Microsoft may replace the Start button with the Copilot AI in Windows 12

https://lemmy.world/post/7829772

Microsoft may replace the Start button with the Copilot AI in Windows 12 - Lemmy.World

This might just be the push I need to switch to Linux desktop.
Do it. With proton the last argument for me to use windows is gone (gaming).
Well, it’s not GONE. There are still plenty of games that won’t run well on Linux, or they won’t allow online multiplayer because their anti-cheat software is restricted to Windows. But that number is getting smaller every day.
Thats why I specified that, for me, that was enough to switch. I agree that proton isnt there yet and 100% compatibility, and we will probably never get to that. But there are enough games on the market for me to do 90% of my gaming on Linux these days.

Yeah and it’s getting closer all the time. I don’t think we’re that far from a “tipping point” where Windows gets so shitty, and simultaneously Linux gets so good (for gaming specifically) that it would be silly not to switch.

Any day now…

INCOMING (artillery barrage with different distros). Unfortunately I have a bad feeling that chrome OS will win the Linux wars
I'm really not convinced that even if linux, at some point, does become a better platform for gaming than windows, that windows users will swap over. Mainstream gamers probably have never installed an OS before, it's intimidating for people.
In its current state I would stick with Windows. But if they make it shittier and shittier… theoretically there is a point where gamers would start switching en masse. Whether or not it will get that bad is debatable.
Ubuntu 23.10 is the first mainstream Linux desktop distro that I think could be good enough for many windows users. Windows really needs to fumble for this to happen though.
But there are so very many games that do work. That those that do not, i can easily ignore.

I'm still on windows because I multibox my main game and the tools to do it don't work, alt tab is a goddamn mess, minimize window on focus loss is a fucking nightmare, and multiple instances of proton just chew up system resources until the game starts lagging so hard I need to quit every client and try again.

it's an edge case but that's quite a lot to deal with when windows just works.

I’m just waiting for full real parity (HDR, and some RT stuff), and I’m gone.
Can you run Adobe software via proton? As soon as that works I’ll be on Linux.
No, but there are better alternatives to adobe that don’t hog your ram harder the triple a games
Depends one what you need to do, there are some areas in which adobe still has a monopoly

Look at your usecase, if it really requires adobe suite, you are out of luck i’m afraid. Perhaps you could research running a VM or wine, but I havent tried any of that myself.

If you conclude that you dont need features exclusive to adobe you might be able to find a foss alternative.

I need Lightroom and I’ve tried Darktable but it just doesn’t cut it.

Perhaps you could research running a VM

It works very well, especially if you pass through your GPU and storage. I can even use this setup for Gaming, no significant performance loss compared to Windows. It’s awesome.

been working on it here. i've just moved my multi-monitor setup at the office over to debian mint, and relegated windows to a crt.

i can't go "all in", as supporting windows desktops "pays the rent", but it'll be "all but one" at home and at the office.

I spent the last ~10 days “playing” with many distros, including testing some current games, and I am literally right now backing up my files and about to reformat my main PC to linux (full drive, no dual). This is after only having experience with copy-paste Raspberry PI guides for my pi-hole.

Don’t totally believe “oh it’s so easy, nothing to configure” - those people are lying, especially if you’ve not used Linux before. But several flavors of Ubuntu are quite pleasant, and I appear to have found a home with PopOS. I can’t find anything that “doesn’t work”, and the worst fixes were just quick searches for help. PopOS won due to nvidia compatibility and a nice, snappy desktop. It also was the fastest in overall reformat cycle time. My wife’s computer is still Windows, if I do have any microsoft emergencies.

There are some games that just will not work even under proton, or that have functional restrictions. It’s way fewer games than it used to be, but it’s still not an absolutely perfect solution. I would love to make Linux my gaming OS instead of my “getting shit done” OS like it currently is, I’ve been advocating for it for a few decades at this point and it’s almost there, but it’s not to a point yet where I can unreservedly recommend it to gamers. If you aren’t a gamer I’d say it’s already good enough for anything you need.
How easy was setting up the pi-hole?

It’s stupid easy. Flash DietPi to the SD card, select pi hole from the package list, then point your router to the IP for DNS.

Of course, it should be plugged directly into your router, so a zero won’t work without an ethernet hat.

This is where I’d say to visit /r/PiHole but it doesn’t work that way over here and I’ve no idea how to link to a sub yet soo….

Checkout it the PiHole website.

docs.pi-hole.net

It’s “easy” - but that is very subjective, depending on how much you’ve down outside “turning Windows on”. You DO need to make sure your router allows assigning a DNS ip address. Some ISP-supplied units are rather locked down.

I recommend a “kit” from somewhere like CanaKit (amazon has them), to make sure you get the parts you need. It can run on smaller/cheaper kits, but I say get a Pi3 or 4 variant.

Then following the link above, there is great documentation on install. Install “Putty” on windows, which will log into your Pi and allow remote command line, and then the entire process is copy-paste from guides.

