I can think of a few reasons why someone would complain about Windows 11 without touching privacy aspect at all: the number of clicks you now have to do to get even basic things done because they messed with the context menu, and speaking about changing things that were fine before: the (lack of) file explorer Ribbon and the start menu, the ChromeOS looking layout they went with not being to most people’s taste, the need for a microsoft account to even use the thing (tho you can edit the Registry to bypass this and several other grievances, even some i mentioned…why not just have those as settings/options, just saying?) etc, etc
Some of the above changes and then some + just how much of a pain it was to even upgrade to it were enough for me to move to Linux in the first place when i learned about it, so…yeah, I’d say it’s kinda bad when it made an (at the time, but you can argue I still am and I won’t despute it) tech idiot like me permanently move OS’s
What should I tell you, I immediately liked it more than Win 10.
People also use Android phones and Macs and have Accounts for that. If you seriously believe this is going to drive the masses away, I have bad news for you.
Everything you listed are just small factors among many. I’m quite positive the Steam Deck / Valve are doing more for Linux’s popularity than anything Microsoft did wrong combined.
EDIT: I can’t read, apparantly lol i read “I liked 10 more”. disregard this first bit. Oh no no, you misunderstand: I like Windows 10. Mostly because I have no strong opinion on Windows 7 and didn’t use anything prior to that (and because Windows 8 was…Windows 8) As an OS, it was pretty fine. My problem was microsoft itself (and well, the changes that 11 brought. The list of complaints was basically me going “you had a good thing with Win10, why the radical changes to something that worked well?”).
I’ve also no delusions that Microsoft making controversial changes is gonna do much for Linux growth unless its something massive, like, “we can’t come back from this” massive–but that’s very unlikely to happen. I’ve said this dozens of times before, I’ll say it again: The only way Linux adoption will grow is if someone can walk up to Best Buy (or Browse Newegg/Amazon/whathaveyou), and walk out with a laptop or desktop with Linux already installed and ready to go + maybe a small tutorial like Fedora gives when you first boot up, since Gnome will probably be the default it comes with.
The Steam Deck was a good first step, but if Linux wants adoption, they have to put out stuff that runs Linux out the box to well-known and used markets and brick and morter shops. Not in the back either, front and center where everyone can see it. Much like Chromebooks, people will get used to Linux and its quirks–but they have to be able to access it in the first place (and by that, I mean i could grab an HP laptop packing Ubuntu if i wanted to instead of one packing Windows 11, not being told “to use Linux, you have to first choose one of many distros that are out there, then go download an ISO file and burn it to a USB”)
I can think of a few reasons why someone would complain about Windows 11 without touching privacy aspect at all: the number of clicks you now have to do to get even basic things done because they messed with the context menu, and speaking about changing things that were fine before: the (lack of) file explorer Ribbon and the start menu, the ChromeOS looking layout they went with not being to most people’s taste, the need for a microsoft account to even use the thing (tho you can edit the Registry to bypass this and several other grievances, even some i mentioned…why not just have those as settings/options, just saying?) etc, etc
Some of the above changes and then some + just how much of a pain it was to even upgrade to it were enough for me to move to Linux in the first place when i learned about it, so…yeah, I’d say it’s kinda bad when it made an (at the time, but you can argue I still am and I won’t despute it) tech idiot like me permanently move OS’s
What should I tell you, I immediately liked it more than Win 10.
People also use Android phones and Macs and have Accounts for that. If you seriously believe this is going to drive the masses away, I have bad news for you.
Everything you listed are just small factors among many. I’m quite positive the Steam Deck / Valve are doing more for Linux’s popularity than anything Microsoft did wrong combined.
EDIT: I can’t read, apparantly lol i read “I liked 10 more”. disregard this first bit. Oh no no, you misunderstand: I like Windows 10. Mostly because I have no strong opinion on Windows 7 and didn’t use anything prior to that (and because Windows 8 was…Windows 8) As an OS, it was pretty fine. My problem was microsoft itself (and well, the changes that 11 brought. The list of complaints was basically me going “you had a good thing with Win10, why the radical changes to something that worked well?”).
I’ve also no delusions that Microsoft making controversial changes is gonna do much for Linux growth unless its something massive, like, “we can’t come back from this” massive–but that’s very unlikely to happen. I’ve said this dozens of times before, I’ll say it again: The only way Linux adoption will grow is if someone can walk up to Best Buy (or Browse Newegg/Amazon/whathaveyou), and walk out with a laptop or desktop with Linux already installed and ready to go + maybe a small tutorial like Fedora gives when you first boot up, since Gnome will probably be the default it comes with.
The Steam Deck was a good first step, but if Linux wants adoption, they have to put out stuff that runs Linux out the box to well-known and used markets and brick and morter shops. Not in the back either, front and center where everyone can see it. Much like Chromebooks, people will get used to Linux and its quirks–but they have to be able to access it in the first place (and by that, I mean i could grab an HP laptop packing Ubuntu if i wanted to instead of one packing Windows 11, not being told “to use Linux, you have to first choose one of many distros that are out there, then go download an ISO file and burn it to a USB”)