First RCS now this, today has been wild
I’m a Linux guy and I don’t really care about Windows, but I’m glad to see this happening and every day I thank Europe for being the main entity fighting for regulation of big tech monopolies, because America is really failing.
Its nuts that during the Obama admin, all anyone cared about was the threat of zero privacy. Now everyone in the US has surrendered to it, because our politicians have sold our digital privacy rights to the tech companies.
If we had actual IT giants in Europe, this would look very different.
I’ve seen how the car industry in Germany only got a slap on the wrist because of Dieselgate and even got the chance to send out advertisement payed by the government.
I feel like the only reason stuff like this gets pushed so hard is because we try to slow down the current IT giants until we get our shit together.
I’m glad that we do it, but i wouldn’t say we are better than anyone else.
Thanks for the honest take, a lot of people get caught up in the idea that if an organization does something that aligns with them, they are good or doing it for the same reasons.
There is a lot of protectionism at the heart of the EU. They are quite happy to heavily regulate Big Tech when it’s not based in their own market. Unfortunately they don’t have quite the same passion for nurturing the European tech industry as much as stifling the foreign ones.
They are it purely fighting these fights for the greater good, or they wouldn’t also be pushing things like the recent browser certificate debacle.
I mean we have SAP but they are probably not affected by this law.
SAP
All my homies hate SAP
Yeah because dieselgate was a travesty and all companies have a moral obligation to find ways around the idiocy of the US EPA as they actively make our cars more harmful to the environment by writing poorly thought out rules that encourage larger vehicles as well as completely failing to understand how to calculate diesel emissions for vehicles in a sensible manner.
Nah, it still would be much harder.
Because the EU exists out of many different countries with each their own government.
To lobby something through you have to bribe the majority of them, instead of just one.
EU is very much a mixed bag. On the one hand, they do this, on the other hand, they tried to ban P2P encryption and microtargetted religious and elderly in resisting countries, feeding them the classic “it’s for the children’s safety” lies.
Though we have to remind ourselves that it’s mainly the EU Commission who does this.
The Supreme Court spoke out against it from the very beginning, the Parliament voted against it, it’s really only the Commission who doesn’t want to understand that EU law applies to them, too.
Quite a few positions in there that need to be held by new people who understand the damn law.
America is getting paid to do it.
Maybe the FCC is still resisting for now.Did you mean FTC?
Not sure anymore. Maybe both I guess
That’s what I was talking about: https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/15/23962881/fcc-anti-digital-discrimination-pass
California is doing okay, all things considered
I wonder if Windows in Non-EU areas does not have this kind of choice.
Well, does not matter, I use Linux, too.
America empowers these bozos
I’m one illness or accident from being financially ruined, what do you really expect me to do about it?
Start a revolution.
America is a huge corporation.
This apparently only applies to Europe, say least for now.
Wait for it. Slow roll outs
How do you know someone uses Linux?
Don’t worry they’ll tell you
Hey hey hey, don’t just go around generalizing. Not all Linux users are like that (but I am, and I use arch BTW).
Like I’m sure we’re bound to find at least ONE Linux user who doesn’t tell.
That would be mee
Opsi
I use Linux (one that’s based on Arch btw) Make one guess at:
- my diet
- what I think is the best text editor
Seriously, how am I supposed to keep quiet when I find a clearly superior choice? Especially when most people feel a psychological barrier to trying it, that turns out to be not nearly as big as the adcantages.
diet: coffee
editor: vim
:wq
Points for the editor, but weirdly enough, not a lot of coffee (<1 per day) and I didn’t drink coffee at all before a few weeks ago.
at least meat-reduced diet
vim
Exactly! I use neovim as a full IDE (got started quickly using the nvchad template). And I think you know which “at least meat-reduced” diet is most associated with evangelizing ;)
what I think is the best text editor
ed?
As a Linux user (and ex arch user btw), I’m deeply offended.
ABOUT FUCKING TIME. Take edge and shove it so far up your data tracking sphincter of a face hole.
Can we please get these laws on a global level.
Well they’ll probably reinstall it with every update anyway.
That is easy enough to block or deal with.
