You lost: Microsoft is NOT walking back Windows 11’s AI overload — scaling up Copilot and NOT rethinking Recall, business as usual

DukenukemX said:
I could see computers with Linux coming with antivirus software and other crap, but enshittification of Linux would be difficult. It can be done but good luck avoiding people installing their Linux distro. Unless it is like Android where you can't erase the OS without disabling a bunch of preventative crap.
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The freedom of installing any distro is also the reason why linux can't increase its market share. It's too fragmented with competing distros one up-ing each other every couple of years or so. How many times have we heard that a certain distro is the definitive windows replacement / gaming distro, only for it to fall to the wayside for another one to be hyped as "IT"?

Plus the fragmentation makes it unfeasible for software and games to officially support linux. Which distro do you support? All of them? Too much cost. Choose one and ignore the rest? Get a lot of upset folk whose favorite flavor of linux is not supported, further diminishing the value of supporting an already marginal platform.
 
M76 said:
The freedom of installing any distro is also the reason why linux can't increase its market share. It's too fragmented with competing distros one up-ing each other every couple of years or so. How many times have we heard that a certain distro is the definitive windows replacement / gaming distro, only for it to fall to the wayside for another one to be hyped as "IT"?
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That's not a problem. It's not a problem because most Linux distros are just derivatives of other major distros. CachyOS is in but CachyOS is basically Arch Linux with tweaks. To go back to what I'm saying, there's the new Googlebooks with Googlebooks OS. They run Intel chips but can I just erase them and install my favorite flavor of Linux? These devices are Bootloader locked. They can be unlocked but why is this even a thing? The only way to put something like Windows would be to flash a custom firmware with UEFI.

If someone were to put Linux on their computers then it'll like be a Linux distro you'd have no choice but to use.
Plus the fragmentation makes it unfeasible for software and games to officially support linux. Which distro do you support? All of them? Too much cost. Choose one and ignore the rest? Get a lot of upset folk whose favorite flavor of linux is not supported, further diminishing the value of supporting an already marginal platform.
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You say this and yet Steam runs on every distro and plays every game without issue. Proton has nothing to do with it either. I swear I must have pointed this out a dozen times because all Linux distros can run the same software because for the most part they are the same thing. There isn't an official release of Google Chrome for Arch Linux but I still run it. I have to get it off the AUR which basically takes the official Ubuntu DEB packages and extracts them and then repackages them as Arch packages.
 
Delicieuxz said:
It's probably only a matter of time before an open-source Windows clone is made via AI, without data-harvesting, ads, bloat, backdoors, etc. It's already happening to a lot of commercial software, and it's going to happen to everything.

Ubisoft's CEO envisioned a future where gamers wouldn't own their game or even run them on their PCs - where everything would run off Ubisoft servers, fully taking away end-user control and rights. But instead of the future being "you'll own nothing", it's going to be, at least in terms of software, "you'll own whatever you want". The big publishers are set to completely lose the war they fought against ownership.


View: https://youtu.be/eFB79TYI-Vw


View: https://youtu.be/GSNZ0xco92c
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We don't need that. Agentic Linux is already here. We have no need for windows. Its going to evolve very fast.
Linux pushers like Steam have been making windows games run in Linux. And frankly if the world wasn't on NV hardware there would be zero reason for windows anymore for gaming. AMD hardware is in general faster or worse case = to windows at this point. Open source drivers make a huge difference. Clearly AI can be used to make anything run on just about anything at this point. Just look at the projects using AI to make Linux binary versions of PS5 games. lol

It won't be long before all the things the AI build will just run on Linux and the AI agents will run better on Linux.... if they build their own OS they wouldn't base it on Windows. Could I see someone 100% recreating the windows UI and putting it on a Linux base that seemlessly integrates "windows" software. Probably. I'm sure at some point someone is going to agent build/vibe code a Windows Linux DE, that would fool 99% of people into thinking it was just windows.
 
