I remember being excited for windows 7. I stayed up late on a school night to grab a beta iso because there was a limited number of downloads. It was an enormous improvement over XP. But I think that's where Microsoft really lost the plot.

They started forcing 7 users to upgrade to 10 without user input or consent. They kept adding on more and more spyware and ads, removing local accounts and any sort of control you have over your machine.

If I went into work tomorrow and found my machine had updated itself to 11, I'd probably just nuke it and install Linux. I'm so tired of these games and the total disrespect from Microsoft. I'll never be excited about windows again. I'll never want to use windows again.

Linux isn't perfect, but at least it respects me and my choices. It will let me turn off updates. It won't reboot itself in the middle of my work to update the calculator app. It won't sideload bloatware like "Xbox game bar" through the security update channels. I have control of my Linux machines, for good or ill. What I do on my machines is my business and I expect the machine to do what I tell it to, even if it's something like `rm -rf /`

Linux may not be as good an operating system as windows is (was), but at least it isn't actively antagonizing. It doesn't try to control me or sell me something, or mine my personal data to sell. And even if all that were the case, I could still build my own Linux system from scratch.

This slow death spiral is really agonizing for everyone in the tech industry. I wish Microsoft would either just die already or get their shit together. I'm tired of the current situation and I want it to be over already, one way or the other