> Microsoft's Windows chief Pavan Davuluri had earlier hinted at such plans already about how the next evolution of OS will make it capable enough to make it "semantically understand you" as Windows will get "more ambient, more pervasive, more multi-modal". Using features like Copilot Vision it will be able to "look at your screen" and do more.
These are not words that usually leads to user shouting "Yay, finally, what a pleasure this is to use now!". Why even use the word "pervasive" and the term "look at your screen", almost sounds like it's intentional to turn a specific segment of users away.
I feel like we're still discovering how security, privacy and LLMs connect together. Add in a OS-available MCP that has access to your computer and applications, and I feel like it's way too early to integrate it on that level, especially when they at the same time say "security is our top priority".
> at the same time say "security is our top priority".
I don't think that's true anymore, and this proves it.
They did the security song and dance for a while because they were under pressure. Now AI is the number one priority over everything else, security be damned.
I mean, has security been Microsoft's, and specifically Windows', priority... like, ever? They pretty much half-ass it every chance they get, just slapping some popup or something, training their users to completely disregard whatever Windows warns them about.
Of course they won't admit they screw everything up and that's what exactly made their users run away to competition or towards FOSS alternatives. So there's this toxic marketing positivity clown dance of "plans" happen while they're ignoring once again the criticism and feedback. And frankly, I'm fed up with this - not only in this particular MS case because this ridiculous bs can be seen in the whole corporate world.
I guess now is the best time to switch to Linux. MacOS 26 being super sluggish and looking like a soap bubble game for children. Windows becoming a SkyNet OS. Meanwhile Steam just announced their new hardware on SteamOS, emphasizing that users still own their hardware and can install whatever they want.
Unfortunately the most popular distro (Ubuntu - Canonical) is behaving more and more like Microsoft. I updated to 25.10 last week and it decided to ignore my settings, reset the snap priority and reinstall the snap firefox package, all without my consent. I was fed up when Canonical decided to hijack apt to inject their own proprietary closed-source snap packages, now after having dealt with it again and again after each major upgrade, I just switched to Fedora Gnome a few days ago and I'm not missing anything with Ubuntu.
I switched to Mint (Mate) around 2012 or so because of radical UI changes made by Canonical. At the time, the "mobile revolution" was the big industry trend. Windows 8 had come out which was designed for touch screens (and people hated it) ... and Canonical released a new default desktop environment (I think it was Unity? Memory is fuzzy). It was shocking to me and when I complained about it, a friend recommended Mint.
The nice thing about Linux is that you have max choice. That can pose problems for new users who might be a bit overwhelmed but we shouldn't pretend that Canonical "owns" Linux or that everyone is necessarily going to land there. I recommend Mint when people tell me they're thinking of giving Linux a try. Haven't given Ubuntu a second thought in years.
What is unfortunate? You found one alternative was not to your liking, and another right there to take its place. You didn't have to pay for anything. You were not locked in to anything. Now you are not fighting your OS. Seems to be working as it should.
Who are you the people still praising Ubuntu? Where does it come from, this Ubuntu by default thing? Why? I genuinely interested. It was one of my first distros, but that was when they were doing this shipping CD thing. There are countless of distros that are better out of the box, e.g. Fedora. Sincerely, I don’t understand. Who uses Ubuntu these days, and why. Especially on servers, lol. Why not use Debian then?
Canonical needs snap in order to distinguish them from all the other Linux distros, so they've gone overboard to make sure that you "need" it.
I think it's horrible that they've taken extreme measures to overtly circumvent their users' desire to run the Firefox distributed through Mozilla's repo.
The following link describes how to overcome the latest version of Canonical's extreme insistence on the snap version of Firefox. It's almost laughable when you see how far they've gone to try to lock you in.
> Gaming works astonishingly well on Linux these days with Steam+Proton.
This alone is the last frontier IMO. It's the only reason I still run Win11 on a gaming PC with a big Nvidia. Take that away and their marketshare will tank.
> Gaming works astonishingly well on Linux these days
They have certainly made a lot of progress, but there are many of us that will be stuck unless all the new AAA titles are supported. Battlefield 6 is a notable recent example of a wildly popular game that you can't play on a Steam Deck.
Seems like it's really just the anti-cheat that is holding things up. I wish every game studio out there didn't have to come up with their own anti-cheat system. Is this something Valve could solve once and for all with their OS & platform? That seems like something that would make the 30% tax a lot more appealing to game studios.
Until normies start getting fully working GNU/Linux laptops on PC stores, it will be the same migration story since Windows XP days, that gets repeated every single time Microsoft does something folks don't agree with.
They also need tech support. Desktop Linux is in great shape, but most current Desktop Linux users are capable and willing to troubleshoot their own problems.
