For me a bigger concern is that Windows 11 requires MS account, and making harder and harder to bypass it. This is a disrespect for my freedom and privacy. The hardware is not the biggest issue because it might catch up eventually. https://waspdev.com/articles/2026-03-12/i-ll-probably-never-...
Neither is the whole “React” thing. Microsoft using web technologies that are compiled to native code is a sensible decision. It’s a lot better than being completely unable to update the operating system at a reasonable pace like how Microsoft struggled for decades to modernize the control panel.
No, the start menu doesn’t open as fast as it does on windows 95…not a big deal. You can replace it entirely if you want. I even installed a complete windows explorer replacement. It’s just not a big deal, the OS is extremely customizable.
The Microsoft account thing is lame, although before I switched to Linux I used it anyway since it was needed to play games on my Xbox account anyway. To this day it’s trivial to bypass the MS account requirement if you know what you’re doing - one checkbox in Rufus when you flash your USB image.
I never used Windows as a serious personal system besides as a game machine, so some of these “dealbreakers” just weren’t.
Can you elaborate on the "or pay them $30 a year not to spy on you" part?
Ctrl-F isn't finding any mention of that in either https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-quietly-gets-one-more... or https://waspdev.com/articles/2026-03-12/i-ll-probably-never-....
It’s creepy as fuck, and for no real benefit to me that I can tell.
The privacy-destroying "telemetry" continues to transmute from a theoretical problem to a realistic concern too.
For example, many printers puts forensic marks onto pages identifying their serial number, while MS/Apple log all your device serial numbers, which in turn is subject to seizure/threats/theft.
The upshot is you can't print an "anonymous" flyer stating I Dislike The Regime without the risk that thugs of said regime will be outside your door later.
> memory ‘live sampling’
"Citizen, the signature of a Wrongthink picture was detected in your telescreen..."
What is stopping similar authoritarians from cracking down using these kind of features and registrations?
https://newrepublic.com/post/212340/ice-poll-worker-election...
The people I've switched from windows to Mageia since win11 all love it.
(As great as Mageia is, it does have small repos compared to Debian or fedora.)