 is shaping up to be the year of the Linux desktop for myself as well.
Funny, I just picked up a Laptop for Linux. To help bring my self to a Linux Desktop.
What’s the tidiest distro these days?
I’d say that depends a lot on what you want it to do. Are you looking for a very simple and easy desktop experience? Go with Ubuntu or one of its many derivatives. Do you pine for the glory days of RedHat? Go with fedora. Do you want maximal control over every facet of your computer? Arch.
the only reason i wouldnt recommend ubuntu nowadays is snaps. they make the system so sloooow.
I recommend Mint Debian edition. It’s pretty easy to get into, without a lot of the nonsense Ubuntu comes with.
I personally use openSUSE Tumbleweed, which has worked pretty well for me for the last 5 years or so. However, it’s a really bleeding edge distro and not Debian based, so you may have issues finding help (I’m available if interested).
Look around and find something you like. Anything Ubuntu, Debian, or Fedora-based should be pretty safe in the “getting help” department.
NixOS is the tidiest. Having all your configurations in one or two files is excellent
As a NixOS user myself, I wouldn’t recommend it to someone new to Linux.
The person never said they were new to Linux
Aye, I used Ubuntu back when I was working retail, as I’d put it on units which didn’t have Windows licences.
Mint Virginia. It’s easy distro to navigate. Has all the drivers. It’s quick and simple.
Every person is going to have different opinions as to what distro works best for them. What exactly are you looking for in an ideal operating system?
Best would be to try different ones and see which one works best for you, but if I had more of an idea of what you’re looking for and what kind of hardware you’re using, I’d be able to recommend some distros to try out.
Are you a power user? Do you prefer stability or always having the latest software? Do you value ease of use or do you consider yourself more of a power user? Do you want to learn how to use the Terminal, or whould you rather avoid it and use graphical tools instead?
Also different desktop environments, even on the same distro will provide vastly different experiences.
Still sad because my Precision 5560 (same as XPS 9510) has this floaty trackpad bug on Ubuntu and Pop OS for whatever reason! (I haven’t tried any other distro). Much easier for me to swap to Linux on my laptop than my desktop because my laptop is just for Python, LaTeX, and MATLAB.
Dell even sells a 5560 with Ubuntu preinstalled, but they don’t make it available for users. But I have not for the life of me been able to get the track-pad bug to go away.
Here’s the fix (yoinked from archwiki)
Sadly I’ve been at this thread and done this already, did not work :(
People think it’s just due to the trackpads being crap (and somehow Windows gets around it). I’ll probably never need to buy another laptop, but if I do I will probably not buy a Dell again regardless of how much I love every other aspect of this laptop.
Try a more modern kernel. Lookup installing mainline kernels on Ubuntu. Pretty easy.
You could wait a couple of days and try ubuntu 24.04
with its much newer kernel it might not have that issue
As much as I like to see this sentiment, I think now as ever the people who actually follow through with moving to Linux will be few in number.
Most users who get fed up and decide the hell with it are likely to just buy a Mac instead, as revolting a development as that may be.
yeah this was me. swapped to Mac. Couldn’t bring myself to sign up to all the debugging that would go into having a Linux based laptop. I left windows due to the overhead of disabling the bloatware, popups and general bullshit. I didn’t want to swap that for other ongoing issues. Just give me something that works. It’s an OS, not a hobby project
Yeah, but Mac is actually weird and unintuitive. Like, I never figured out that to install programs you have to drag them in. I just clicked on the icon after opening the .dmg
My brother got a Mac for work. He couldn’t get used to the fact that a simple press of the Home key wouldn’t go to the start of the line; it goes to the start of the FILE.
Why??
Oh that would do my head in, i use home to go to the start of a line extensively
It’s so funny that you use the word “unintuitive” and the describe the most intuitive way of adding a program to your computer. 😁
How would I know to drag anything anywhere?
How do you get new furniture into your house?
Our way, since I’m a Windows and Linux user, of adding applications is a remnant from the old times. We have left the age where computers are maintained by men in white coats and powerful computers took up while buildings.
