A PR disaster: Microsoft has lost trust with its users, and Windows Recall is the straw that broke the camel's back
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.
It's gotten a lot better over the years
When I first tried it (back in 2010) it was pretty rough all around but after trying it again recently due to the whole TPM requirement for Windows 11 I've found it to be really straight forward
Linux Mint is really user friendly and is what I've even put on my grandma's pc
It's not that it hasn't gotten better, but that the entire infrastructure that's underpinning the GUI is simply completely different than what people are used to. And I'm not just talking CLI here, because the average Windows user likely doesn't use that to begin with – it's things like filesystem organization, software management, driver installation, configuration files, etc.
And it's not that these barriers are insurmountable either, but they DO require a significant amount of cognitive effort that not everyone is willing to put in.
Your grandma probably hates the fact that you did though. There's a small chance that's not the case but I'd be shocked if she hadn't complained about it many times to other people.
Your grandma would hate and complain about upgrading from Win10 to Win11 just the same, though. Everyone hates change itself. What the change is made to doesn't really matter.
People do hate change. The bigger the change the more they hate it. That's exactly why Windows to Linux is much worse for them than Windows 10 to Windows 11.
Cinnamon desktop (Linux Mint) is actually pretty damn close to the windows desktop, so the change is mostly just cosmetic.
People who don't understand what an OS is typically use linux mint fine because they just open chrome or Firefox.
Even the casual Zoom meeting is a breeze because of the Flatpak client.
So you need a whole ass sandbox program just to run Zoom? Hm.
You actually don't need it.
If you trust Zoom enough, then you can install its official client from its webpage, without "a whole ass sandbox program" that restricts its access to important parts of your system.
But it's your call, I prefer the other way around.
Its a selling point for me privacy wise no? The program Doesn't need the access to everything like my graphene phone.
You keep making posts that made sense or were accurate 5-15 years ago, thats why you keep getting downvoted.
Pretend you know nothing about linux, and go and try something like Mint, and youll likely have an experience that mirrors the people downvoting you.
You say that but at the same time there’s a linuxmemes post in my feed right now where people are joking about how broken drivers require an OS reinstall so you know
Well why dont you go into that thread and ask those people when the last time that happened was, or how often it happens.
You might just be taking a very old meme too seriously.
Very old meme that was posted 5 hours ago as of the time of my original comment, hmm
Memes get reposted, that one is pretty old.
Also there are distros that are more volatile, but all of the most popular ones are extremely dummy proof and intuitive. See Pop_OS!, EndeavourOS, or Mint for example.
That's the real concern. Can they go online, read email, and easily look at their photos?
People in my family are straight forward and blunt with their opinions and how they feel about things. She did mention it was weird looking but she was willing to try it out because her system was going to be insecure before the end of next year.
She's had no complaints so far in the last few months.
I think it is pretty grandma-proof; less is more. Windows xp-like start menu with no web results or other nonsense there, just internet button, picture viewer, and solitaire. Updates can be automated and there's no easy way to break the ui, like accidentally removing the task bar.
Exactly what I was thinking when I installed it for her
I was even able to give her Space Cadet Pinball back (she was a big fan back in the day and still kills it)
Link to the Flatpak BTW
Man, your grandma is cool.
Only sometimes unfortunately
As long as anything political or related to religion is avoided she's mostly fine