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Microsoft rolls Windows Recall out to the public nearly a year after announcing it

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Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨floofloof@lemmy.ca⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/microsoft-rolls-windows-recall-out-to-the-public-nearly-a-year-after-announcing-it/

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Comments

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  • redwattlebird@lemmings.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    On a separate note, I just installed a Linux partition on my laptop to dual boot since I still need windows for AGI32 and Autodesk. Next weekend, I’ll be shrinking my windows partition, move my files to a new partition and mount it in Linux so I can access files both ways.

    Feels so good to have absolute control of my computer again.

    I’m glad I got out when I could because Recall is such a dodgy ‘feature’.

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  • phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Copilot+ PCs have specific hardware requirements beyond the ones necessary to run Windows 11. The most significant is the requirement for a neural processing unit (NPU) that can process more than 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS).

    So in other words, copilot will be a huge enormous waste of electricity as it’s continuously training some shitty AI. Gottit.

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  • phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Install Linux already, be done with this windows nonsense

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    • madcaesar@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I agree. But people also need to be ready for some of the Linux bullshit brings. I’ve switched recently and it’s never 100% smooth sailing. But at least no tracking and proprietary bullshit.

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      • phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Bullshit like what? That most stuff just does as advertised?

        Yeah, there will be technical issues here and there, but are you really going to claim widows doesn’t have technical issues?

        I’ve been doing Linux desktop for over 25 years now and every time I look at windows it’s always because of some bullshit technical issue and I always have to wonder why people pay for that shit

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      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Yeah, this can be an unpopular opinion on Lemmy, because there’s a giant Linux circlejerk. But the unfortunate reality is that changing to Linux does have some major stumbling blocks. The “switching is so easy, just do it” crowd totally glosses over it, but that’s kind of rhetoric doesn’t help long term adoption. Because if some new user has only heard “switching is so easy” and immediately runs into issues, they’ll be more likely to go “well if it’s super easy and I can’t figure it out, I guess it’s just not for me” and abandon things.

        There’s also a very vocal (and toxic) part of the Linux community that basically just screams “RTFM” at every newbie question. New users shouldn’t be expected to dig into a 350 page technical document just to learn the basics of their new OS.

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  • commander@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    In 2005 Windows was like 95% of the desktop/laptop market. Today it’s 70-75%. Since then mobile phones usurped a lot of functionality that used to require a desktop/laptop. Windows dependency is going to keep trending down both in just desktop/laptop or including mobile devices

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  • joel_feila@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    every linux user: Oh no…well anyway

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    • kalipixel@reddthat.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It is good to use linux. But this has an impact on everyone to some degree. You may use Linux, but does your family, friends, your doctor, your teacher or boss, and whoever else who has some of your personal data?

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      • joel_feila@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        You do bring a good point. Every doctor will havemy phone number on file and recall will screen shot that. I cant do anything to stop that. Same with every other piece of data.

        At least my doctor won’t have screen shot of everything, web page, picture, word doc, friends lists, political news, I view on screen.

        Someone will have vital information stolen from a recall hack on a 3rd party

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      • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        My data being in the hands of a 3rd party is arguably a larger risk than said 3rd party running Windows. Nobody can control what OS any particular 3rd party runs, and if you hand data over to a 3rd party, at some point you have to trust them. If you don’t trust them, find someone you can trust.

        Don’t make everyone else’s choice of OS my problem.

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    • drmoose@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Tbh I’d pay money for a foss alternative here. There are smart systems in KDE and Gnome already but if it could recall exact details on free software it would be awesome.

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      • turmacar@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        You can install key and screen loggers if you want. Could even setup offsite backup and rclone it all wherever you want.

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  • bluewing@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    One has to wonder if Recall just isn’t as profitable as they had hoped.

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    • Squizzy@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      No individual aspect is profitable here it i about data collection and depth of service.

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      • TangledHyphae@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Collection of personal data is arguably worth money to them though, for advertising and whatever else they’re doing.

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  • pyr0ball@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    “But most significantly, Microsoft has made Recall a feature you must opt in to using rather than opt out of using, and it’s possible to remove it completely.”

