- cross-posted to:
- pcgaming@lemmy.ca
- linux_gaming@lemmy.ml
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- pcgaming@lemmy.ca
- linux_gaming@lemmy.ml
- technology@lemmy.world
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So Microsoft is one of the most valuable companies in the entire world. They have a stranglehold on corporate America, power a huge the cloud infrastructure, hold one of the largest sources of telemetry/user data, and are the defacto standard of PC environments worldwide.
Why in the fuck do they need to pivot to ads? I’m genuinely curious. Even if they lost 50% of their entire business they would still be one of the most profitable companies in the world.
Because when you have shareholders, there’s no such thing as “we’re profitable enough”. Shareholders always demand more. Ads means more profit, at least in the short term. Next quarter profits are all that matter to public companies.
It’s obscene, but it’s the way it is.
It’s not just that they demand more, they demand more/faster growth all the time. It doesn’t matter that the economy has slowed down to borderline recession, it doesn’t matter that they pretty much captured all the market they can, they still need to make more and more money every quarter otherwise they’re considered a failure even if they are one of the biggest companies in the world.
Because they were “leaving money on the table” instead of getting it for their shareholders.
I think it’s the same reason games offer a cash shop for things you can get in-game. Sure they’re making billions but why not billions plus ad revenue? I don’t agree with the practice but the answer always comes back to money.
@SuperSynthia @dvdnet62 Because for capitalism, profit is not the end, only a means to the end. The end is to accumulate sufficient capital to absorb all competitors and achieve total control of markets.
Yea but like, their competitors, when it comes to operating systems are Apple, which isn’t anywhere near small enough to be obtainable by anyone and Linux and Linux-Derivatives, which are also unobtainable due to their open source nature.
@accideath The point isn’t whether Microsoft will reach that end. The point is that like all capitalist enterprises it will forever strive to do so.
Not all of them. Only the big and successful ones
@accideath All of them. That is the definition of a capitalist enterprise.
Not every larger company is automatically evil, just because they exist within a capitalist market. A lot of them are, sure. At least to some extent. But there still are privately owned enterprises that do have a conscience.
Also, calling them “capitalist” enterprises seems redundant.
@accideath I’m calling them capitalist enterprises to emphasize that they are capitalist enterprises. They accumulate capital. That is what they are and defines what they do.
A capitalist enterprise does not decide it has enough and can retire and take up gardening. It is not a person. It does not have a conscience.
@SuperSynthia @dvdnet62 because once untamed capitalism sees a money spigot they can’t help but wonder how wide it will open.
Although not the same, this has been going on for about two years now. Jensen Harris, a former MS engineer, criticized the ads as well as the design of the new Start Menu, over here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1564399431545667585.html
Weren’t they doing this as far back as windows 8?
It just highlights the downward spiral to user hostility becoming the standard. Pretty sad.
KDE Plasma 6, and their distro KDE Neon, are both really good.
There are many very friendly Linux communities on Lemmy who can help you get set up.
Windows 11 looks like a crappy knockoff of KDE with all the good bits removed and replaced with spyware and adware.
I had the same issue holding me back from giving up Windows, until I discovered the Python keyboard module.
How to bind key presses to it varies, but here’s a recipe for Ubuntu, as an example:
Overall, it’s not quite as elegant, as AutoHotKey, but it’s ultimately a more powerful, since there’s so much else I can also do from the same Python script.
Edit: Most notably, I don’t recall AutoHotKey having any nice way to tell which apps are open, and Python can quickly call out to
ps. It’s been on my to-do list to leverage this to let me map keybindings according to what is open (i.e. a favorite game, or a move player.)
Cool
I’m learning more and more about Linux while using Linux Mint
It’s pretty cool NGL
SteamOS and lately mint made me remember how fun computers used to be.
I have a feeling that this year is going to be the year of the Linux desktop.
If there is a recommendation that satisfies:
- A nice looking UI with good fonts, and a clean interface.
