~/Downloads/xxx/barely_legal ;-/ Not on my computer, but... everyone has stuff that is of no concern to others.

I'm sure you trust every person in power ever. You should move to China and stop trolling here.

and that's an issue with Linux too including the comment from kmanitou.

you are the troll not me

and good luck fighting oppression with linux, dont forget to put "I use Linux" on your door

Firstly, that's not very constructive.

Secondly, China is actually using Linux a lot. The reason is control. You can make your own Linux, and I'm sure China has one, but you cannot make your own Windows, because of the rights and the source code, which is in the hands of Microsoft.

In that sense, Linux and Windows have nothing to do with freedom or oppression. And when we here talk about control, it's a very different kind, because we are talking about user metadata, which is used by big companies to control us economically: they want our money. But countries want another kind of control, and a special Linux distribution is the easier way to accomplish that.

We have the freedom of choice: there is no "one Linux™" out there, no, there are thousands of different Linux distributions and Linux systems. If you take Arch Linux, Gentoo Linux, Slackware or Linux From Scratch for example: every users' Linux is very different, so it's not even a distribution, but rather a meta-distribution. Take Ubuntu or Fedora or openSUSE, and you'll have a very similar system on every computer.

And then look at what those distributions do: Ubuntu has telemetry installed, just like Windows. If I search an application from the start menu in Ubuntu, that search request is also sent to Google, because it's by default also an internet search. (<sarcasm>Thanks, Ubuntu!</sarcasm>) Then look at Debian GNU/Linux: they have telemetry, which basically collects the installed packages so that the developers know which of them are actually used, and which of them aren't. But this telemetry is Opt-In: You are asked during installation, the default (just press Enter) is OFF.

And then there are Linux distributions that don't use telemetry at all, because of their "distribution charter" (in lack of other words).

Every Linux distribution has different goals. Taking Debian GNU/Linux as an example again, they don't like proprietary non-free stuff, so the "true" main distribution doesn't include any non-free firmware files, with the result, that some hardware doesn't work properly or at all. This often happened during installation, when no WiFi is possible due to this. They do have non-free installation images though, because they've noticed that this puts people off.

So, while you are fighting over non-issues, and wining over Windows and Microsoft being so controlling, you are beside the point all the time.

And, yes, there is even a Linux distribution dedicated solely to gaming: Steam OS!

So. instead of wining, go look for "your" Linux. Try it out in virtual machines or as Live boot images. Find your favorite one and start reading how to get dual boot with Windows working.

And don't install a Chinese or Russian "Linux for the people", it's probably not for you...

Yeah, that does seem suspect. What if you lose internet connection? Such a feature just punishes the user.
To make matters worse, you have to enable that TDM thing on your motherboard for "security reasons". That's just another step that complicates matters and takes even more control away from the user, as what if there's an bug with the operating system that screws up your motherboard?

Microsoft is just getting worst and worst it seems.
I miss Win 7. That was a good OS.
That's probably why people don't move over to Linux. Too much work.
Why use two operating systems to do what you want when you can use one and save yourself half the work and hassle?
Until Linux can actually provide ALL features people will continue to favor Windows out of convenience.

If you really want Linux to take off, it needs to drop the dual boot and become more convenient for the user. Your average user isn't going to want to sacrifice hard drive space supporting two OSs and having to trouble shoot both of them if something goes wrong.

Then it continues to run. Internet connection just provides means to sync the account, but Windows will still work offline. Naturally when you setup the online "Microsoft account" you need connection.

Think of it as your Steam account, where all your games and all your progress (including savegames) is stored online in the account. When you login on another computer, you can continue where you left of on another computer.

GOG does the same thing, a bit different than Steam (maybe more limited, I don't know [or care]), with GOG Galaxy.

You mean the "TPM" – the "Trusted Platform Module", yes?

It's been around for more than ten years now. I bet you have one already, you just didn't notice it. And it's not exclusive to Windows, even Linux can utilize the functions of the TPM.

But was it, really?

For all the reasons I just posted. Segregation.

You can't have it both ways. Do you trust Microsoft? With all your data? Okay then, do your Internet banking and your private E-Mails on Windows then...

But if you don't – you're either too lazy and don't know better, but then stop wining, or you don't really have a problem with that.

If you want a Linux that does it all for you, try Steam OS. You basically get a Gaming-Linux with Steam (so you can play lots and lots of Windows-only games on Linux as well) on the basis of a very stable Debian GNU/Linux. With wine you can run some (but not all) Windows-programs, but it is way more complicated than to install Windows programs on Windows.

On the other hand, you get tons of Linux/open source software, and those applications are way easier to install and maintain (with updates) than on Windows. For example, all updates are managed by a global package manager, so you don't have to bother with updating single applications. Your system updater will take care of it all. You get all the basic applications like Firefox or Google Chrome, even Opera can be used on Linux, LibreOffice (OpenOffice.org) as a replacement for Microsoft Office (which does NOT run on Linux, not even through Wine), and GIMP for graphics (as a replacement for Photoshop, which also doesn't run through Wine).

All in all you can live easily with Linux, as long as you don't rely on some Windows-only stuff such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Suite.

BTW, Office 365 through the browser works normally, i.e. you can login to your Office 365 account and use Word and Excel and PowerPoint and everything via your browser. Just like Chromebooks do.

Again: don't find reasons not to try Linux. Just do it.
Or at least confess to yourself, that your actually don't have that much of a problem with Windows...

Or I don't have the time to troubleshoot an unfamiliar OS that apparently can't even install proprietary drivers without going through a command line.
Not everything is a binary case of "they must love Microsoft or they hate it". Sometimes concessions have to be made.
Just think about it; installing a new OS and troubleshooting takes time. Not everyone has time to spare. "Laziness" is not part of it. That's a gross oversimplification that fails to understand just how valuable time and expedience is.

Yes, Windows 7 was good for a Windows OS and was better than Windows 10. I would have kept using it if it weren't for compatibility issues.

Correct, TPM has been around for a while. However, there's a difference between "utilizing" and "requiring".
Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 which is not present on all motherboards and if not requires installation of a component. Even then it has to be activated, which means digging into the BIOS which is something I'd rather not touch.

For what it's worth, I might as well move to Linux after Windows 11 becomes mandatory. If I have to install another OS again I might as well go Linux. With the amount of nonsense MS is adding to their OSs the amount of troubleshooting would probably be the same.

I agree mostly except win10 is way better than win7.
Win11 doesnt require tpm only the install as far as I know, you can run win11 without it.
problem with linux it is more of a mess than windows and supports fewer apps/games

if it would be able to run nearly every games and apps I use and cut back on the clutter and get a proper standardization then linux would be my next os.
sadly for linux devs it is more important to many another distro than to improve the system

temple os....as god intended it :P

Yes, but can it run Doom, the holiest of games?

only if it is installed on blessed hardware with incense burning

Ok so you will apparently stop using PCs in three years, at Windows 10 EOL.

"It was created by American programmer Terry A. Davis, who developed it alone over the course of a decade after a series of manic episodes that he later described as a revelation from God."

Peak software development right there. I'm surprised we didn't get a racing simulator out of it.