After I select Windows in the boot menu, I'd spend like ten minutes waiting for Windows Update to complete. Then I have to click through a series of full screen ads and prompts to disable my privacy settings, which is getting increasingly difficult with all the dark patterns thrown in after every new release. It really shows a lack of respect for the user, taking my computer hostage while I resist their attempts to enable numerous privacy-invading settings that I declined over and over and over.

Over the years, this made me distrust Windows so much that I removed anything critical off of it. I removed my password manager, deleted my browsing data, and made sure to remove anything tied to an online account except Steam.

Then I finally had enough and moved my games over to Linux. So far, the experience is good and I'm glad that WINE is going through active improvements.

I return to my main Mac after 2 months on the road, and nothing has changed. It boots right up, and might occasionally ask me if I want to install updates in the evening.

I bought another Mac recently. I didn't have to turn a bunch of things off. I wasn't tricked into accepting anything. By comparison it took me a whole day to update my Surface tablet and turn off all manners of growth hacking before I returned it.

If someone behaved like Microsoft does, I'd keep an eye on my drink when they're around.

What has gotten into the minds of these people? Why do they think this is at all acceptable?

You're still a Windows user, aren't you? (No judgement, just answering the question!)

https://www.statista.com/statistics/218089/global-market-sha...

(reminds me of the IE market share graph actually)

For convenience:

  Windows 96.37%
  OSX 2.37%
  Linux 1.27%

And from the looks of things, Windows is on the decline. Linux and Mac are actually beginning to rise. Unknown are generally unknown Linux distros, and then there is ChromeOS and the recognized Linux distros. Together, that makes Linux about 13%

According to that, Windows' world wide market share is now under 70%. It lost 6% in the past few months starting in December.

A lot of this I find have to do with Valve pushing for Linux gaming. And there is also ChromeOS too (which is Linux). Then there is the unknown portion (which are mostly unrecognized Linux distros). That altogether makes Linux about 13%.

Really, it's the end of an era were Windows is actually relevant for the majority of PC gaming. And with people hating Windows more these days, they are weighing their options from the looks of it.

I haven't touched windows 11 at all beyond some idle poking of a display computer at Costco.

That prompt never comes back for me in 3 days though. Just at the next major OS update about every ~3 months.

That said there should be a setting for savvy users or enterprises to disable updates.

It's a very stressful thing to deal with, and congress does nothing to stop it because they're too busy trading stock investment info for insider profit...

We are not totally powerless though, hacking and warez are on the rise again, lots of people are declining updates, and even returning to older software versions, and nothing has ever stopped us from creating a good old-fashioned picket line in front of Microsoft HQ, or any other predatory software making company for that matter.

https://images.app.goo.gl/dVbDoBuScVzp3uAg9

I disagree for three reasons:

1. Apple Ads are incessant about their own services. Why is (or was?) not having iCloud set up showing up as a permanent notification badge over Settings? It was a while ago, but I remember I subscribed just to shut iOS up. It worked for Apple I guess, but only in a shortsighted way.

2. Ads are big business. Microsoft didn't start with shameless ads, and I don't think Apple would stop at current ad levels. They have to show growth quarter after quarter, so in all likelihood, like we have seen with other companies, it's only gonna get worse. I would love to be proven wrong, but I would also be surprised if I do.

3. The gap between "no ad" and "low ad" feels much bigger the gap between "low ad" and "more ad". Just replace Apple and Microsoft with Netflix and imagine how we would feel if Netflix started showing some—not too many and not too outrageous—ads. For me at least, it moves the service from the "no ad" category to the "with ad" category, and I hate the latter category. So at least in my view, the gap between Apple and Microsoft in this regard is not "way ahead", it is "slightly ahead and getting closer". So while I would be happy to spend an extra X$ for a "no ad" product compared to a "with ad" product, I wouldn't feel the same about a "low ad" product. The Apple premium makes much less sense now, and I am not sure if I am gonna go with Apple for my next phone or computer purchase.

I was already in the market for a new PC. I'm just finalizing what version of Linux I want to run for my dev work and then I'm going to offload my Adobe work onto a Mac Mini and finally get rid of Windows once and for all.

In an ideal world, it would push people toward real life.

"Another ad on my computer? I don't need to Candy Crush that bad. I'll go outside."

Sports leagues are expensive, time consuming, and prone to serious injuries you’ll be feeling for decades (and expensive too).

And then there’s the short and long term costs associated with long term exposure to the sun.

Granted, I’m cherry picking negatives. But by that same token, so is equivocating PC gaming with Candy Crush.

No regrets.

Only in America. Thankfully, 95% of the world's population lives somewhere else.

I feel very sad for you.

Oh! And if you go into the task scheduler to hunt down the half dozen different places this function is called from, they just get turned back on with the next update.

I got so tired of Windows turning on my computer in the middle of the night, checking for updates (but never actually applying any) to apply updates, and then leaving it on all night afterwards, like WTF.

Autoplaying videos with sound

...do you think anyone who knew anything about it would breathe a word of its existence?

Now i don't have to be afraid to go to sleep at night...

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-10/why-am-i-g...

This kinda of user-hostile malware is very frustrating, as many of platforms Microsoft creates I find quite pleasent technically. However some small hoard of product managers and growth engineers chasing their metrics are ruining Windows.