Yep. And they will ultimately return them or be disappointed when [insert xyz app] doesn't work.
Gamers are only one case that's currently being solved. Devs are already solved (except for iOS). Creatives are a different story entirely.
If anything, Microsoft's decisions are more likely to boost mac sales than they are to create any kind of meaningful normie migration to Linux. Especially if Apple goes through with the rumored low-cost macbook. That thing will sell like hotcakes, and macOS share is already growing as is.
We are many times more likely to see the "Year of the macOS desktop" than we are the "Year of the Linux desktop"
"MacOS 26 being super sluggish" is the kind of thing I only read here on this website. For me and everybody I know who upgraded to it it's running fine.
Yeah on my M1 it’s running as fast as it ever did. I have experienced a bug on both my personal and work Mac on 26 where the internal screen fails to turn on sometimes when using an external display. Hoping that gets fixed but otherwise I have no issues.
Can confirm, has been flawless for me. I waited until 2 weeks after release to upgrade, possible I avoided some initial friction that way.
The only device I’ve found more sluggish after this recent OS upgrade is my Apple Watch Ultra (gen 1).
Animations when navigating the OS are noticeably sluggish where the previous version was smooth as butter. This degradation has persisted through multiple minor version updates since, so it seems to be permanent.
Disappointing for what is marketed as the most powerful watch in their lineup.
Linux (with the "traditional" userspace) is a mess on the inside, has always been, and will always be. It blows my mind that there still isn't a universal, easy way to compile binaries that would run on any distro, of any version — something that all other mainstream OSes have solved from day one.
Yes, I know that AppImage and Flatpak are a thing. No, they are not the answer, because they, too, all come with their own issues.
There's a reason that Win32 is currently the stable ABI for Linux (via Wine/Proton).
And you know what? Tbh, I don't see a problem with that. If it keeps improving and eventually expands beyond gaming and can start running some of the stuff that can't currently (modern office, adobe stuff, etc.) then why not? There's decades of windows-only apps that there's just not enough time or talent in the world to re-create for Linux, so might as well put effort into Windows compatibility and just start running Windows apps.
And as linux is becoming more and more a corpo controlled monoculture, the time has never been better to switch to *BSD and illumos where true freedom awaits.
You mean the *NIXes that via their license hold dev freedom (and corporate freedom without the forced source publication) over user freedom (the purpose of the GPL)?
Even my mother of 75 years switched to a Mac. Microsoft does not understand the effect of these stupid decisions.
They also don’t seem to realize that MacOS was the operating system for many demos on the just finished dotnetConf …
If your developers don’t want to use your system how do you expect others to use it…
My parents are both 70+ and I put them on Linux (Ubuntu and Mint) a decade ago, best decision ever. All the frustration from Windows went away overnight. They are simple computer users - browsing (email, search, booking), opening PDFs, offloading photos from a camera and watching them, editing word documents and spreadsheets, everything just works with no friction. I'm so happy they never got to experience Windows 11.
A few months ago, I switched my aunt (70+ as well) to Linux Mint after repeated issues with Windows 10 and now 11. The last straw was the printer stopped working one day out of the blue. Tired to re-install it for over an hour, impossible! When I installed Mint and looked to add the printer, it was already there and ready to work. And for the user experience, I just sat her in front of the computer and asker her to do various tasks that she would normally do on Windows without any explanation, and she just did them intuitively. She even sent me a message a few days ago to thank me for installing Linux on her machine!
Microsoft keep shooting themselves in the foot with Windows, it's like they don't even care about consumer operating systems anymore. Most popular Linux distros are stable and easy to use, for an average computer user it's perfect. I also daily drive Linux (Bazzite, based on Fedora Silverblue) and it does everything I need - coding, browsing, games, it's all there. I'm never going back to Windows.
Sure. Except once upon a time ago, Microsoft was really big on dogfooding and it definitively was not ok for Microsoft's developers to not use Windows.
Seeing their employees using macs on stage at conferences sends a very clear message "don't bother with Windows. It isn't even good enough for our own staff to use."
What happened to "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!"? Ballmer was not a good CEO, but he understood at least that dev & enthusiast mindshare = your product being chosen and recommended elsewhere.
I always find funny that Windows, games consoles, mainframe, micros, and embedded software sprungs into existence via magic pixie dust, as developers only use UNIX.
OK, the headline got borked into ungrammatical garbage, but that's probably an HN filter thing.
MS is going all-in on something the users don't want... surprise! Your OS is going to be involuntarily made all-AI all-the-time. And somehow, this fundamental change isn't even worthy of a rev; it's still "Windows 11" - FWIW.
My favorite part of the article is when they refer to it (apparently accidentally) as MS Widows.
