Mastodawn

People are now buying the Apple MacBook Neo ($599 cost) not because it's as cheap as a PC, but because they are fed up with Win11 and its obsession with Copilot. This proves once again that if you push people too far, they will choose an alternative that isn't obsessed with AI or treating paying customers as idiots in paid OS. It is like choosing between two evils. I say go further and *BSD or Linux desktop if you can and it helps you. https://www.pcmag.com/news/asus-co-ceo-macbook-neo-is-a-shock-to-the-pc-industry

nixCraft 🐧Mar 11

apple behind AI and not pushing LLM by default is now feature. lmao.

MS missed mobile OS, mobile devices, browser, the whole web and they thought LLM is their chance. turns out nobody want that LLM. Haha! I want MS gone to >/dev/null since the mid 90s.

Bernd Herd Mar 11

@nixCraft I was impressed by Windows NT in the mid 90s. Then I developed a macro virus scanner for Word 6 macro viruses in 1998 or so and I was shocked how reckless the Word 6 Design was.

Since 1999 I switched to Linux (and BSD and...)

Rachel Levieva Mar 11

@nixCraft Preach! MS basically threw away every single advantage they ever had. Your mid-90s nostalgia is definitely showing your age, papa 😉 But you're right on the money. They have nothing left, now we just need to defeat the final boss to end this playthrough.

Schamschula Mar 11

@nixCraft Apple is rarely the first mover, but they have a tendency to get it right, as they first analyze the weaknesses of other providers and engineer a superior solution.

ferricoxide Mar 11

@nixCraft

Sadly, Win11 (pro) was a really decent OD ... before CoPilot and Recall +and the insertion of advertising on the login screen and Start menu). I mean, WSL and HyperV were great as a developer and you could get a laptop with a US101 keyboard. Apples haven't offered number pads in a decade+ and their typing-feel has been garbage since adopting the Chiclets key-style.

Tor Iver Wilhelmsen Mar 11

@nixCraft I had an HTC phone with Windows 8.1 for mobile, and it was nice enough. But manufacturers were left in the cold, they released those Kin phones no one bought and then they junked the OS. It’s interesting when established companies try out the «move fast and break things» that startups love.

@nixCraft The irony is if they'd handled thir rollout of it, a lot of people might have been more receptive or just whatever and continued on. It's probably the repeated oh look hears another copilot, another settings, another popup about it to deal with. not just a single point to use or turn off.

@nixCraft i mean even if w11 wasnt such a shitshow the whole package for the price is just a good deal. And if MacOS does the things you need it do a good alternative

@nixCraft Doesn't Apple do their own LLM stuff? (Please don't call LLMs "AI." It only helps those pushing the scam in further tricking people into thinking they are or can ever be "AI.") Or is that only on their phones and tablets? It has an option to turn it off, but last I heard it switches itself back on with every update and possibly sometimes just randomly.

Really, people leaving Microsoft for Apple is leaving the rock for the hard place. Apple is more tricky about what they do, but they're still the same thing in the end, and not just in that.

nixCraft 🐧Mar 11

@nazokiyoubinbou yes, they are currently in choosing between the lesser of two evils, but as i said if you can you should move to Linux/bsd desktop provided that you have apps or you don't face any other issues like accessibility.

@nixCraft My point is it isn't the lesser evil at all...

I'd argue that, by fooling people so well, Apple actually makes the greater evil.

Mark Rotteveel Mar 12

@nixCraft I recently switched from Windows to Bazzite (because I also like gaming) with KDE Plasma. It's a Fedora-derivative, and I think it's closer to Windows than switching to macOS (which I used for a decade for my work).

monoxane ⁂Mar 11

@nazokiyoubinbou @nixCraft They've stopped force-enabling it at least...

@nixCraft im worried we're going to get the stupidest possible version of "windows suffers consequences of its emshittification": everyone moving to devices that do not let you change the os

Rachel Levieva Mar 11

@nixCraft Suggesting *BSD to a regular Windows user is a great way to help them develop severe depression. Dropping someone into a bare FreeBSD tty and telling them "just sit here and figure out which DE suits you best" is basically driving them to suicide. They just want an OS without AI, not a second unpaid job.