Apples way is more intuitive since it mimics how it most often works in the real world.
Computers should adapt to humans, not the other way around.
I add the furniture to my
configuration.nixand rebuild the whole house
are likely to just buy a Mac instead
That’s fine, actually. I can talk to a Mac user. I can say things like “it’s in a folder under your Home directory” and they will know exactly where that is. Windows users will just stare at you, slack-jawed and drooling.
Windows user A will not know what their home directory is and will respond as described. Windows user B will assume that it is their “my documents” folder, which may or may not be the case, because: Windows user C will know that there are effectively three home directories in Windows (/users/username, /users/username/documents, and /users/username/appadata/local) but that won’t help anybody determine which one some program actually put the goddamn file in.
Adoption rate is increasing from what I’ve heard. But you’re right, Linux/a Linux distribution isn’t going to take over anytime soon.
But I think once those users truly switched to Linux, very few will switch back. Sure there’ll be the odd gamer who absolutely “needs” to play that one game which has anti-cheat that’s unsupported on Linux. But other than that, once you’re in, you’re likely in for good. And long-term you pass it on to your family, mainly your children (my first computer was a DOS/Windows machine mostly because my dad used the OS himself then).
Yeah, I switched to Mint back in 2019 and can’t imagine going back. I have a Windows dual boot for certain games, but whenever I use it it feels like such a terrible experience compared to Linux. I don’t think I’ve used it in a couple months because of that lol.
Which has the exact same issues, but they are presented as “ecosystem” so it’s ok
Sounds more like they don’t want any users
they dont, they want subscribers
The modern software industry is a blight upon this world. I should know; I’m part of it.
Knock it off, Microsoft. You’re not my buddy, you’re an OS. Your job is to sit down, shut up, and run the programs I choose. That’s it.
If I find a function that’s useful for more than a week, I might make a batch file for it. Until then, you’re spare code.Personally I love that Microsoft did this. Please keep making windows more and more shit and annoying to use so people will switch to something else
You vastly underestimate the tolerance of an average user who barely knows their way around a web browser and Word.
My mom doesn’t even have a computer. She’s already retired so there’s not much money to squeeze from that demographic. In my late 20s, 30s and 40s I could build a new computer no problem. I use Linux. There’s no going back ever. Unfortunately I use windows at work cuz I’m forced to do that and I occasionally have to help my wife to windows some shit. No, my kids are going down the Linux rabbit hole.
I said the same thing, until the kids needed to use Office365 for school.
And NO, Libreoffice won’t cut it because the school is deeply entrenched with Microsoft - it’s not just using Word or whatever, but all those OneDrive things that are so tightly integrated.
So they run Windows, and I hate it. My work laptop also runs Windows, and I hate it. But there’s only so far you can take your idealism if you still want to be part of a normal functioning society.
My home server rocks Linux and Docker and whatnot. But work and school? Just accept it.
There has to be a resistance. Basically all of us who know our way around a computer, we simply quit helping the rest and bam Microsoft is history. And I think that’s happening now. I’m simply not going to push that shit into my kid’s life. I have a simple mind and I’m simple minded. Here I am typing on a little rectangle of glass and plastic with one finger. I’m writing more than a few words a day to many strangers. There’s no need for 15gig or you pay google powered AI one drive shit. You know that. Me, I would like to own my works of art. Wether it’s this very response or a photo. I want to know where in my computer the thing is stored and I would like for Microsoft to not have access to it. It’s a privacy issue. All the big companies are going to hit the privacy wall soon. Besides their shitty software, they will be hit by legal battles. If they win, we all loose. If they loose, then maybe, just maybe our kids will grow up with computing options that are there to help them and not to take advantage of their labor. Man, I’m willing to stand up in front of a PTA meeting and say this. I’m just tired of these tech corporations running loose and taking away our future. That’s all.
Can’t you use Office and OneDrive online?
Yeah, you just need a browser and you’re set, you could even use a tablet, no need for windows.
facts
Windows users will add a new PowerShell command or registry hack to the pile of shit to do to clean up a fresh install, and keep complaining that Linux is too hard.
