for my next newsletter and episode i bought the bestselling laptop on Amazon to try and explain how shitty most people's exposure to tech is. Currently at 30 minutes of menus and updates. I have agreed to three privacy policies and created two new accounts. We live in hell
Comments
Ugh
It's not so good for the big majority in between.
FEDORA
is a flat hard no. I don't care if it does my laundry and washes my car. no.
Software being hard to add is conditional. Some are easy, some are hard. Depends on a lot of factors.
The whole time I had people in comments saying “Just use this random crowdsourced app of working stations!”
The point was to show what would happen if my mom bought it.
My bet is that "recent browsing history" means they're sending it back to MS \for advertising\ to help you save data in case of a crash.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/02/home-printer-digital-rights-management-hp-instant-ink-subscription/672913/
1/∞
Not much choice there with laptops, though.
Otherwise, get a Mac. Yes, the initial cost is more, but a cheap OEM laptop lasts half as long.
But he also doesn't really understand that the browser is not the operating system.
Anyone who doesn't need AAA gaming but does need a *good* laptop will either buy that $599 Air or will spend $599 on a Windows laptop anyway. (The tiniest atom of shade to Windows, but all shade to OEMs.)
Also these days it’s just as easy or easier to use than the bloated “mainstream” operating systems.
You’re just being blissful in your ignorance and unwillingness to try something new.
To err is human.
To totally fuck things up you need a computer.
Viva Linux.
It was killed after 5 years, probably to push the Surface brand and their own extra crap.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120429001006/https://signature.microsoft.com/
I won't say "try Linux" but I use it for the reasons you complain about. Privacy is respected, terms of use are fair, and updates fast and easy.
Complaining isn't a solution.
However, I don't have the mental bandwidth to install it on my personal computer, and fight compatibility issues.
They don't think about the steps of making a bootable USB to install linux from and setting the computer to boot from it. Joe Average isn't going to get that done, he's going to get Windows with the computer and use it until Microsoft says it's time to buy a new one.
‘But none of my extensive and important array of VBA scripts will work anymore. My job breaks.’
“You shouldn’t have written those scripts.”
What are you actually qualified to discuss techwise
I went with Linux, but I have had enough experience with it that it was relatively smooth transition from Win 10.
I eventually started blocking people just out of principle. I figure it isn't good for me to watch this, and they most likely would keep doing it. I can't look any more.
*everyone continues to discuss Linux in excruciatingly nit-picky detail*
But as a general purpose desktop computer - I first started using Linux computers in about 1995 and I am using one this second - i agree that it's not for everybody.
People complain so much about how new computer users are getting spawn camped and then refuse any alternative
Welcome to cyberpunk dystopia, this is peak enshittification and WILL not improve if people continue using it and MS retain its monopoly.
You just want stuff to work, and think thats just the computers are
You have no ideia about Linux, and just want a solution to your problem
Or, if you are not tied to any proprietary software:
Common Linux issues:
1 - Expect to be like Windows or a perfect experience
2 - Use a distro that isnt Linux Mint
3 - Not trying it out first (VM, dualboot)
Vexing issue: I've never been able to successfully install the DisplayPort drivers. Spent at least 12 hours of my life trying, then gave up.
They will all work just fine if you're not playing video games...
Oh, and you can run them on a any computer that is over a couple years old, it'll save you money in hardware...
I ended up installing win pro and modifying the registry to not make a MS acct
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-without-microsoft-account
That would require MS to do something Elon level stupid.
any program. Ppl shouldn’t pick ONE “safe platform.”. Texh companies will defeat them all, as they have done in the past. Regulation could help, but a GOP Congress will sell us all out.
‘I'd trade it in, yeah right... for what?
It's top of the line from the Compuhut.
The fridge, stove and toaster, never crash on me,
I should be able to get online, without a PHD.’
https://youtu.be/CPRvc2UMeMI?si=fw55pIUBFsEDfh9L
I get it. It takes a lot of work and does what you tell it to do. I want to skip the work part
This IS just twitter still, nobody can tell me otherwise LOL
"I didn't know you could do that." she said.
Little has changed.
There is no one true Linux and if there was, I bet a good chunk of the security advantage of Linux would evaporate
someone's being told to install linux
insufferable evangelists for Linux” is a circle
If I were to do one of these for “installing Linux for your mom” it’d be even more of a horror show.
