No, not really. If you know how to configure Windows, you don’t deal with ads, forced defaults, privacy issues.
My Windows 11 install contains no Edge, no Microsoft update, no ads, no telemetry, and so on. I can set it up in a new computer in less than 15 minutes, too.
you now they will re-enable that on the next update
I have my own update procedure that I do periodically. I do not rely on Windows Update and nothing gets “re enabled”. Though once I did use Windows Update and nothing came back, so you’re either mistaken or if it actually happened it was one specific update.
And here’s the thing, Ubuntu broke because I updated my system and it created a dependency conflict. You can use Arch, but then you need a lot of time and knowledge to tweak it and make it work - well, if I need that time and knowledge, why not apply it to Windows instead and get perfect software compatibility?
I have 4 computers at home. 3 run Linux. I don’t have “a dog in this fight” but I find Lemmy’s “Windows bad, Linux perfect” instance on every single conversation simply immature, filled with lies and exaggerations, and honestly, part of the reason why I don’t interact with the Linux community as often as I could, even to provide help.
If a user goes on Lemmy and says anything positive about Windows - or explains why they do indeed need Windows and not Linux - they get downvoted to the point of being removed from the conversation.
Are you sure it has no telemetry? The only way I can think to be sure would be to block it in your router. Lots of software still does telemetry even if you try to disable it. There was a researcher a while back who found out that iOS sends in telemetry even if you explicitly disable it. He had to basically MITM his own phone and watch all the packets in Wireshark, but he figured out it was sending telemetry even with all the telemetry options disabled.
All components that would collect data are removed - my computer doesn’t even connect to Microsoft’s clock syncing server. That being said, my entire network uses NextDNS so I can also tell (and possibly block) all remote connections to servers I disapprove of.
Keep in mind, I’m not talking about using the settings in the installer or the control panel that allow you to “disable telemetry” I mean those components simply do not exist in my system, I have a custom install
Interesting! What if it connects to a server by IP without using DNS? Do you have a way to track that?
My concern would be that without diasssembling all of the components, isn’t it impossible to know which pieces have telemetry? For example, on iPhone, some of the core OS UI elements have telemetry built-in to keep track of which elements are displayed, selected, etc. And, based on research, some of that telemetry stays active even when you “disable it.” Based on that, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Control Panel or Device Manager has telemetry built-in. I know PowerShell has telemetry, at least, since that’s documented.
I guess it would be possible to disassemble and identify which OS pieces access the networking APIs. Is that what you’ve done? I had a friend who was working on something like that one time to hone his disassembly skills. I’m not sure what you’d do if the kernel itself has telemetry. I guess you could patch it out, but that feels like an uphill battle.
It’s good, but you can’t know for sure if you removed all bloatware. Also if you install updates you can easily miss newly added ones.
Windows is like Reddit. There is more content and users, but we use Lemmy for a reason. So I’m not surprised that many people joke about GNU/Linux in this thread. GNU/Linux is not for everyone, but so do Lemmy.
Same. I recently built a new machine and considered putting win10 on it instead of 11 due to all the complaints I’ve read. Instead, I just went with 11 to give it a try. After install it took me about an hour, but I had all recommendations, ads, and other annoyances turned off. After that setup, I’ve really liked the OS. Everything just works. Plug in new hardware and it just works. Download some random new software and it just works.
I say this as a software engineer that works with Linux systems daily.
For my personal use, I want my pc to just work. I spend enough time configuring and making things work at my job, I want my home pc to be no hassle and to work with everything I throw at it.
No, not really. If you know how to configure Windows, you don’t deal with ads, forced defaults, privacy issues.
My Windows 11 install contains no Edge, no Microsoft update, no ads, no telemetry, and so on. I can set it up in a new computer in less than 15 minutes, too.
There’s no argument here.
deleted by creator
I have my own update procedure that I do periodically. I do not rely on Windows Update and nothing gets “re enabled”. Though once I did use Windows Update and nothing came back, so you’re either mistaken or if it actually happened it was one specific update.
And here’s the thing, Ubuntu broke because I updated my system and it created a dependency conflict. You can use Arch, but then you need a lot of time and knowledge to tweak it and make it work - well, if I need that time and knowledge, why not apply it to Windows instead and get perfect software compatibility?
I have 4 computers at home. 3 run Linux. I don’t have “a dog in this fight” but I find Lemmy’s “Windows bad, Linux perfect” instance on every single conversation simply immature, filled with lies and exaggerations, and honestly, part of the reason why I don’t interact with the Linux community as often as I could, even to provide help.
If a user goes on Lemmy and says anything positive about Windows - or explains why they do indeed need Windows and not Linux - they get downvoted to the point of being removed from the conversation.
deleted by creator
Are you sure it has no telemetry? The only way I can think to be sure would be to block it in your router. Lots of software still does telemetry even if you try to disable it. There was a researcher a while back who found out that iOS sends in telemetry even if you explicitly disable it. He had to basically MITM his own phone and watch all the packets in Wireshark, but he figured out it was sending telemetry even with all the telemetry options disabled.
All components that would collect data are removed - my computer doesn’t even connect to Microsoft’s clock syncing server. That being said, my entire network uses NextDNS so I can also tell (and possibly block) all remote connections to servers I disapprove of.
Keep in mind, I’m not talking about using the settings in the installer or the control panel that allow you to “disable telemetry” I mean those components simply do not exist in my system, I have a custom install
Interesting! What if it connects to a server by IP without using DNS? Do you have a way to track that?
My concern would be that without diasssembling all of the components, isn’t it impossible to know which pieces have telemetry? For example, on iPhone, some of the core OS UI elements have telemetry built-in to keep track of which elements are displayed, selected, etc. And, based on research, some of that telemetry stays active even when you “disable it.” Based on that, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Control Panel or Device Manager has telemetry built-in. I know PowerShell has telemetry, at least, since that’s documented.
I guess it would be possible to disassemble and identify which OS pieces access the networking APIs. Is that what you’ve done? I had a friend who was working on something like that one time to hone his disassembly skills. I’m not sure what you’d do if the kernel itself has telemetry. I guess you could patch it out, but that feels like an uphill battle.
It’s good, but you can’t know for sure if you removed all bloatware. Also if you install updates you can easily miss newly added ones.
Windows is like Reddit. There is more content and users, but we use Lemmy for a reason. So I’m not surprised that many people joke about GNU/Linux in this thread. GNU/Linux is not for everyone, but so do Lemmy.
Same. I recently built a new machine and considered putting win10 on it instead of 11 due to all the complaints I’ve read. Instead, I just went with 11 to give it a try. After install it took me about an hour, but I had all recommendations, ads, and other annoyances turned off. After that setup, I’ve really liked the OS. Everything just works. Plug in new hardware and it just works. Download some random new software and it just works.
I say this as a software engineer that works with Linux systems daily.
For my personal use, I want my pc to just work. I spend enough time configuring and making things work at my job, I want my home pc to be no hassle and to work with everything I throw at it.
For this, windows is, by far, the best.