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Windows 12 May Require a Subscription
(www.pcmag.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I guess I feel like "spend your money however you want" does a disservice to people who are not tech savvy who will now be pushed into a subscription model because they don't know any better. And they don't deserve to be kicked to the curb just because they don't have the computer knowledge to understand that Microsoft is fleecing them.
Offering them an alternative is great. Offering them 10 alternatives is just confusing. At best it will push them over to a Mac or a Chromebook because at least they know what those are.
The move to a subscription model is the disservice and requires no particular savvy to differentiate from free.
Macs and Chromebooks are fine for some people and won't require as much hand holding as a direct Linux install regardless of the distro.
People are going to rely on what others recommend when they don't know themselves. It's up to those people to cull the list from ten to two.
Is the person a budding tech that wants to hack on their system? Send them to Arch.
Are they a creative looking to craft? Throw them into Ubuntu Studios.
Maybe they're grandparents who barely understand tech. Ok, Mint or Elementary are good options... Just maintain SSH access with keys.
The options are a strength.