this post was submitted on 02 May 2024
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during the great Mastodon migration in 2022 I saw someone post how they head to unlearn scrolling past every 6th post or so on their timeline, because that's how the Twitter app was displaying the ads. I wish Microsoft the Very Bad and daydream about year of the Linux desktop, but something's telling me people will get used to ads on Windows the same way.
You're definitely right. Facebook got super shitty and most people didn't leave. Netflix got super shitty and most people didn't leave. YouTube got super shitty and most people didn't leave. Amazon's shitty video service got even more shitty, but Fallout was about to come out, so most people didn't leave and I bet they actually got more subscribers (but idc enough to look it up). It seems like most people have accepted that things just get shitty over time. Or maybe they're just not noticing the shitty changes? Idk. It's hard to look at our projected trajectory as a species and be left with much hope. There's good in this world, but it seems like none of it is coming from companies.
On one hand I agree that most people probably won't change. On the other, the difference between an OS and websites is that windows has very little exclusivity left. If you want to read Facebook content, you go on Facebook. If you want to watch fallout, you go on prime. If you want to watch long-form content (relative to TikTok), you go to youtube.
If you want a good OS, you're not forced by Microsoft to exclusively use windows. There are some pockets (like Xbox game pass games) but overall the average user could realistically switch to debian, Ubuntu or mint and not actually materially change what they do and watch on their computer, whereas if you decided to stop using Netflix, yes the experience of watching would be better but you wouldn't actually be experiencing the same content.
I don't disagree with your point, but I think that the most important variable is how receptive the average person is to change. It takes a lot of discomfort for most people to want to make a significant change. Most people probably won't even recognize that Windows sucks because it's what they're familiar with and they probably attribute general tech improvements and new software with the OS because they don't know any better. So they see it as better in a lot of ways and only worse in a couple of ways. They probably also generally think that the only alternative is an overpriced Apple product. It wasn't until YouTube started cracking down on ad blockers that most people were even aware of the existence of ad blockers lmao. So I'm sure your average Windows user thinks that Linux means programming gobbledygook in cmd.exe and they would rather scroll Facebook. People are dumb and uninterested in the discomfort of learning things. Even if what they're learning is that there's not much discomfort because there's not much new to learn. You have to trick them by sneaking vegetables into their food. "You have a Samsung phone. That runs Android. Android is Linux. See, you're already using it." It's a fucking shock to me that Windows phones never took off.
But maybe the most important factor to Microsoft is the business world. It's obviously not unanimous, but a shitload of companies rely on the Office suite. Switching to something different overnight might be easy for some workers, but I'd assume a massive disruption in productivity until everybody got acclimated. There would probably need to be some kind of canned training thing to help workers with the transition, which would cost more money. In general, companies would run a cost-benefit analysis and ultimately decide that it really doesn't make much business sense to make that change when things are fine as is. Because in reality, Windows is fine. It's not bad enough for a business to burden a rocky quarter just because of some ads and a little jank.
The bad news for Microsoft however is that privacy and security could be getting called into question. Some businesses here and there might get worried about that, but it's the big Department of Defense fish that will drop them overnight because it's a matter of national security. In the same way that government devices banned tiktok years before considering a nationwide ban, government devices would not hesitate to dump Microsoft. Their greed could be their downfall. They're okay so long as the government and their big contractors keep running Windows.
You've hit the nail on the head.
Who's opinion matters more to Microsoft? Businesses, Governments and Enterprises. If they lose that audience, they're up shit's creek.
They don't care if even 100,000 disgruntled Windows users collectively gripe about where Windows has gone in direction. Because Microsoft's main concern is no longer appeasing the casual and power users. If you're a business partner or a corporate body, you have their attention more.
Microsoft just knows that a large majority of users will still be there, using their OSes regardless of how much of a dumping they all take. Whether it's 11, 10, 7 or even WinXP, they've got a majority in their ecosystem. And those users are terrified of change.
Hell, I used to have been that Windows user who was scared of change and intimidated by Linux. The issue is that, you just need to dip first, not dive head first all the way. Mac is just simply an extension of Linux. Android as mentioned is an extension of Linux. Windows is it's own entity surrounded by different Linux versions and forms.
I didn't leave Facebook, I just stopped using it. You can see their monthly active users are not going up, and sometimes going down. Only Instagram is growing
Monthly active robots...
Reddit got more shitty, but as expected from Reddit users, they all made a big deal about it for a month but still continued to be users. With how stupid easy it is to make an account on there, I'm sure most just pretended to delete their accounts and just made more as an excuse to 'start anew'.
Like wow, bravo, what revolution, guys. You sure showed Spez. /s
I guess on one hand, I kind of get it. We're all going to get to a point in our lives where we're so old that we can't care about every little thing before we get there. Then before we're going to die from age or whatever, some would realize how wasted of a time their lives have been when they've spent getting angry about every little thing to do something about it.
So it's probably why so many people just come to accept things as is. They're going to die anyways so mind as well enjoy what's here if possible before we get there.
However, on the other hand, you know it isn't as bad to try to be some change to the world for a better future so that nobody would have to deal with the same shit one has dealt with. And maybe if people were a little more resourceful and took cues from people who have thought better with wisdom, they'd realize that being overly angry isn't the solution. Don't be angry, get crafty.
I'd like to think that this is the kind of mindset most may have.
I mostly agree, except that I'm here because I left reddit. I can't speak for anybody else, but you can see my history here and compare it to my history there. It's been almost a year now and I'm not going back.
I'd like to think that enough people will get pissed off enough to make real change happen, but people think they have too much to lose and don't see how much they have to gain. In general, I mean. Windows doesn't really fucking matter lol. Netflix doesn't really fucking matter. The realistic course of action is to just vote with our wallets and hope that discourages overly shitty practices from these companies.
I'm kind of salty how fucking easy it was for Reddit to just ignore the problem. I left them for here and haven't gone back unless it was a Google result.
The majority of people "stayed just for the niche community" then just assimilated and stopped coming back to Lemmy.
Because the whole third-party fiasco was treated as just the 'cool thing' to do. This is Reddit we're talking about here, the kind of site that sits, thousands to a few million users who all think they're one and two steps ahead of everyone else. The kind who think they know everything inside and out, 4-D chess .etc
So of course they'd be the kind to take something of a situation as to what happened when third-party development got gutted out and treat that as just a trend.
If that incident and the fact that Reddit now is an IPO hadn't changed enough minds, nothing will. They love the attention and any attention they get as well as the karma-farming validation whenever they complain about how "reddit sucks".
No, it's all for show. They're whores.
I had the same experience when switching from the reddit app to Boost. When Boost stopped working for reddit, I couldn't stand it so it was bye bye reddit my entire pc connection is ad free. There's a filter in my router, strong filter in my vpn and I have blockers. I do not watch streaming services, I download everything through usenet with an automated system on my NAS. I have no TV. I order groceries online, I never enter a store. My phone has filters too. I live completely ad free. But then Microsoft comes, and says "fuck you, here's an ad!" on MY machine. Without consent. I was boiling.