No I just want to vacuum
Also, this experience is precisely why I switched to Mac.
https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/17/hack-the-planet/#how-about-a-nice-game-of-chess
But they can't do that.
Also then we'd need smart milk.
“Smart” is the wrong word for what we’re stuck with.
Agree with you on the rest, though.
Cloud Clipboard is amazing (the single best feature added to Windows 10 and made better in Windows 11). When pasting anything you've copied, you can hit the three dots menu and select to paste as text, or pin so it stays in the clipboard across reboots. Just FYI.
why the hell would they fuck with ctrl+Shift+V ????
i have one of the ‘better’ ones but the laptop would die if it goes over an hour and a half without getting plugged in
"Acting as if I am a normal person." Fucking mood, my friend.
More like going to the doctor where they use big words to describe how you're going to suffer, or more like being scammed by a street gambler?
easy/annoying for ME to fix but I imagined my mom trying to deal with it on her and. lmao.
Real human beings on the real earth make do with what trickles down.
Google’s got its own set of problems but at least it’s confined and not Microsoft + whatever stuff comes pre installed.
It's shocking just how involved and high-maintenance Windows can be and how vigilant you have to be these days to keep it from changing the deal on you.
Otherwise, you will end up using it as a weird-looking Windows clone, except your sound broke after you took "open source means you can peek under the hood and change things" seriously.
the initial usage of linux is OK but troubleshooting immediately weeds people out
As somebody running Nvidia under linux, at least the arguments give me hope, unlike Nvidia going no-contact for driver updates.
I don't even have kids, I have ADHD, and this was completely *beyond* me while I was working full time. Managing "tech stuff" is like a second job now.
this is also why all the no doubt super fucking good to have advice on protecting yourself from the incoming admin particularly is making me kind of want to cry. Should I? No doubt. Will I? I mean...
There's too much to set and think about.
And many of the programs I use don't run on it or won't be stable enough.
Linux is overwhelming.
iOS is the opposite - annoying imo.
it's more intended as an observation about how people tend to get confused when faced with hierarchical file systems. there are lots of people who don't adapt and just have free-floating file soup.
Also, imagine anyone IRL saying that to you, like in a service industry context. It's super kinda weird and off-putting to me.
just let me pay for shit and leave me in peace
I can assure you, it was not easy for them to jump into Linux, even with individual attention from expert tutors.
Looking at what normal people are doing with the product.
Not everyone is a power user, and some are barely a user at best. People tend to forget that.
i'm a big fan of Chromebooks, as far as i can tell they're quite a lot of the answer to an internet terminal usable by humans
of course you sign your soul over to google
but i am absolutely in no way a normal user
i *nearly* bought a surface go that trip cos it's a 10" tablet that's a proper PC with 8gb and apparently linuxes well, still tempted
This laptop was the bestselling laptop on Amazon when I bought it. I'm using it as an example of how bad most people's tech experience is. To war!
Pressuring users into their first-party software is a tale as old as Windows, but it didn't used to suck this bad.
- what's the price ?
- what's the hardware ?
- how easy is it to yank the drive out of it and replace it with a new one, virgin of all bloat ?
- overall, where would you rate how bad of a deal it is on the "Ed Zitron's most hated tech CEOs" scale ?
2. see below.
3. dont care, average user won't
4. i have, more than half an hour in, yet to actually use it
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BL35XNF5?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
is this a college student thing?
Although physical ethernet port is not bad in my book.
i hope my 2008 imac is immortal because i'm not doing any of this.
I'm curious whether Chromebooks are on normal people's radar at all? They're basically life-support systems for Chrome, and I think have relatively little upsell-and-registration hell?
And schools use them, so maybe they have some mindshare?
Mac computer, iPad, iPhone, iWatch. 5 minutes to get your computer going from box to everything you need.
I've hated Microsoft products since Windows 1.0 2.0 & NT. Loved Dos of all flavors, and Dos Shell.
Never learned more than when I had my own company. Bought myself a MacBook Pro, AutoCAD for Mac, and a nice laptop stand next to a larger screen.
Back to a basement HP… 😩
A few months back I built a new Windows PC, first time in about 10 years. I've used it pretty heavily - gaming, some OCing, fans tuned down low.
Haven't had a single BSOD or game crash. Much better experience than I've had in the past.
