Windows 11 has made the “clean Windows install” an oxymoron
arstechnica.com
Op-ed: PC makers used to need to bring their own add-on bloatware—no longer.

Windows 11 has made the “clean Windows install” an oxymoron | Op-ed: PC makers used to need to bring their own add-on bloatware—no longer.::Op-ed: PC makers used to need to bring their own add-on bloatware—no longer.

    • ngons@feddit.nuEnglish
      381·
      1 year ago

      A clean windows install is when you clean windows off your hard drive and install Linux

          • andrai@feddit.deEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            The word “distribute” refers to the act of distributing or spreading something out among a group of people or things. It can also refer to the way in which something is distributed or arranged. For example, a company may distribute its products to different retailers, or a teacher may distribute assignments to students. Additionally, it can mean to give out something in an orderly way, such as distributing flyers or pamphlets.

    • zurohki@aussie.zoneEnglish
      12·
      1 year ago

      I’ve been running Linux on my laptop for ages, because I really only use a web browser on it anyway.

      It was the bloat and bullshit in Windows that made me switch my desktop gaming machine to Linux back in 2018. I was regularly spending time fiddling with settings, removing things Microsoft wanted to push, using third party tools to disable telemetry, etc and it occurred to me if I was going to spend all that time fixing and changing things, I might as well be running Linux.

      In 2018 there was a bunch of games that didn’t work without a fair amount of work, but I was already spending time wrestling with my computer anyway and on Linux I didn’t also have the feeling that my OS was actively resisting me and trying to force me to do what it wanted.

      If something on Linux didn’t work, it was because it hadn’t been built or fixed yet. It wasn’t because Corporate decided to use their OS to force their app store or cloud services onto people.

      • DefederateLemmyMl@feddit.nlEnglish
        7·
        1 year ago

        It wasn’t because Corporate decided to use their OS to force their app store or cloud services onto people.

        Ubuntu and the snap store say hi!

          • DefederateLemmyMl@feddit.nlEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            Good on you, I was a long time slackware user myself. I just wanted to make the point that just using any Linux doesn’t suffice to escape these shennanigans, the choice of distro matters as well.

  • Flaky@iusearchlinux.fyiEnglish
    17·
    1 year ago

    Some motherboards will actually try to install software when you install Windows. Recent ASUS and Gigabyte motherboards are known for this, however with ASUS I know you can disable it (source: own an ASUS motherboard, there’s an option to disable the installation of Armory Crate)

    • bisq@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Sometimes that software is useful, a few times windows didn’t auto-install ethernet drivers, so I was happy ArmoryCrate could be mounted to do so.

  • Zrybew@lemmy.worldEnglish
    164·
    1 year ago

    I feel Apple is missing out on the opportunity of taking more marketshare.

    I remember the sub $750 2010 Macbook Air 11 inches that weighted 900grams and had a 6h battery. One of my favourite laptops all time and my first Mac.

    Today Apple insists on iPads that have extremely limited functionality, and don’t really threat MS on entry level laptop market.

    • delirium@lemmy.worldEnglish
      145·
      1 year ago

      What? Apple is still releasing good laptops, m1 makbook air was unmatched for its price for like 2+ years and is still a machine that can last 6-10 hours under workload

      • Zrybew@lemmy.worldEnglish
        32·
        1 year ago

        Absolutely! Great machines indeed, I have one.

        However, the sub-$1k market is under served with iPads only.

        I think a 12 inches M1 Macbook can do some serious damage at this price range.

        • delirium@lemmy.worldEnglish
          31·
          1 year ago

          I guess (in their mind) their laptops are “premium” product and making a cheap one will lead to brand damage.

          Plus, I remember how bad was previous 12 inch macbook, people will probably be very catious about it (if they ever make one)

        • hedgehog@ttrpg.networkEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          The base M1 MacBook Air is regularly (and currently) on sale for $750 at major retailers like Best Buy, Costco, and Amazon. MSRP is still $1000, though.

