Windows 11 is spyware. Windows 8 and 10 really shook off the pretense of your own computer being independent of centralized control in their attempt to provide a smartphone-like interface. But Windows 11 takes hostility towards the user to another level.
Forced Microsoft account just to use the computer
A couple years ago, a friend purchased a new laptop running Windows 11. I helped him to set it up, and for the first time (not having set up a Windows machine since Windows 7) was presented with a screen instructing me to create a Microsoft account. Not to use some Microsoft service like Office or Hotmail, but simply to use the computer. Well, a quick Internet search showed me how to bypass this screen, which is something that a normal, non-technical user would probably not even consider doing. I was able to follow the steps and bypass the Microsoft account creation and just set up a local account for him on his own computer he paid for. When it came time to set up two more Windows 11 machines, one for myself and one for a family member, Microsoft had changed the process and made it impossible to set up the computer without creating a Microsoft account. So I did. (I later installed Linux because Windows, as usual, stopped functioning properly).
Windows Store and S-Mode; Appleization of Windows
The requirement to create an online account is essential to the Appleization of Windows, where Microsoft is happy to tell you what you can and can’t do with your own computer. This dictatorship continues with the advent of S Mode, which is a default setting on some Windows 11 computers that prevents the user from installing software outside the “App Store”-esque Windows Store. And to disable S Mode requires you to install a tool from the Windows Store, which is known to be buggy like other Microsoft software. Like the iPhone, Windows 11 comes with its own browser, the Chromium-based (itself becoming another monopoly) Edge browser. This browser cannot be uninstalled easily, and if you keep the computer in S Mode, alternative browsers like Chrome are unavailable. S Mode is a radical departure from previous iterations of Windows that let you install whatever compatible software you want.
“cloud” tie-ins, AI, ads, and spyware, oh my
Windows 11 is constantly sending “telemetry” (usage) data back to Microsoft and third parties. It’s also full of AI garbage and ads throughout. So much malware, in fact, that the developers over at pXc made a tool called “DoNotSpy11” to disable it because the built in toggles were rather useless. Even the office suite Microsoft makes now automatically saves your documents to their cloud servers by default. Microsoft even shows ads in the File Explorer. All this makes you dependent on them and is highly invasive to both privacy and security. To Microsoft, it’s their computer, you’re just the schmuck that pays them.
While not everyone has the technical skills to switch to GNU/Linux, even a Mac would be a better choice than Windows 11. At least for now, until they make it so you can’t disable Gatekeeper, which they definitely have the power to do.