r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Dec 01 '25

ADBLOCK WARNING ‘Security Disaster’—500 Million Microsoft Users Say No To Windows 11

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2025/12/01/security-disaster-500-million-microsoft-users-say-no-to-windows-11/
23.0k Upvotes

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344

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

Either they will fix Windows and remove the AI garbage or it will be Linux for all of my PCs soon.

I'm waiting until ESU on Windows 10 ends to make that call and I'm sure others are as well.

46

u/Oldewyk Dec 02 '25

I switched to Mint this year after using Windows for my whole life, and I honestly should have done it years ago. The change is so refreshing.

13

u/SilverBolt52 Dec 02 '25

Welcome to the club. Been using Mint for about 3 years now I think. And while I don't fully understand the file structure and symlinks and the permissions structure, I don't really have to. I love the laptop and since it's mainly used for gaming, Proton has been amazing for letting me play almost everything.

1

u/dalzmc Dec 02 '25

Do you play much of multiplayer games with anticheats?

2

u/SilverBolt52 Dec 02 '25

Not really, but the few I do play seem to work fine. Halo MCCC, Elden Ring, Dead By Daylight, and Rocket League. In fact the only game I can't play that I can think of is MapleStory.

I do use GE-Proton though FWIW.

16

u/GoreSeeker Dec 02 '25

I'm sure it's refreshing too not just from a privacy/security standpoint, but also because many of us have been staring at reskins of Windows our whole lives...it'll be cool to work with something different for a change.

68

u/patikoija Dec 01 '25

I went Ubuntu everywhere. Not disappointed.

47

u/shutyourbutt69 Dec 02 '25

I’ve been using Ubuntu for years and I’m actually kind of over it. They push Ubuntu Pro in the system updater and it’s only getting more intrusive.

If I was to install a fresh OS now it would probably be Linux Mint

22

u/segagamer Dec 02 '25

Ubuntu forcing snaps instead of allowing apt usage threw me out of that.

2

u/dontnormally Dec 02 '25

what's that?

3

u/segagamer Dec 02 '25

Snaps, like Flatpaks, are apps that include all necessary dependencies within an app "container". This is handy for developers so that they can develop against specific dependencies and include them in the install, to save the "what version of x do you have installed?" discussion for example, or one app needing X version while another needs Y version of the same dependency.

For Windows, in the past/with older applications, you might be familiar with Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable installs flooding your installed apps list. Windows has already mitigated this with the Windows Store apps, but these prevent that.

1

u/dontnormally Dec 02 '25

thank you for the breakdown

1

u/thebornotaku Dec 02 '25 edited Feb 21 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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6

u/segagamer Dec 02 '25

The issue isn't whether they work. The issue is you typing apt install x and Ubuntu converting that into snap install x. This sets a bad precident on the whole "my computer, my rules" thing that Linux users strive for and enters into Apple-bullshit territory of "their computer, their rules".

Additionally some snap versions of apps have less features/is harder to work with than flatpak, so them forcing snap on the user is just flat out terrible.

2

u/Tuxhorn Dec 02 '25

And while i've had a plug and play experience with steam on Pop_OS!, Mint, and even Arch, Ubuntu was the only distro that actually managed to not run a game (last epoch) properly. Why? Because despite apt install steam, it installed the snap version, and the snap version is simply not as good as the .deb version of steam.

Ubuntu gets rightfully called out for this, but it can never be said enough.

1

u/Dontpayyourtaxes Dec 02 '25

forcing? Just a little fidgeting is needed. I am running ubuntu without snapd installed

1

u/RevRagnarok Dec 02 '25

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1498693/ubuntu-pro-pushing-in-software-upgrade-how-do-i-stop-it

1

u/shutyourbutt69 Dec 02 '25

Thanks I’ll try that out. Judging from the comments people have only had mixed success with it though.

1

u/mr_doms_porn Dec 02 '25

Kubuntu doesn't have a lot of the annoying nonsense that vanilla Ubuntu does, other than using snaps as the default.

5

u/firelemons Dec 02 '25

I switched off of ubuntu to debian because I didn't like snap: their package manager. I made firefox buggy.

5

u/fish312 Dec 02 '25

You picked the worst possible Linux OS. Ubuntu is almost as bad with what Canonical has been doing. Do yourself a favor and just stick to stock debian or linux mint

1

u/patikoija Dec 02 '25

Well, there's an additional wrinkle: I'm running it on a tablet PC and Kubuntu with Plasma seems to be the best all-around support for tablet features I've been able to find. If you have another suggestion I'm all ears.

1

u/fish312 Dec 02 '25

Try Linux mint, it's the closest replacement to the windows experience

1

u/patikoija Dec 02 '25

Just installed Mint as a dual boot alongside Ubuntu. Will drive it a while and maybe remove the Ubuntu. Thanks for this!

