I blame the idea of the 00s and 10s that there should be some "Zen" in computer UIs and that "Zen" is doing things wrong with the arrogant tone of "you don't understand it". Associated with Steve Jobs, but TBH Google as well. And also another idea of "you dummy talking about ergonomics can't be smarter than this big respectable corporation popping out stylish unusable bullshit". So - pretense of wisdom and taste, under which crowd fashion is masked, almost aggressive preference for authority over people actually having maybe some wisdom and taste due to being interested in that, blind trust into whatever tech authority you chose for yourself, because, if you remember, in the 00s it was still perceived as if all people working in anything connected to computers were as cool as aerospace engineers or naval engineers, some kind of elite, including those making user applications, objective flaw (or upside) of the old normal UIs - they are boring, that's why UIs in video games and in fashionable chat applications (like ICQ and Skype), not talking about video and audio players, were non-standard like always, I think the solution would be in per-application theming, not in breaking paradigms, again, like with ICQ and old Skype and video games, I prefer it when boredom is thought with different applications having different icons and colors, but the UI paradigm remains the same, I think there was a themed IE called LOTR browser which I used (ok, not really, I used Opera) to complement ICQ, QuickTime player and BitComet, all mentioned had standard paradigm and non-standard look.

Swappa is good for tech.

It doesn't seem to be the case. As far as I can tell, the law only covers realistic digital imitations of a person's likeness (deepfakes), with an exception for parody and satire. If you appear in public that is effectively license for someone to capture your image.

I meant to download from the official Microsoft site. Kudos on getting your mum on Linux! I was unable to keep mine on it : / Maybe I'm missing something, but this is from the "Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices" section from the official Microsoft site, but I don't see any option to buy or mention of it: Before you begin downloading an ISO Make sure you have: An internet connection (internet service provider fees may apply). Sufficient data storage available on the computer, USB, or external drive you are downloading the .iso file to. A blank DVD disc with at least 8GB (and DVD burner) to create a bootable disc. We recommend using a blank USB or blank DVD, because any content on it will be deleted during installation. If you receive a “disc image file is too large” message while attempting to burn a DVD bootable disc from an ISO file, consider using a higher capacity Dual Layer DVD.

Yup, but the control mechanisms are going to shit, because it sounds like they are going to maybe do a half assed rollout

The point is... (almost) nobody is going to do that. Ask a layman what a SMTP is.

Depends on who programed the AI - and no, it is not Kyoto