At least there’s the option to remove it at all that the non tech people can now easily access.
I can’t wait to see what this breaks and how the fix is to reinstall edge for all kinds of mundane issues.
Turns out edge is what renders the entire UI and uninstalling it leaves you at the console. Oh and you can’t access files because the file system is an http server accessed via edge. But it does come with QBASIC, so there’s that.
… then disable the update …
Not really possible anymore, Microsoft has been forcing updates since Windows 10.
I’m not disagreeing, but what entity would enforce those global laws?
I vote for angry mob with convenient access to an active volcano.
Who needs a volcano when woodchippers can park right in your driveway.
Remember to load them feet first kids!
*jots down ‘load kids feet first into chipper’
Wait, is Microsoft violating child labor laws, too!?
Well, your heart’s in the right place.
And apparently the kids feet are in the right place too!
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La Haye International Court of Justice, of course.
And what happens when the country in question is one that doesn’t care that much about the ICC, and responds “make me”?
To wit: The United States has famously refused to subordinate itself to the ICC
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If I have to keep a chromium browser around, in addition to Firefox, I’d rather edge than mainline Chrome.
For me i went with DuckDuckGo + Firefox
95℅ of the time on Firefox and DDG is just for YouTube ( even in it’s current Beta state it can bypass YouTube’s anti adblocker )
Edge is just too problematic, Microsoft opened up Dark patterns 1.0.1 and forked Chromium and voila >> NSA certified browser
That’s a false dichotomy. There’s no shortage of Chromium browsers that are significantly better than both.
Suggestions? Preferably for both Windows and Mac
Not sure which ones are compatible with Mac. Brave is my choice but there’s also Vivaldi and several flavors of Opera.
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All Mac browsers are just Safari anyway
You might be thinking of iOS browsers? Mac browsers use a variety of engines
Brave seems like a superb option.
Opera seems like a reasonable option, I guess, but I’m not sure if it has the market share to actually be seen and controversial if there was something to be controversial about.
I’m not sure I would. Edge is trash, it keeps shoving the AI bullshit, all the MSN news stuff, ads for cheaper shopping, all in your face when you first start up. While you can turn it off, it gets annoying doing that every time you reinstall or spin up a new VM. Chrome, for all its faults, is a lot less annoying freshly installed.
I appreciate your sense of relief, but don’t share it. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has been ordered to stop pushing its stuff (remember Internet Explorer?) and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Nope. But hey look, the Democrats are coming to take your guns!
Why yes Microsoft, I am totally a European in Europe right now…
VPN to Sweden, update Windows to the EEA version, profit?
I’m not holding my breath, but we can hope.
It 's wild to think that some people might VPN to the EU for basic rights.
Freedom!
You wouldn’t pirate basic human rights, would you?
Välkommen!
Bless you.
Hey, 'Muricans, how come we need to pressure every company into compliance for you?
Do you really think any average citizen has any say in this whatsoever?
Yes. You’re a democracy, right? Right?
On paper yes. In reality…
Isn’t that the point of your guns? Why are all these less free states more free?
Nah, those are just so we can shoot nonwhite people and say we thought they had a gun
well, on paper also no, democracy don’t exist with only two parties, and that is writed in paper
An electoral democracy, we choose those that make the laws. Due to the 2 party system we don’t have many options for when they fail to do what they claim they will.
No, we’re a republic.
A true democracy would empower each of us to do as you say, but that’s not what’s here.
Our republic is quite corrupt due to greed and power, as well… Not as corrupt as many countries out there, mind you, but it’s alot worse than it should be.
We’re starting to resemble a corporatocracy in many ways these days as a result of all this.
Great America, land of the free
Free to be shot at and advertised to
See: Regulatory Capture
Sorry, our country is currently on fire 😕
For $100,000 the US Congress will tell you!
Nah. Those corps will still do it at home or sell it as PR at home.
Idk, how come we need to fund your wars?
Which war? Help me out here. Vietnam? Iraq? Korea? I’m lost here … Oh wait…
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So your answer is "I could tell you, but I won’t " and a personal attack? Talk about “not flattering on you”.
So: which war the EU is involved in are you “funding”?
