Does anybody know if when using Windows on a computer but not paying for anything windows related: is windows/ Bill Gates profiting from it? Is it worth installing linux as a protest?
i just installed mint on my laptop and it runs way better than it ever ran with windows 11 plus it’s super user friendly :)
Linux is worth it as the greatest protest to everything that is wrong with technology.
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The amount of data Windows and microsoft in general collect is worth billions and going straight to the hands of the US govt. for a price obviously, so yes they are profiting from your use regardless of whether you pay for it or not.
There’s a reason they gave the upgrade to 11 away for “free.”
During a public talk at the University of Washington in 1998, Microsoft founder Bill Gates admitted, “Although about three million computers get sold every year in China, people don’t pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as they’re going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”
The secret word is “telemetrics”. Microsoft will track your actions and sells the data, just like Google or Apple.
Thanks. Was looking for something like this. Going forward with my decision to do the switch
Linux Mint is the most Windows-like regarding its user interface, so that one probably requires the least learning. Ubuntu is trying to work a bit like Mac OS X, and I actually like that.
And then there are distros that don’t try to be super easy but actively try to help you learn how to do the difficult things. Arch Linux is famous for that.
Ubuntu (and Linux Mint, which is actually just Ubuntu with a more Windows-like user interface) have the best app support, so that might be a factor.
Not necessarily as a protest, but the answer is always hard yes.
Kind of funny the link you’re sharing is msn (microsoft owned)
Windows is not making money on sales only. They collect data and then they sell them to data brokers. Those brokers then sell the data to advertisement agencies to serve you adds. Even if you buy just one item based on those adds (which may be unconscious choice) you have already paid. Even if you buy nothing based on adds, microsoft already got the money.
I do recommend linux but be aware of letting people to push you into something you don’t want to do. Linux community can be very enthusiastic 😅. Top three to recommend are Linux Mint (most windows like design), Fedora (most stable) and Pop OS (best with nvidia gpu). Only one of these is favorite of mine but I will not tell you which, just search for them, look at screenshots and you will see what suits you.
I think the most windows like desktop environment (DE) is KDE. So I try to limit my windows to Switcher recommends to distros that use KDE by default.
So my recommendations would be:
- KDE neon (Ubuntu/Debian based)
- Fedora KDE (Fedora)
- EndeavourOS (Arch based, least noob friendly)
I would also recommend they do some poking around DistroSea
It is worth installing GNU/Linux.
