Yeah, it's part of the identity crisis that emerged after someone decided the desktop UI should feel like a tablet or mobile UI.
"It's easy. Just add a cog icon for settings!"
Then, there's the whole free/ad supported model wherein you need an MS account, etc. I don't want to be integrated into your cloud metaverse. I don't want OneNote. I don't want Teams. I don't want to go through a whole phony tablet-like experience to get to the stuff I need.
I just want to use my machine as the productivity/dev tool I purchased.
I think they fundamentally no longer understand what the product is or should be.
I think they fundamentally no longer understand what the product is or should be.
On the contrary, I think they know what the product is quite well: it's you. All the ads they're shoving into everything are evidence that even if you're paying for it, you are still the product being sold.
I wish this was at least quantified. If they want $100 for "Ad-supported Windows", what would they charge for a system without (basically LTSB but intentionally sold as a quantity of one consumer product, I guess)
I've always assumed the "let's profile and sell the data" was a either a bubble waiting to pop in the face of something GDPR-alike, or a tail-wag-the-dog scenario where they're gradually killing $100-per-sale products for 30-cents-per-user-per-month of new revenue. Would be fascinating for both consumers and investors to see what dollar figures they're using.
"It's easy. Just add a cog icon for settings!"
Then, there's the whole free/ad supported model wherein you need an MS account, etc. I don't want to be integrated into your cloud metaverse. I don't want OneNote. I don't want Teams. I don't want to go through a whole phony tablet-like experience to get to the stuff I need.
I just want to use my machine as the productivity/dev tool I purchased.
I think they fundamentally no longer understand what the product is or should be.