After you finish, you may feel “oh that was easy!” - but there’s still some stuff to learn and get used to along the way.

Overview of Pi-hole - Pi-hole documentation

Brief overview of Pi-hole

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is rather easy.

But anyway, no mainstream user-friendly Linux distribution is that hard to use if you can read and think.

So when people say that they can’t manage one on their desktop - they also usually can’t manage Windows on their desktop, they just think they can.

Lol, every single Microsoft article has this comment.
if you’re using windows in 2023, I doubt it
I use Windows, macOS, and Linux, but all in separate ways. Haven’t used a desktop Linux in quite some time — only headless Linux servers.
Why? I switched to Linux in 2023.
I’ve often wondered what new and innovative ways Microsoft could find to make my computer even less likely to do what I want.
But AI, bro
It’s very obvious that they rushed Copilot. What should have been an assistant like Jarvis in Iron Man, has literally no purpose and can’t do anything useful.

an assistant like Jarvis in Iron Man

We should bring back Clippy! –Microsoft exec

well you hit the nail on the head
It’s MS, that’s why it was rushed. Features make boss happy, bugfixes make boss angy. No wonder that huge features only get 50% done in such a culture.
Watch your mouth or Clippy is coming back…

But bro, remember when VR was all the rage? EVERYTHING was pushing VR, so much so Facebook Meta went all in on it.

Now it’s a fucking novelty at best.

I think VR and all these AI assistants are similarly in that they’re in their infancy stages and there’s gonna be a ton of growing pains before they’re useful enough to be common, but someday they will have their place

That’s my thoughts on the matter at least

VR has been explored though, from Google Cardboard to the PSV2 to animating/painting… All of them failing to gain traction or be widely adopted.

It either needs to jump through a lot more hurdles to be more accessible and useful, or it’s just gonna be another cool experiment in time like Etch-A-Sketch

VR has been explored though, from Google Cardboard to the PSV2 to animating/painting… All of them failing to gain traction or be widely adopted.

That’s only because the cost for a good experience is still out of the realm for most people to justify to even try. Until we are looking at $150 or so for a good experience that doesn’t give people headaches or motion sickness issues it will never take off.

The cheap VR systems still give plenty of people issues, and the expensive ones are out of the reach of a normal person living their life day to day.

And for businesses, VR simply has not proven to have a cost benefit worth even the initial capital investment, without even taking into account ongoing IT costs due to damaged equipment.

And for businesses, VR simply has not proven to have a cost benefit worth even the initial capital investment, without even taking into account ongoing IT costs due to damaged equipment.

That’s just not true. Companies of all sizes are using VR for onboarding and training with much success and a huge return on investment. There are also a lot of location-based and VR arcades making a nice profit.

VR may never go mainstream, but for businesses there are a lot of use cases for which it is valuable.

Maybe if you’re in the military or space industry, otherwise I can’t see any practical use in commercial business.

No one wanted to wear them even for meetings while they were isolated, and that requires the bare minimum of effort

They’re used quite a bit in architecture and real estate surveying/imaging. VR is a great way to view a building that hasn’t been built yet, for instance.
What are some companies/industries using it for onboarding/training and how are they applying it? Haven’t heard about this.

I’m one of the people who gets nauseated from 3D goggles. I’ve got a friend who got all the latest stuff, had sensors on the wall, all that and within a minute or so I wanted to puke.

I’m never going to use a vr headset. Not sure what percentage of people are in my boat, but I think that’s a pretty significant barrier to adoption

I wouldn’t say never.

The current headsets can make you sick in a variety of ways but since the start of VR, the sick factor has been reduced by roughly half every 5 years or every generation I’ve tried it.

It’s through a combination of higher refresh rates, better tracking, sickness reducers such as limited FOV when moving, or various locomotion techniques for the player.

The largest nausea inducer is giving people a joystick for moving around. But otherwise a 90+hz refresh rate and large FOV solve most issues.

Also, frankly, it takes some getting used to. But once your brain knows what to expect, the sickness goes away pretty quick.

Also I don’t necessarily expect entertainment or games to be the big thing. Many businesses use it for short periods to showcase designs. And VR is walking right now while AR is running.

That’s certainly a factor, but I think it has far more to do with availability of content.

I can afford to buy a proper VR setup but I do not see it as a worthwhile investment because practically none of the content available is of interest to me.

It’s the equivalent of dropping 2K+ to play mobile games.

Until AAA studios are actively developing for this hardware, I’m not interested…but they won’t because barely anyone has the hardware. It’s a real chicken and egg scenario.

It’s still to expensive and cumbersome for most people I think. That’s certainly my perception.

And all the “entry level” headsets really lack the hardware to make it an actual viable VR experience.

Otherwise you’re essentially just moving around a camera with a gyroscope in it, unable to interact with anything.

Remember paint 3d?