It's been pretty fascinating to watch what Microsofties have to put up with, having switched to Linux in 2007. Vista's half-assed release, Windows 8's tablet UI disaster, Windows 10's online account requirements, now all the AI crap they're shoving into Windows 11. Meanwhile I'm just over here using basically the same Arch Linux tools & XFCE environment for almost 20 years. Yes, I know, Linux isn't perfect, but it's maybe worth a look if you're fed up with using an OS that wants to exploit you instead of serve you. It's especially easy now that most things are web-based.
Arch has consistently proven itself to be the perfect machine for me. I go for months without a reboot even with daily package updates. 2000 line C window managers like DWM leave me more productive than windows ever has
I stopped using Windows and switched to Linux exclusively decades ago. But I don't get to choose what OS I use at work, so what Windows does still deeply affects me.
"Just switch" is great for home machines, but for most, that's not an option at work.
Work is for work stuff. It's someone else computer, someone else wants and needs. I don't mind if they want to feed all their data to Big Tech (On my previous work computer the only truly personal piece of data I had was my profile picture and ssh keys for my GitHub account). I don't even do web searches on work computers. If Windows is slow, I'd just bring it up to my manager and the IT dept.
On my personal computers, that's a different story.
I totally agree, but I was really addressing just having to put up with the OS rather than privacy issues specifically. My employer can take whatever privacy risks they want.
I do get your point. But all of them are fine OSes, if you just want to run some software (which is the majority of the jobs). What macOS and Windows don’t allow is true customization, aka aligning it to your personal taste. That’s not great for a personal computer, but fine for a work one. If the company don’t want to address inefficiency, that’s on them.
