So, back in the day, you paid for a Windows license. An exorbitant amount unless you had a .edu email. You paid once, and they left you the fuck alone. No data/telemetry collection; MS had gotten its pound of flesh and was quite content to wait until a new version came out so you could either pay another license fee or just buy a new computer.
Now, the OS is functionally free because you are the product.
I picked up a mini PC a couple of years ago with Win11 Pro, 16GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD for $99. Only a few versions prior, a full license cost more than this whole machine, and some inflation happened in the interim.
If you have a pihole, it becomes immediately apparent just how often Windows is attempting to phone home. This is what’s commonly referred to as “surveillance capitalism.”
I’m going to guess you also use Facebook if any of this is a surprise to you.
A full license still costs more than the whole machine, assuming you just want to buy a license. The machine you bought probably had an OEM license on it though, which is priced differently. Also, there are cheaper places to buy Windows keys online, so nobody should really be spending $200 on a license for their home machine.
Why it costs $200 for pro and they still try to sell you shit in the settings menu is beyond me. I’m still on the hunt right now for a Linux distro I like that isn’t a nightmare to maintain with a modern NVIDIA GPU though, so I’m stuck with it for now.
I have a 2080 and have been running Pop_OS as my only OS for about 6 months now. It has been incredibly solid. I have also heard Bazzite is good, but have only tried it on an old MacBook with dual GPUs. It did not do great there, but I think that is an issue with the laptop, not bazzite
So, back in the day, you paid for a Windows license. An exorbitant amount unless you had a .edu email. You paid once, and they left you the fuck alone. No data/telemetry collection; MS had gotten its pound of flesh and was quite content to wait until a new version came out so you could either pay another license fee or just buy a new computer.
Now, the OS is functionally free because you are the product.
I picked up a mini PC a couple of years ago with Win11 Pro, 16GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD for $99. Only a few versions prior, a full license cost more than this whole machine, and some inflation happened in the interim.
If you have a pihole, it becomes immediately apparent just how often Windows is attempting to phone home. This is what’s commonly referred to as “surveillance capitalism.”
I’m going to guess you also use Facebook if any of this is a surprise to you.
A full license still costs more than the whole machine, assuming you just want to buy a license. The machine you bought probably had an OEM license on it though, which is priced differently. Also, there are cheaper places to buy Windows keys online, so nobody should really be spending $200 on a license for their home machine.
Why it costs $200 for pro and they still try to sell you shit in the settings menu is beyond me. I’m still on the hunt right now for a Linux distro I like that isn’t a nightmare to maintain with a modern NVIDIA GPU though, so I’m stuck with it for now.
I pity the fool who pays full price for a Windows license. I of course immediately formatted and switched to Linux.
I have a 2080 and have been running Pop_OS as my only OS for about 6 months now. It has been incredibly solid. I have also heard Bazzite is good, but have only tried it on an old MacBook with dual GPUs. It did not do great there, but I think that is an issue with the laptop, not bazzite
I wonder how the place that sold me the license for Windows 11 Pro for $6 did it. It still works for some reason.