Microsoft is working on a new project labeled Windows ‘K2’, intent on removing bloatware, reducing AI, and optimizing Windows 11 for gaming, with three focuses of ‘performance, craft, and reliability’.
the issue is not about performance, is about enshitification. I mean, do we need TPM? do we need Microslop account to login our pc/laptop? do they really need to shove Copilot into Windows?
This is such a huge W for linux. It legitimizes linux as a real competitor in so many eyes.
That’s because it is a legitimate competitor. It’s the freedom OS, and only way for the world to escape Americas big tech fascism.
Yeah I know I’ve been using it for gaming for years. But when I say linux is good people might brush it off because oh you would say that as a linux user. But im highlighting that Microsoft saying this legitimizes Linux in a completely different way. It legitimizes it for all the people that see Windows as the best OS the people outside the linux bubble.
There is no greater force in the world than how glass half full Linux users can be, makes me so proud.
Then they fight you.
Bring it on
That was a solid ad
Reducing ai but not removing it ain’t it
Microsoft is reportedly looking at Valve’s SteamOS as the benchmark for gaming
Yeah, that’s Linux
Valve’s SteamOS continues to show significant advantages over Windows 11 for gamers, with better memory utilization and improved in-game performance, but Microsoft has a plan to combat that.
Let that sink in for a second. Linux with a not-an-emulation layer API runs Microsoft Windows games faster than Microsoft Windows, and so now Microsoft is scrambling to get windows at least as efficient again as Linux in running Windows products.
Anyone ever trusting Microsoft again is a dumbass fool
We really need more alternative private non-stock unionized companies in USA made to go against Big Tech
That’s really what it comes down to. Better alternatives across the board
Yes. If the community can win this hard ad-hoc, imagine the glory of buying from a dedicated employee owned vendor that provides a full stack solution with a support contract.
There’s nothing (legal) the enshitifiers could counter with.
And even when they go full illegal (and they always do), there’s more of us common folks who want a good product and a fair wage, than there are of them (exploiters).
Microsoft adds the bloat themselves, and ever increasing telemetry reporting back, promises to update W10 for the lifetime of the device, reneges on it with W11 quoting security as its rationale but leaving 400 million users without security updates. Does all this at a time Linux is becoming very friendly and android phones have a desktop mode so they can be plugged into a keyboard and monitor and bypass the need for Windows. Microsoft has a bit of a think about the market value of its idiot direction and decides to remove a lot of the crap slowing the OS and give people back a little privacy, touts it as a new way of thinking about personal computing.
I’d say i’m cautiously optimistic but honestly i’m just not optimistic. They want to ‘remove bloat, reel back AI, etc’ and I’m just going to ask “how?”
how can they possibly improve their OS when the past year updates to 11 have been the worst in the companies history. the past few months alone have been an absolute cluster fuck and that’s saying A LOT considering this the same company that gave us ME and Vista.
Before rebuilding the OS they need to take a seriously look internally and rebuild teams, management, etc because its’ clear as day the company that they have currently cannot produce the potential OS they seem to want to produce.
You mention Windows Me and Vista as low points but Windows 8 was such a donkey that your memory must have blocked it so you could go on with your life. And you just know this wonderful new streamlined and privacy conscious version is going to look suspiciously like Windows 7 which most users wanted to stick with anyway.
You mention Windows Me and Vista as low points but Windows 8 was such a donkey that your memory must have blocked it so you could go on with your life.
Good lord you’re right. I had completely forgotten about 8. I know I had it, I must have had it but I don’t actually remember using it. It’s like a gap there between 7 and 10 that is just gone from my head.
A lot can be said about Windows 8. I liked it. It was rock stable for me. It took EOL for me to migrate my gaming pc to windows 10 (due to baked in telemetry mostly).
That’s not gonna happen until they, at the very least, crash and burn. There are some very competent tech people at Microsoft, and none of them are at the C level or upper management.
Not any more, so many left or asked to leave that did not agree with the “all in balls deep on AI”…
Knowing Microsoft, the new project is an update to DirectX which has features impossible for Proton to translate without violating anti-circumvention laws or an always on DRM baked into core features.
My only hope with this is that MS doesn’t have a complete hold on the gaming market anymore. Valve has to hold some serious sway at this point, and MS doing that might backfire on them.
Section 1201(f) of the DMCA allows for interoperability; I’m sure Valve’s lawyers will figure it out
They could also do the Nintendo thing and plaster their trademarked name all over critical functions or interfaces and then sue anyone who tries to re-write their software, since you still have to handle calls to the MicrosoftTMOfficialDirectX13Windows_draw() function. Using a registered trademark without permission violates a different set of laws.
This would be fair use. Has already been decided https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_Inc.
Arguably the trademark issue has not been exactly resolved but I think this case will be very persuasive.
I really want to see more GNI/Linux and Tux GIF’s/Images made to see out in the wild like this
If you made this you are a goat!
The libre community never disappoints my expectations of mid quality goofy images made to mock anything else that is not libre.
There you are, racking up multi kills, bonus points are pouring in. The map is yours and you are about to push the score back in favour of your team…
When all of a sudden
“DO YOU WANT TO TURN ON STICKY KEYS? PWEASE LOGIN TO ONEDRIVE TO ACTIVATE YOUR 365 COPILOT ACCOUNT SUBSCRIPTION. ACTIVATING BITLOCKER LOCKDOWN.”
I abandoned Windows for Linux rather than update to Windows 11. I will be interested to see what Microsoft does, but at this point I seriously doubt they’re going to be able to give me a good enough reason to return to Windows as my primary OS. At this point I only need it for a few applications that don’t have a Linux equivalent and don’t run on Wine.