I can't open an app anywhere anymore without some popup in my way, excitedly telling me I can now use AI to <do what I've always done>, and I have choices of "Use now" or "Ask me later".
It would be wonderful if this were the final blow for Windows as a classic PC operating system and if Linux were to establish itself on the desktop as a more than reasonable, indeed unavoidable, alternative. The problem with AI is that it offers apparent solutions to non-existent problems. How long will big tech continue to back a horse that the general public does not want to ride?
There's sadly whole business and services sector that relies on deals with MS.
My mother mid pandemic placed an order for a hearing aid which is partially supported with money from our healthcare system. Unlike 10-15 years ago nowadays everything is digitalized and done by the Internet - clients are no longer running around the city with paper forms. Sadly that means every personal information, data is exposed to Windows and with W11 it's even less possible to avoid being harvested. Not mention always online browser software used for hearing tests that surely collects on its own.
> The good thing about AI is it offers assistance with old, tractable, problems
That doesn't sound very good. I'm not sure if it's sarcasm or a typo. If the problem is old and tractable, you don't need AI for it. You could use a simpler, more efficient, and more reliable technology.
PC manufacturers are bribed to use Windows, as always. Windows has a Soviet problem, it's like an Iron Curtain and most users will never thing of leaving it, if they do it's with kgb tourism agent called WSL. If Windows is a horse your certainly do not ride it, it rides you.
The problem is that I don't really trust a big company to have an agent monitoring me let alone all the phoning home it does, but in an alternative universe, I can see the vision here as creating something that is closer to a starship-type OS from scifi where interactions are increasingly natural. That's interesting, but at the same time, what does it mean when the computer has its own kind of volition and is more loyal to the company than to you?
Computers are too complicated for the average user. So many people have me on speed-dial to fix issues or walk them through stuff. And AI is surprisingly good at this stuff. If someone can simply say "Connect my bluetooth headphones" and the computer does it that's a big deal.
But this is balanced by the fact that we live in a world where all our software is effectively user hostile -- look for whatever means possible to extract more value from us. This is the society that we live in now.
Yeah, if I have an agent in my computer, I want it to work for me, and nobody else. Not the company that sold it to me, not the FBI or CIA, nobody but me. Otherwise it's not my computer.
> I can see the vision here as creating something that is closer to a starship-type OS from scifi where interactions are increasingly natural
Then you're a real optimist. I'm afraid this whole AI technology once settles down will be nothing more than a corporate tool to manipulate populations economic behavior and perception of the world. An antithesis to what for example was seen in Star Trek, and something even worse than HAL9000.
Readit News
These are not words that usually leads to user shouting "Yay, finally, what a pleasure this is to use now!". Why even use the word "pervasive" and the term "look at your screen", almost sounds like it's intentional to turn a specific segment of users away.
I feel like we're still discovering how security, privacy and LLMs connect together. Add in a OS-available MCP that has access to your computer and applications, and I feel like it's way too early to integrate it on that level, especially when they at the same time say "security is our top priority".
I don't think that's true anymore, and this proves it.
They did the security song and dance for a while because they were under pressure. Now AI is the number one priority over everything else, security be damned.
Dead Comment
But I prefer Debian Stable, for reasons both pragmatic and on-principle:
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/d...
(Or people can go to a confusing download page: https://www.debian.org/distrib/ )
The nice thing about Linux is that you have max choice. That can pose problems for new users who might be a bit overwhelmed but we shouldn't pretend that Canonical "owns" Linux or that everyone is necessarily going to land there. I recommend Mint when people tell me they're thinking of giving Linux a try. Haven't given Ubuntu a second thought in years.
Same for Fedora that I don't like also. I prefer to use RockyLinux or AlmaLinux if you really need a RHEL compatible system.
There are other options, most of them based on Debian or Ubuntu.
My desktop choice is ArchLinux with Plasma or XFCE4. No snaps, no crap.
My servers choice is RockyLinux 8 or 10.
I think it's horrible that they've taken extreme measures to overtly circumvent their users' desire to run the Firefox distributed through Mozilla's repo.
The following link describes how to overcome the latest version of Canonical's extreme insistence on the snap version of Firefox. It's almost laughable when you see how far they've gone to try to lock you in.
https://gist.github.com/jfeilbach/78d0ef94190fb07dee9ebfc340...
Pretty much the only things I miss out on are Microsoft Office and Photoshop. Gaming works astonishingly well on Linux these days with Steam+Proton.
This alone is the last frontier IMO. It's the only reason I still run Win11 on a gaming PC with a big Nvidia. Take that away and their marketshare will tank.
