[leeter]

When MS removed Solitaire and made it an app, that should have been the sign to move.

When they introduced a mobile first UI onto a desktop OS...

When they forced mandatory Microsoft accounts...

When they started saving files that had no place being in one drive to the cloud by default and charging people for it...

When they announced the worst AI privacy disaster in computing OS history...

When their updates refused to install cleanly and bricked people's computer to the point of hardware damage...

Seriously thinking I might have Stockholm syndrome at this point. To me the best windows would be Windows 11's kernel and libraries with Windows 7's UI and apps. Because it's been all down hill (generally) since there.

[hbn]

It's not stockholm syndrome for a lot of people. Microsoft is so firmly entrenched in so much of the corporate world that you can't get away from them. My mom was in the market for a new laptop recently, and I so badly wanted to get her setup with a MacBook Air, but it's not an option because the Sage accounting software she uses for my dad's business is Windows only. And furthermore, the business itself (a small pawn shop) is forced to use some specific software to manage inventory (I believe it allows police to access the database to track serial numbers in finding stolen goods or something), which is a webapp using some antiquated decades-old technology that only runs in Microsoft Edge's IE-compatibility mode (which has become a more and more difficult incantation to enable over the years) and I believe that can only be used on the Windows version of Edge.

For me it's currently the minimal-hassle way to make my Steam library runnable. But it feels like we're moving in a good direction thanks to Valve's efforts where one day I may be able to never boot into Windows on my PC.

[NortySpock]

I've switched to Linux Ubuntu KDE desktop, play my games on Steam Proton, and I'm happy.

[Razengan]

> When they introduced a mobile first UI onto a desktop OS…

That's when I jumped to Macs and haven't looked back since. Windows is just a glorified game console to me now, but I have enough fun with PS5/Switch exclusives.

Though macOS is also becoming annoying, not quite to that breaking point yet, but worrying

Meanwhile Linuxland seems like a chaos of 10000 people who all think they're right, under an anal overlord

Maybe it's time to dig the Commodore 64 back up? :')

But who cares though, soon AI will make operating systems meaningless, right?

[intrasight]

I still have a Win7 VM I fire up sometimes for nostalgia sake. Beautiful and snappy. Bittersweet.

[krater23]

I still use Windows 7 regulary. And guess what, the virus and bot apocalypse doesn't happened as the support stopped.

[1718627440]

> To me the best windows would be Windows 11's kernel and libraries with Windows 7's UI and apps.

Does anyone now how to achieve that? What happens when you replace the kernel in a Windows 7 installation with the one from Windows 11? How is the manual update procedure for kernels on MS Windows?