I used it for a bit during my job search too, and I was surprised at how slick the WSL/Docker stack can be. It felt like LAMP/k8s work was actually viable - also not true a decade ago.
Are we all super surprised that a new device setup includes creating an account? You had to do this with Windows XP too - the experience has changed that much in 20 years…
Would have loved to replace my 11-year-old Mac with something that's not by Apple, but I looked at the options and in the end I ordered a Mac Mini.
Its only just reached end of OS life, so I feel like putting it in a glass display case
so before their time
A handful of years in, it's already malfunctioning and doesn't wanna turn on sometimes so I'll have to unplug everything and start over. It's so annoying
that exactly what happens when i try to install windows (10 or 11). if archlinux can do it why windows can't? my wifi is mt7922
In 2010 I could do that with a WYSIWYM editor and a networked printer.
In 2020 I need an OS subscription, a printer subscription, 5 application subscriptions, functional internet, and three goat sacrifices.
The series X internal drive is 500gb, including system space.
They mashed multiple titles into one hub app and screwed up the experience to be more like Fortnite
(Yes, you've read that correctly.)
They also train people from the neighborhood to do the work.
My spouse runs a remote office for corporate & they upgraded all the computers. So we took the old computers to FreeGeek.
Used for Costco runs and to visit family in Orange County & Reno. Thinking about an electric cargo bike to get rid of car & insurance. I can take the train or rent a car to visit family. @ 72 I mostly ride bicycles & public transportation.
Just buy a mac.
A machine I own, doesn't snoop on me, doesn't update, nothing on there but software and files I also own
You knew where you were with that.
20 GOTO 10
During setup, it froze. Brand new, right out of the box. Had to have a tech come out and switch out some interns part. Has worked fine ever since. Still, you expect a brand new shiny thing to work on day one.
They live out of their downloads folder like it's a van by the river.
I just started incorporating it into every single code demo.
Computer labs are a thing of the past in most cases and you can use the search function for everything.
You can't assume everyone has the minimum basic knowledge to do the thing, you might have To teach them to open the peanut butter jar before they put it on the bread.
All they know is there is an icon and they click it. Which, yay for usability I guess
https://springer-creative.printify.me/products
I'm a an independent journalist and I'm planning on pivoting more into my own newsletter in the new year so I can write about stuff just like this post.
https://open.substack.com/pub/nianorriswrites?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=15h2ew
I was horrified, but now I understand why because it's the only way they'll be able to find it (or at least I'll be able to find it for them)
(I feel a little sick now lol)
He created so many directories and subdirectories based on what he felt was the right structure while saving them, that he (and me) could never ever find the file he wanted when he needed it.
Maybe it's the workflows that require file structure that should be retired for most common use cases...
I would have to learn if I wanted to build a car.
If you're building a website with external CSS or JavaScript, you have to use a file structure. Even with a CMS, any customization requires that you know where the files are stored.
I just know it.
(fwiw I have found the most difficult bit is that colleagues tend to work on Gdocs which, for all the Google's unconscionable, undemocratic horrorshow of snooping, has immaculate versioning. Just a real hard problem to address.)
Permanent simple software you buy just once. An anonymizer that prevents phoning home
What do you mean you can only download from the Microsoft store? You're a PC!
I’m about 80% just going to buy a MacBook Air going forward.
If not, a refurbished ex-business Dell laptop. Usually comes with a bare bones Win11 install. Make sure it has at least 8 gb of memory.
So I switched to Apple and it always just works. I don't know why. But there's never any of this "we live in hell" you describe here.
Why is that?
It perfectly encapsulates the problem you are describing
But yeah specific audio production software, that might be harder
The machine would take twenty minutes to boot, then twenty to close all the pop-ups and instances of Teams.
I keep a FB account for work, and it’s all AI images everywhere: gardening groups, redecorating, architecture, vacation, travel, reading group.
My workstation is gonna require more study and testing.
Edge popups, Office 365 popups
I know, I know, Linux. JUST WANT IT TO WORK this isn't FUN I'm OUT of IT, RETIRED DAMMIT.
I like to have my system work the way __I__ want it to.
This is a special level of frustration all of its own.
By clicking:
"SKIP"
FWIW I mostly use a Chromebook, and that just requires signing in to my Google Account to use.
It's an abject failure of engineering
Yes I use Linux but I'm a tech guy from way back.
