As a reformed /retired Government laptop / server / diaper changer / hand holder for cry-baby feds across the country I rebelled when my contract to USDOT/FMCSA ended. I retired. I noticed Microsoft started changing and I didn’t like it. Years ago I looked at Linux and didn’t quite get it, so I taught myself Windows 3.11. Started working with it t Fort Mead MD DINFOS lost that job on 9/11/2001. So ya see I’ve been with Microsoft a while. When I couldn’t Iinstall Windows on a computer without a TPM chip it made me mad so I figured out and installed Linux Mint Mate. Got tired of that and found MX Linux and now it’s my daily driver. I also buy referb and give Linux laptops to my friends kids. So far I like this retirement. :–) That’s my story… What’s yours?
CoPilot. Plain and simple.
There’s a million things, incl. AI (Co-Pilot), MS’s licensing model, etc… but no.1 for me is Bill Gates - he has repeatedly publicly stated he doesn’t believe the average person has any right to privacy and it’s perfectly acceptable to surveille the population 100% of the time by every means possible; nor for them to own or control the things they pay for; …and there is a further litany of awful things (technical, design, privacy, commercial, etc) he is directly responsible for since the 1980’s to today…
Windows presumption that the customer is not in charge. When one logs on, Windows “welcomes” you. They have it backwards. We should be welcoming Windows as we purchased the product. But unfortunately, we do not really own it. One other thing. Automatic updates. We used to be able to control updates but no longer. Not to mention the new releases making older versions unsupported and requiring opening an account to be able to install Windows. Overall, it’s a general arrogance not to my liking.
I remember when Bill Gates testified under oath in a USA Government Anti Monopoly hearing that it was not possible to remove the Internet Explorer functionality from Windows 98 because “Windows 98 was built around Internet Explorer and Microsoft was not intentionally trying to run Netscape out of business”. I immediately bought a CD of 98Lite from LitePC dot com and curiously found it was a very close likeness to WIndows 98 with no “required” Internet Explorer. They never got sued and are still selling Lite software online. Is this another case of “Liar liar pants on fire”. I still have a treasured CD of 98Lite in the event Mr. Gates wants to be reminded of his “legal” testimony.
The TPM chip. The Clipper chip on steroids. Rob Braxman gives a SCARY presentation on that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1eX_vvAlUc
The 1 reason I dumped Windows… EULA.
Having to always defragment the disk. Oh, how I do not miss those days.
AI and local account