I will even uninstall Windows
this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
972 points (99.6% liked)
Technology
70715 readers
4172 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
So I could have a usable machine at work? Good. I am forced to upgrade from win7 to win11 in the lab, and current win11 crap did not appeal to me at all. And it has WSL, so at least it can actually be used for work.
Oh look, with the threat of a big enough fine, you can uninstall those things.
Or at least hide the front ends for them.
Imagine living somewhere where those in charge have even there smallest bit of spine.
mmm, that was nice. can i have another?
Linux gives all global users more control: Uninstall Windows, say goodbye to Microsoft
I would love to, but we stiill use Windows specific software (and sometimes even Dos specific software!) but we already do that through a VM. The other issue is the extensions we have for Microsoft Office just won't work on the Linux alternatives and even then Libreoffice isn't good enough for half the staff in my accounting firm because it lacks certain features for now.
Most companies who work in browser based software + email can easily switch to Linux and they would barely notice it.
I would love to, but we stiill use Windows specific software
If I had 1 cent every time I read that... and I pulled those cents together... and then paid software developers to build that missing software for other OSes like Linux... then we'd gradually see less of those comments.
It's as if the isolation was the business model, proprietary software insuring that alternatives do not exist because users do not bother to get together and unstuck themselves from glowingly dangerous (security wise but probably even financially dependencies.
Hopefully initiatives like NLNet are precisely trying to alleviate such challenges. Until them compatibility layers like Proton are showing the way with arguably some of the most complex and demanding in terms of performance software, namely games.
If I had 1 cent every time I read that… and I pulled those cents together… and then paid software developers to build that missing software for other OSes like Linux… then we’d gradually see less of those comments.
There is a version of the software that works in the browser, but it's not really that great. That's what you get when you legally need to use specific software (even the Dutch tax office still use the same old version we use). There are other alternatives, but it's a massive investment of time to test and switch to that. Something we are forced to do in the near future, but it's gonna take a lot of time inclusing a lot of time of people with hourly rates of over the 200 EUR excluding VAT. I estimate it will cost us maybe 50% of our yearly revenue to fully switch an organisation to Linux and we will loose a lot of people working here where there are a lot of issues with finding new people for accounting firms.
I have been trying to install Microsoft Office in Linux mint on my personal PC cause I have more issues with LibreOffice when using MSOffice files (and the people receiving the files will be using MSOffice as well) than I have with games. I tried it using Bottles (Wine) with multiple different installers, but no luck so far.
Not sure what NLNet is going to do about software lol, I believe you mean something different. NLNet is an instance that is there for people living with lymphedema and/or lipedema and their loved ones.
Not sure what NLNet is going to do about software lol, I believe you mean something different.
That NLNet https://nlnet.nl/ funding FLOSS project.
There are also BlueHats in France showing how administration is using AND consequently funding FLOSS https://code.gouv.fr/en/bluehats/ by paying for sysadmin, feature dev, maintenance, etc.
I'd love to at work, but I'm using some win-only software with a f-ed up licence manager that I cannot stuff into a VM.
load more comments
(12 replies)
how do i europe
Huh, well ill continue living without all that shit on Linux Mint.
Mint... more than just a delicious herb!
For those curious, if you can get a European Windows product key, you can install the "N" version of Windows. Be warned, it only works with certain product keys....
The standard Windows installer should give the option of "Windows 10" or "Windows 10 N" (or similar). The N version is basically bloatware free out of the box....
The regular version has a bunch of promos pre-installed, like candy crush, and other things that most people couldn't give a shit about....
Recently I've been playing a "fun" game with my work laptop where I'll remove copilot, and a few days later it will appear again. Weeee. In that case, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a policy in place to enable copilot on my works systems.... I'm sure someone who works here, probably higher up the food chain than me, wants it enabled, and the ham fisted policy maker can't create a policy just for those who want it, so everyone gets it because the bosses son Shane decided that he wants to see how much of his work can get done by AI so he can do even less while on the clock.
Companies absolutely HATE copilot. I remember they didn’t even like Siri enabled on the Mac’s where I used to work. No way in hell copilot is getting a pass.