DukenukemX said:
That's not a problem. It's not a problem because most Linux distros are just derivatives of other major distros. CachyOS is in but CachyOS is basically Arch Linux with tweaks. To go back to what I'm saying, there's the new Googlebooks with Googlebooks OS. They run Intel chips but can I just erase them and install my favorite flavor of Linux? These devices are Bootloader locked. They can be unlocked but why is this even a thing? The only way to put something like Windows would be to flash a custom firmware with UEFI.

If someone were to put Linux on their computers then it'll like be a Linux distro you'd have no choice but to use.

You say this and yet Steam runs on every distro and plays every game without issue. Proton has nothing to do with it either. I swear I must have pointed this out a dozen times because all Linux distros can run the same software because for the most part they are the same thing. There isn't an official release of Google Chrome for Arch Linux but I still run it. I have to get it off the AUR which basically takes the official Ubuntu DEB packages and extracts them and then repackages them as Arch packages.
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And here it is, the second thing that prevents linux from becoming more popular. The eagerness of the true believers to dismiss any problems newcomers might face as a non-issue. IDK why chromebooks suddenly entered the picture? What does that have to do with anything?

CatchyOS might be derivative of arch linux, but some apps don't offer ready to run downloads for arch linux, so then the user has to figure out how to get a package that works on CatchyOS, which is a hassle While a downloadable windows binary just works. Unless you go back to the days of 32 / 64 bit, but even that pales in comparison.

Proton works, after you get your video card to work properly, which is still not as straightforward as on windows.

Windows is a good system with a veil of enshittification making you jump through some hoops. While linux is still a can of worms, with various distros that offer a veil of symplicity, but as soon as the veil tears, into the can of worms you must plunge.
 
I can feasibly see a scenario where the people who are using the available AI tools to decompile games into usable code for modification would do the same for say…. Windows 7, as a “learning exercise”, when that ultimately gets leaked and turned into some sort of Open Source project….

Just saying.
 
DukenukemX said:
ReactOS is an open source Windows. No AI used here.
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I've been hoping ReactOS would show signs of becoming a viable Windows replacement for a very long time. But its has far less compatibility and stability than XP. Based on its progress in the last 30 years of its development, I don't see it ever becoming a modern Windows replacement. Of course, AI coding and getting more people working on it could change that.
 
M76 said:
And here it is, the second thing that prevents linux from becoming more popular. The eagerness of the true believers to dismiss any problems newcomers might face as a non-issue.
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I'm telling you they aren't problems. They are good things to have. Having too much to choose from is a good thing.
IDK why chromebooks suddenly entered the picture? What does that have to do with anything?
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That is likely what would happen if a custom Linux distro were to be used in computers. It would get locked down and prevent anyone from installing whatever they want.
CatchyOS might be derivative of arch linux, but some apps don't offer ready to run downloads for arch linux, so then the user has to figure out how to get a package that works on CatchyOS, which is a hassle While a downloadable windows binary just works. Unless you go back to the days of 32 / 64 bit, but even that pales in comparison.
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Discord is one such example where I can get it off the CachyOS repository while Arch users would have to go to the AUR. You can also just get the AppImage.
Proton works, after you get your video card to work properly, which is still not as straightforward as on windows.
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As an AMD and Intel users, you don't have to do anything. You think I install drivers for my graphic cards? Only Nvidia users have to install drivers and most new distros do it automatically. CachyOS automatically detects and installs NVIDIA drivers during the install, which is a one up from what Windows does.
Windows is a good system with a veil of enshittification making you jump through some hoops. While linux is still a can of worms, with various distros that offer a veil of symplicity, but as soon as the veil tears, into the can of worms you must plunge.
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Let someone who uses Linux tell you what Linux needs. All your examples are either outdated or misinformed.
 
DukenukemX said:
Let someone who uses Linux tell you what Linux needs. All your examples are either outdated or misinformed.
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He is still correct on one thing. Windows is a good and quite simple OS that has been turned bad with a layer of shit. Linux is in comparison incredibly complex system that has been made very user friendly with prepackaged distros and desktop enviroments they come with but if one ever has to dig deeper for reason or another, you (or at least a typical Windows semi-power user) will find yourself in a very alien world that can be overwhelming especially if you do not know where to search a solution that is up to date or hell, even how to ask another person what you want that leads you to the answer that (hopefully) fixes your problem.
 
