Mastodawn

Microsoft spent 4 years stuffing Windows 11 with unwanted ads, forced Copilot integrations, stealing data to train its shity AI and other bloatware, now they want applause for promising to remove it. Reasons for a Change of Heart:
1 Increased Linux gaming
2 Apple's entry into the low end PC market with 0 forced AI
3 The "Microslop" social media shaming campaign
4 Increased costs due to AI leading to almost 0 ROI since there is no consumer demand https://www.sambent.com/microsofts-plan-to-fix-windows-11-is-gaslighting/

Microsoft's "Fix" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating

Microsoft spent four years stuffing Windows 11 with ads, forced Copilot integrations, and bloatware, now they want applause for promising to remove it.

Sam Bent

nixCraft 🐧1d ago

there is an old saying: vote with your wallet. Microsoft is now finding out that people have choices. This is not the 90s or 2000s of Bill Gates era anymore where you can abuse everything and get away with it.

minentromaxinfo 1d ago

@nixCraft A good reminder. I have a day off today and 2 workstations that need an upgrade from Win 11 to a flavour of Linux.

𐁂𐀑𐀐𐁐 1d ago

@nixCraft TBH, I feel like we had more desktop choice in the 90's. Amiga was still kicking, Sun was still kicking, Atari was still kicking, OS/2 existed, IBM DOS7 existed...

zetabeta 1d ago

@Emerson61 @nixCraft
all listed were proprietary or closed source. although users could run programs freely.

now we have linux and many bsd options. maybe also some other open source operating systems.

𐁂𐀑𐀐𐁐 1d ago

@zetabeta @nixCraft We had Linux. It wasn't great, but I daily drove it and it was mostly fine before SSL came along and then there were no Linux browsers that supported it for like two plus years. I just didn't bother mentioning anything that still exists like macOS and BSD, etc

@nixCraft bill Gates, an abuser?!

Gasp.

inthebatcave.uk 1d ago

@nixCraft I was rocking BeOS in the late 90's on my server while using an iMac 🙂 Worked on a Windows call centre all day there was no way I wanted to do tech support for myself at home as well! 😃

nixCraft 🐧1d ago

my advice is still the same. get a cheaper (used) thinkpad (or brand of your choice) and install Linux or *BSD that doesn't have corporate backing or age/kyc verification nonsense added. always install an ad blocker, script blocker, and dns level filtering just in case for your own safety (also install those on your parents and friends family computers).

say no to microslop and their stupid apps. enough is enough.

@nixCraft I am sorry, but I need to add: If you don't want age verification, don't use Linux with #systemd. https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954

userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records by dylanmtaylor · Pull Request #40954 · systemd/systemd

Stores the user's birth date for age verification, as required by recent laws in California (AB-1043), Colorado (SB26-051), Brazil (Lei 15.211/2025), etc. The xdg-desktop-portal project is addi...

GitHub

nixCraft 🐧1d ago

@kobold correct there are many linux distros without systemd and then *BSD is free from that systemd nonsense.

IBM/Redhat and Poettering all into this age verification nonsense. Any distro or vendor into that stuff need to to be avoided for your own good.

@nixCraft @kobold Get a grip on reality. It's a field in a JSON. Your name is in passwd. Every program on any Linux or BSD can call getpwnam.

Nobody forces you to set either. There is no enforcement mechanism and no verification, but there are legitimate uses for either, as there are legitimate interests in not setting either.

javalsai 4h ago

@lbky @nixCraft @kobold

I don't care if it's optional, it still aims for age verification and I don't want that to even be possible in an OS. All this does is make further surveillance even easier because if most distros become able to support age detection nothing is stopping apps and governments to enforce the use of such field.

javalsai 4h ago

@lbky @nixCraft @kobold

The fact that is optional doesn't make this any better and I'm sick of this argument, it would be filled with false data anyways. I'll play devil's advocate and imagine if they added a "sex"/"gender" field so some random sexist region in the world could legislate computer use for women. Would making such field optional improve the situation the slightest? Or would it still be complying with authoritarian measures that nobody wants to give room for?

@javalsai @nixCraft @kobold That's a slippery slope argument. For age-related info, there is legitimate use, e.g. for parental control. For certain other PII there is no legitimate use. This is better argued than I could here in this post to the mailing list https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-devel/2026-March/052087.html

[systemd-devel] Fundamental concerns regarding the "birthDate" field in userdb

javalsai 2h ago

@lbky @nixCraft @kobold I basically agree with the argument given there, but I draw the line before age information.

> For certain other PII there's no legitimate use.

I think it's just a matter of coming up with a reason and washing complaints off under it being optional.

But adding that information as first-class PII is only going to lead to misuse, the OS shouldn't be responsible of patental controls or any other reason. That should be tracked by the program that uses it.

