It’s a nightmare scenario for Microsoft. The headlining feature of its new Copilot+ PC initiative, which is supposed to drive millions of PC sales over the next couple of years, is under significant fire for being what many say is a major breach of privacy and security on Windows. That feature in question is Windows Recall, a new AI tool designed to remember everything you do on Windows. The feature that we never asked and never wanted it.
Microsoft, has done a lot to degrade the Windows user experience over the last few years. Everything from obtrusive advertisements to full-screen popups, ignoring app defaults, forcing a Microsoft Account, and more have eroded the trust relationship between Windows users and Microsoft.
It’s no surprise that users are already assuming that Microsoft will eventually end up collecting that data and using it to shape advertisements for you. That really would be a huge invasion of privacy, and people fully expect Microsoft to do it, and it’s those bad Windows practices that have led people to this conclusion.
The day Windows 10 loses support is the day I primary (or solo) boot Linux on my gaming desktop. The more news I read the more certain I am in this.
Why wait?
I have a laptop solo booting Ubuntu and a Steam Deck, they’re great. But on my desktop where I’m primarily playing games, many of which wirh anti cheat, it’s not worth making the switch just yet. I think another year of development into Proton and stability will make it worth it. Also, I got a NAS recently with OpenMediaVault and I only have the time to tinker with one thing at a time :P
Any advice on the switch though, or tools you use lmk!
No amount of Proton work is going to fix it, it’s already most of the way there. What needs to happen is for game studios to stop including kernel-level anticheat so that the game won’t intentionally refuse to run under wine
I get that. Shit like that is the only reason I stick with a dual boot.
I also get that. My self hosted gaming server can be a bit of work sometimes.
Two things, I’d go with Linux Mint Debian Edition if I we’re you. I’ve found it to be the most compatible with my games, (like 9 out of 10 or so), and have had zero major issues/glitches with it. Plus it avoids the drauam surrounding ubuntu.
The second thing is to keep a separate “home” partition for your documents/pictures/game saves/etc. Mine is [Name]_STC, with the acronym being a nod to wh40k’s Standard Template Constructs. The idea being it isn’t named something generic like “home”, or worse using the home folder.
And anytime I need to back up shit, I just zip the whole partition and put it on a separate drive. If something happens, I copy my standard template construct.
Only a true AdMech would consider his backup file to be an STC. I’m laughing, but also, respect. Praise the Omnissiah.
I’m similar except I use Debian, and I just bought a cheap SSD for my gaming computer, knowing that Windows 10 will be well out of service before I retire it. I’ve done a couple of OS transitions before, and I figure not dealing with partition editing or losing files is worth what a 256GB SSD costs in 2024.
I started with Ubuntu, and left because I don’t like how they run things; I think it’s worth trying a few more distros if you haven’t already, to find one you vibe with. Unless you want a project (which some do), finding one that works with your hardware, supports a DE you like, etc is a good time investment imo.