MaZa said:
He is still correct on one thing. Windows is a good and quite simple OS that has been turned bad with a layer of shit. Linux is in comparison incredibly complex system that has been made very user friendly with prepackaged distros and desktop enviroments they come with but if one ever has to dig deeper for reason or another, you (or at least a typical Windows semi-power user) will find yourself in a very alien world that can be overwhelming especially if you do not know where to search a solution that is up to date or hell, even how to ask another person what you want that leads you to the answer that (hopefully) fixes your problem.
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No, Windows is a steaming pile of ancient shit that has been covered with layers of newer and polished shit. It is more complex than Linux but most of that complexity was hidden by programmers orders of magnitude better than anyone currently working on Windows. However, hiding that complexity comes at a price. It's unlikely anyone still working on it actually knows the systems and do little more than trying to keep it running. There's a reason it's running an ancient, outdated kernel which rarely gets any real updates, a filesystem that's almost as old as the dinosaurs, performance and resource management that has been eclipsed by practically every other OS out there and receives little more than cosmetic updates which make the user experience worse. It doesn't help that MS releases multiple OS killing updates every single year and continually has to pull updates back because they screw things up regularly.

Windows exists primarily on long ago successes and momentum. If it wasn't for the install base it had decades ago it would be a dead OS by now. The "ease of use" only exists due to familiarity. Massive changes I doubt MS is capable of any more need to happen or Windows is dead in the water. Just because it's the "biggest" doesn't mean it's the best. Nor does that mean it's healthy or in good shape. At this point it's like that old tree that's completely rotten on the inside and waiting for a strong wind to blow it down.
 
MaZa said:
He is still correct on one thing. Windows is a good and quite simple OS that has been turned bad with a layer of shit. Linux is in comparison incredibly complex system that has been made very user friendly with prepackaged distros and desktop enviroments they come with but if one ever has to dig deeper for reason or another, you (or at least a typical Windows semi-power user) will find yourself in a very alien world that can be overwhelming especially if you do not know where to search a solution that is up to date or hell, even how to ask another person what you want that leads you to the answer that (hopefully) fixes your problem.
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I mean yes but also no. Linux distros can be overwhelming for some people but just ask any Linux user and chances are you'll get the correct answer. You could also go to distrowatch and choose any of the top 10 distros and you can't go wrong. I personally recommend Bazzite, CachyOS, and Linux Mint because these are generally user friendly. Which is because Bazzite is Fedora, CachyOS is Arch, and Mint is Ubuntu. There are Linux people who scream to use Arch, Debian, and OpenSuse but ignore them. There's nothing wrong with EndeavourOS, Manjaro, and Ubuntu but I feel like other distros do a better job for people new to Linux.

You may think Windows doesn't have this problem but if I ask anyone here what version of Windows to use I bet half of them would say stick with Windows 10. Why not Windows 11? Because Windows 11 got worse. If you get Windows 11 then make sure to debloat it and turn off telemetry. Good luck trying to teach someone how to install Windows 11 without a Microsoft account. If you look back there somewhere, there's a dude that swears Windows 7 is perfectly fine. If your computer isn't good enough to run Windows 11 then you'll have to find ways to disable TPM 2.0 requirements.

The difference between Windows and Linux is that Windows is all about how to navigate the enshittification while Linux is trying to find the best enrichment. Modern Linux distros do a lot to make the user experience better, while Microsoft is trying to find ways to put AI is places where AI doesn't belong.
 
I've been f*cking around with Linux since the mid 2000s, but it was Windows 10 that finally pushed me to main Linux. Win7 was the last Windows OS that I mained. Now I use Linux 90% of the time and Win10 the other 10% (or less). There are just a scant few things that I need Win10 for. I even do a lot of gaming in Linux, as much as I can. Only got Win11 on a secondary desktop. It won't be touching my main desktop any dang time soon. My experience on Linux has been nothing short of wonderful, and there is no way I'm going back. It finally feels like my PC is my own PC again. Win11 just showed me that Microsoft continues to make Windows crappier and crappier. My future is not there.
 
