Quote:
Originally Posted by BetterRed
If MS adds high function features to Windows the regulatory authorities come down on them like a ton of bricks at the behest of the 3rd party developers, if a 3rd party developer reverse engineers a MS product the regulators turn a blind eye… or give the 3rd party developer a grant.
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I think it's a bit more nuanced than that and also relates to "can the feature /program be turned off" for reasons of privacy, or using an alternative, that might suit better or work better.
Also they deliberately added apis not needed to Win95 so Office 95 would not run on Win3.11/WFWG3.11, even with Win32s. So they then had to upgrade NT 3.5 to NT 3.51, and some got that upgrade free.
NT 4.0 didn't have USB. Except it did via a belated service pack, but MS marketing killed that to boost Win2000 sales. However many waited for XP Sp1 as Win2K was released unfinished (NT 5.0 and NT 5.1).
Win9x was promoted to buisness and had no security. WinME was a disaster.
Now we have Copilot (Clipit/clippy 2.0) and Recall coming.
Outlook (especially the version with Windows) was always a disaster. IE had stupidity built in (I forget, ActiveX or OCX sor something) yet you couldn't disable it. Eventually they lost a court case and Browser choice had to be provided. They have ignored it with Edge.
If Win10 or Win11 isn't a Corporate version you have to go through hoops or use CLI to create local users.
If you replace something on the PC, Wiindows and various office programs may want re-authorised. This may involve a long phone call typing in numbers from screen to keypad and hearing a too fast long code to type on screen.
I sold, installed and gave training and wrote programs for Windows for over 10 years, because the alternatives where either not as good or too expensive (up till 2006). That's not been true now for over 10 years. OS gone slowly downhill on GUI and increased bloat since 2003. Many GUI changes since 2007 stupid. Increasing bloat and removal of little used but important features because telemetry is misunderstood.
I switched completely in Jan 2017. I'd put it off for years, because migration always has pain.