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yeah, if i have to TELL you then you’re not really SORRY about it ARE YOU
Hey, 'Peans, how come you think a country larger than your pseudo continent is a homogenous hivemind?
E: what Ive learned from this comment is that apparently, all europeans share 1 single trait, which is just utterly horrid reading comprehension
Because Europe is so fucking homogenous that we stared 2 world wars just because we agree so much
We agreed so much in the past that the 30 years war could never have happened in Euro… Oh.
They agree with eachother so much in eastern Europe that there are no wars and everyone just hugs. Oh wait.
Well, we could agree on those two things, at least…
If you think saying “that nation isnt homogenous” means “all other nations are homogenous” you probably shouldnt weigh in on adult convos
Erm… Larger by land mass? Yes. Larger by GDP? No. Larger by number of inhabitants? No. Larger by amount of vastly different cultures that somehow get stuff like this done whole very decidedly not being a hive mind? Also no.
Lmfao you think europe is more culturally diverse than a country with thousands of cultures from around the world? Thats hilarious.
ThEre ArE no iMmIgRaNtS in EuRopE
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Firstly, no one said that. Secondly if you think the amount of immigrant populations in europe are as large or as old as the ones in America you’re understanding of history is even worse than what the Americans know. Europe now has migration like the US did 40+ years ago. The amount and blending of cultures in America is wildly larger than Europe. The fact that y’all are starting to get what the US has had for decades doesn’t make Europe more diverse.
As an American, you’re being silly. You’ve heard of the Silk Road? The Mediterranean? The Old World has been rubbing shoulders with each other since 4000+ years ago. We just got here in comparison.
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Firstly, no one said that.
Let me quote:
Lmfao you think europe is more culturally diverse than a country with thousands of cultures from around the world? Thats hilarious.
So yeah. That.
The rest of your comment is blatantly ignorant AND horridly racist, so I think I’ll just do is both a favor and ignore it.
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Where in your quote does it say europe has no immigrants?
40 years counts as quite a long time in american history i suppose
I mean, in terms of humans that’s 2 generations, and since diversity and populations concern humans, that’s a big head start. But you can keep applying off topic cliches if they help you feel better.
The majority of the immigrant population in 'Murica are from Europe.
I bet this person is one of those “actually, I’m 1/8th Irish” people…
It is certainly more diverse lol
American moment
The US is smaller than Europe in size of population and in area.
Thank you Europe. Once again you prove yourself to be what we all aspire to be.
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It’s a shame that this is only for users in the EEA though, I understand why they didn’t make it a blanket change, but we can dream
Hey, I’ll change to use the N version of windows if it’ll get me this feature. Forced software on your devices is something I loathe.
You probably just have to change your region to any EEA country, such as Ireland.
As an American, all I can say is thank you Europe for continuing to have sensible legislation that forces these companies to have decent policies worldwide if only to comply with EU laws. I only use Windows on my company provided laptop but just because I don’t need to worry about it personally doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t care about how it affects others.
We’re basically dependent on the EU and California to have any rights as consumers at all.
That’s pretty crazy when I think about it. And I’m from within the EU.
Don’t forget California’s emissions standards effectively forcing car manufacturers to make more efficient vehicles for the entire NA market!
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So apparently having consumer-friendly laws does in fact lead to better products. Cool.
Perhaps the USA and other countries should follow the EU’s good example on this.
Omg, I can’t believe this is happening !!
Today when I updated Windows11, I got copilot and we were discussing how it’s unacceptable to not let me uninstall Microsoft Edge, well I was, Copilot was just chilling it, but it did agree eventually
But this is only happening in Europe, which means Microsoft didn’t suddenly turn pure hearted, it’s just the law forcing them into it …
Yeah this isn’t as good as it sounds, the other 5 continents are still stuck with all of this garbage.
If they don’t make it international, they’re asking for piracy
They’ll just enable/disable features based on geolocation. I doubt it’ll be a whole different version like in the good old days.
If that’s the case then a determined user could enable these hidden features via Powershell, only time will tell
Yup, but then you’ll still have the same frustration we have now, running the script every time there’s a feature update and the bloat gets reinstalled. If it wasn’t for games and work I’d be using nothing but macOS and Linux.
