Hey y’all, today I experienced another push for Linux from our friend Microsoft.
5 minutes ago, I wanted to use the timer app on Windows, so I could manage my work/break schedule, and this fucker showed up.
Yes, that’s a prompt to sign in with a Microsoft account to use the clock. If you close it, it pops up 30s later. Clicking “Don’t sign in” or closing the process responsible for displaying it is useless, and guess what… IT PAUSES THE TIMER WHEN IT SHOWS UP.
I guess this is another thing added to the super long list of things which will eventually make me switch my main workstation to Linux once win10 is discontinued.
/endrant
Hope y’all are having a great day :3
This is actually surreal ☠️
I’m glad that you want to switch to Linux, but I think there’d be open source solutions for Windows too. I daily drive Linux, and I would begin with looking for open source timers if I ever need timers. Why not do the same in Windows too?
Here are a few: https://alternativeto.net/software/free-countdown-timer/?platform=windows&license=opensource
If you close it, it pops up 30s later.
This is by far the most annoying development in software and website design to ever occur. You can’t say no to stuff anymore. If you say no, they nag you again very very soon, and they will continue nagging you until you accidentally click yes. After you’ve clicked yes, they make it damned near impossible to change that selection. Dark patterns were outlawed years ago, yet somehow nagware is legal? Fuck the person who thought this up with a spiked baseball bat.
We are already on Linux man.
This is supposed to be the most used operating system, recommended for its ease of use. Meanwhile you have to sign in to use a clock app. Such a shame, especially because the focus timers are actually useful.
You cannot use anything without signing up. You can’t use clip champ which should require 0 Internet connectivity.
They want to act as if linking your account is a prerequisite when it’s neither required or helpful
Because it’s a “free” piece of software so you are the product and therefore they want you to agree that they can harvest and sell your data
Except it’s not a free operating system. An operating system should fulfill the needs of its users without having to pay for basic functionality: see everyone OS ever that is not w11
It’s helpful to them, so they can spy on everything you do, and sell that information to anyone who will pay for it.
I think Microsoft is way overconfident
Microsoft had made a product that has for decades been used to run other people’s software. They’ve unintentionally made windows a “monopoly” in the sense that no other os can run windows only software perfectly. Most consumers will probably think Linux " is just a terminal and too advanced", and the others who can install a distro might still be locked into using windows because not all software can run under wine.
So to you they might seem overconfident in that you can switch, but for some they’re shit out of luck in the department of alternatives. Microsoft knows they can exploit their users, and they will do it
They’ve unintentionally made windows a “monopoly”
What? Becoming a monopoly is the most intentional thing they’ve ever done, and the only thing they’ve ever done well.
Not the OP but he may mean that application authors have unintentionally made Windows a monopoly.
Either way, I am not sure I agree about the intentionality. App devs didn’t slip and support only Windows by accident. They may not have explicitly intended all the consequences of Windows monopoly but one dominant platform is an advantage for the app vendors too. Too many targets to support is part of what keeps commercial software off Linux.
The only ones hurt by a Windows monopoly are the consumers. Well, and commercial Windows alternatives obviously. But all the app makers are fine with it.
Valve ( makers of Steam ) can be seen as an alternative platform for gaming. This is why you see Valve investing so heavily in Linux even though they make all their money on Windows.
Every business is affected by the Microsoft monopoly. They’re locked into a platform with god awful office solutions, and they must pay more for their software because there is no competition. Now Microsoft has locked them into subscription based plans instead of one-time purchases, and is effectively holding the entire world hostage.
The amount of times you hear “OMG why did Microsoft change XYZ” across IT departments everywhere…
Because “fuck you” that’s why!
Then explain Chrome OS. Seriously though a lot of software is web based these days. Windows is not special for most cases.
I hate this pop up, I had to re-signin every day into outlook with my private Microsoft email address. EVERYDAY, THEY ARE BOTH MICROSOFT PRODUCTS. HOW CAN YOU FUCK THIS UP SO BADDD?
why wait the death of win10 when you can switch now, get that painful first days learning things out of the way now that you have a fallback if absolutely necessary
I cannot speak for the OP but most of the pepper claiming they are waiting will not switch. They may use an illegally patched or trimmed version of Windows 11. Many won’t even do that.
