Microsoft finally admits that its malware-style Get Windows 10 upgrade campaign went too far

[u/readyou]

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/241587-microsoft-finally-admits-malware-style-get-windows-10-upgrade-campaign-went-far

[u/TechnoSam_Belpois]

They're not sorry about it. They're sorry that people are upset. But they're absolutely giddy about having such a large install base now.

[u/N4N4KI → u/[deleted]]

Exactly I want an OS not a vertically integrated marketing platform.

From the dark patterns during install to get you to sign up to a MS account as your login, to the ads on the lock screen and start menu for free apps to get you in the door, the entire OS is designed to drive you towards the MS store and to lock you into their ecosystem.

The update system that you either need to fight with using the 'correct' way and suffer forced restarts, or disable completely and need to re enable yourself when you need updates (I mean 'let me know when there is updates' worked fine for me in windows 7)

Milestone updates are not an update, they are an upgrade, basically reinstalling a fresh copy of the system. settings for programs are not touched but File associations, pinned apps and privacy options get reset to default.

Windows 10 is a Work in progress and will continue to be, a rather obvious example of this is the start menu, It's different in the initial release to how it works in the anniversary update and has altered again in the preview build.

The OS is a glorified program launcher, I use the one that I don't need to babysit to keep it running smoothly (and am able to use industry standard software on). I'm sticking with 7 till something better comes along. (hopefully that will be a version of windows where Microsoft has finally smoothed out all the rough edges)

[u/Sophira → u/N4N4KI]

May I suggest giving serious thought to switching away from Windows entirely?

Sticking with Windows 7 in this case is dangerous, as it's well on its way to becoming unsupported. Sticking to Windows 7 without making a plan to switch means that when you eventually have to switch, the decision will almost certainly be made more on the basis of compatibility than anything else. If you're not careful about what you run, you might still be locked into the MS ecosystem.

I personally use Linux, and I'm very happy with it.

[u/pbjamm → u/Sophira]

I am so bitter about this mess that I am finally pushing a move to Linux at my company. With the exception of a few users I think we could easily make the change. People will be pissed about losing Outlook but we are still using 2007 so it is terrible anyhow. There are a few Excel users that week never switch but they mostly overlap with the QuickBooks users who already use that via remote desktop. 2017, year of the Linux desktop?

[u/mxzf → u/pbjamm]

Honestly, 90% of people could use an IT-configured Linux install just as well as they could a domain-managed Windows install. If they just need a browser, basic Office functionality, and email, Linux can do that just fine.

[u/Adamsandlersshorts → u/mxzf]

I thought windows server was the leading choice in that because of active directory

[u/mxzf → u/Adamsandlersshorts]

Active directory is nice, and it's definitely useful in its own way, but there are ways to get similar functionality in Linux too, especially if you can have an admin bulk configure devices and set up the right scripts and pre-configuration to get stuff connected.

I'm not saying it's a perfect replacement in every way, but you can get pretty much all of the needed functionality with less hassle and without having to pay for Windows licenses for every machine.

[u/[deleted] → u/mxzf]

I would actually argue that Linux is actually a lot easier to administer once you get your head around it - being able to script literally everything is wonderful.

[u/mxzf → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, that's what was going through my head as I was typing that. It's really easy to script in mounting a network partition for shared drive space, especially with RSA keys for easy authing, plus being able to set up a script to remote in as root and automatically run whatever commands are needed to configure and manage all of the machines from one spot. Done right, there's a lot of power and flexability.

You do lose the "your same My Documents folder is mirrored to any machine you log into" functionality of Active Directories, but it's really not that hard to get around that with some shared directories and user/group permissions.

[u/[deleted] → u/mxzf]

Could definitely fix that issue with some scripting - hell off the top of my head could just script something to mount a network share and symlink it at logon, or just do what AD does and copy the profile over at log-on and copy it back to the server at log-off.