OK, I admit it: I just kind of hate it when people make me do stuff, period. And I really have a love-hate relationship with technology; I work with it, I create with it, and I love what it can do for me, but the time has long passed when I want to mess with it intrinsically. I want it to get out of my way and let me get work done. And for the last god-knows-how-many years, Windows 10 has been remarkably stable and gotten out of my way, for which I truly appreciate it. But the time has finally come when for some reason Microsoft has decided in their wisdom that I have to either upgrade to Windows 11 or let hackers spank my computer in the butt.
To be clear; nobody is making me upgrade to Windows 11, in theory. Microsoft agents are not standing at my front door making me do this. But the reality of the modern internet is that, without constant bugfixes, any operating system becomes more and more brittle and fragile and easy to break into over time. It’s like having a home security system but nobody monitoring it anymore.
Now, you might say that it’s fully within Microsoft’s rights to not want to keep writing bugfixes for old software they wrote 15 years ago. And I get that; I agree. But here’s the thing: they are already writing those fixes. They, in fact, give them to certain customers, like Enterprise customers. They even had a program where they were selling those fixes called Extended Security Updates. But for some reason - and I honestly don’t know why - they’ve decided that I’m not allowed to buy those fixes. I think they’re mad because I replaced my motherboard or something. I don’t know; I can’t figure it out and I’m sick of messing with it.
So, to recap: they have fixes for Windows 10, and they will even sell them, but they won’t sell them to me. And I’m not even honestly sure why. The whole thing feels like some kind of weird high school popularity contest mixed with a mobster protection racket, and it’s honestly pissing me off. But realistically, my only options are: a) keep using Windows 10 and just hope and pray, b) upgrade to Windows 11 or c) don’t use Windows anymore. “a” is bad, “c” probably will happen someday but not today, so yeah, it’s “b”.
Now, you may ask why I don’t want Windows 11. Well, partially it’s just because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But also, Windows 11 is, well…modern. In some good ways maybe, but also in some bad ways. It has ads. It has AI all over the place. It’s…chatty. It has fancy graphics. It’s “Helpful”. It shows you news and weather. It wants you to install stuff; OneDrive or Edge or ClipChamp or god knows what else. It is not a tool which respects your time; it is a TikTok channel. And it’s only getting worse with time.
So, yeah. Microsoft: you suck. I don’t want your damn Windows 11, and when I do install it - which I will, because after all I need to get work done - it won’t be because I want to, it’ll be because you shook me down for my time, and I will resent you for it.