This is the thing that bugged me about newer windows. I grew up with windows starting from 3.1 and each version had some fundamental improvement (removing ram limitations, WiFi integration, plug and play support, and just a bunch of shit) that would make you want to "upgrade" and even stinkers like ME still did somethings well. Now? Fuck me if I found anything better after 7 with the windows experience. I still boot up 7 in my living room for my media PC, and its to this day still better then 10 and certainty 11. In fact its the last windows device I even have now.

Like really, what is the rational in going to a new windows product in the last 10ish years? Broken features? Forced bullshit? Co pilot? Having the search be replaced by a Bing/co pilot eldritch horror? Its not security, windows has not been secure for a long while.

The only way to meaningfully compete with freeware is a feature advantage: if your revenue can sponsor developers to focus on polishing and improving your system beyond the free alternatives, there will be a market of people willing to pay for (immediately*) better products.

It's what keeps Excel a step ahead of Calc: between a rather clunky UX and frankly awful documentation for some features and functions, Libre just doesn't quite have the same maturity. It's good enough for the majority of use cases, okay for some more and I'm really only aware of one feature I miss (Power Query or equivalent) or haven't found. But it's not as polished, and for some, that alone is reason enough to stick with paid products.

Conversely, it's why more people are starting to move off of Windows: between user experience improvements, smoother installation, the spreading realisation that most stuff happens in browsers anyways and Proton making a lot of gaming a lot more accessible, Windows is losing that edge in features. If the list of anti-features and drawbacks grows large enough, the familiarity alone just doesn't hold people any more.

You can compete with free competition, but that requires an eye on the market. And performance-impeding spyware just isn't must-have for everyone.

*as opposed to supporting open source devs to the point where they could focus on their software, hopefully leading to better products some time later, which is less gratifying and less reliable than paying for a project you get right now

I been testing it out for about a month and it is a nice OS, and been enjoying the HDR support. Did wonder why videos didn't play initially though when I didn't have trouble on Linux Mint and Ubuntu until I found out I had to install RPM fusion. But, after that smooth sailing so far.

My desktop has been running Linux for a while now, but I finally got tired enough with the repeated flops from Microslop™ that I switched my 6 year old Surface I use for surfing from the couch over to Mint.

Not looking back at this point.

I'm so surprised I'm able to use my 2026 Win 11 laptop with local account.

Yep, that's why every Microsoft game (even on Steam) now relies on "gaming services" to authentic.

It's not about piracy, Foza gets pirated a lot and always has. If you're pirating it, you can get around it. But if you have a legit copy, Microsoft uses that as an excuse to ID your computer and tie a name to it.

I really think it's gonna be a big thing, they just kind of slipped it in without telling anyone. They're gonna fuck around trying to constantly increase profit margins and lose their monopoly.

And that's not even including the fuckups going on at Xbox!

Why

The users did by caving and paying instead of raising hell. But Americans are very complacent.

...and people chose Linux.

Linux has made amazing strides in the past 10 years. They are a real threat now.

We can argue about 7 and 10 as well. 7 was "loved" only in comparison and because xp support was starting to end and many people were soft forced to upgrade and 7 was just the only viable choice left over before Linux. Same with 10, support for 7 was ending and people were forced to cross over to 10.

Currently same is happening with 10 and 11 is being avoided like wildfire, so once again people assume 12 is going to be good, which heavily depends how much is Microsoft going to pander to AI, as some leaks have come out that 12 is heavily AI focused, obviously these being leaks so take those with a grain of salt.

In addition nowadays linux has made decent progress and is an actually viable choice to avoid being forced to cross over to 12 and making 12 look good.