@levieva @nixCraft
There was an "or" in that sentence that you're neglecting although I get your point. But in case you didn't know, there is a FreeBSD distro that gives you a desktop right out of the box called GhostBSD:

https://www.ghostbsd.org/

A simple, elegant desktop BSD Operating System | GhostBSD

Rachel Levieva Mar 11

@sebulon
Sure, GhostBSD gives you a GUI out of the box. But the moment that regular Windows user tries to connect a modern Wi-Fi adapter, pair Bluetooth headphones, or install anything outside the FOSS bubble, the illusion shatters. A pre-configured MATE desktop doesn't magically fix the fundamental lack of consumer hardware and commercial software support.
Let's be real here. The vast majority of Windows users can't even install Windows by themselves. Many struggle just to create a new folder or uninstall an app. So yeah, obviously, *BSD was created specifically to make their lives easier.
@nixCraft

David Snyder Mar 11

@levieva @sebulon @nixCraft

Yeah probably so, there are some pretty easy to use gnu/Linux distros though. I probably would suggest ublue's bluefin.

Fedora media writer works on windows too 🙂

Rachel Levieva Mar 11

@mxenbionix
Bluefin is actually a great project, and I love Fedora. Fedora is excellent, but you're missing the first hurdle. We are talking about people who still call their monitor the "computer" and think the tower is a "hard drive" or "processor". "Fedora Media Writer" sounds like a Harry Potter spell to them. If they struggle to create a folder, getting them to boot from a USB stick is where the dream dies. Asking them to enter their BIOS/UEFI, change the boot order, and install an OS without wiping their family photos is like asking them to defuse a bomb. They’ll just go buy a Mac instead.
@sebulon @nixCraft

Paul Sutton (zleap)Mar 11

Apple have an advertising budget to reach out to Fed up windows users, they use their marketing to make a difference. The free software community for all its numbers seems hopeless at this, we have had numerous windows of opportunity that just get squandered.

The Apple commumity is united, support is there, community support is there, The free and open source software community need to be the same.

@nixCraft I can't stop thinking about how macbook neo is imo a major target in brand imprinting. I imagine the main place we'll see them are schools - to onboard consumers into apple ecosystem early. So, same reason chromebooks exist

Trantion Mar 11

@nixCraft It's funny, MacOS always used to be the operating system that tells you how you're supposed to use a computer and fights you if you disagree

markn🚲Mar 11

@nixCraft It'd be nice to have some decent Arm laptop hardware options for Linux/BSD that don't involve paying a Windows license tax or buying a Mac.

But, for reasons mostly to do with business stuff (rather than engineering/technology) I don't think there are any. 🦄

Ubiquitous Arm laptops feel like the arrival of cold fusion. I bought a Mac M4 and somewhat de-Apple-ed it.

Punajuuren värinen makarooni Mar 11

@nixCraft I’m sorry, but at the same price range saying that ““This is different from the use case of a mainstream notebook," which can handle more compute-intensive tasks, Hsu said.” is total BS. A 600€/$ notebook can barely handle Excel or similar “intensive” tasks. Apple usually does a good job with optimisation on their platform, can’t state as a fact, since haven’t used, only read opinions. But can’t say the same for Windows.

AndiS 🌞🍷🇪🇺Mar 11

In my world almost anything released in the last decade can do all mainstream work as long as it has at least 8GB of RAM. Just don't let any Windows get near it :)

Compute has never been so cheap, despite all the AI crazyness. You can even get perfectly functional stuff for free if you look/ask around for a bit.
CC: @[email protected]

@nixCraft I'm still WIndows10 - but seriously thinking of trying to boot up an old machine to play around with *nix to be ready for my next real PC.

ferricoxide Mar 11

@nixCraft When it comes time to replace my current Dell laptop, I'll either get another Dell with Linux pre-installed or a System76 laptop.

@nixCraft One of my biggest turnoffs from a Windows 11 laptop is the number of laptops that no longer have a right control key. I've always used it to perform keystrokes where the other key is using the left hand. I refuse to learn to keyboard differently for sucha superfluous and quite frankly stupid reason. On a computer where there are at least 7 or 8 ways to access... what... built-in Chat fucking GPT? I don't need such an important key taken away to provide yet... another... way.

@nixCraft Microsoft is discovering the “Trust Thermocline”.

https://every.to/p/breaching-the-trust-thermocline-is-the-biggest-hidden-risk-in-business

Breaching the Trust Thermocline Is the Biggest Hidden Risk in Business

Companies have no way back from a sudden loss of trust