Lol yeah I keep hearing about the commands and stuff people have to do at Win11 installation to stop it from forcing you to have an account or satisfy MS’s ridiculous TPM requirements. I hear about the commands people run to disable (most) telemetry, and the registry edits people use to prevent Windows from spawning ads, etc.
And I’m like damn, why is windows so complicated? It should never be required that a user open a terminal/command prompt.
Man I have to take this tone with every LLM I talk to.
You’re not mah buddeh Guy!
I’m not your guy, friend!
I’m Guy your friend, not!
I’m not your friend, buddeh!
“oh, just switch to Linux”
Oh, just shut up already. On Linux my fingerprint reader doesn’t work, my Adobe apps doesn’t run, my Concepts app doesn’t run. Not everybody works in IT, and many of us actually run apps other than Office ones.
This shit sucks, and I’ll support every tool that fixes and neuters Microsoft attacks to the user space because my work apps are there.
Lemmy users generally subscribe to the philosophy of “if everyone just thought exactly like me then the world would be utopia”
The actual solution is to pirate Windows 10 LTSC IOT from 1337x.to (microsoft’s debloated version of W10 for sysadmins, it tends to get leaked) for a usable everyday system. The only Linux setups that are possible to daily drive (aren’t unstable) are Linux Mint and an Arch setup with Hyprland if you know what you’re doing - anything else has serious issues in my experience. Even if you got Adobe and Office apps running (which is possible in some cases), both the most used desktop environments on Linux (GNOME and KDE) are incredibly buggy messes. Literally half of all ‘distros’ are just trying to make sure those two desktop envs aren’t launching nuclear bombs on your machine
The actual solution is to pirate Windows 10 LTSC IOT
Awesome. Amazing. Thankyou. This looks great.
That said, the rest of your comment is a bit… arrogant? Especially after complaining that Lemmy users are arrogant. Linux didn’t work for you and / or your use case. Fine. Everything else works fine for loads of other people.
XFCE is a pain-free desktop environment, so Xubuntu is my system of choice for personal use.
But in the office I just can’t unilaterally decide to ditch Windows. And while I do have access to an admin account to fix some annoyances, it’s not like I can run a custom OS so far removed from the regular user accounts that I wouldn’t be able to replicate their issues.
I primarily run Linux but absolutely understand the need for things that only work with windows so I dual boot. That being said I use AtlasOS which cleans up W10 pretty good. I don’t have any of the crappiness that is currently hitting users.
Also here’s another site that has some information on AtlasOS as well as some other tools.
https://www.xbitlabs.com/best-custom-windows-10-iso-for-gaming/
I know it says for gaming but I use solidworks as well as some other software and my idle resource usage has went way down and it runs so much better.
Finally a decent suggestion. I’ll take a look at it, thanks!
I had high hopes for Atlas for gaming.
I formatted and started a fresh install. My main games (League Of Legends, Escape from Tarkov) would not install, with various errors. Then I ran into system errors with permissions.
Also came across this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctONKQByx-M
Back to Win10 Pro + debloat script.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=ctONKQByx-M
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
What exactly were the errors?
Sorry, it was nearly a year ago, I don’t remember the exact details. I’m an experienced IT specialist and they were not common issues I could easily debug and resolve myself. All I remember is I followed some tutorials to address some errors, which ended up creating other errors. I gave up after a couple consecutive evenings of troubleshooting.
Oh, oh, yes shut up. We already know some apps are available only for certain platforms and have different set of supported drivers.
Why have the same arguments over and over. If the only disadvantage of the clearly better thing is popularity, then don’t shut up people taking time questionably promoting it.
Because we get the same useless suggestions over and over and over that solves absolutely nothing. If you know about the limitations then don’t go around pitching Linux as an universal solution since that’s clearly a lie.
Why have the same arguments over and over.
You realize the main thing said in this thread apart from people complaining about it, are all people saying “just switch to Linux.”
Because every new shitty thing Microsoft does is another new argument 😊.
Agreed.