@javalsai
@lbky @nixCraft

Just look at the debatte just starting in Germany: The government considers making you use your real name mandatory whenever you use the internet. No nicks anymore, no anonymity anymore.

Where will this discussion end, when we allow them to go for just one piece of information? It will end where you need an EntraID like think whenever you want to dial in.

No, thank you.

@kobold @javalsai @nixCraft I'm sorry, I don't see your argument.

Policies to require real names on the internet obviously need to be stopped, but that is again a political fight to win.

On the API level your browser can already ask for your OS for your name and has been able to for as long as browsers exist.

@javalsai @nixCraft @kobold I'm sorry, but I disagree with that particular line. The already existing API with getpwnam reading from passwd offers name, phone number, location and is somewhat open-ended afterwards. Just add comma-separated stuff.

I also disagree with dispersing PII over all programs. It makes it harder to control access, since you might not even know what's stored where, and it gets people used to entering everything everywhere.

@javalsai @nixCraft @kobold In the end, userdb is just a db that offers a common API for desktops. The layer for sandboxing and policy is above that in the desktops and flatpak.

@javalsai @nixCraft @kobold Nothing *is* stopping governments and big tech from enforcing age verification except for political activism. What you want is a technological solution for a societal problem. You're simply barking up the wrong tree.

If you don't want apps to read an age field, assuming it is set, you will need sandboxing. If you don't sandbox, apps can simply look at all your other data and deduce your age and more. But if you sandbox, you're still in control of access to this field

javalsai 2h ago

@lbky @nixCraft @kobold I don't want a technical solution to the social problem but this PR is clearly a step towards justifying the social problem, and that's what I dislike. Nothing is stopping enforcement yet I don't wish to make such enforcement easier.

The same "but a program can already indirectly read this information" is already true for a lot of stuff, like reading passwords or your national ID from browser cache but it's not a reason to design a default API for it.

DistroWatch 1d ago

@kobold @nixCraft We have a list of open source operating systems without systemd. It's one of our most requested search criteria: https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=All&origin=All&basedon=All&notbasedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&package=All&rolling=All&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=Not+systemd&status=Active#simple

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.

Ray McCarthy 1d ago

@nixCraft
I have two spare unused laptops, one with Linux (more than 10 years old, low spec) and one with W10 (Nov 2016).

Which BSD should I try? Both SATA HDD. Download Link? Both boot from USB sticks. The Win10 model runs Linux Mint far better (I swapped HDD from a similar Lenovo).

I use Linux Mint + Mate & X11 100% since 2017. Dual boot Linux (Red Hat, Debian etc) since 1998.

Used Cromix in 1980s.
Tried Crostini on ChromeOS for 3 months (crippled and same HW now runs Mint natively).

nixCraft 🐧1d ago

@raymaccarthy I like FreeBSD but you have to try out all of them because they do have different ways to do things.

Ray McCarthy 1d ago

@nixCraft
I would have done that maybe 20 years ago. Now I'm only interested in using it. That's why I mentioned I'm happy with Linux Mint + Mate + X11. I have also Cinnamon, XFCE, ICeWM etc installed on some to look at and as fall back if I break Mate.
I might have tried Free BSD very long ago (I did once install Xenix from floppies).
I also have Pi4B (2G RAM) with only SD Card. It's gathering dust.
I see https://www.freebsd.org/where/

Do I download memstick.img?
https://download.freebsd.org/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/15.0/

Get FreeBSD

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.

The FreeBSD Project

Zeka Parıltısı 1d ago

@raymaccarthy @nixCraft Docs? Pfft. Grab a USB, NomadBSD, and chill

Baillehache Pascal 1d ago

@nixCraft I've seen several times people recommending the ThinkPad. Why do you recommend that particular model ?

Peet Tetteroo 1d ago

@nixCraft I had a 10 year old Lenovo Yoga.. excellent product.. replaced the battery.. replaced W11pro with Linux and the latest Mint distro.. my live makes sense again and the digital sovereignty is a step closer 🙏🤣

Philosophical Fish 1d ago

@nixCraft I literally just got my hands on a Thinkpad W530 last week. Did the 7 row mod, EC and BIOS flash, threw on Fedora Budgie Atomic (really don't want my laptop being unstable, old hardware risks support being dropped). Of course now that that's all said and done I read that they're looking at implementing age verification. "Non-intrusively" but it's still opening the door for more bullshit down the road...

Any suggestions for a distro to hop to from there? Or maybe waiting and seeing how it goes and jumping ship if it gets implemented?

