To be clear, my desktop works fine on Windows 11. But the general ratio of cool new features to egregious bullshit is low. I do not want to talk to my computer. I do not want to use OneDrive. I’m sure as hell not going to use Recall. I am tired of Windows trying to get me to use Edge, Edge trying to get me to use Bing, and everything trying to get me to use Copilot. I paid for an Office 365 subscription so I could edit Excel files. Then Office 365 turned into Microsoft 365 Copilot, and I tried to use it to open a Word document and it didn’t know how.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10, including security updates, forcing people to buy new hardware or live with the risks. It’s disabling workarounds that let you set up Windows 11 with a local account or with older hardware. It’s turning Xboxes into PCs and PCs into upsells for its other businesses. Just this week, the company announced that it’s putting AI agents in the taskbar to turn Windows into a “canvas for AI.” I do not think Windows is going to be a better operating system in a year, so it feels like a good time to try Linux again.
I’m at the point where if I touch my C:\ drive again I’m gonna disconnect the internet before I boot it 🤢
Probably just gonna copy and backup my files and nuke it, yeah
I’ve run Simplewall on windows for the past 5+ years at least. It lets you block any/all outbound connections and you can allow them on a case-by-case basis, temporarily or permanently. It can auto-block a lot of the telemetry crap but knowing microsoft i’m sure they can get around a lot of it if they want to. Lots of spying capabilities are in-built into the processor and motherboards these days too.