I mean, they could solve it by not making the mandatory successor an ad-laden, AI-infested, personal data harvesting, privacy-nightmare shit show. That would be a start. And also relax whatever the artificial requirement is that makes a lot of Win10 machines incompatible with 11.
Windows 10 is already an ad-laden, AI-infested, personal data harvesting, privacy-nightmare shit show. The problem with 11 is the ridiculous hardware requirements.
Windows 10 is trash and has always been. Windows 7 was the last good Windows, and I would still use it if it had security updates and DX12 support (I obviously mainly use Linux, but my gaming PC is on Windows, and no, some games I play and software I use 100% do not work on Linux).
Probably is. I use Linux for everything and only use Win10 at work on a VM with enterprise/LTSB version, so I've been shielded from most of its enshittification.
Nope, they wont. Micro$oft only cares money rather than basic OS for everyday and professional tasks
They've been adding spyware and ads into W10 so it's not the money. They could easily add all W11 ads/spyware into 10 with an update. Older CPUs have several hardware vulnerabilities unrelated to the TPU required by W11.
IMO, they should add a startup message listing the hardware vulnerabilities of the installed CPU and leave it up to the customer.
Microsoft has a Windows 11 problem. Staying on Windows 10 is a symptom.
They only care money. Not their users (expect buisness users who stuck M$'s walled garden and pour millions, if not billions to it).
I know it's not a hardware compatibility problem. People just don't want ads/tracking/AI bullshit, a removed control panel, settings that are hard to find/hidden, etc.
All intel processor 8th gen+ (and even some 7th gen IIRC) are win11 compatible, motherboard have TPM2 for years, even my intel 6th gen MB have TPM2.0.
Next year the intel 8th gen will have 8 years, people have PC/laptop more recent than that. Problem is that win10 will not get security updates and all.
I'm using MX Linux BTW.
It's not a hardware compatibility problem for you or people who have reasonably new computers. However, for the last decade or so, computers have kind of stagnated and old computers are still very functional, something I couldn't have said a decade or two ago.
I'm typing this on a ThinkPad x201 which was released in 2010. TBF, I've updated it as much as I can (8GB of RAM and an SSD), it's running Linux Mint because Windows drags, and even then it's getting tired.
My Spouse's laptop is an Acer with a 5th gen i3. A couple years ago, she was complaining it was getting a bit slow, so I threw an SSD in it and now she's happy with how it runs Windows 10, and I'm sure it would run Windows 11 fine if a TPM2.0 chip wasn't required.
It's forced obsolesces for a hardware requirement most home users are never going to use.
I'm just waiting for the EOL of window 10 to see which of the following will happen:
240 millions PC will become e-waste if Win10 reaches EoL
EoL doesn't mean it will stop completely; people will probably keep using it till they can't anymore, like pc becoming too slow or their home banking site not working.
Sounds like homelabber paradise is headed for eBay
6 is becoming increasingly more common. Anecdotally, almost all of the gamers I know use consoles and have a phone for all of their "computer needs." One of my friends probably wouldn't even use his if it weren't for VR Chat.
My bet is that they are gonna surrender and will remove restriccions to W11. I doubt that a non-it person gonna install Linux, at least that, some companies decided to resell old~ computers with linux preinstalled that's the only way
My money is on MS kicking the can down the road and adding another year or two to the support last minute, then not fixing any of the issues with 11.
Well fuck Win 11, its a fucking downgrade. At Win 10 EOL I'm going back to linux.
If there was ever a time for valve to push advertising out for the steam deck and steamOS it's now. The final piece of the gaming puzzle is anticheat. If valve gets the proprietary anticheat makers on board then it's all over. Every major hurdle would've been overcome, but games like valorant and call of duty still don't work because of vanguard and ricochet.
With how terrible windows handhelds are, imagine how awesome it would be for those cod players to be able to play a round of warzone on the toilet? I joke, but seriously, that's the demographic that needs to adopt a platform like the steam deck. That's the barrier valve has to overcome, and I'm worried they just don't care or something even more legally gray is happening, like Microsoft giving game devs incentive to use proprietary anticheat or to just not flip that EAC flag in their code.
Many years ago, I attended a Windows XP launch event. The Microsoft presenter had the perfect line to describe how MS views this:
"Why should you upgrade to Windows XP? Because we're going to stop supporting Windows 98!"
This was said completely unironically and with the expectation that people would just do what MS wanted them to do. That attitude hasn't changed in the years since. Win 10 is going to be left behind. You will either upgrade or be vulnerable. Also, MS doesn't care about the home users, they care about the businesses and the money to be had. And businesses will upgrade. They will invariably wait to the last minute and then scramble to get it done. But, whether because they actually give a shit about security or they have to comply with security frameworks (SOX, HIPAA, etc.), they will upgrade. Sure, they will insist on GPOs to disable 90% of the Ads and tracking shit, but they will upgrade.