I tried Solus once back in 2019-ish when I first learned Bash at work because I found it cool. Then came the games that were incompatible with Proton / Wine, and the many painful hours of trying to debug why Mass Effect Andromeda kept crashing after 30 mins of runtime (no solution found). In the end I just swapped back to Windows because I didn’t want to do what I already did at work during the weekends.
I like Linux, but until a majority of game developers prioritize development for Linux I’ll stick to Windows. I could dual boot Linux and Windows, but I suspect I’ll just do everything on Windows in the end lol
The vast majority of games already run on Linux, even without Linux binaries.
The IT argument actually supports your argument, not necessarily against it. I work in IT and from home, and my company only works with Linux in limited capacities. Most of our tools and most of our clients are Windows based. Sure, I have Linux vms and such, but at the current moment switching my main OS is a hassle that I’ll go through later.
On Linux my fingerprint reader doesn’t work
Your WHAT? How stupid does one have to be to even use fingerprints on technology they do not fully control, and that has network access? facepalm
I’m sure the smartphone you’re using right now is all under your control with no network access right? 🤦
Seriously, what’s up with all those trolls on lemmy?
They’re not trolls, just Unix-pilled dumbasses who can’t accept their 4% club isn’t the literal holy grail they want it to be.
Linux is great, yeah. You know what else is great? Playing games. Not debugging drivers. Stable configurations. Not sucking Torvalds’ dick. Coming home after my job and just doing whatever the fuck I want on my PC, instead of putting on my “Linux user” overalls and going back to what is basically another job, trying and failing to get the fucking OS to do one teensy little thing that there are 50 half-documented solutions for, 49 of which don’t work.
It is rooted , uses LineageOS & doesn’t have google apps etc. Yes. Beyond that, I understand the risks of using always-online technology.
Nobody used Adobe whatever 30 years ago and I bet that 30 years ago there were people working on video and graphics to sell products and to make photos 😁. Meaning stop using those tools. The tools don’t make the artist.
I’ll give you the benefit of doubt instead of calling you a troll, so I’ll say this: Stop using your smartphone, right now. Nobody used GPS and people managed to cross oceans. Nobody had mobile phones and people managed to get in touch just fine. Nobody had text apps, they sent letters and used paper to take notes. They went to the bank to see how much money they had on their account. They went to music stores to browse CDs.
So give up you phone, right now, and all the conveniences it gives you. Then ask for a friend to text here after a year and tell me how it was.
I don’t use Outlook. I haven’t used an email app for years. I’m now stuck in Gmail hell with multiple accounts. That’s not better. I’m trying to stop using Gmail and go to an open source app with my own server. It can be done. You can live without the Adobe shit. The reason is simple. How many TV commercials have you authored in the past 3 months? I’m guessing 0. I rest my case. Not as an insult, it’s just maybe you don’t need all the fancy tools. Back when I had a stick shift carburetor car I could understand everything. Now I have a Prius and I understand some of it. The Prius makes it easy to drive and I don’t have to think about shifting or anything. But when it comes to the nuts and bolts in a possible moment of need I’m going to be down 1000 bucks or more if the thing stops working in the middle of nowhere. Are you going to loose out if you stop using Adobe apps?
TV commercials? Honest question, do you even know what is the Adobe Cloud used for? Do you even know who uses it and how it is used? They’re not the industry standard for nothing, they’re actually really powerful creativity tools with strong collaboration tools. They are not perfect, but they ARE the best. You don’t use it, you’re out of the industry. It’s hard to keep a job with Affinity unless you’re freelancing, and it’s damn impossible if you rely on crap like GIMP.
Sure, you can put a nail in with a shoe but that doesn’t mean the shoe is better than a hammer. Come on.
Are you really a better creator if you push a button to create vs someone who spends a year on a single static painting? Sure you’ll die on hunger these days and I understand that. But using Adobe crap won’t get you past AI. Soon I’ll be able to just ask AI to make me a Bruce Willis movie about a regular guy who happens to be a really good mechanic with a military past with secret ties to the CIA, and I’ll be be watching the best movie he ever made past his retirement. What are you going to do? Press a button to hopefully make a swirl better? Nah. Artists talent comes from knowing the nuts and bolts of the things you do.
