It was for a while the only browser on Windows which allowed 4k Netflix and it was faster for me for a while than Firefox. But I'm still back to FF, just for the "we need something else than Chrome engine browsers" reason. Also, it's fast again here. Yay. Probably some support for codecs was added or it was just a few bad builds.
Also, Edge has left side tabs without the top tab bar, which Firefox still hasn't allowed again without hacks in modern extensions. Hate.
In the past, Caltech renamed a building named after Millikan because he was a proponent of eugenics. Is it really right to judge the past by contemporary values?
After Windows 10, Microsoft's policy seems to be "I will give you free updates, but in return, you will be a Windows tester, watch ads, and provide your privacy."
Then they will have the users by their balls.
Charge money for every click.
Insert ads where they see fit.
Dynamically adjust prices to squeeze the max amount of money.
Time for quarterly reports?
“Sorry our Excel servers are under ‘heavy load’,
Excel now costs 4x the usual hourly rate…”
"The prize-winning Excel service is in high demand right now. We apologize for any delay this might cause. Do you want to become an 'Excel Prime Plus User' with preferential treatment? Just upgrade your subscription now and increase your productivity!"
“I’m sorry, in order to multiply you will have to purchase a subscription to our multiplication extension. Please click HERE to have your credit checked.”
A friendly reminder that legally even if you buy Windows using a pirated copy is the same offense as pirating it without buying that other version in the first place.
Sooo don't waste money if you decide to pirate LTSC :)
To be fair hardware sales have slowed down quite a lot because nowadays even a 10-year-old computer is fine for most people. Since it is pretty hard to sell OS software without new hardware this is their solution to this "problem".
Their primary competitor, Apple, chose the route of programmed obsolescence for the hardware bundled to their OS software and also extreme price hikes for a given hardware performance level.
So, I don't know, pick your poison, I guess. I think it's easy to shit on Microsoft, but still most people prefer their shenanigans to Apple ones from what I see, because at least it's a lot easier on the wallet at the end of the day.
As an historical Apple user, I somewhat prefer this behavior because at least I can work around it. You don't have to use Outlook and all of the Windows "ads" can be turned off, especially if you are willing to pay a bit for a "pro" version.
On the other hand, good luck working around Apple extortionate pricing on soldered SSD and RAM. Privacy may be valuable, but that's only true if you are rich enough in the end...
Microsoft isn’t exactly struggling to turn a profit, though. They have reached the stage of market maturity (and capture) where their primary focus is on milking their “legacy” products like Windows and Office for cash.
I know, I'm not saying the bullshit they are trying to pull is good. But you have to look at the market as a whole, Apple makes even more profit while providing much less "services" to the world and their incentives are even more perverse (sell more hardware at higher price).
Microsoft always ends up looking like the bad guy, but considering how many people depend on them for easy cheap access to computing (including a lot of government/institutions) it could be much worse.
In fact, my point is that if it was Apple, we would be in big trouble we even less money in the bank while they would try to impose even more restrictions on their products to extract even more cash. At this point you realize that some shenanigans with ads are really not that big of a deal...
Originally, Raymond Hill developed uBlock, but he gave it away because it was too much work. However, the new owner of uBlock turned it into a spamware, so Hill forked uBlock and created uBlock Origin, which is still under development today.
Whether it's Windows Insider or the recent OneDrive debacle, Microsoft solicits user feedback with a fervor that belies its fundamental indifference. It's a charade, and it's a waste of time to participate.
The statement "subscriptions to AdGuard's paid service surged, as it's not affected by YouTube's crackdown" is false. AdGuard apps are also affected by YouTube's anti-adblocker measures. However, there are workarounds. You can avoid the anti-adblocker measures by setting your user agent to an old browser, such as Internet Explorer.
I strongly agree with the argument that reckless AI regulation could destroy new entrants and open source, allowing established big tech to profit parasitically, especially given the fact that Microsoft has already implemented Copilot in Windows 11 and Microsoft 365.