    Important bit

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    • Psythik@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Also it’s not available on x86-64 CPUs. You need an ARM CPU with an NPU

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    • Maxxie@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Most MS controversial features go through “opt in -> opt out -> mandatory” pipeline examples are Telemetry, Windows Live account, Spotlight (ui ads), etc.

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      • demunted@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        This is good. There are probably some edge cases for this. I work in IT for some companies using industrial automation. Being able to roll back and watch what people do when errors or problems occur is a good feature. Similarly on high value servers I would like this as well.

        Being able to turn it on is better than having to apply policies to disable. I don’t see this as a big problem anymore.

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    • joel_feila@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      opt in for now.

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    • FooBarrington@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      “Whoopsie, we turned it on for everyone by accident after an update! We made a fucky wucky!”

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      • nuko147@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        😎 Me having set only security updates in my windows, after it tried to install the 24H2 update.

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      • tissn@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        “Whoopsie, turns out we lied and recall was enabled from the start and just pretended to be off” 😄🤷‍♂️

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    • vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      only until they find out most people never enable it. Then it will be forced on

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      • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Yeah, this is just the thin end of the wedge.

        Although I suppose you could call windows itself the thin end of the wedge, this is a slightly wider part.

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    • bhamlin@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      For now, anyway. Let’s hope it stays that way.

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    • hightrix@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Good! In my opinion this entirely changes the feature to acceptable.

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      • Liz@midwest.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        They will eventually change the default to “on.”

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  • Novocirab@feddit.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This is a huge opportunity. All of us Linux geeks now need to be on mainstream social media platforms and actively seek out and help everyone who expresses an interest in switching from Windows to Linux.

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    • innermachine@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Let me save you the trip. I have an old trash spec hp all in one that’s had the bag beat out of it, what is the best lightweight Linux distro to make this a usable web browsing and PDF file viewer? (To be used in my garage to look at FSM, wiring diagrams, play music, Google crap etc nothing demanding). I’ve tried mint and it works ok but thinking lighter weight ?

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      • kwedd@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        You could try Linux Mint XFCE edition. Comes with a more lightweight desktop environment.

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      • yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Q4OS is another good potion

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      • oo1@lemmings.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I see you have only two different answers so far. which is just not playing the game. i’ll give you another two; there are at least 15 “best lightweight linux distro”. For your use, I’d pick any one at random, try it out on a bootable usb.

        Personslly, I’d try stock debian and choose LXQT for a lightweight desktop.

        puppylinux also deserves a mention, I always have a bootble PL usb lying around somewhere. Its reliable , fast for a usb, very good potato-compatibility, has loads of useful programmes and utilitiea already in there. I’ve never actually installed it permanently though. Scared of making a commitment to slackware that I don’t understand.

        I’d avoid Damn Small and Tiny Core though - unless you really need them. Cool as they are they are well out of mainstream.

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      • sykaster@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I installed MX Linux on an old tablet/ laptop with 2GB RAM AND 30GB storage. Works very well except for the webcam, but that’s because the hardware is made so that only windows can use it correctly.

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      • Swakkel@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Damn Small Linux is very lightweight and comes with browser and PDF viewer preloaded. It doesn’t have a GUI software installer though, so you will have to use the terminal if you need to install stuff.

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      • raynethackery@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        FSM

        Finite-state machine?

        Flying Spaghetti Monster?

        Forgetting Sarah Marshall?

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  • KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I guess that means I have to break out the old GOATSE wall paper.

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    • octopus_ink@slrpnk.net ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      GOATSE

      Image

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      • KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Image

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  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Have to admit, the name “Recall” does have a better ring to it than “Take a Screenshot Every 3 Seconds”.

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    • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I would love this feature if it was entirely local with zero external connections.

      But, you know, profits.

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    • demunted@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Overseas devs have had the random screenshot to prove productivity happening for a while now. There’s a hundred ways around it. Most common is a second computer next to you dev machine.

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  • Aggravationstation@feddit.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    How long until Microsoft gets accused of stealing classified info?