If it wasn’t for games and work I’d be using nothing but macOS and Linux
same , although I don’t play games…
And I’ll never use Apple products, one abuser ( Microsoft ) is enough for me
Skill issue, what’s stopping other countries from creating better laws?
The problem is that showing enough politicians money effectively makes you become the government. There’s minimal chance of a law being introduced unless a rich person or corporation backs it, and EU laws would interfere with their shady business practices.
Not big enough to force companies to make large changes. The US is, China and India are. But what about Australia or New Zealand? Or any of the individual south american countries? Too many changes, microsoft or one of the other big players will just pull out of the market, or threaten to pull out.
If they already have a version compatible with EU law, they will just roll it out instead of removing an entire country from their market.
Would be a bad business move otherwise.
Of course, only if the laws don’t force even more restrictions.
Lobbying, at least here in the US.
Valve only started doing 2-hour refunds after Australia twisted their arm about it. They brought it to the world, and it became an incredible selling point. Perhaps this will be the same thing.
Valve is a lot more consumer friendly to begin with, though. Don’t get me wrong, they did heaps of bad things too, but compared to Microsoft?
I’m not gonna hold my breath on this one
Yeah, I hope so 🤞
I was going to say, this sounds fantastical in some places.
I got Dev Home on my home rig. Swifly executed the powershell command to uninstall thr sYsTeMs aPp.
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We don’t need another web based app…Just give us the .deb, .exe, .msi or whatever…
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No thanks. I don’t need more apps bloating up my browser and slowing it down even more. Plus what if they don’t support my choice of browser? Now we’re back to square one. Just port the programs over to run on the OS. Much less headache that way
That’s more finger printing to get tracked by, no thanks. I like to keep my browser apps slim and generic as possible to blend in with other privacy concerned people.
At th same time, I 100% understand why you would find it appealing, and recognize it may very well be a good thing overall.
Lots of things already have Linux alternatives; I’ve heard people mostly stay on Linux for the anticheat-enabled games that are usually only one developer setting away from Linux compatibility.
Wrappers can be used to do it locally.
Some Android apps are basically nothing more than a web agent.
Give me the basics of the web end with a pretty html5 rendered front end locally and done. No need for web apps for which you are required to be online at all times.
I can’t think of tasks that can only be done with MS. unless you mean playing specific games, then that could be something
excel VBA macros is very bad on Linux
if you’re stuck on Excel VBA macros and are not open to other options, then you get what you deserve
Yeah turns out businesses behave when you legislate their misdeeds instead of just calling them job creators
Thank god for Europe!
god has nothing to do with it
You know what I mean. Sheesh.
Thank our lizard Queen in heaven.
I do understand - but as a society we’re working to remove unnecessary gendered terms from our language. I believe in doing similar with religious terms.
Language is important. If we’re thanking a deity for the work of government it’s both minimalising the work of elected representatives and exclusionary to other cultures.
In this moment, you are euphoric.
Ramen brother, Ramen!
Now there will be two versions of Windows. One that adheres to EU regulation, and another that’s filled with ads for everyone else.
Windows 12 Euro Trash Edition and Windows 12 Red Blooded God Anointed American Edition. If either crosses the EU boarder the computer will explode killing everyone in a 10 meter radius.
I feel like that might also violate some regulations
Yes, American munitions export controls
Alright. What about Windows 12: European cringe edition?
And the Geneva convention
It’ll be one version, they’ll just force certain “features” on you based on the region you’re in as determined by your system time, GPS location, or IP address
system time, GPS location, or IP address
They can all easily be spoofed or changed.
They say if you don’t pay, you’re the product, but that’s obviously bullshit, paying solves nothing. The saying should be never trust corporations.
Regulation works.
Only in EU/EEA countries. So us here in
GileadAmerica are SOL at the momentAt last. This is actually good news for Windows itself because people will be more inclined to use it again if they don’t see ads, aren’t tracked, can set any default browser etc.
So it’s good for both users and Microsoft.
Sometimes these corporations just can’t help themselves by adding trash and they need a mommy figure to force them to stop doing that which ultimately benefits themselves.
