this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
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I really want to see the EU force Microsoft to release a stripped down version that continues to support older hardware.
Why? Only hardcore computer nerds would ever want that.
Because a bunch of government and business uses 10 and they really don't want "Recall AI" in there for a plethora of reasons.
You can disable Recall with a simple on/off toggle in the settings pane.
Kind of feels like giving my toddler a loaded gun, but saying that it's safe because the safety is on.
A devastating amount of computer hardware is about to be e-wasted because they decided to drop support for anything older than roughly 2017/2018.
It's an arbitrary limitation as people have succeeded in forcing it to work on much older hardware that still works well enough for your avg person.
Additionally, windows used to be a tool now it's a platform for them to essentially market any number of things and user privacy appears to be the least important thing on the table.
The only reason we don't see mass adoption of Linux has been 4 decades of software development and marketing that let's them continue to wear their crown.
A regulatory party needs to humble them and return windows to being a tool.
Imagine if the gasoline companies one day announced that they will be changing gas so only cars bought in the last 5 years or so could refuel.
Now imagine if to buy a car you had to tolerate cameras and other forms of tracking your telemetry just to get to work and feed yourself.
Lunacy yes? They took the "my" out of my computer.
Fun fact, there were still computers being manufactured with CPUs that don't support Windows 11 in 2020, got one of those at work that we will need to replace before then. Thankfully only one, so it's not too big of a deal.
They've already effectively did this, and by they I mean the US government mandated it. 5% ethanol has been mandated since 2006, and 10% since 2012. If your car is too old (lots of 90s cars) you'll have to find a gas station that has ethanol free fuel.
I've read this a few times. If ethanol is mandated how are there stations with ethanol free? Do they just have a pay an extra tax or something?
It’s allowed for certain types of vehicles, so people illicitly put it in to regular vehicles as well and gas stations turn a blind eye.
It’s not illicit to put non ethanol gas in any vehicle, and even if it were would you actually expect gas stations to confirm the type of vehicle that’s getting fuel for every transaction before the customer is allowed to swipe their card and fill up?
You may be confusing ethanol free gas with off road diesel, which is basically just lower taxed and not dyed. Even then it’s not up to the gas station to police who buys it.
I think actually I was thinking the extra-high octane gas labeled 'for collector vehicles only'.
Ah okay I’ve not come across that one myself. It’s also possible certain states have different regulations (if we are talking about the US).
It prevents knocking in sensitive vintage vehicles, which were designed for leaded gas, too. That article also covers why ethanol can be harmful for them.
The real thing stopping mass adoption of Linux is that few people want to fiddle around with their machines to that degree. For the vast majority of users, it just needs to run and be able to run whatever programs are needed, and the easier it is to do so, the better.
The majority of computer owners use their machine to open a web browser and maybe an email client.
Surely that can be done on any OS.
Correct, and those people aren’t going to jump through hoops finding a distro and drivers when they can just install windows and call it a day
This
And when I run into issues, I would rather be using the OS that is the most common so that I have more options to get good info for a fix. I don't want problems that nobody's ever encountered, or for which the fix is beyond my limited technical ability.
It's somewhat amusing when I see people on Lemmy proselytizing for Linux and literally while laying out their points to convince someone how easy it is, they'll talk about doing shit that is already beyond my ability. And I'm not some 90 year old who struggles to turn it on. I'm just a user that doesn't care to use any OS that I'll need to take time to learn to figure out how to use it.
When I start a Windows machine I just do what I need to do.
When even a Linux cheerleader is trying to convince someone how easy it is, they're already indicating more effort than I want to put into it.
Sorry to be the bearer of depressing news, but that's basically already happening in new cars.
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/privacy-nightmare-on-wheels-every-car-brand-reviewed-by-mozilla-including-ford-volkswagen-and-toyota-flunks-privacy-test/
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/car-spying-insurance-surveillance-data/
Why should they have to support Windows 10 when Linux would run fine on your 'old' machine? That really puts the 'yours' back in your computer, no need for a company to do it for you.
Yeah and abandon so much in the process.
Linux is wonderful and works plenty fine, but as a civilization we are not ready. There's still so much that won't work out of the box, for most manufacturers it's an after thought if any at all.
You can't walk into your avg store and be like I want a computer with Linux that will play fortnite.
You can't blindly buy a video game or a multifunctional printer without serious consideration.
Unlike Windows where it's the established norm that it will work 100% of the time.
Sure you can argue that a user should just learn to deal with that and teach themselves how to install Linux and cope with whatever comes up.
But that's just unfair to grandma and anyone else that hasn't made computers a hobby.
I have two Surface Pros that are BIOS locked so I can't install Linux. They also don't support Win11.
I'm not sure what I can do with them.
I am full of rage by proxy, sorry to hear that. I've been thinking of only buying coreboot motherboards from now on, but that's easier said than done.
>.>
<.<
...no reason.
Can they do that?
It's not out of the realm of possibility. They have been known to force Microsoft to make changes in the past. As well as Apple and other major software companies.
Edit: Grammar
It already exists. Most of the requirements that break with current W10 machines are artificial and can be removed at install time with rufus (memory requirement, secure boot, TPM2, microsoft account).
Still not a solution; you should not have to fight against your OS design choices that much.
Shouldn’t they just support Linux more? Maybe fund some driver development but otherwise - win?
I'm not too familiar with that side of things but I do believe they do. My understanding is that some organizations are set up as nonprofits and they contribute to the development of Linux.
Some European governments also use foss software for things like email and office.
But it's easier to throw darts at a big company than lots of small things that add up to something big.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the EU require M$ to remove the artificial requirements and let 10 users on older hardware update.