The biggest risk for Microsoft is that everybody stays on Windows 10 without updates. Or that massive customers will force them to push back the “enterprise” date over and over. To encourage migration, expect Microsoft to make Windows 10 just as bad as 11 before support expires.
most of the pepper
autocorrect moment?
Windows is a platform for Office. Linux is not a supported platform for Office. Most businesses will not migrate their desktops off Windows because they will not migrate their workforce off Office.
Beyond that, Windows is not as important to Microsoft as it used to be. The real money makers are Azure and Office. With Azure, they do not care if you run Linux. They even have their own distro ( Azure Linux — previously CBL Mariner ).
Azure is the future ( even for Office ).
Since Windows is less strategic, Microsoft is looking to milk it as a cash cow while they can. So, Product Management is tasked with finding new ways to monetize it. Data is worth a lot of money. The best way to farm data from users these days is to frame it as security ( or AI ).
Expect a lot more SIngle Sign On. Expect a lot more AI. Expect a lot more cloud integration. Expect all of these to focus on data harvesting.
A bit later, expect “services” for Linux that attempt the same. Like Google on Android. This is harder though as Windows does not have monopoly control over Linux as a platform. I am sure they are having many meetings about how to change that.
Most businesses will not migrate their desktops off Windows because they will not migrate their workforce off Office.
Which is so weird, because office is crapware. It’s terrible software. The only reason businesses use it is because other businesses use it. Nobody will switch, because everyone would have to switch. It’s a self-reinforcing tragedy.
Excel is the backbone of so many businesses though!
Why wait. Start switching now.
This. Be proactive. Don’t wait for microsoft
I have moved my laptop over to kubuntu for a while now, but I have too many workflows that rely on windows ) :
was in the same situation for a while, but I switched a few weeks ago and I’ve never since looked back
Better start soon then to get those workflows going quicker
Best to wait until the last second and switch cold turkey. What could possibly go wrong?
better to start figuring out your workflow on linux now than waiting for shit to hit the fan and do it in a hurry.
then even more reason to start de-windowsifying your workflows now rather than doing it all at once later
lol, that’s so stupid. why does it pause the timer? did they do that intentionally?
Of course they did. They’re going to make it as intrusive and annoying as possible so that people give up and sign in.
I’d imagine it’s to force me to sign in to use the timer. Shittify the version that can’t track as much, and force the users to use it logged in
Does the timer “jump” to the correct time after you dismiss the window ? It’s also possible that they didn’t bother testing the app when logged out, and that the popup blocks the UI thread while it’s displayed. In short it could be bad coding and QA instead of intentional enshittification.
No it pauses the timer. Once I dismiss the popup I can see that the pause button icon has been replaced with the continue/play icon. Clicking it unpauses the timer until the popup pops up again.
OK so this is most likely by design, impressive.
My parents are in their 80s and this crap will push them to Linux.
I doubt that’s deliberate (it’s probably depending on some other task or shit that you don’t even intend to use), but it’s exactly the kind of bloat that turns people away from Windows.
Windows seems to work alright for my work pc, where I’m constantly logged into their cloud, newer switch users, logged in long enough daily to get all the updates and have IT to roll out stuff, so I hardly ever have issues there.
My personal computer is a different thing. I have several users, use it about once weekly, making it basically unbootable. As soon as I open the lid, Microsoft starts bugging me to do a shit load of things and download gigabytes of crap that Microsoft, and not I, needs me to do before I can even use it. More often than not I simply close the lid again.
It’s not unusual to meet people who don’t even have a pc these days. Most people can solve their daily stuff on any cell phone browser. I find it kinda amusing that Microsoft is pushing people that way.
That’s weird. I don’t get the prompt at all, but I do have a button in the lower left corner that says “Sign In.” Maybe it’s because I’m on Windows 11?
Maybe because you already sold your soul?
If by that you mean connected my computer account to a Microsoft account, nope, I did no such thing.
Maybe already using Windows could be enough for Hades.
lol Hades is greek.
Yeah, I know. But “what does greek mythology say about using windows” would have been less funny.