Thanks for the laugh, because your reply clearly shows you have no arguments and decided to attack me on a personal level, all while showing you know absolutely nothing about the creative arts and the industry.
This silly angry discourse of yours? I heard it again and again: how all the work I did and the knowledge I had because I spent so much time learning to grind pigments, to choose the right oils, to know the right water dosage, the right paper, all of it, would be useless because the new big thing arrived: digital art tools. How designers would be obsolete because instead of drawing with pen and paper and big ass tables and rules we would be doing all in a tiny screen, being all processed through a computer.
I lived through it all kid, while you’re typing your silly comment in the confort of your room without a single knowledge of the real world. And I’ll do it again and again, because I’m not a moron. I know how to draw and to paint for real, and how to draw and how to paint in digital, and I’m using AI to enhance everything beyond what I thought it was possible.
You know nothing, and understand nothing, all while tapping yourself in the back thinking you got a great zinger. Shame.
And don’t bother to reply. You’re a moron and an imbecile that I already spent too much time replying your stupidity. You’re blocked.
I turned it off two weeks ago by installing Mint.
For a second I was wondering how the money management app that intuit just killed stopped this for you. Forgot that’s also a distro, I’m a dumbass.
I switched to Linux because of this. I’m sick of them pushing some OneDrive agenda. I want a personal computer. Not a cloud connection that a corporation has access to.
Obligatory “switch to Linux to turn it off” comment.
But honestly, Windows becoming more annoying and actively working against me is the reason I finally switched 4 months ago. It wasn’t that Windows is proprietary, or that Linux has some technological advantages (as Windows probably has others) or that I disliked the desktop environment or whatever. It got in my way, and that’s disrespectful and time consuming. I don’t want my OS to get in my way, I want to do things with my computer.
The irritating thing about all this is, at least if Raymond Chen is to be believed, the OS letting you do what you want without getting in your way was actually a/the core design philosophy of Windows up until probably the end of the XP era. It seems with Vista they started losing the plot, and by the time of Windows 8 Microsoft had fully committed to going completely off the rails.
Honestly, Windows 7 was kind of good. It’s the last Windows OS I could stand to use because it’s the last one that was offline. You could do whatever you want and update whenever you want, there were no ads in the start menu or whatever
Install Linux and be done with the microshit nonsense.
“Oh but this particular thing requires 20 minutes of my time to figure it out” then take 20 minutes. On windows you took a lot more, you can spare this
But “insert specific hardware or software here” doesn’t work in Linux! Then find alternate ways. I’ve used a Linux desktop for well over 29 years now, I had problems , like everyone else, but I never faced any of this and all the other bullshit from Microsoft. Bluetooth didn’t work? I got a different adapter that does have Linux drivers.
Linux is growing bigger and bigger, more companies will support it, just use it. Worst case you change problem a for problem b but at least you’re no longer paying to be spied on.
F everything about Microsoft
While I wholeheartedly agree with the notion of “switch to Linux if you can”, sometimes people can’t do this due to obscure work software, specific hardware they can’t afford to change, or something else.
I know that being on Linux all those Windows enshittification news appear very distant, but some people literally can’t escape Windows for now - it’s not only those who are reluctant - and those news are bad news.
For those who consider Linux, though - by all means go for it. You can install Linux alongside Windows (preferably on another physical drive, but same drive will do), and just tinker with it and see how it feels. Don’t just toy with it, actually try to use it. As with any system, it might seem a bit weird for your first few hours, but when (if) you’ll be ready to make a switch, you really won’t look back.
Linux is not just an “ideological” choice. It is faster (you may not notice this on Windows, but even on greatest of computers Windows is lagging a bit, and you’ll feel the difference); it doesn’t bombard you with anything, it doesn’t shill you anything, it doesn’t do what you didn’t ask, it just gets the job done exactly the way you want it to.
And it’s insanely satisfying. Silence and control. For once, you actually are a master of your system.
