Microsoft is working on a new project labeled Windows ‘K2’, intent on removing bloatware, reducing AI, and optimizing Windows 11 for gaming, with three focuses of ‘performance, craft, and reliability’.
the issue is not about performance, is about enshitification. I mean, do we need TPM? do we need Microslop account to login our pc/laptop? do they really need to shove Copilot into Windows?
are they actually loosing any sensible userbase across all windows versions though? from statcounter I fail to see that, what stats do you guy usually look up too?
Why would anyone get their hopes up about a Microsoft product?
Knowing Microsoft, the new project is an update to DirectX which has features impossible for Proton to translate without violating anti-circumvention laws or an always on DRM baked into core features.
Section 1201(f) of the DMCA allows for interoperability; I’m sure Valve’s lawyers will figure it out
My only hope with this is that MS doesn’t have a complete hold on the gaming market anymore. Valve has to hold some serious sway at this point, and MS doing that might backfire on them.
I abandoned Windows for Linux rather than update to Windows 11. I will be interested to see what Microsoft does, but at this point I seriously doubt they’re going to be able to give me a good enough reason to return to Windows as my primary OS. At this point I only need it for a few applications that don’t have a Linux equivalent and don’t run on Wine.
I know it’s not possible for everyone, but I just cut ties with any application that wouldn’t work on Linux and found alternatives.
For those that can’t, it’s worth it to go 99% Linux and set up a dual-boot. Also I made a video recently that details some security measures you can take on Windows to help you stay private if anyone’s interested.
I hate that I need to keep one computer in my household on windows to be able to run my business. I’ve got 4 programs that I need to connect to my machines or I can’t do anything.
Have you tried to Winboat the apps missing ?
I also switched earlier this year to cachyos. I’m definitely not going back. The simple fact that I need to boot the Windows old partition to update it makes me anxious.
I feel so much more in control of my operating system it feels really nice.
This looks cool, I assume it’s not meant for super resource intensive programs though?
Winboar looks really interesting. How does it compare to just using WinApps? It seems like it’s basically just doing the heavy lifting for setting programs up, yeah?
Seconding Winboat, works great for the one piece of software I have that is stuck on Windows. At this point I am 100% not going back, I even wiped my Windows disk. That drive is for trying out other distros now.
linuxes can do that too. sure, you have to set it up by hand for now, but the necessary tools are available
Ubuntu just added that feature. Not my distro of choice, but it’s coming up.
I don’t think they care as long as your employer is still using Windows. They will get really scared if school systems start adopting Linux.
Most schools these days (not college or uni) use chrome books not windows. I think Microsoft’s bread and butter is boomers and businesses, to hell with the average consumer.
This is such a huge W for linux. It legitimizes linux as a real competitor in so many eyes.
That’s because it is a legitimate competitor. It’s the freedom OS, and only way for the world to escape Americas big tech fascism.
Yeah I know I’ve been using it for gaming for years. But when I say linux is good people might brush it off because oh you would say that as a linux user. But im highlighting that Microsoft saying this legitimizes Linux in a completely different way. It legitimizes it for all the people that see Windows as the best OS the people outside the linux bubble.
They had games for windows and got rid of it because they thought that pc gamers would move to the xbox. Some may have. However, it also contributed to the success of steam. And look where we are now lol
It’s possible they’re kind of admitting defeat with PC enthusiasts and will just settle for the average user and the business user. If they’re smart they would make windows home free to use and then charge a fair lump for K2 (and make it extremely good - yknow - things software companies should be doing). That way it’s a PR win and they can exploit both business models.
I strongly expect Microsoft to completely bottle it as usual though. They have some deep corporate rot imo.
Microsoft adds the bloat themselves, and ever increasing telemetry reporting back, promises to update W10 for the lifetime of the device, reneges on it with W11 quoting security as its rationale but leaving 400 million users without security updates. Does all this at a time Linux is becoming very friendly and android phones have a desktop mode so they can be plugged into a keyboard and monitor and bypass the need for Windows. Microsoft has a bit of a think about the market value of its idiot direction and decides to remove a lot of the crap slowing the OS and give people back a little privacy, touts it as a new way of thinking about personal computing.
I’d say i’m cautiously optimistic but honestly i’m just not optimistic. They want to ‘remove bloat, reel back AI, etc’ and I’m just going to ask “how?”
how can they possibly improve their OS when the past year updates to 11 have been the worst in the companies history. the past few months alone have been an absolute cluster fuck and that’s saying A LOT considering this the same company that gave us ME and Vista.
Before rebuilding the OS they need to take a seriously look internally and rebuild teams, management, etc because its’ clear as day the company that they have currently cannot produce the potential OS they seem to want to produce.
You mention Windows Me and Vista as low points but Windows 8 was such a donkey that your memory must have blocked it so you could go on with your life. And you just know this wonderful new streamlined and privacy conscious version is going to look suspiciously like Windows 7 which most users wanted to stick with anyway.
You mention Windows Me and Vista as low points but Windows 8 was such a donkey that your memory must have blocked it so you could go on with your life.
Good lord you’re right. I had completely forgotten about 8. I know I had it, I must have had it but I don’t actually remember using it. It’s like a gap there between 7 and 10 that is just gone from my head.
A lot can be said about Windows 8. I liked it. It was rock stable for me. It took EOL for me to migrate my gaming pc to windows 10 (due to baked in telemetry mostly).
That’s not gonna happen until they, at the very least, crash and burn. There are some very competent tech people at Microsoft, and none of them are at the C level or upper management.
Recycle Bin is still fucking broken after literal YEARS of me complaining over the fact it doesn’t delete files older than 30 days from it. I have files that date months back in time. How about you start at fucking that Microsoft, eh?
Also fuck off the Recommended section from Start menu. The greatest idiocy of all times, wasting same amount of Start menu real estate whether it’s enabled or not. It just wastes same space telling me to tuen it on when it’s disabled. What the fuck?
Yeah, MS lost a lot of trust with stupid things and getting that back - good luck with that. I’m gone I switched to Linux since a year (been on Windows since 3.0) or so ago and won’t ever go back even though I still need to run Visual Studio in a virtual guest.
same. been using MS shit since the 90s, but built a new PC in early 2025 specifically to put linux and only linux on it. never looking back. there is absolutely no reason for me to ever install windows again.
people thought i was dumb for taking out a loan to build a PC–turns out that was the right move, 8% on a loan for early 2025 prices is better than whatever tf people are having to pay for components now
This sounds like a very good thing, right? They’ve got the message that we don’t want Copilot, we don’t want AI, we don’t want our computers to require an Internet connection, and they’re listening.
I hope you were sarcastic… Because Microsoft’s new business model is AI. So Windows will continue to be their portal toward AI.
Is the downstream behavior not almost identical? Is this pedantry for pedantry’s sake, or are you attempting to make a point?
The difference is they only care about shareholders and will do whatever to get enough people or corporate users back. That doesn’t mean they’re going to do what we all want.
So we all agree they’re listening to market share change
Not sure what point you or the other one are attempting to make, but the original point is still valid
I will preface by saying, I hate it so much, and fear the day we can no longer put TPM into ‘user mode’ and enroll our own keys for our own signed & authorized OS (on hardware we own, in our house, not in th cloud), BUT if you are building an operating system focused on gaming, performance, and security, implementing and securing trusted + measured boot so the hardware platform ensures all stages of the bootloader, OS + game are the exact code the vendor intended is the absolutely correct way to implement anti-cheat. Sketchy 3rd party kernel mode modules that rummage around your system reporting what to who knows who wouldn’t be needed at all in this environment.
