Microsoft Windows has been reigning supreme for over 40 years. The OS from Redmond has been the de-facto choice for consumer computing for a long time. Microsoft managed to unify a largely fragmented industry (at the time) forming a coherent platform named 'Wintel'.
This left Microsoft uncontested as the OS of choice in the consumer market and has been reaping the benefits ever since.
Recently Microsoft switched Windows to being a service. You might have heard about this before. Microsoft claimed that Windows 10 would be the 'last version of windows'. Since then Microsoft has been treating Windows as a service it offers consumers. You can even legally download and run Windows for free.
I have been paying for my own copies of Microsoft Windows for over 25 years (something not common in my part of the woods) and have recently switched full-time to using Linux as a desktop OS.
Windows has traditionally been the desktop operating system of choice for me because of gaming. Up until recently it was my (our) only choice for PC gaming. That was until Valve introduced the Proton compatibility layer and made the widespread adoption of Linux as a viable operating system for gaming possible [disclaimer: SOME tinkering might be required].
I am now fed up with how Microsoft treats its users so here's a few reasons you also shouldn't be using Windows.
You are the product
This sudden change in direction ultimately changed the way Microsoft monetizes the platform. You no longer pay for the operating system. So how does Microsoft make any money from it? It's simple.
Through market penetration / dominance and advertising.
Simply put, if you're not paying for a product, you're the product.
The first and fairly immediate indication is the countless prompts for information sharing during Windows 11 installation. There are more screens about sharing information with Microsoft and advertising about relevant products than there are screens about technical stuff (which disk to use etc).
Then there's the literally countless settings about information sharing scattered throughout [intentionally] poorly designed and thought-out interface dialogues and prompts.
It is impossible to enumerate the ways in which Windows shares your information with Microsoft and partnered advertisers. There is no single window that presents a choice with a switch that you can simply turn off. That would void the only monetization method for Windows.
Declining quality
Since becoming a service the quality of Windows has steadily declined. The feeling I have been getting from the OS is one of instability. Multiple bugs that never seem to get fixed, multiple presentation interface choices with classic and metro UI etc. The start menu has not been functional in years thus people have stopped using it. Windows search has a mind of it's own and simply doesn't work.
That is not taking into account the horrible job Windows does with UX. It feels (and it probably isn't far off) like it was designed by programmers.
A suppository offers better UX than Microsoft Windows. You can quote me on that.
Privacy
Microsoft tracks everything that you do. It's called telemetry. Microsoft uses this information for their own purposes.
Most recently it was discovered that Microsoft Edge browser sends all images that you view back to Microsoft for processing.
The information sent home is anonymized. This means that it cannot be used to track you specifically (by name). It can however be used to uniquely identify you online. This data is important to advertisers and is routinely sold and monetized.
A traditional response from the parties involved is that telemetry only contains metadata. This has largely been debunked.
Discussion about metadata became relevant in the early to mid 2010s when it was revealed by Edward Snowden that the NSA collects metadata information about Americans.
Countless security vulnerabilities, whether intentionally introduced / left unpatched or not, have lead to major security breaches for companies worldwide. It is not uncommon for software companies to work with intelligence agencies. Intelligence agencies and malicious actors alike maintain a list of 0-day vulnerabilities that can be weaponized if the need arises.
Alternatives
Unfortunately there are no realistic alternatives for general computing apart from Apple's Mac OS.
It has been The year of Linux on the desktop since the early 2000's but we are hoping that 2024 will be the year! /s
Linus Torvalds himself elaborated why Linux lacks on the desktop. While Linux is the champion on the server-side, Linus has never underestimated the importance of running it on the desktop.
It's just not happening any time soon for the masses. Linux has come a long way but it's not a viable alternative for your mother-in-law to use in 2023.
Unfortunately concerns about privacy and security are not shared by the masses that voluntarily and routinely share their personal information and whereabouts online with foreign and domestic governments alike.
What you can do
You can try using a Linux distribution.
I personally use Linux Mint. Linux mint is considered a very noob-friendly distribution of Linux. You should have no issues setting it up for the first time. Follow the installation guide here and if you get stuck anywhere just turn to Google for help.
Countless people probably had the same problem as you and there's a solution out there. Turn to StackOverflow and Reddit to seek help. People are eager to help you start your journey.
Turn telemetry off
If you just can't bring yourself to get rid of windows, use an online guide to turn off telemetry. Note that telemetry can't be completely turned off.
Information is power. Stop handing your personal information to the likes of Microsoft, Facebook and TikTok.