[RaleyField]

I use Linux, I am pretty ambivalent about Windows, I don't like adware and telemetry in my paid-for software but if they really start doing that honestly that will irritate me enough to start pushing people to Ubuntu when that's possible.

[fendy3002]

As much as I use Linux for everyday use and dislike windows lately, Linux is still too high-tech for normal people to use. Without terminal command it's hard to manage services, etc. Moreover many drivers and games only available and optimized for windows only.

[crispinb]

Careful. You're gunning for someone linuxsplaining how their grandpa has used Arch for years without difficulty, so you must be just wrong about all the normal people you know who find linux too hard.

(I'm exclusively a linux user for now, but really .. linux people can be such a pain).

[forinti]

Microsoft has been giving people reasons to switch to Linux for quite a while. They started with the major overhaul of the Office UI. Then they came out with Windows 10. Ubuntu and Libre Office are just so much easier to work with.

[pjmlp]

Yeah, I have seen that remark when XP came out, then it was Vista, followed up by how Windows 7 would drive everyone into Linux, then was how Windows 8 would do it, ....

Somehow there is a pattern here, meanwhile Steam Hardware survey still shows GNU/Linux desktops at 1% on average.

[forinti]

Yes, and most people can't do the most basic administrative tasks on Windows. Still, they stick to Windows. It is irrational.

[pjmlp]

Irrational is expecting such users to be comfortable in environments that put UNIX straight on their face.

Apple and Google OS might use a UNIX like kernel, but none of such users will ever realise it, unless they go for the blue pill.

[forinti]

I installed Ubuntu for my mother-in-law and she quite likes it.

I found my sister-in-law using Libre Office one day and she actually said it was nice and easy to use.

So I think people's image both of Windows and of Linux are a bit outdated.

[pjmlp]

The large majority of desktop users do not have free IT at a price of a phone call, hence 1% on Steam.

[ailideex]

I think it would be wonderful if people abandon Windows for alternatives but that won't happen. People are somehow utterly enthralled by that crapware.

[jevgeni]

Well, if the software is paid in full, there are no ads.

[alxlaz]

This is not true. I have Win 10 Pro on my work laptop. It's very much "paid in full". Some of the things I paid in full for include Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Friends, and the Start menu came pre-populated with a bunch of ads for similarly useful apps (edit: among other things).

Edit: if someone who's more Windows-savvy than this ol' Unix nerd knows what information I ought to edit out of a screenshot so that I can safely share it, I have the screenshot, too. This "if you pay for Win 10 Pro there are no ads" crap pops up every single damn time so I took a screenshot of my laptop's untouched Win 10 Pro installation.

[jevgeni]

I also have Win 10 Pro and the maximum I had was, I think, "Install Minecraft" link or something. This is not like Win 10 Home where they tried to keep the ads coming. Which also makes sense, since you are getting a discounted OS.

Going along that route, there is a lot of stuff a default Linux installation bundles, that I don't personally need, so I usually have to do a custom install to have only the stuff I'm comfortable with. Throwing a fit that a product doesn't cater exactly to your particular interests is a bit entitled. You assume that most of Windows consumers don't want those things on their computer.

[alxlaz]

Who said anything about not catering exactly to my particular interests? You said a legit copy of Windows 10 Pro doesn't show ads. It does. I see them. Ads were some of the first things I saw after I installed it, and I still see them every once in a while. Even you seem to have seen one, even though you literally just said there aren't any.

[jevgeni]

You are deliberately conflating ads and suggestions. I don't see them and haven't seen them the 3 years I have my Surface Book with Windows Pro. Honestly, I don't remember what I did: either deleted the shortcuts or turned something off in settings. Maybe you should do that?

[alxlaz]

> You are deliberately conflating ads and suggestions.

Really? What's the difference? When I see nice, red, highlighted text saying "Try out the new Edge browser", should I think of it as "just a suggestion"? How is it different from one saying "Try out the new Coca-Cola"?

[pjmlp]

Apparently when a GNU/Linux installation shows messages to try out stuff, it is "spreading the good for the community", or has a modified motd, when one gets a couple of links on the start menu, easily removed by right clicking on them, it is "bloody Microsoft".

[alxlaz]

I'm not sure how that's relevant here. Does my post say anything about what Ubuntu does being excusable in any way?

Edit: also, FWIW, running apt-get upgrade doesn't re-enable the ads in the MOTD :-)

[_glsb]

The whataboutism defense is absolutely failing at this point. If there was material criticism on HN of say Ubuntu or other providers for the same stuff Microsoft gets criticized your words might've been credible. But there isn't and they are not.

Pretending to be fair and objective is not the same thing as being fair and objective.

[alxlaz]

Whataboutism is a logical fallacy even when the "what about" thing doesn't get enough attention. If Ubuntu got more criticism on HN, would the ads you see on Windows become less intrusive, or more appropriate?

But FWIW, Ubuntu absolutely got, and still gets, plenty of criticism for that, even here on HN.

[simion314]

When Ubuntu does it you will see a ton of complaining, like if it shows you some text and a link that you can disable easily and still people complain, I think people are consistent and you should consider that say Ubuntu is free and Canonical is not profitable where Microsoft is extremely rich and after you paid for the OS they still want to suck more money from you.

[jevgeni]

In my years on HN I have never seen it on the front page. Ever.

[simion314]

I will assure you that I seen it on HN(you can search and find proof you don't believe me), articles about the Amazon shortcut, about the SSH ads, about the Ubuntu/Fedora telemetry etc. Now probably Windows related news were submitted more often but this makes sense .

[speedgoose]

While some ads are just links, candy crush is actually installed and being updated regularly even though most people will never ever start it.

[stOneskull]

i wish it made real candy pour out of the computer

[Erlich_Bachman]

What version of Windows do people need to buy for it to (right after the installation, with no additional tweaking) have the telemetry keylogger turned off and no ads in start menu and no adware or links to other Microsoft's products there? I've been looking for such a version for a long time.

[vezycash]

The version with least telemetry is Enterprise Version. It's not sold to individuals.

Only way is torrent. Although some once wrote here that he got his off eBay.

[jevgeni]

In no version do you have a "keylogger".

[Erlich_Bachman]

Ok sure they call it "telemetry". It still sends the keys I press to some remote server for "analysis". What difference does the name make?

[jevgeni]

It sends the keys you type in Cortana search, AFAIK. Thinking it logs all your keys is another kind of tinfoil hat crazy.