Today's Windows systems are terrible and I feel it contributes to the scam problems. The user can't understand, even at a fairly superficial level, so panic
It believe it comes highly recommended:
https://windowsreport.com/googles-prabhakar-raghavan-windows-10-s-and-surface-laptop-are-a-validation-of-our-approach/
Love your show [plug] btw!
And the recent Rewind episode made me obviously remember this 😂
I'm not suggesting Linux to a regular people. It's gotten so bad it's pissing off power users, WITHOUT ADDED BLOATWARE.
Should have got one you could install Linux on 😐
With that said, do you have a few seconds to learn about my lord and savior Arch?
Linux is not for regular non-technical users, unless the only thing they do is browse the web.
If you open a terminal in public they will burn you at the stake for wizardry
And Ubuntu isn't that hard to set up on a Mac partition. Done it a few times. There's just some software not there (music production), otherwise it would be my go to.
Most recently, I've been buying from System76. You get a little less hardware for your money, but they do an excellent job of stripping the proprietary software off of the CPU, etc.
I’ll play Borderlands online with my friends, but I’m done playing with strangers.
You didn't *have to* create those accounts, for instance
I didn't and haven't even though Microsoft harasses me constantly to do so I still haven't and won't
But, yeah, what we have now is intolerable
Shit sucked and then I got to learn that it was saving everything to onedrive when I got hit with "oopsie, you ran out of space! Please upgrade for more space!"
clicky clacky and I disabled that sucker REAL fast.
up with tech at all. I’m a tech proficient late Boomer, but we’ve adopted tech in my small family since the 80s, so, I keep up. It’s navigating a foreign country to most ppl my age or older.
I think this is why MacOS is continuing to gain marketshare these days with the MBA and Mac Minis. We Mac desktop users simply don't have to go through all this BS. I haven't used a MS Windows computer in a decade, and I'm not missing much, apparently.
I run Linux too! I love it for what I love it for, but you absolutely have to try and exercise the "empathy" part of your brain, and come to grips with the fact that tons of people *demonstrably* have issues using it!
Some people want to be reminded at every moment exactly which trousers they are wearing. Some do not.
You don’t really have to think about the motor in your refrigerator—unless it goes out—do you?!?
Microsoft tried to upsell me seven times.
If you buy the OS and don't get it OEM, you are paying $150 to get upsold repeatedly.
IT professionals use Linux, an IT professional with a Windows device is probably a scam.
About time for a new one, but I don't want to have a quarter tablet in my possession at all times.
Not a newbie at this.
Just disgruntled at the sudden font size change. Fixed now.
I would be surprised if there was something they could do to make the iPhones better.
Aside from not screwing with the fonts on upgrade!
So much spyware and bloat. Made them all but unusable.
At least ads have gotten to where they don't nuke a user's control of their PC... or is that just me?
https://www.fastcompany.com/90976171/over-automation-is-breaking-the-web
It’s why so many scams get traction.
1. Decline everything
2. Create new local account and delete the one with the forced Microsoft login
3. https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat
4. https://github.com/ShadowWhisperer/Remove-MS-Edge
No OneDrive, no Edge, no Cortana, no Copilot, no bullshit!
🫠
interested to see how this plays out, tyvm
I do IT support and sometimes I have to ask users to differentiate between the tv thingy and the thingy they type on. And everything down to notepad is "the internet".
But it's important to remember that there's still quite a few crucial things that don't work, and that this matters to people.
Out-of-the-box options need to be as easy as possible for everyday users.
This setup lets them advertise both a general purpose OS & a gaming-focused one. For all the gaming-focused PCs, adding the OS to the marketing seems like a no-brainer.
VSCode for the webz
https://vscode.dev
Project IDX
https://developers.google.com/idx
Colab
https://colab.google/
# Play Store
Spck
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.spck
CodeSnack IDE
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cloudcompilerapp
# Linux dev env
VSCode
Cursor
JetBrains
[Go to best buy- buy the laptop the sales guy tells you to- buy the best buy total care or whatnot- geek squad sets it up for you- customer picks it up the next day]
But then I replaced it with a Macbook & Im not going back. It was so easy to set up & I dont have the patience for all the Windows nonsense anymore😭
But the community college around here mostly uses Mac so when I went a while I was stuck in a bad way cause I didnt know how to use them lol 🥲