I know it’s not possible for everyone, but I just cut ties with any application that wouldn’t work on Linux and found alternatives.
For those that can’t, it’s worth it to go 99% Linux and set up a dual-boot. Also I made a video recently that details some security measures you can take on Windows to help you stay private if anyone’s interested.
I hate that I need to keep one computer in my household on windows to be able to run my business. I’ve got 4 programs that I need to connect to my machines or I can’t do anything.
Have you tried to Winboat the apps missing ?
I also switched earlier this year to cachyos. I’m definitely not going back. The simple fact that I need to boot the Windows old partition to update it makes me anxious.
I feel so much more in control of my operating system it feels really nice.
Seconding Winboat, works great for the one piece of software I have that is stuck on Windows. At this point I am 100% not going back, I even wiped my Windows disk. That drive is for trying out other distros now.
This looks cool, I assume it’s not meant for super resource intensive programs though?
Winboat looks really interesting. How does it compare to just using WinApps? It seems like it’s basically just doing the heavy lifting for setting programs up, yeah?
It’s very similar. I found WinApps to be quite flaky, where WinBoat feels much more solid. However, a nice feature of WinApps is the ability to set the Windows apps as the default file type, and you can open files from the right click > Open With, which you can’t do with WinBoat. Not that I’ve found, anyway.
Nice, the default file types isn’t a deal breaker for me. I’ll have to give it a shot! I’ve been testing debian on my laptop before changing my desktop over. Hadn’t found a good solution for a handful of my windows-only programs yet but this seems like it might do the trick.
Yep, I had a look at Winboat. It’s effectively a Windows VM anyway (using RDP), so for the sake of the couple of applications I need Windows for (which mostly interact with each other), VirtualBox with a VM is easier for me to manage.
I don’t think they care as long as your employer is still using Windows. They will get really scared if school systems start adopting Linux.
Most schools these days (not college or uni) use chrome books not windows. I think Microsoft’s bread and butter is boomers and businesses, to hell with the average consumer.
Eh, TPM is pretty convenient for full-disk encryption tbh
Ubuntu just added that feature. Not my distro of choice, but it’s coming up.
linuxes can do that too. sure, you have to set it up by hand for now, but the necessary tools are available
Yeah, MS lost a lot of trust with stupid things and getting that back - good luck with that.
I’m goneI switched to Linuxsincea year (been on Windows since 3.0) or so ago and won’t ever go back even though I still need to run Visual Studio in a virtual guest.same. been using MS shit since the 90s, but built a new PC in early 2025 specifically to put linux and only linux on it. never looking back. there is absolutely no reason for me to ever install windows again.
people thought i was dumb for taking out a loan to build a PC–turns out that was the right move, 8% on a loan for early 2025 prices is better than whatever tf people are having to pay for components now
2025 the year of Linux desktop 🤗
thanks microsoft!
Microsoft right now
Get rid of telemetry, ads, AI, and the MS account requirement for a start.
I like how back in the day Gabe proposed to MS to invest into gaming on PC, got ignored, left company to chase this venture of his own. Which leads us to today as Gabe is about to drop a gaming-OS nuke on the market that will finally shaken (or hopefully shatter to pieces) MS’s gaming OS monopoly.
Love to see MS giving out promises to users way before Steam Machine drops. They are clearly scared shitless.
They are clearly scared shitless.
Consumers aren’t MS’s market anymore. It would hurt if Windows lost market share but it wouldn’t be devastating.
What is their market then? Corporate OS? EU is already planning to move off the Windows to Linux in corporate spaces. Things have been moving in this direction lately.
Their primary source of income is services like M365 and Azure. Its been like that for a while now. That’s the main reason for the Win11 fuckup - they just don’t care about consumers anymore.
There are moves to get public bodies in some EU countries off of non-sovereign platforms but as a risk it is a long way off. You are right though, its definitely a worry for them.
Yep, there’s a reason they turned Office into a web app. Even if companies switch to Linux or macOS, MS can still sell them a subscription to Outlook/Office/etc.
Company wants to move their servers to Linux as well? Well Azure also provides cloud based Linux servers, MS doesn’t care what you run as long as they can make money off it.
MS365 is also under attack. There are huge advances in selfhosting collaborative editing web-based apps as of late.
Azure will probably keep existing tho.
Of course not.
Install Linux, Problem Solved.
Help others switch then the problem is fully solved
There’s nothing MS can do to make me trust them again. They can “love bomb” all they want, but a toxic ex is a toxic ex.
Publicly traded corporations will always exploit anything and anyone they can get away with to maximize their profits. They will only improve just enough to trap you again, then the exploitation begins again.
a toxic ex is a toxic ex
This, for sure, but if she wants to dance I’ll dance with her. 🤪
For serious, tho: people change. I don’t expect mega corporations to ever change for the better. They’ll do whatever they need to get money and you can guarantee they’ll fuck you (the bad kind) as soon as you’re invested.
For serious, tho: people change. I don’t expect mega corporations to ever change for the better.
at the very best, they can, on occasion, do something thats accidentally good.
But that never really meaningfully alters the trajectory of evil.
This, for sure, but if she wants to dance I’ll dance with her. 🤪
For serious, tho: people change.
You sound like one of my exes. -_-
They’ll either never do it, or do it for a year or so then go back to being pieces of shit.
Also expect this:
“hey windows is better”
yeah? Is it this good?
“well, no, but…”
This has been their MO for time immemorial. Make windows shit, right up to the line where people will leave. Only discover where the line actually is after they’ve stepped over it, then backpedal just enough to stem the exodus and keep people locked in. Repeat.
