Though why Microsoft continues to do business with a company that thought it was a good idea to install a root certificate (with a publicly known private key) onto every single laptop they sold so they could MITM some ads into websites is beyond me.
I have a Microsoft computer (a Surface Laptop) and it's not that bad. There are dumb news stories in the search menu and it pleadingly tries to stop you from using Firefox, but then the interface is pretty clean.
>and it pleadingly tries to stop you from using Firefox,
But you gotta realise, for an OS, this is already too much..
I naively expect my OS to help me organise my files and provide a platform to run applications. And that's about it.
The weird thing is Microsoft seems to be acting as if they're competing madly against some competitor and must keep up the updates and new features and be constantly changing things to keep peoples' attention. But I'm sure this hasn't been the case for quite a while now.
Back in around 2014 or 2015, when my wife and I bought Surface Pro 3s (Windows 8), Microsoft sold them at their stores more or less "clean" -- none of the shovelware crap a lot of non-Microsoft hardware was sold with (I don't remember the branding for that anymore). I remember how shocked I was to see Candy Crush on the Start Menu when I upgraded to Windows 10.
>it pleadingly tries to stop you from using Firefox
I actually have never experienced this. What I HAVE seen is that if you accidentally open a not-firefox browser, it asks whether you want to make it the default.
Though why Microsoft continues to do business with a company that thought it was a good idea to install a root certificate (with a publicly known private key) onto every single laptop they sold so they could MITM some ads into websites is beyond me.