The other day I was frustrated with several Linux quirks my laptop was experiencing and decided to give Windows 11 + WSL2 a try.
The sheer amount of bloat, sneaky privacy settings, ads, clunky UI etc. literally make Windows unusable. I was willing to put up with the switch (leveraging WSL2), but the entire operating system feels like a browser with toolbars from the 2000s.
An operating system should boot my computer and give me access to my hardware on my terms. Full stop.
Any exfiltration of telemetry about my use of the OS without my uncoerced consent is a much worse quirk than any bug I have ever encountered in Linux.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis...
It's an exfiltration path in practice, from what I've seen far more than an ingratiation path, despite what MS's intentions may have been. Once you get devs able to spin up a DB via Docker in under a minute vs. the desktop installs, refresh/update, etc... it's a path away from MS.
There may even be some developers who prefer WSL on Windows over Linux, especially at work. When Group Policy turns off all the adware/spyware and annoyances in Windows 11 Enterprise, it isn't quite as horrible of an experience as it is at home.
[0] https://abevoelker.github.io/how-long-since-google-said-a-go...