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Comment by dr_ | Hacker News Reader

what is hostile about Windows 11? I'd agree its not the best on non MSFT devices (McAfee anyone?) but on the Surface devices i've found it to run fairly well. It's not as polished as MacOS, but given I mostly operate in the world of web browsers and Office 365, with a couple of Windows based desktop apps, it gets the job done rather well. Would expect major update of Windows 11 later this year, leading into Windows 12. I know it can be turned off, but personally I find myself to be able to focus and get more work done without having imessages on my laptop. I can see how some people might feel otherwise though.

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I actually really like Windows 11. In most ways it's as good as macOS, though I think the macOS ecosystem is a bit nicer (e.g. native apps are better, prettier, more consistent).

But, I don't like that ads are in the start menu, that I'm asked to try out Microsoft Edge, or that the built-in search checks the web rather than sticking to my PC.

There's a lot of small points of friction, and it seems that after every major update a new one is added, or my old preferences are ignored. For many of these settings, you need to go into less familiar tools like the group policy editor as opposed to the built-in Settings app.

It feels gross to have paid $200 for a Windows 11 Pro license to then be shoved ads.

This is true. The ads are unnecessary. I don’t understand the stranglehold mcafee has on pc manufacturers. And constantly trying to shove me to edge is annoying, even though I don’t find edge to be too bad as a browser.

While they are some annoyances, I also find Windows 11 to be pretty good (I was a lifelong Mac user previously). And I don't get any ADS after disabling the weather widget so I don't know where you find them really. I literally have zero ads, besides the small nudge to make edge the default browser sometimes when I open it.

Apple is just as bad, routinely having a notification offering me a trial of Apple Fitness even though there is no way I would ever buy that because there is no way I'm going to pay 10 euros a month to have workout planning to use an Apple Watch I already bought from them for a decent amount of money (devices in this price range have this type of stuff built-in).

As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft gets a small pass for the nagging, because at least I didn't even spend a lot of money with them since I didn't buy my windows computer from them.

But Apple is a big no-no. No way you upsell me after selling me a deeply flawed device (partly because the software is an unfocused mess and lacking in many ways, partly because the hardware is not that good for the price).

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