Because we're going to stop supporting Windows 98!
At least there was a technical reason there, that Microsoft was merging the two separate codebases for consumer Windows and enterprise Windows, and building on the better NT codebase than the 95->98->ME codebase.
And XP was actually way better for the main thing that we were going to be using computers for going forward: networked with the actual internet.
Windows 11? Can't see any paradigm shift in how the operating system itself is supposed to work, at least not on anything that actually makes a difference in a favorable way.
Ya, in fairness to MS, Windows XP was a good release (post SP1, like most "good" MS releases). But, the fact is that MS is going to push the latest version, regardless of how ready it is for use. MS was hot for folks to switch to Windows ME. And holy fuck was that a terrible OS. MS also did everything short of bribery to get folks to switch to Vista (anyone remember Windows Mojave?). The "upgrade, or else" mantra has always been their way. Not that I blame them too much, it does need to happen. It just sucks when the reason for the new OS is more intrusive ads and user tracking.
Three years ago, I bought my wife a laptop with Windows 10 to replace her 10yo windows 7 machine.
It had hardware issues out of the box, and went in on two repairs. It works fine now, AFAIK.
But, she still doesn't trust it, and she doesn't think that she can move her Adobe CS6 license over to it..
I even bought her the affinity suite.
I'm starting to think she'll never move on from Windows 7.
I think the major browsers stopped supporting it sometime during the last year, so my best hope is that some included certificates will eventually make her favourite websites stop working. That has to force her over to something more recent.. right?
I use arch, btw.
obligatory 🐧 that must be in every thread
The author asks many questions, but never the most important one: "Why don't people like Windows 11?"
Yeah it's convincing people that Windows 11 is actually good
If Linux didn't exist, we would actually end up with a lot of e-waste, and I mean a fuck ton of it. And it's all thanks to you, Microsoft.
Hell, Linux does exist, and people just don't wanna use it because they're so used to Windows that anything else is basically as steep of a learning curve as a literal cliff. And to those people I say: "just add some mint on it and life will be easy. Maybe even drizzle some cinnamon on it as well"
They should be required to release drivers such that massive e-waste wasn't generated suddenly. I mean, why does the government allow a software company to own an monopolize the hardware? Hello Google! Good luck 🤞 with the monopoly assholes!
Another vote for Linux Mint. I finally switched from Windows 10 months ago and I love it.
I'm really enjoying the learning curve with Linux because I'm not always fighting the operating system. On the other hand, every time I've had to go "under the hood" with Windows (edit the Registry, change config files) it's been to stop Microsoft from doing something sh*tty to me.
I stopped following 11 news after they cancelled the native android framework, only thing that got me excited since a BlueStacks installation gets huge extremely fast, I'm not going.
hahahahahah does anyone really think microsoft cares? their money is in business with all the big players already deploying 11 at least in modest amounts.
nothing stopped them when windows7 was still functional and they were pushing the tpm requirement, i dont see a difference here.
I use Win10 for one single program only and I'm currently testing on how to take that machine offline, but still be accessible locally. So far all I got is a blacklist regex in pihole. Blocking internet access to that machine via my router does not work for me, as I dual boot that machine with Linux for gaming. Tips per DM are very welcome actually.
Two options:
Make Linux use a random MAC address, then block the physical MAC in the DHCP section of the router'e configuration. This will make Windows unablento recieve an IP address while Linux will be able to get ahold of one.
If windows uses tandom mac addresses, the feature should be able to be turned off.
Or, simply disable the network interfaces in Windows' control panel. I've never seen Windows reenable a network card by itself.
That problem is that there isn't a better version (not that it was peak in the first place anyway..)
Lots of people moving to Linux over Win11 anyway.
A lot do myself included. But not enough to matter. Most ordinary Windows users don't even know what Linux is or understand why they should care.
Imagine a world where we had politicians who understood technology enough to put proper rules and requirements in place, so that big dumb companies would actually be forced to act ethically and sustainably...
The only reason I'm on 10 with my main pc is because the 7th gen intel in there isn't compatible with win11. I have another pc that is 7th gen, which I put windows 11 on and there is just something weird about it. When I do anything on that machine it doesn't do it immediately, it sits for a few seconds before actions are done. Really aggravating. Clicking on a program on the taskbar takes a few seconds before it opens. File explorer, firefox browser, settings pane, ... Once programs are running it's fine to use said programs, but I wonder what they did to make it feel this way.
I have Linux on both machines as primary OS and they are super snappy, it's not the hardware.
Guys, is it the beginning downfall of Windows after October 24, 2025? 🤔
I wish.
There might be a small uptick of new Linux installs, but MS will just power on and the vast majority of Windows users will remain in that abusive relationship. :sigh:
Lol no.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