- The ability to run random Windows applications with minimal fuss.
All without needing to use the terminal, then that will likely win the battle.
Honestly Wine and Bottles are both pretty great at running windows programs these days, I wouldn’t worry to much about that so long as you check and make sure the critical software you need works.
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Prove it.
Elementary, Zorin?
A nice looking UI with good fonts, and a clean interface.
Pretty much anything beats Windows in that regard.
The ability to run random Windows applications with minimal fuss.
I mean if you REALLY can’t find a FOSS alternative, Bottles has been extremely successful and easy for me…
All without needing to use the terminal
This is the biggest hangup for me. Even if there is a GUI, most instructions will send you into the terminal nonetheless.
Pretty much anything beats Windows in that regard
Fonts have looked like shit on Linux for years, if not decades. The poor UI and lack of polish has been a big problem in design communities for a long time, and to many it’s one of the reasons why Linux is less favourable to Mac and Windows.
This is the biggest hangup for me. Even if there is a GUI, most instructions will send you into the terminal nonetheless.
For all the deserved shit that Windows gets, it “just works” without ever needing to touch config or a terminal. Until a Linux distro and window management system can get this part right, it’s silly to call it a desktop replacement for the average person because it’s not trying to be.
The poor UI and lack of polish has been a big problem in design communities for a long time
I dunno what to tell you except that it’s not a problem now.
For all the deserved shit that Windows gets, it “just works” without ever needing to touch config or a terminal.
Most people don’t need to use anything other than a browser, which works fine.
You think the average joe does browse this environment?
My guy, we are on lemmy. This ain’t reddit.My point exactly. I’ve watched people break down over the start menu changing, or being unable to do anything after switching to a Mac. If you think the average person will go through this shit you’re mistaken…but I’d expect nothing less from Lemmy. It’s a bit like Slashdot from 20 years ago…
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it was already full of ads on win10
If they could inject the ad’s into your veins, they would.
Cool. I just started testing Nobara
This is why Linux rules tbh, little to no rules what so ever in terms of customizing your desktop whilst also not having shit like this too like having so much bloat and constant ads, like telling you to install edge everytime whilst protecting your privacy too.
HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN
I think that this betrays their plans: Windows will go “free with ads”, with an ad-free version that is subscription only. That doesn’t hurt their bottomline since the governments and companies of the western world will still go subscription in order to get support. The ones who don’t have enough money for that (individuals, small countries/companies, small municipalities), they will go “free with ads”. I mean, practically, Windows is free even right now. They have oem serial numbers that activate the OS for free, legally, to be reused. So why not make it profitable, it’s their thinking. Also, on newer builds of Win11 you can’t avoid logging in without an msn account.
Aight time to try and learn Linux for the 10th time and see if someone without strong console knowledge can use one now.
I’ve been using it for a few months now and only rarely I used console and it was just to paste some commands for something. So yeah, I don’t think that you really need to know howbto use console if you don’t need to do anything that specifically needs it.
Rarely is still too much for me.
If I do regular joe stuff, I don’t want to be required to go into the terminal.I had to often look up how to do stuff on windows because of it’s trash UX so it’s an absolute W for me. But I can understand that terminal may look too scary/complicated to some ppl.
Oh Windows is certainly not exempt from the issue. Not at all.
Personally I don’t have any issue with the terminal but sometimes I am totally not in the mood to research yet another time why or how to run anything.
Also I prefer Word way too much over Libre/OpenOffice.
Only if they had a word-like theme and translation to achieve what I want in a word-like behaviour it could tempt me to switch the tools.
If you have to stay on windows check out: https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu
I have been using it on my work laptop over a year. Nice piece of software 👍️
This looks like it is solving a different problem but also useful. If you are saying it is better to disable everything and keep the original start bar. I prefer disabling everything and keeping a consistent start bar style from yesteryear. Either way thanks for the link. I’ll added it to my tool list!
