I mean "Just fix Microsoft and change its direction to be less consistently hostile and disrespectful of users" is a solution...
"Put an end to the data and attention harvesting economy" is another.
...but...switching OSs was easier for me personally, until we figure out how to wrangle a tech behemoth or fix underlying problems with human civilization.
I think the problem here is that a majority of the power to change lies in Microsoft's hands. It's their OS, and there's not a whole ton we can do to halt their constant, greedy arrogance.
So, switching to Linux isn't the easiest "solve all your problems" solution, but in the long run it simply removes a lot of stress of constantly wondering what stupidity Microsoft is going to force on you next because they "know better" and figuring out how to counter it with some hacky fix. (But also knowing no matter how hard you try, the thing is built to profit off of you.)
If somehow we could make Windows feel like it was OURS instead of THEIRS again, I'm sure people would be all for it.
If it helps, I've been running OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on my main 3D/gamedev production rig for a while. Yes, using NVIDIA too!
It's a "rolling release", so it's cutting edge with supported hardware and all the software updates. It's surprisingly stable because of the automated testing they run through.
I've had bad updates before, BUT, if you install your system using the BTRFS file system (default), you get something called Snapper that works similar to "Windows System Restore". You can just roll back to a previous snapshot and either re-update or wait until things are more stable.
Nvidia has proprietary drivers for OpenSUSE as well, and since I've used those, I haven't had very many problems.
The biggest issue I have is that my machine has trouble waking from suspend. It's a tricky one to nail down, from what I understand.
Multiple monitors with different refresh rates is iffy, but I disabled "Kscreen" and have had no problems. (Don't worry about this but wanted to mention it just in case)
KDE is pretty neat and I felt at home coming from Win10. Now I only dual boot into Win10 for occasional games. I'm not touching Win11 at all, so I'll migrate my games over once 10 is no longer viable to hang on to.
Lastly, the community is really helpful and kind. They've helped me out a lot and I've learned a ton. Maybe I'm a nerd but I found "computing" to be a lot more fun on Linux. The biggest hazard being getting distracted cozying up your computer instead of whatever you signed on to do.
Sorry for the long post, but hope you might find it useful. :)
I think it's one of those things that just becomes mentally invisible after a while. Like Microsoft slowly just drops in a new bar here, a stock ticker there, and there's a point where a majority of folks are like "...Was that always there?" and don't bother hunting for a way to turn it off like we do lol.
It's just annoying to get around.
This right here is exactly why I jumped ship. Linux questions tend to be "How do I do this?" and ya learn something.
Microsoft questions tend to be: "Windows is trying to force some new commercially motivated shenanigans on me when I'm just trying to use the OS I already paid them for, how many clever steps must I take to work around their unending, ever-evolving nonsense... Until they pull something else with the next update?"
The complete obfuscation of making local accounts and pushing M$ accounts was infuriating.
(ducks)
Penguins. :D
TITS ASS
Tourette's Affected?
I always took based to be a sort of ironic agreement with a slight political connotation, especially if something said seems particularly "bold."
Essentially "You totally understand who you're talking to (your "base") and the subject at hand; This guy/gal gets it; This is 'based' on hard facts" (especially when seen as controversial and few will admit it.)
You can understand how this became conservative-shitpost parlance for a while but thankfully (and ironically) has become more depolarized. So now I see it like "Yeah this fellow human being understands their fellow human beings!"
"Brainpilled" is just a stupid shift from the term "Red pill", coined by The Matrix and eventually co-opted by conspiracy theorists and others with intense socializing difficulties (that are everyone else's fault, naturally.)
The idea being you made a choice to "see the truth" when nobody else wants to.
It eventually spawned "black pilled" which is a ridiculously nihilist idea that "I see how everything really works now, and it's all terrible and there's zero hope."
And now we're at "brainpilled", like the movie Limitless maybe? LOL. "This person sees it from some genius angle us mere mortals can barely comprehend. They're playing 5D chess and we're still playing Candyland."
I dunno, some of it is fun and descriptive. Some is braindead. Language is like any art, it's like Bruce Lee says: take what works and leave the rest behind. :)
...and then they're issued "chromebooks" and spied on by school staff. Ugh.
I'm convinced primary education as a system is engineered to teach you how to be a patriotic, service-consuming, rentable employee first and foremost. (Humans As A Service?) Secondary education just levels that up so you require more expensive proprietary tool licenses for the potential privilege of doing more complicated jobs. (Funny how all the critical-thinking specialties are derided for not making tons and tons of money.)
Thank God for the good teachers that inspired us in spite of all the odds against us (and them).
It also blows my mind how much schools and universities are struggling for funding, but take the bait and use hyper-proprietary black-box commercial software for everything from OSs to coursework. Professors outside of CompSci will be shocked and confused to see a student using Linux, and courses love to use stupid niche features of Microsoft Office so your LibreOffice work won't be good enough.
Man, I searched desperately for formal art training in school. The best they had was some "how to draw" book that at least kept me on track practicing every day. The colleges accessible to me have had "art" programs that are more the stuffy turtleneck gallery sort of stuff, and not anything practical, so I'm sad higher-ed didn't work out either.
I'm proud none of this stopped me so far, but dang I wonder if those kids who got to take art classes and have mentoring art teachers around art peers know just how dang lucky they've had it...
Dang now I wanna watch "Blue Period" again...
Don't worry it's getting better, especially since all the attention Steam Deck is getting.
Sorry it didn't go well the first time. The community is super friendly though, when you're ready to try again. :)