i486girl

The iPhone has a lot of wasted potential, because it's more reliable than Android (unlike Android, iOS's is built in Objective-C instead of Java or Kotlin) yet its ecosystem is very closed. The hardware is surprisingly capable despite the small form factor, even if you own an iPhone SE.

Apple has been criticized for this multiple times, I feel like the only reason people are still using their products is because they're very reliable. What makes me hate Apple however, is how they manufacture reliable and stable hardware only for them to cut its lifecycle in half by dropping software support for them after 5-6 years (For all I know, the average Macbook Pro could last like 10 years). (Also, if the EU banned Apple Intelligence for a while, why can't they ban Copilot too? My country even banned ChatGPT in early 2023)

With "planned obsolescence", I don't mean the hardware itself becoming obsolete by design, but rather how tech companies make us think it will become obsolete by excluding it from receiving software updates or compatibility with a newer version of their software, which gives the user an illusion that they must replace their PC with something newer.

I will make one when Beta 2 is released (I recently had to take down downloads for Beta 1 due to severe bugs in the codebase). I will also fix some drivers As for the Webp codec, I will remove it from this project until I manage to patch it or port a newer version of the codec to Windows 7 Anyways, I will let you guys know when there's more updates to this project (I sadly don't have a lot of time for it because I'm busy with school and whatnot). And please continue to let me know about flaws like this, I greatly appreciate it!

What comes to mind when you think of a poor half-baked Microsoft product? You'd think Windows Me... except it was somewhat innovative in some aspects and is even more stable than 98 when you disable certain components (statemgr and pchealth). Or, Windows 8 (call me weird but I like the Start screen...). In reality, the worst operating system Microsoft made is Windows 11. Let's start with their planned obsolescence tactics. They have recently removed Intel 8th, 9th and 10th gen CPUs from Windows 11 eligibility, more like they couldn't fix the flaws with DWM hogging up the resources on said CPUs. Many consumers just throw their laptop away when it doesn't receive updates anymore and just buy a new one, and Microsoft is well aware of that. Now, here comes the user experience: Fluent design (in my opinion) is an insult to the years of research Microsoft sunk into making responsive and intuitive user interfaces, and the Start menu in Windows 11 has a horrible layout. And what's the point of combining taskbar applets into one? They're not even trying to distinguish themselves from macOS (except macOS did things right as unlike Windows 11) This is more of a niche thing to talk about, but the File Explorer. Instead of documenting DirectUI APIs, Microsoft abandoned it in favor of XAML when Windows 10 was in development, and today we're seeing the effects of such decision. They built half-baked XAML islands on top of File Explorer's DirectUI-based interface and now File Explorer is a sluggish and buggy mess. They could've spent more money on fixing the NT kernel's internals (many of them haven't changed since NT 4.0), or polishing up their UX instead of blowing their budget on AI and marketing ads. It's safe to say Microsoft's last good employees have given up and Windows will only go downhill before things will ever improve.

Honestly, with how much Firefox has suffered from encrappification thanks to Mozilla and that sweet Google money, I'd be more than happy to use an older ESR branch, or a fork that gets rid of those issues entirely. Truth be told I'm using Pale Moon as my main browser. I'm pretty sure there's still many people who would be more than happy to still be able to use Firefox ESR 52 if it was still possible today, they're just not aware of projects like Pale Moon and Basilisk. While yes, newer web technologies do improve the browser's performance by a long shot, they really don't fix the issue of the browser's user experience worsening over time.

There's probably a few under the hood changes, but a more up-to-date program is still nice to have.

I'm great! What about you?

So, for the past few months I've been working on a Windows 7 SP2, which consists of updates and quality of life patches for Windows 7. !!! Windows Server 2008 support isn't planned (though we're open to contributions for it) !!! !!! This is in beta stage !!! GitHub repository, with the patches: https://github.com/i486girl/win7-sp2 Planned features All updates until 2020, with the addition of Windows Embedded Standard 7 updates Snipping Tool from Windows 10 version 1507 -> Credits: vxiduu Paint from Windows 8 build 9425 Registry Editor from Windows 10 build 16212 -> Credits: Aurorarion In-place service pack installer Native USB 3.0 and NVMe support -> Credits: Unknown user from MyDigitalLife forums TPM 2.0 support UEFI support in the ISO releases, with EFI GOP support too -> Credits: Typical/int10h, AveragePC Inclusion of VxKex -> Credits: vxiduu Windows 8 PE in the ISO, with a theme that resembles Windows 7 -> Credits: ImSwordQueen (Windows 7 theme for Windows 8.x) Windows 10 setup engine in the ISO release -> Credits: Aurorarion (helping out on the 10 setup engine port) Builtin Webp and FLAC codecs Task Manager from Windows 8 build 7880 -> Credits: Jevil7452 Upscaled graphics in some places Windows Vista/7 PE's boot screen on the ISO -> Credits: Microsoft Corporation and Tech Stuff (Boot8Plus) Removal of the annoying "Unsupported hardware" prompt Better DPI support in aero.msstyles -> Credits: Vaporvance (high DPI classes from Aero10 that will be ported to Windows 7) Integration of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable AIO -> Credits: Microsoft Corporation (Visual C++) and abbodi1406 (VC++ AIO repack) Disk Cleanup from Windows 8 build 7861 -> Credits: Jevil7452 Windows 8 build 7861's PDF Reader -> Credits: Jevil7452 Windows 10 20H1's System Information -> Credits: Jevil7452 Windows 11 24H2's timeout.exe command Windows 10 1709's XPS Viewer Windows 11 24H2's sudo.exe command Windows 10 build 9845's Notepad Windows Management Framework 5.1 Segoe UI Emoji Microsoft Agent WinHlp32 Work Folders Restore Windows Journal Microsoft Camera Codec Pack

Hi, I'm Leah (feel free to call me i486girl too) and I'm a 15 year old trans girl from Italy who makes accessible and open software targeting the Windows NT platform. I also make stuff for Linux sometimes. I'm very happy to meet you guys!