DogsofJune said:
The year of Linux.......
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Its gonna be soon, I was able to install Nobaru and play modded Cyberpunk 2077 with very little trouble and that was about the last thing holding me back. With AI coding making things easier people are coming with decent modding apps for linux that don't require a ton of terminal commands to get going. Graphics performance was exceptional on my 9070XT. I'm only still splitting between the two because I'm too lazy to move everything over until next gen platforms come out.
 
DogsofJune said:
The year of Linux.......
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...the decade of win 11 IoT LTSC. I finally got around to putting it on my living room pc just a few days ago. So much better. IoT LTSC with some explorer patcher tweaks is actually pretty good imo, I like it much better than the bloated win 10 install I had been using for years prior.
 
DukenukemX said:
I mean yes but also no. Linux distros can be overwhelming for some people but just ask any Linux user and chances are you'll get the correct answer. You could also go to distrowatch and choose any of the top 10 distros and you can't go wrong. I personally recommend Bazzite, CachyOS, and Linux Mint because these are generally user friendly. Which is because Bazzite is Fedora, CachyOS is Arch, and Mint is Ubuntu. There are Linux people who scream to use Arch, Debian, and OpenSuse but ignore them. There's nothing wrong with EndeavourOS, Manjaro, and Ubuntu but I feel like other distros do a better job for people new to Linux.

You may think Windows doesn't have this problem but if I ask anyone here what version of Windows to use I bet half of them would say stick with Windows 10. Why not Windows 11? Because Windows 11 got worse. If you get Windows 11 then make sure to debloat it and turn off telemetry. Good luck trying to teach someone how to install Windows 11 without a Microsoft account. If you look back there somewhere, there's a dude that swears Windows 7 is perfectly fine. If your computer isn't good enough to run Windows 11 then you'll have to find ways to disable TPM 2.0 requirements.

The difference between Windows and Linux is that Windows is all about how to navigate the enshittification while Linux is trying to find the best enrichment. Modern Linux distros do a lot to make the user experience better, while Microsoft is trying to find ways to put AI is places where AI doesn't belong.
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You forgot a few windows versions.
I mean is it Win 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise, unofficial stripped down version from one of 5 different strip down projects. Hacked registration, or low cost totally legal key version? OR Windows 11 Home, Pro, Enterprise, or again unofficial de crapped version???? Hacked or non hacked... wait which one do I update to and turn updates off at again was it 21H2, 22H2, 23H2, 24H2, 25H2, or 26H1/26H2? I just can't remember.

Folk claiming windows is less confusing at this point are either not paying attention, or just being willfully obtuse. :)
 
LigTasm said:
Its gonna be soon, I was able to install Nobaru and play modded Cyberpunk 2077 with very little trouble and that was about the last thing holding me back. With AI coding making things easier people are coming with decent modding apps for linux that don't require a ton of terminal commands to get going. Graphics performance was exceptional on my 9070XT. I'm only still splitting between the two because I'm too lazy to move everything over until next gen platforms come out.
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The de cluttering of years and TBs of data is a daunting task. Might only take 10 min to install Linux at this point. Taking the time to move everything from old NTFS drives though, I get people not getting that done very quickly. A system swap over is the equivalent of moving. It just makes sense to clean up and box up when you do. :)
 
ChadD said:
You forgot a few windows versions.
I mean is it Win 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise, unofficial stripped down version from one of 5 different strip down projects. Hacked registration, or low cost totally legal key version? OR Windows 11 Home, Pro, Enterprise, or again unofficial de crapped version???? Hacked or non hacked... wait which one do I update to and turn updates off at again was it 21H2, 22H2, 23H2, 24H2, 25H2, or 26H1/26H2? I just can't remember.