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    • jve@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Last time they thought about rolling it out, security researchers immediately found ways to do clear text exfiltration of user data.

      This should be terrifying for anybody who is at all concerned about opsec for anything at all.

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    • Taleya@aussie.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Corporate /LTS editions don’t have this crap. MS only rapes the peasantry

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      • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        For now. Plus, lots of companies still use Windows “Professional” SKUs.

        Thankfully my work laptop runs W11 Enterprise, but still…

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    • tehn00bi@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’m sure most corporations have agreements that prevent M$ from using this. Or M$ has to host all of its data gathering on azure government.

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      • lud@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        The entire point of recall is that it’s running locally. That’s why only a very very very small subset of all Windows 11 PCs support it. Only “copilot+” pc supports it which are PCs with very specific processors with AI processing. Most notably the new Snapdragon arm PCs.

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  • Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s a pretty bold move to advertise the inclusion of a key logger in your OS.

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    • eronth@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Not just keylogger. It’s a screenlogger too.

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      • admin@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Ardamax Keylogger takes screenshots too, should they change the name?

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    • turnip@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Youd already be using Linux Mint or Ubuntu if you cared about not being data mined.

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      • Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I’ve been Linux only since 2016, after a decade of "trying " to move over. I do still have a partition for the increasingly rare event that I need something MS, which so far has been one class in my University that required a lockdown browser for a test.

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      • UsoSaito@feddit.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Mint is easy to use too if you don’t want to fiddle around with various packages.

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  • PattyMcB@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Welp… Linux it is, then

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  • Matriks404@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    We live in weird age, where using Windows is becoming harder than Linux (even though it has its own issues).

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    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      We’ve been there for a long time.

      Broadly speaking, outside of some specific niche workflows, Linux has been pretty easy for a long time, and Windows has a lot of unintuitive stuff that we only think is easy because we’re used to it.

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  • poopkins@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This comment is critical of Microsoft because the company name was mentioned in the article.

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  • deczzz@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If only CS2 ran better on linux 😔

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    • Xanza@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      CS2

      It runs as well as native on Windows: x0.at/I1ZV.png

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  • hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I always “Recall” how shitty windows is, whenever I see the word mentioned.

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  • suckmykong@lemmy.cafe ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Ah they’re finally doing a recall. They had to admit windows was a piece of shit. Took then long enough.

    Anybody knows where I can get my refunds?

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    • DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Are they going back to Windows 10? Wow Microsoft finally a progressive?

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  • truxnell@aussie.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    So reading more into it, it’s (currently) only on the bogus copilot+ PCs they were peddling? I’m happily on bazzite, but this is good news for my stubborn mates that haven’t touched copilot+ shit.

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    • UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I would not count on them telling the truth.

      I checked my Windows 11 work laptop a while ago, and that shit was enabled. Did not see that in any UI, but using command line. Said that shit was enabled and active, but apparently it was not yet doing anything. I will have to check again next time I am firing that machine up again, because I absolutely trust them to re-enable it without my consent, those bottom-feeding scum suckers.

      Obligatory info on how to check and disable recall in Windows 11:

      • Click on the Start button with the right mouse button and select “Terminal (Administrator)” or “Windows PowerShell (Administrator)”, or if necessary log in as administrator and confirm.
      • In the Terminal or PowerShell, enter the command DISM /Online /Get-FeatureInfo /FeatureName:Recall and press the Enter key.
      • If the entry “Enabled” appears next to “State”, the recall function is already activated. In this case, the function can be disabled using the command DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:Recall
      • Close the window.

      From this page.

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      • andxz@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Thank you for this, valuable info right there.

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    • atrielienz@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yeah. My entire windows machine is locked down specifically to combat the copilot ms365 plague. I’m also using Bazzite and generally loving it. But I have a work machine for work things and some of my programs require windows to work.

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    • Mike_The_TV@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Oh give it time it will appear after an update on everything else, “accidentally”.

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  • oliver@lemmy.skumring.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Don‘t say no one was warned…

    Image

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  • untakenusername@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    get linux if you haven’t already

    if you don’t know how, ask, Lemmy is covered in Linux users

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    • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I ran linux mint for a couple months. It was nice. Very few problems.