Choose some distribution that supports KDE Plasma desktop - be it Fedora KDE, Manjaro KDE, KDE Neon or anything else - they will all do. KDE will make your experience way more Windows-like, and it will be easier to switch. In fact, KDE is what Windows desktop wish it could be.
Or, if you feel nostalgic for Windows 7 era, choose Cinnamon-based distros, especially Linux Mint.
And just run it. The time is now.
Exactly this, Windows has NEVER been a “it just works” desktop and people complain bitterly about it until Linux is offered… Suddenly “it works differently than windows” becomes an insurmountable obstacle people don’t dare to take
Even LTT did this in their windows vs Linux comparison a couple of years back. Basically they introduced every possible user error (like not realizing they were copying a 4 GB file and expected it to copy under a second) as a Linux problem… I mean, come on!
In the end it’s the exact situation as with pick up drivers… “Try to haul 10 tons of maneure on a Prius!”… Sure if you truly need to do that daily, stick with your truck, but the vast majority of pick up owners could have a normal sized car and barely would need to take special actions once a year
It’s also always been strange to me, because the default response to any issue with Windows when I used it was “just reinstall”
Even at work, my laptop got kicked off of Active Directory - they tried to fix it for a couple days and ended up with“we have to reimage it”
also, Linux is better at that kind of utility task.
Give me HTC Vive SR-Anipal drivers, HP Reverb G2 Omnicept SDK drivers (yes, I know it’s discontinued from 24H2), and I might consider switching to Linux.
So, not happening.
well aero was pretty, and the age of empires games were fun.
It turns off in you install linux
Great success
If you’re referencing the bypass used on new windows 11 machines they patched it.
I hope the person who implemented the bypass didn’t get shit for it. And fuck, hope there’s a new way
If there is I still can’t find it. I’ve been using a generic email address and creating a new profile deleting the Microsoft one. It’s annoying af
Rufus usb installer bypass
Unfortunately my boss doesn’t want us using Rufus. Please don’t ask me why, it doesn’t make sense.
So do it anyway and don’t tell them.
Gotta review the code
Even if you put in a bogus user and pw three times? Not joking, that used to let you get a local account option.
Oh I tried a lot more than 3 times
Shift +F10 (shift+fn+F10 on some laptops) to open a terminal, during the initial setup. Then just type: oobe/bypassnro
PC will reboot. Don’t have Ethernet connected, don’t connect to WiFi and boom!
This is great thank you!
The bypassnro command still works though. Installed 23H2 in a VM yesterday and it worked fine.
Nice thanks
Im not surprised really
Well said.
I love how microsoft is becoming more and more supportive of linux!! Thanks
(by making the switch to linux more enticing)
It grinds my gears for so many reasons, but most of all, it creates a huge vulnerability with little or no benefit to the end user. Needlessly adding extra online exposure, just so they can data mine.
the best way to disable it is to install linux
ah this one is easy, it’s called use linux.
Stop coping and use linux.
This has been: your local linux user, thank you for having me.
This crap is getting annoying. Most people are office workers with no say about their day to day OS.
Office workers will not be getting pestered to sign up for a Microsoft account.
you best be sure they’ll be paying for it though!
ok
I had to use a Microsoft account because I really wanted Xbox GamePass on my PC so I can play PC games. It required it on the OS level.
I wish I could say it’s not that bad. But it really sucks!
Things like having to restart, or apps/games not working because it couldn’t talk to Microsoft servers.
I let my subscription lapse a year ago when I bought a Steam Deck. And honestly hoping Proton gets even more coverage.
I had switched to Linux the moment they introduced Win10 and telemetry back when, with great success. Dual booted for a long time for gaming but even that is no longer needed now since a few years ago. built my first amd only rig in 2019 which was a game changer.
I made it through until Win11 announced (Had to because of work). Once 11 was announced I just said fuck it, and have been Linux since.
I no longer have any computers in my house running windows except a 10 year old Laptop that is available for the really weird and off windows requirements (like ESPHome programming)
Boy were you ever late. :p I switched when Win2k was no longer viable & the option would have been WinXP - that was already phoning home.
