Can you expand on what you mean by this? Outside of video games I feel that any operating system can do 99% of tasks I need it to.

secure boot with keys outside your control, mandatory TPM chips, remote attestation, etc

True, but it seems it is still another example of cat and mouse game ( for example, unRaid seems to be able to run Win11 with TPM ). I am not suggesting that the issue you raise is unfounded, but at least for now as many people are working to make it a reality as ones, who do not.

[1]https://forums.unraid.net/topic/113817-virtualizing-windows-...

edit: adding missing not

Ooh, but that’s always been there. This is just what you know about.

This is over simplifying matters. The technologies used to be optional, but in many cases is now mandatory to use an OS.

Windows 11 mandates a TPM, for example - Windows 10 did not and works fine on any system without. There has been a huge amount of discussion here and elsewhere about the Windows 11 mandatory security changes, which themselves are similar to the changes Apple have made to how their own systems boot over the years.

I don’t mean to oversimplify, but you’re also conflating “PC” with “windows”. Linux and BSD are viable alternatives as well, in my opinion.

Do they lack the user land polish of windows? Sure!

But really at the end of the day you’re storing files and opening applications, and the eternal web browser. (Of which, you have 2 engine choices!)

Say that again when the impending doom of remote attstation forces you to use a single (and constantly changing) version of Windows in order to interact with any mainstream services.

Secure boot can largely be turned off at least for now, and TPM is mostly a passive thing, but the seriously real threat to freedom is remote attestation --- unlike the others, it's something that you can't get around by "simply" building your own platform, by design. External entities will have the power to compel "your" computer to do what they want, or else you will be denied access to many services. Unless we act quickly to fight against it, this will be the beginning of an authoritarian dystopia unlike anything we've seen in the past.

You can already see attempts at dissolving the rebellion against RA by Big Tech and the propaganda they disseminate. They don't want people to know this until it's too late. This warning should be taken in the same way as Stallman's "Right to Read".