Don't underestimate management desire to be absolutely indistinguishable from their competition.
They read the Harvard Business Review, learn new terms they don't understanding, make a PowerPoint out of it and voila, they are "innovative" like everyone else.
If HBR put "AI" on its cover you can be damn sure all those innovators are going to put AI wherever they can.
I work for a fairly large company, and we're hearing about "AI" constantly. CoPilot is available and its use encouraged. Also, in the cybersecurity space, AI is fucking everywhere. Vendors won't shut up about their "AI Enabled" products. And the new hotness is "Agentic AI", which is basically automation, but we're going to let AI hallucinations fire off the automated process which could bring production systems down.
Good times are surely coming. /s
Heh, it's a small business and bossman isn't exactly anti-AI.
N editions should exclude just certain media features. I remember it trying in Win 7 days and never touched it again, never saw a point. Some additional info. Important bit is to not use Home edition, use Pro, Education or Enterprise instead.
As for Copilot, is there anything under these registry keys?
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot
Make it world wide!
The best control: uninstall Windows.
Europeans have the Freedom to Uninstall SPYWARE? LoL COMMIES here in America we have TRUE FREEDOM of being FORCE FED SPYWARE with NO Other options!
load more comments
(1 replies)
To get pedantic for a second. The title of this post is "Microsoft gives..." as if this was an altruistic act that Microsoft decided to do for some people, when the article states they did it to comply with a law.
A much better title would have been "EU Forces Microsoft to Give Users More Control:" It returns the credit to the people who deserve the credit and clarifies that it wasn't something Microsoft did willingly.
Not pedantic. The specificity, imo, is extremely important here, and the poor phrasing really bothered me, too.
In other words: Users of proprietary OS like Windows have so little control over their own devices that it's newsworthy when the vendor allows you to uninstall 2-3 bundled things out of many more. But only in some countries! It's pathetic.
load more comments
(6 replies)
Microsoft is grudgingly forced to give...*
Perhaps sometime in the future, more people will try Linux and see how good it is. My recommendation based on my own experience:
Want stable, just working. Robust workhorse: Try Debian
Want newest, nicest, good for gaming (need a tiny bit of tinkering if you run Nvidia): Try Fedora
Want easy to install, but a bit older and slower, but requires no tinkering: Try PopOS
Don't like settings, tweaks and fuzz: choose Gnome desktop 😊
load more comments
(7 replies)
Funny what happens when you have a government that actually gives a shit.
load more comments
(4 replies)
Gotta LOVE the EU, they're working at a glacial pace but sooner or later (most likely later) it changes the landscape for the better.
If only enshittification would happen slow enough for the EU to catch up to.
load more comments
(19 replies)
🇪🇺the🇪🇺land🇪🇺of🇪🇺the🇪🇺free🇪🇺
Am i missing something? If i had edge, store and bing forced down my throat my win11 install wouldve been long gone, but imo thst stuff was already removable before?
From what I've gathered here and elsewhere they never really went full throttle on all that stuff for most of us here in the EU.
Now don't get me wrong, W11 is utter shite, and I had to essentially build a new computer from scratch to even get it running properly, but I still haven't seen any ads or any other bullshit like that.
This is exactly why my old computer is merrily running Mint, and it likes it.
Edit: If it wasn't for the fact that I happen to primarily use Cinema 4D for work I wouldn't even have bothered, probably. Relearning 20+ years of software flow for the other options seemed silly at the time, but I would've reconsidered had I known what a mess W11 would become for me and in general.
I love mint on my old laptop (which I'm using right now) I just wish it was more compatable with newer hardware as neither it nor ubuntu work properly on my new desktop build so I'm stuck on ghost spectre instead.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Since this sublemmy doesn't have any requirement for the title to be the same as the source, can we actually have a correct title: "Microsoft abides to laws in EU and does <...>", or even better "Microsoft is forced under EU law to <...>".
The title makes it appear as if it's out of charity and goodness of their corporate heart. (Fabrication)
load more comments
(12 replies)
But I thought Edge was so crucial for the system to function it can't be removed? That's what MS told me at least, and I definitely trust them
load more comments
(4 replies)
view more: next ›