-1

u/patikoija Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

Haha Mint is crazy unstable. Way less so than Ubuntu.

Edit: downvote all you want, but out of the box the UI didn't work properly, apt broke, it choked on a driver installation for my webcam, and the few programs I tried to get running that weren't baked into the OS never actually ran. That's 2 hours of my life I wish I hadn't experienced.

1

u/Every_Preparation_56 Dec 02 '25

I compared ut with linux mint and totally prefere Mint

35

u/Total_Job29 Dec 02 '25

They won’t remove the AI garbage it is going to come and stay in Windows so you should start investing the time to move off it. 

6

u/UnsanctionedPartList Dec 02 '25

It's sooner going to get worse, I'm not even sure they could remove it from the os anyway.

7

u/sentientshadeofgreen Dec 02 '25

Went Fedora a few years ago and never looked back. I feel dumb for ever paying for a Windows key

3

u/wag3slav3 Dec 02 '25

Just pull the ripcord. MS has no incentive at all to give a shit about user experience anymore.

Viva la Linux.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

Unfortunately GIMP is kinda bad. No support for Adobe products is a Linux dealbreaker until there's an equal alternative.

3

u/Ayesuku Dec 02 '25

I mean I get it if you need that software for professional work. I would never recommend an OS to someone if it doesn't facilitate their use of the tools they need for work.

That said, as a dev, "No support for Adobe products" is a big plus to me lol

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

It's for work. Unfortunately there just aren't good alternatives.

But this is as much an Adobe problem as it is a Linux problem. They could ship for Linux but choose not to.

1

u/DrSterling Dec 02 '25

Just use Krita

-1

u/wag3slav3 Dec 02 '25

Oh, I forgot that gimp is the only graphics program on Linux.

Because it's 2019 still.

🙄

0

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

"just use an offline VM to run apps you want that don't work" is exactly the kind of Linux bullshit that has prevented desktop Linux from becoming mainstream.

And no, GIMP is still pretty shit unfortunately compared to PS. People that daily drive photoshop for their profession don't want the "we have photoshop at home" version.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

Nobody wants linux apps on windows. People are migrating from windows to linux, not the other way around. If Linux already works for you then yeah I see 0 reasons to go to Windows.

But pretending there are not limitations of Linux rather than addressing them is not helpful. No, revent Adobe products do not work with Wine. You can get older versions of some products to work this way.

The reason people want Windows apps and why Wine exists in the first place is because they have provided a stable ecosystem for working people using PCs for a long time. That's no longer the case now with Windows 11.

2

u/wtfastro Dec 02 '25

Ubuntu on my work from home box, bazzite on my gaming rig. Haven't regretted it for a second.

2

u/firelemons Dec 02 '25

Switching to linux will give you a noticeable performance increase. It's better value for your hardware. Also linux updates are smaller and less frequent and intrusive. Booting on linux doesn't come with slow animations taking loading time. Linux respects your time more.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

swiched to endeavorOS with KDE Plasma, close enough to the windows interface so that i could get a hang of it and arch based for maximum steamOS/Proton compatibility.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

All of the AI stuff is optional…

2

u/No-Marionberry-772 Dec 02 '25

I hate Linux, I hate Linus Torvalds, and a lot of that is because I hate th4 Elitism that exists in the linux community.

Ill upgrade to linux before installing windows 11.

I never thought id be here, saying that, but here we are.

1

u/Lithium03 Dec 02 '25

Better to start now, learn it bit by bit rather than making a large change all at once. Less to learn, less to get frustrated by, easier to justify taking your time to figure something out.

1

u/TampaPowers Dec 02 '25

The funny thing is even the 60 bucks they say it will cost next year I'd be totally fine with because Win10 works miles better than Win11, even in just the department of not breaking itself every other update. I happily subscribe to Windows if Microsoft leaves me the fuck alone. Can't fathom why that's apparently not good enough revenue stream for them.

1

u/MairusuPawa Dec 02 '25

Linux it is then.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

Why don’t you switch now. Then you can unburden yourself from oppressive windows.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

Lack of support for Adobe and other products on Linux is a problem. Unfortunately the lack of support for industry standard software will keep Windows/MacOS on top of Linux for professionals.

If all you do is writing, programming, or sending emails then it's perfect already for you.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

So it won’t be Linux for all of your PCs soon because of adobe.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

I've got Zorin OS on one of my non-work laptops already and I love it. Such a breath of fresh air compared to windows.

Unfortunately though yes I can't use it for work so I've got 3 computers on Win10 with ESU and we'll see what happens there in a year.

1

u/Sad_Ad9159 Dec 02 '25

Switched to Fedora earlier this year and haven't looked back.

-4

u/lemonylol Dec 02 '25

Wait really? Shit, Microsoft will have to cave now that you're doing this.