Folk claiming windows is less confusing at this point are either not paying attention, or just being willfully obtuse. :)
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Don't get me started on Windows XP. Windows Home can actually be very limiting in what you can do with Windows if you're a power user.
windows 11 home edition limitations.jpg
LigTasm said:
Its gonna be soon, I was able to install Nobaru and play modded Cyberpunk 2077 with very little trouble and that was about the last thing holding me back. With AI coding making things easier people are coming with decent modding apps for linux that don't require a ton of terminal commands to get going. Graphics performance was exceptional on my 9070XT. I'm only still splitting between the two because I'm too lazy to move everything over until next gen platforms come out.
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In all seriousness, the year of Linux maybe around the corner. I remember last year celebrating Linux reaching 4% market share world wide but we somehow missed when Linux reached 8.76% back in August world wide. Linux was mostly equal to MacOS throughout 2026 with August being a month when MacOS jumped up to 15%. If you have to wonder why they're doing age verification then look no further because people have been jumping onto Linux. No Microsoft or Apple account to sign into. No AI Copilot to watch what porn your browsing.
 
DukenukemX said:
Don't get me started on Windows XP. Windows Home can actually be very limiting in what you can do with Windows if you're a power user.
View attachment 831025

In all seriousness, the year of Linux maybe around the corner. I remember last year celebrating Linux reaching 4% market share world wide but we somehow missed when Linux reached 8.76% back in August world wide. Linux was mostly equal to MacOS throughout 2026 with August being a month when MacOS jumped up to 15%. If you have to wonder why they're doing age verification then look no further because people have been jumping onto Linux. No Microsoft or Apple account to sign into. No AI Copilot to watch what porn your browsing.
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Add to that the U.S. government had ordered a U.S. company (*cough, Microsoft) to control someone's access.
https://www.fosslinux.com/162350/european-government-linux-digital-sovereignty.htm

This simple act caused entire countries to switch over to Linux.

As someone often seems to say, it's going to get worse before it gets worse.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I've been mostly Linux at home for 20 years, The biggest reason I still use Windows now that Linux has become more capable for games is work. Most office work is so deeply entrenched in the Microsoft/Office/365 ecosystem that it is inescapable.



Grandmothers probably wouldn't.

Where the typical low skill user would notice is when their friends or some online guide tell them to download a specific piece of software and install it. They won't be sophisticated enough to know to look for Linux work-a-likes, and even if they are, might freak out if the work-a-like has a slightly different name, or slightly different UI. That causes basic users to completely freak out.
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I have less exposure to it than you do, but probably a lot more than most. Even then it's not the most friction free experience.

My biggest barrier is how things seem to change arbitrarily. I use it for multiple vm/lvm containers. 1 container per service on proxmox. Mainly Ubuntu lts server editions.

Things like configuration file locations just change from os version to to os version. Tools like ifconfig that are user friendly and were pre-installed for a long time just get pulled. Microsoft isn't perfect on this front, but for a "power user" who is comfortable using a CLI the inconsistentcy has been far worse in my exposure to Linux.

Also, finding solutions via google-fu is harder. I think that just comes down to critical mass. There are so many more people using windows as a daily driver, that the chances other people had had the same problem is higher, which means it's more likely a solution is easily searchable online.

Pair those two things together, and a problem that takes me 5 minutes to solve in Windows takes 30+ minutes in Linux.
 
DogsofJune said:
The year of Linux.......
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Been running it for 10 years myself.

Have an airgapped "retro" gaming box that has Win10 on it; Dear God almighty it took several days to figure out how to rip out the bloatware that runs in the background.

Defender in particular was a cockroach that refused to die though I finally got rid of it.
 
TordanGow said:
I have less exposure to it than you do, but probably a lot more than most. Even then it's not the most friction free experience.

My biggest barrier is how things seem to change arbitrarily. I use it for multiple vm/lvm containers. 1 container per service on proxmox. Mainly Ubuntu lts server editions.

Things like configuration file locations just change from os version to to os version. Tools like ifconfig that are user friendly and were pre-installed for a long time just get pulled. Microsoft isn't perfect on this front, but for a "power user" who is comfortable using a CLI the inconsistentcy has been far worse in my exposure to Linux.

Also, finding solutions via google-fu is harder. I think that just comes down to critical mass. There are so many more people using windows as a daily driver, that the chances other people had had the same problem is higher, which means it's more likely a solution is easily searchable online.

Pair those two things together, and a problem that takes me 5 minutes to solve in Windows takes 30+ minutes in Linux.
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More likely to find someone with the same issue. A solution? Maybe. Often the thread ends up abandoned or just updated with "nvm, I fixed it."
 
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