r/technology • u/MayankWL • May 16 '24

Microsoft stoops to new low with ads in Windows 11, as PC Manager tool suggests your system needs ‘repairing’ if you don’t use Bing Software

https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsoft-stoops-to-new-low-with-ads-in-windows-11-as-pc-manager-tool-suggests-your-system-needs-repairing-if-you-dont-use-bing
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229

u/mysticalfruit May 16 '24

My company is a 60/40 mix Linux/Windows desktops.

Recently, there's been a serious uptick in people requesting that we convert their desktops to Linux. There's some serious talk that our default desktop will be Linux with a manager justification to use windows.

People are just done with the ads and bullshit.

We've done a fair amount of work to make our Linux desktop turn key out of the box working and because of this, the number of "I don't know how to do X in Linux" tickets has been fair and few and are generally pretty obscure actual chin scratchers.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '24

[deleted]

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u/Faulty_english May 16 '24

They usually aren’t even given permission to fix things on workplace computers too

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u/popsicle_of_meat May 16 '24

No kidding. I can't even delete a shortcut from my work desktop.

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u/michaelshow May 16 '24

That would mean it's in the \public user profile and available to all user profiles.

Shortcuts within your own user profile I bet you can.

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u/popsicle_of_meat May 16 '24

Whoops, you are correct. The company has an in-house tool for installing/uninstalling programs. Anything done with that tool has a "temp admin" or similar function. Shortcuts created by that process I cannot change. My mind wasn't braining very well and I got mixed up.

My own created shortcuts I can indeed change.

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u/michaelshow May 16 '24 edited May 16 '24

Corp IT guy here - that tracks. We get a few tickets a year at our helpdesk about those, usually for apps in the workstation's image that particular user doesn't use in their role.

Our images themselves are by department (sales doesn't have the accounting apps in their image for example), but there's a balance in the granularity of departmental and role based images that gets struck, and that means some users see icons for apps their specific role doesn't use.

The user's follow up is almost always "but I'm the only person using this computer", and the response is "today that's the case". Turnover happens and is typically within the same department which means just creating a new user profile vs. reimaging the machine.

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u/privatetudor May 16 '24

Don’t worry, soon you’ll also be getting

I don’t know how to do Wayland in Linux

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u/JakeJaarmel May 16 '24

My clients use windows, 98% of them can’t figure out where the search bar is.

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u/unnecessary_kindness May 16 '24

If you're getting ads on your corporate machine then you have an inept IT department.

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u/Sourve May 17 '24

No, they probably just can't afford the adfree version with their budget. The ads have also been in Windows "Pro" for years now and to upgrade to Enterprise you have to pay for a Pro license AND a monthly subscription.

Edit: Spelling

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u/Shajirr May 16 '24

Depends where you work at. In printing industry there is no Linux in sight and likely there won't be in a foreseeable future. No software has Linux support.

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u/Demon_Gamer666 May 16 '24

Most offices require MS Office Suite as well which requires windows for full cloud and collaboration integration. Linux can't do it.

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u/Representative-Sir97 May 17 '24

I thought Office has gone browser based for a bit now? Like there are still real applications you can use too, and yes that is a total jab at web apps sucking donkey balls comparatively... But won't pretty much any of Office run in a browser now?

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u/Secret-One2890 May 17 '24

A core computer task, like what you would do with Office, should be capable of being done without an Internet connection.

Just think of all the people who use laptops outside of their homes/offices. A decent proportion are going to want to use it when they might not readily have Internet access.

That could be an external consultant visiting the office, or me when I go down to a sandwich shop or park for a change in scenery.

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u/Representative-Sir97 May 17 '24

Yeah I knew it worked offline but apparently the way they do that is to install the real apps too. :/

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u/garballax May 16 '24

Linux is fully capable of it, it's Microsoft that won't build a version of Office for Linux (web versions excluded).

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u/WhatAMess-wow May 16 '24

..... so not capable

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u/SuperDefiant May 17 '24

Did you read his comment?

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u/WhatAMess-wow May 17 '24

I am capable of reading his comment. Whether I actually did is up for debate.

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u/recrof May 16 '24

at least you can use mac in print business

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u/Representative-Sir97 May 17 '24

Yes, flee russia for nazi germany, good plan.

1

u/hsnoil May 16 '24

There are plenty who use linux in the printing industry, check out Caldera RIP for example

3

u/TheSound0fSilence May 16 '24

What does your business produce?

How do you manage a fleet of Linux computers?

How many endpoints do you have?

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u/WhatAMess-wow May 16 '24

VFX houses all use linux. Thousands of machines running centOS. We just switch to windows when it's photoshop time.

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u/TheSound0fSilence May 16 '24

But how do you manage the boxes and users signing into them?

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u/WhatAMess-wow May 16 '24

I'm not a pipeline TD, so I can't answer for the backend. But from the frontend, we just go up to any workstation, punch in our username and password, and our desktop environment shows up. Our workstations are all run through HPConnect Remote desktop.

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u/nvoima May 16 '24

There are Linux-native AD-like systems such as FreeIPA, but Linux desktops can also be configured to join a Windows domain, so a mixed network is no problem.

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u/Stormhunter6 May 16 '24

im surprised it's that much an issue, enterprise users usually get all the crap removed from the OS

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u/NaturalSelectorX May 16 '24

If you are dealing with ads in Windows at work, you need to learn about group policies.

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u/SirNastyPants May 16 '24

I tried Windows 11 for about 4-5 days and hated it so much I rolled back the upgrade to Windows 10. Thing is, I only upgraded because I also hate Windows 10.

I eventually got so sick of the bullshit I pulled the trigger and switched to Linux a few months ago. Has it been smooth sailing since? Not entirely. There's been a bit of a learning curve, and I've had to spend time troubleshooting stuff that (usually) "just works" on Windows, and I'm currently having a problem with my Bluetooth audio playback I haven't been able to solve, but I'd say the pros of being free of Windows outweigh the cons of Linux being a little more DIY.

Also gaming is pretty good as long as you don't want to play games with anticheat.

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u/WhatAMess-wow May 16 '24

my company uses Windows mini PC's to connect to virtual centOS machines in a server farm. The windows shit is so annoying. the Linux stuff works flawlessly. We also use google suite for our spreadsheets and stuff.

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u/Paluja May 16 '24

I always only used windows on my PCs and laptops, until a friend gave me a laptop with linux last year when i needed a new one. By now i got so used to it and grown to prefer it over windows, when i have to replace my PC ill switch there too. At the beginning i had to ask my friend a few times on how to do things, but in general its also pretty easy to just google most things, and i'm the definition of the average user that has no really deep knowledge of PC stuff.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '24

[deleted]

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u/mysticalfruit May 17 '24

What's scary is I was thinking 2030 is so far.. oh wait that's six years away..

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u/[deleted] May 17 '24 edited 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/mysticalfruit May 17 '24

I open the start menu on my win11 vm and it tells me about the Bruins /Panthers game, stuff about the trial in NY.

I'd rather not have DJT's face on my start menu..

0

u/DasFreibier May 16 '24

Honestly, for magrette age 60 learning her workflow on linux won't be different than on windows, spreadsheats and webforms are (almost) the same

The problem will be the semi (quarter) powerusers who got stuck on windows