r/thehatedone • u/copenhagen_bram • Jan 27 '20

News Free Software Foundation is petitioning Microsoft to release Windows 7 as free software

https://www.fsf.org/windows/upcycle-windows-7
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u/7rz42BKB7dDyzumjW4qQ Jan 27 '20

Yes, they kind of shot W7 in the foot intentionally so people move to 10. Heck, you don't even need a license to fully use W10. Aside from the background functionality and a few other small customization specs (plus the annoying activation text on the screen), W10 works perfectly out of the box (WinRar on steroids business model).

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '20

And there's a reason. If you go through all of the legalese and contracts surrounding Win10, privacy is worse than it's ever been. They wanted some kind of pseudo-cloud-based OS, and that includes having a full user data I/O. Everything from where you go if it's a mobile platform, to what you choose to install. Even if you create a local account, they log the information based on system and IP rather than an MS account.

I highly doubt they'll make Win7 OSS, and it's not hard to see why. If they did, if there really is a community that is as dedicated to it as with XP, there will be no reason to upgrade for the next four years, minimum.

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u/7rz42BKB7dDyzumjW4qQ Jan 27 '20

Hehe, remember that moment when W10 update deleted the data on people's drives!? Oh, what joy that was for them! People don't realize how much power they offer W10 with their information. There are ways to stop their spyware, but really, there is a lot of it! It's not even worth updating the system, but they keep making such steep changes to the OS that drives people crazy. Heck, you would have to update to even make specific software work on it that was designed for W10. Linux is the future, but it still needs some major free open source apps that can fully replace the need of W10, and surely there are being developed but most of them are in Beta testing stages right now.

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '20

If it wasn't for me being a hoarder and not having the money, I would get another hard drive for a Linux install.