My non Linux savvy spouse is currently dual booting Linux Mint because Windows has become so frustrating to use.
Mint isn’t perfect. We’ve run into a few bugs and shortcomings. But there’s a big difference between dealing with genuine issues in an OS and using one that feels actively hostile and designed to exploit the user.
If both experiences can be frustrating, why choose the one that’s frustrating by design (unless you absolutely have to) ?
This strategy worked so well for Bing
Instead they made me addicted to Linux.
Yeah every time I get on my laptop it’s a little more unrecognisable and unusable to me. Will be getting in Linux as soon as I get a chance.
What’s stopping you so far?
Time more than anything, im only on it about 2 hours once a month
Gotta produce dopamine for that to happen. Not cortisol.
Yeah but one day they will hack it, like every form of advertising and addiction that was pushed on us since tobacco. This is just a new frontier that is unknown right now, like explaining the ridiculous idea of future social media addiction to a user in 2005.
<laughs in linux>

That shit should set off alarm bells of all regulators… but we elect people who don’t give a fuck so…
Hahahaha suck it, Microslop. I look forward to your Chapter 11 filing.
I will never EVER give an AI agency over any of my personal accounts.
You are not the target audience.
Oh we’re the target, just not the customer.

Only Scout believed in himself.
Ah yes, Cortana and Copilot both suck, but surely third time’s the charm. And when Scout is, inevitably, unpopular as well? We’ll see what they call number four.
“A little sign in here, a touch of wifi there…”
That’s all I know of Cortana.
🔇
That’s Mambo No. 6
Not sure why that had to come on automatically at maximum volume every time, but the number of times I’ve finished backing up and re-imagine a computer at 3 AM, on to have her start hollering at the exact moment my head hits the pillow, is too damn many
You forgot clippy, but everyone forgets about clippy unless it’s in this exact context. Or it’s Norfolk wizard game.
I can’t believe I forgot Clippy…
Is there any fundamental diffidence between Copilot and Scout, or is it just a straight up rebranding?
My impression is that scout is specifically going to be an agentic ai. Agentic ai platforms are supposedly a little more competent than chatbots, but still subject to the same llm chicanery and enormous energy usage.
It’s hard to compare against copilot because MS has called a ton of distinct things copilot (see the diagram below).

You forgot they called it Bing in the middle too
Cortana was actually really good on Windows Phone but they dumbed it down and added all sort of crap to it by the time it was integrated onto the desktop. They could’ve doubled down on whatads it good but nope.
Did they try making it good?
That’s the beauty of it (from their viewpoint), they don’t have to make it good, just unavoidable.
yes, good at self-destructing.
Create a captive audience through monopoly or near monopoly on a given market, then charge them more for a worse version of the product, reducing costs and maximizing profits, it’s always been the goal with corporate capitalism, look at the whole Copilot and GitHub situation right now.
microslop can fuck off.
I think you mean to say: “microslop can slop off”
Microfuck can slop off.
Fuckroslop can slop off.
Sloprofuck can fuck slop
do you really wanna be admitting that addiction is your goal?
A $6 Million Jury Verdict Ruled Social Media Is Addictive.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/anishasircar/2026/03/30/a-6-million-jury-verdict-ruled-social-media-is-addictive-now-what/That kind of fine is a pittance.
true. but this one wasn’t a class action, either… just one plaintiff.