      Unfortunately, when I tried to install it on this newer desktop it was a shit-show. No wifi or ethernet, no hdmi, it crashed when I tried to play elden ring. I should try another distribution, but I was so distressed after two days I just rolled back. The people in the mint discord were helpful, though, and got some of the problems fixed.

      Windows sucks though.

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      • yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        With newer hardware you need to run a bleeding edge distro, at least until Debian 13 releases (a lot of distros use Debian as a base)

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      • orange@communick.news ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Since Mint is based on a stable distro, it’ll be running older software that won’t support your newer hardware well, and you’re experiencing that firsthand.

        Try Fedora, Bazzite, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, or anything else that’s more bleeding edge – they’re still very usable and reliable, it’s just that stable distros like Mint and Debian are “stable and reliable” overkill.

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      • HexesofVexes@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I’ve got this move coming up - my plan is to dual boot and slowly wean over.

        Game crashes in Linux, try for a fix and if I get frustrated, boot into windows and enjoy the game.

        Might be a rocky year, but the dual boot will likely take the stress off!

        I’ve seen a lot of fedora-based distros pushed for gaming (mint is Debian based), apparently these can work better. Still looking into it, but no definitive answers there yet!

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    • mrnarwall@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’m going to grad school soon for cs and they require windows 11. This is gonna be a fun test in locking down my machine and only doing updates with intention

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      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I had a class that “required” Windows, I did just fine with Linux. YMMV.

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      • x00z@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        You can dual boot or use a virtual machine. Both are pretty easy to setup.

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      • dubyakay@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Never heard of this before. They may recommend it, but not require.

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    • CrowyTech@feddit.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      With the efforts I’m doing to try and de-google / de-big US tech this needs to be my next move.

      Trying to convince my better half to do it on his laptop is a pain. I’m under if you degoogle my chromebook now or once it loses support.

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    • pineapplepizza@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      There are dozens of us.

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      • j4yt33@feddit.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        And my axe!

        Sorry

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    • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      All of my devices except my work one are now Linux.

      I have an old surface go 2 that good a massive new lease on life from using arch plasma. Double the battery life and everything. It could no longer get updates from MS because there was no longer enough space on the main drive to download and install the next update.

      Then I have an old retro gaming pc that used to be for XP gaming but I ended up sticking bazzite on it for a test and it’s stayed that way and because of that when I built my girlfriend’s latest PC we decided to go bazzite desktop for her. And after getting past a few growing pains at the beginning that made it look like we made the wrong decision (due to an old 10xx gtx gpu - now on 3050) she’s been enjoying it and now it’s just standard.

      Then I have my proper gaming PC that I use like a console so I put bazzite-deck on it as soon as I got an AMD card. And I’ve never felt better. HTPC console like gaming on windows was a fucking arse-on, even with steam big picture mode, because it doesn’t get all of the cool bells and whistles that let you control basic system settings right from steam like you can on steam os and bazzite deck.

      For work I’ve started moving away from visual studio to VS Code (i know it’s still MS but I do C# .NET work and rider is too expensive, I don’t want a subscription for an IDE) to allow me to easily transition to fully working on Linux if the opportunity ever arises. Whether it be with my current employer and me convincing them to let me to install Linux on my laptop or with a future company. We’ll see which comes first ;)

      Now it’s time to get and decouple from Google. Currently figuring out with android auto maps app I want (waze won’t run for some reason, my current winner at the moment is tom tom amigo). Then it’s on to getting a password manager, then a new browser (preferably way more lightweight than chrome) and potentially a Google pay replacement(?).

      Any suggestions and opinions from anyone here - even though this is tangentially off topic - would be greatly appreciated.

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  • tfowinder@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Would be interesting to see how microsoft kills windows in the long term and then be shocked as to how this happened

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  • peculiar_goat@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Roll it back in please.

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  • embed_me@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Get recalled

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  • Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    My windows10 install still asks me to complete the setup…lol no

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  • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    laughs in Linux

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  • MyOpinion@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I opt-out.

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