They have certainly made a lot of progress, but there are many of us that will be stuck unless all the new AAA titles are supported. Battlefield 6 is a notable recent example of a wildly popular game that you can't play on a Steam Deck.
Seems like it's really just the anti-cheat that is holding things up. I wish every game studio out there didn't have to come up with their own anti-cheat system. Is this something Valve could solve once and for all with their OS & platform? That seems like something that would make the 30% tax a lot more appealing to game studios.
Gamers are only one case that's currently being solved. Devs are already solved (except for iOS). Creatives are a different story entirely.
If anything, Microsoft's decisions are more likely to boost mac sales than they are to create any kind of meaningful normie migration to Linux. Especially if Apple goes through with the rumored low-cost macbook. That thing will sell like hotcakes, and macOS share is already growing as is.
We are many times more likely to see the "Year of the macOS desktop" than we are the "Year of the Linux desktop"
Lets hope they all buy a Mac.
The only device I’ve found more sluggish after this recent OS upgrade is my Apple Watch Ultra (gen 1).
Animations when navigating the OS are noticeably sluggish where the previous version was smooth as butter. This degradation has persisted through multiple minor version updates since, so it seems to be permanent.
Disappointing for what is marketed as the most powerful watch in their lineup.
Yes, I know that AppImage and Flatpak are a thing. No, they are not the answer, because they, too, all come with their own issues.
And you know what? Tbh, I don't see a problem with that. If it keeps improving and eventually expands beyond gaming and can start running some of the stuff that can't currently (modern office, adobe stuff, etc.) then why not? There's decades of windows-only apps that there's just not enough time or talent in the world to re-create for Linux, so might as well put effort into Windows compatibility and just start running Windows apps.
Fast, a slight learning curve(took me a weekend), and I'm back gaming and coding regularly.
A few months ago, I switched my aunt (70+ as well) to Linux Mint after repeated issues with Windows 10 and now 11. The last straw was the printer stopped working one day out of the blue. Tired to re-install it for over an hour, impossible! When I installed Mint and looked to add the printer, it was already there and ready to work. And for the user experience, I just sat her in front of the computer and asker her to do various tasks that she would normally do on Windows without any explanation, and she just did them intuitively. She even sent me a message a few days ago to thank me for installing Linux on her machine!
Microsoft keep shooting themselves in the foot with Windows, it's like they don't even care about consumer operating systems anymore. Most popular Linux distros are stable and easy to use, for an average computer user it's perfect. I also daily drive Linux (Bazzite, based on Fedora Silverblue) and it does everything I need - coding, browsing, games, it's all there. I'm never going back to Windows.
Just works.
Sure. Except once upon a time ago, Microsoft was really big on dogfooding and it definitively was not ok for Microsoft's developers to not use Windows.
Seeing their employees using macs on stage at conferences sends a very clear message "don't bother with Windows. It isn't even good enough for our own staff to use."
What happened to "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!"? Ballmer was not a good CEO, but he understood at least that dev & enthusiast mindshare = your product being chosen and recommended elsewhere.
Embedded into the operating system? Will they be helpful there?
IMO there are better ways
Developers building things like web apps can use macOS.
Developers developing for Windows, or who need Windows-only toolchains cannot.
MS is going all-in on something the users don't want... surprise! Your OS is going to be involuntarily made all-AI all-the-time. And somehow, this fundamental change isn't even worthy of a rev; it's still "Windows 11" - FWIW.
My favorite part of the article is when they refer to it (apparently accidentally) as MS Widows.
The shortened title has an unnecessary "enormous", but mangles actual meaning.
Will AI spare the children as well?
My mother mid pandemic placed an order for a hearing aid which is partially supported with money from our healthcare system. Unlike 10-15 years ago nowadays everything is digitalized and done by the Internet - clients are no longer running around the city with paper forms. Sadly that means every personal information, data is exposed to Windows and with W11 it's even less possible to avoid being harvested. Not mention always online browser software used for hearing tests that surely collects on its own.
Yes
The good thing about AI is it offers assistance with old, tractable, problems
When it is everywhere it is an unhelpful annoyance
That doesn't sound very good. I'm not sure if it's sarcasm or a typo. If the problem is old and tractable, you don't need AI for it. You could use a simpler, more efficient, and more reliable technology.
Why do I feel like Neowin is using AI to write its articles?
But this is balanced by the fact that we live in a world where all our software is effectively user hostile -- look for whatever means possible to extract more value from us. This is the society that we live in now.
Folks don't seem to have these problems on macs or their phones.
Then you're a real optimist. I'm afraid this whole AI technology once settles down will be nothing more than a corporate tool to manipulate populations economic behavior and perception of the world. An antithesis to what for example was seen in Star Trek, and something even worse than HAL9000.