      • The_Mixer_Dude@lemmus.orgEnglish
        23·
        1 year ago

        I don’t think there is touchscreen support still, also not sure if they have a 2in1 option. As well, any non gaming laptop I’ve used in the past whothehellknowshowlong has had great battery life, even the cheap used convertible Chromebooks I install Windows 11 on have pretty great battery life. Definitely does more than a MacBook Air and for a lot less

        • delirium@lemmy.worldEnglish
          82·
          1 year ago

          are you really trying to say that chromebook can do more than m1 macbook lol

          please show me an example of working in blender with chromebook

            • delirium@lemmy.worldEnglish
              22·
              1 year ago

              If I wanted to use the touchscreen, I’d rather get a tablet or use my phone. I would like to see the capability to open actual apps, not just chrome. In this case, even ipad is more capable than chromebooks because it can actually run lots of stuff, even video editing software.

        • 3laws@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          Definitely does more than a MacBook Air

          You are so far behind in tech news my dear friend.

        • itsJoelle@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Please show me a Chromebook with 12 hours of battery life (Hell, even a x86 device) that has the same profile.

          I’m pretty sure a Chromebook can’t run D4 either o.o

          Look, I’m down for the anti-Apple circle jerk, but let’s hang on the side of reality, at least.

    • itsJoelle@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      What?! They have been taking marketshare since the M1 series.

      Heck, even iPadOS is gimped so the Mac doesn’t get stepped on. Which is a shame because the M1 Air has pretty darn close to the same silicon.

  • malloc@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    1 year ago

    I used to buy the “pro” version of windows to avoid shit like this. Windows 10 was the last version I bought and paid for. I was able to setup a strictly local account but had to disable all of the telemetry manually. Out of the box, that shit was enabled by default. Occasionally, updates would re-enable those settings.

    I just really hate windows. I only use the shit for gaming. Other than that I stick with *nix

  • papafoss@lemmy.worldEnglish
    121·
    1 year ago

    18 years of running linux on my computers because windows is insufferable in some way or form. Windows 11 Pro was actually fairly decent at first I even liked the UI despite its issues. Then updates broke and even digging into the cmd prompt tools couldn’t fix it. Which is just insane to me as a company that is hoovering up my data cant figure out updates. I dont even care all that much about the privacy aspect if it just worked. Hell its why I use google services. But every version of windows I have used since XP has had some sort of fatal error that could only be fixed with a clean install. When that happens its my sign to go on a distro hop.

    Dark patterns have also just become the norm in Windows and Mac OS. Honestly kind of sad because both OS’s at one point in time had there high points where they felt like they were built for the user. Now they are glorified billboards that run apps.

    • The_Mixer_Dude@lemmus.orgEnglish
      5·
      1 year ago

      I think this is something people like to hyperfocus on, these days the workflow is win key and a couple letters. I hear so many Linux teens go on about the start menu and I always struggle to try and recall what the star menu looks like

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    72·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    For a certain kind of computer buyer, the first thing you always did with a new laptop or desktop from a company like Dell, HP, Acer, or Asus wasn’t to open the box and start using it.

    Computer manufacturers often distributed buggy, pointless, or redundant third-party software (“bloatware” or “crapware”) to help subsidize the cost of the hardware.

    This might pass some savings on to the user, but once they owned their computer, that software mainly existed to consume disk space and RAM, something that cheaper PCs could rarely afford to spare.

    Computer manufacturers also installed all kinds of additional support software, registration screens, and other things that generally extended the setup process and junked up your Start menu and desktop.

    The “out-of-box experience” (OOBE, in Microsoft parlance) for Windows 7 walked users through the process of creating a local user account, naming their computer, entering a product key, creating a “Homegroup” (a since-discontinued local file and media sharing mechanism), and determining how Windows Update worked.

    Due to the Microsoft Store, you’ll find several third-party apps taking up a ton of space in your Start menu by default, even if they aren’t technically downloaded and installed until you run them for the first time.

    The original article contains 596 words, the summary contains 204 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • bisq@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I read that if you select “English (World)” during setup, a lot of this bloat is never installed. Have yet to try.