Ewen Bell 📸1d ago

@nixCraft

Was very proud of my father in law when I discovered he had wiped Microsoft off his laptop and surface pro. He's a Linux man now :)

Jörg 🇩🇪🇬🇧🇪🇺13h ago

@nixCraft That’s exactly what I did. My 8 years old desktop wasn’t Win 11 ready. So it’s running Fedora KDE now as dual boot to Win 10. For my journeys I bought a refurbished Thinkpad T14 Gen 1. Deleted Windows and running Fedora KDE on it.
My parents got a new desktop. They wanted one anyway. Pre-installed Win11 deleted and it’s running on Linux Mint now.
My partner bought herself a new laptop. It’s running on Linux Mint now as dual boot.
When I’m back home the PCs of to friends will be installed from Win10 to Linux Mint as well.

Toot Terrorist 1d ago

@nixCraft 99% of the reason I still have Windows is just gaming. The day Linux has a half-cooked alternative I'll be out.

stonedonkey 🕹️🎮👾1d ago

@twit_terrorist same.. steam seems to be getting us closer.

Fittingness was always possible.

Un Bourguignon 1d ago

@twit_terrorist
The day is today. Indo have a new notebook (a Lenovo Thinkpad E16 Gen 2 AMD) without Windows 8nstalled under Linux Mint latest version and it runs like a charm. I can play some older games ( like Skyrim LE or Fallout NV) smoothly. This isn't a gaming computer...
@nixCraft

@twit_terrorist @nixCraft depends on what games you play. I use exclusively Linux for gaming for like 2-2,5 years now and i think i haven't met a game that i would want to play a lot and it wouldn't work on Linux. With that said, i don't play heavily competitive games with anticheats. I play two games with anticheat that works on Linux and these games are The Division 2 and Arc Raiders and i have zero problems with them

Toot Terrorist 1d ago

@adrian @nixCraft I play RPG and Roguelikes mostly, but I've found Wine a bit unstable.

I'd rather have games compatible with Linux, that's all.

@twit_terrorist @nixCraft sounds like your needs are a little more than "half-cooked" then. IMO Proton is A LOT more than "half-cooked" but yeah, you do you ig. Of course native linux games would be better but Proton is better than nothing and its pretty capable

@twit_terrorist @nixCraft protondb.com

have fun :)

💀 Mirko 💀1d ago

@nixCraft To be honest, the Macbook Neo is trash. Even for the price tag. Way too many bad compromises.

Thomas Dorr 1d ago

@m1rk0
It comes down to build quality and long term support viability.

You get a metal case with five or more years of update support ...

Vs plastic with microslop trying to harvest your data and obsolete the hardware to force a new os purchase/service

People will vote with money
@nixCraft

💀 Mirko 💀1d ago

@thomasdorr @nixCraft You don't have to use Windows on almost any laptop. Even Huawei/Honor laptops can run Linux. And their metallic cases are top-notch.

Thomas Dorr 1d ago

@m1rk0
For us, definitely.

For (pick old relative) it is not usually a good plan.

Also it is likely that the device cost includes the microslop tax

zetabeta 1d ago

@m1rk0 @nixCraft
(DIS)honorable mention: apple intelligence.

@nixCraft Not to forget: Forcing people to buy new computers because of ending the Win10 support. Some of them are now on Linux and will never come back.

@nixCraft Can't wait for the AI loaded subscription-based Windows 12.

nixCraft 🐧1d ago

@Gina i agree. microsoft/google etc all work their way up to the line of the most user hostile version of their apps and services. they don't care unless it become headache that hurts their investors and stock price start to go down. i won't be surprised if they will start with AI loaded version 12. Lmao.

@nixCraft What do YOU like for a Linux gaming platform?

skryking 1d ago

@Sempf @nixCraft my steamdeck when I'm gaming on linux.

Daniyal Malik 1d ago

@nixCraft we need to criticize them more

@nixCraft as always, shitting on ms always has a positive effect.

zetabeta 1d ago

@nixCraft
as a generic comment.

apple may not force apple intelligence, but they have one and it is in that awful neo junk.

apple is no better than microslop with its windows sloppification system.

Renke Meuwese 1d ago

@nixCraft I'll believe it when I see it. The business case is still painfully obvious:

1) turn on Copilot by default in all Office365 apps, integrating access to all business data of its users.
2) Copilot suggests email responses based on this
3) managers seamlessly integrate Copilot into their workflow, without ever deciding to
4) since everyone's LLM is different, the managers will be unable to leave Azure/Windows
5) increase the price! Locked-in companies ftw

@nixCraft i will believe when i c these changes.

stony kark 1d ago

@nixCraft every other time I reboot my win10 pc, they beg me to install win11. I've hit "remind me later" and "decline upgrade" so many times already. It would be annoying but somewhere, some chart on some middle manager's dashboard doesn't show line going up because of me (and those like me) and that brings me great joy.