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.
(I'm exclusively a linux user for now, but really .. linux people can be such a pain).
Somehow there is a pattern here, meanwhile Steam Hardware survey still shows GNU/Linux desktops at 1% on average.
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.
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So I think people's image both of Windows and of Linux are a bit outdated.
Only way is torrent. Although some once wrote here that he got his off eBay.
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.
Edit: also, FWIW, running apt-get upgrade doesn't re-enable the ads in the MOTD :-)
Pretending to be fair and objective is not the same thing as being fair and objective.
But FWIW, Ubuntu absolutely got, and still gets, plenty of criticism for that, even here on HN.
That's not the point I'm debating. Whether I'm OK with product design choices of Microsoft is my own consumer decision. But what really is getting old, is the utterly predictable and abysmal level of discourse on this matter on HN, Reddit or wherever.
My point is, that since the Internet has learned about whataboutism, it is being used to shut down any criticism of bias. In fact, your comment uses the common formula for that "Just because A does B, doesn't mean that C can do B."
Sure, but then your actions don't really correspond to your words. If you take the amount of privacy invasion in Android, for example, HN should be loosing their collective shit on a daily basis. They don't.
This is obviously just people emotionally bashing things they have been taught are outside of their "tribe".
And that has zero credibility.
How exactly did you reach the conclusion that "my actions don't really correspond to my words" based on how HN collectively treats Android? What actions are you talking about specifically? Using Android? I don't.
An how exactly does this post:
"I'm not sure how that's relevant here. Does my post say anything about what Ubuntu does being excusable in any way?"
follow this formula:
"Just because A does B, doesn't mean that C can do B."
My original reply said nothing about anything other than Windows, and my second post hinted that I think both Canonical and Microsoft are wrong in doing this. If I followed any formula, I'm pretty sure that's "neither A nor C should be doing B", which is as far removed from whataboutism as criticizing bias is removed from astroturfing.
I wasn't talking about you, the individual. It's a disembodied, collective "you" of HN. It's a rhetorical turn of phrase.
I don't know what to say to the rest. It's pretty obvious to me. If you don't get it, you don't get it.
Also, on astroturfing:
"Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants."
????
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.
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"?
In my experience, those links weren't intrusive, they weren't detrimental to my experience and I could get rid of them once and for all. And I'm pretty sure .LNK files don't track you if you don't call them.
So to answer your question, I draw the line at opt-out functionality.
But since you are so committed to materially correct use of words, you still have to explain your "astroturfing" comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22398478.
Great! So any idea how you can opt out? Last time I've seen one of these "suggestions" was one or two weeks ago, when I ended up with a big red "Still using Firefox? The new Edge version is here" entry in the Start menu.
Do you still mean to say that there are no ads on a legitimately-purchased Windows 10 copy, after literally writing that you, yourself, have seen at least one?