Let’s be honest, very few people who talk about how much they hate Microsoft will even consider alternatives
I used to help maintain a Linux distro, and there is a level of polish Windows has that I feel cannot be reached by the FOSS ecosystem due the resources dumped into hiring dedicated teams at MS. Microsoft has tons of money. I’m sad about the direction of windows, but it generally works pretty well for how it’s designed (which is in some cases awful).
there was a time where that may have been the case, but microsoft has been chipping away at any polish they had for years. sure there’s still some rough edges in linux, but it’s only getting better where windows continues to get worse
I agree with your point, but I never would have thought of describing Windows as “polished”.
It’s a sliding scale
Sure. I could accept hearing “Windows is more polished than most Linux distro’s”. But to say blankly that Windows is polished is crazy talk. It’s jank as balls. Its got like 3 totally discrete and independent UI frameworks for the menus operating in parallel, and somehow none of them provide all the functionality you would need, have to mix and match them.
That’s just a single example. I could rant for hours.
Most people believe they will start seeing problems where there were none before. They need to invest time into research about their use-cases, which is a cost even before switching.
The typical user used Windows since before they became scared of change, so that’s what they’ll stick with.
The pain of using Windows still can and will be higher without the majority of people switching to anything.
The typical user used Windows since before they became scared of change, so that’s what they’ll stick with.
In some ways this was me, then win 11 came around and I really didn’t like it, and it was pretty unstable for me, so I was stuck between two options for change, neither being what I would call “comfortable” (I had to, win 10 was blue screening literally every other day) which was when I saw the steam deck announcement, (also the LTT Linux Challenge) and I haven’t given win 11 a serious try sense
I don’t want to point fingers/cast shade or anything. Hell, I myself resist change where I can.
It costs incredible amounts of energy and time to change, and that change might even be counter productive to some or most of the things you do.
Gratulations on starting Linux, I hope it does everything you need it to do. Even if you should end up using it only for a short amount of time, I hope the experience enriches you.
Yes, because I need Adobe to do my meh wage part-time job in developing country from my one and only working laptop and I don’t have the luxury of surplus money, time, and mental energy to do anything about it.
But I get your point. If I have the means, I will fix my broken Thinkpad and definitely install Linux there the first chance I get. Either that or Adobe finally release Linux version, which will probably be released after Half-Life 3.
I can’t wait to try Endeavor (so I can finally be an obnoxious person who say “I used Arch-based distro, btw”)
You can run adobe products on Linux with Wine.
Adobe products barely work correctly on Windows, I wouldn’t want to try to run them in an environment that was even less supported
I just got a new laptop and was genuinely gonna try windows 11 and wsl for my coding needs. But in first boot, it demands internet to do updates. Ok, I connect to coffee shop wifi. Nope, won’t do it because it can’t handle the click through screen to accept wifi ToS. Fine. I take it home, where my Internet is great but has a glitch where it drops out for a few seconds now and then. Turns out that windows will literally cancel updating and demand I reconnect and restart for the kind of drop that I barely notice day to day. So I gave up, plugged in my ArchLinux thumb drive, and
mkfs.ext4before rsyncing my entire old computer to itYou use Arch Linux but can’t fix your wifi?
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Haha… NO
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There is a difference between asking nicely and shoving down the throat.
Microsoft tried nicely during the XP era. We all know how it ended. The average user shall never be trusted with security.
the fact the install media can’t provide a working desktop by itself is pathetic.
It’s so weird to me that Lemmy is full of anti-Windows, anti-Google posts but the comments are always “I’m thinking about switching.”
How about… just do it?
I don’t know what I’m trying to say but being 20 years into “Windows-free” a few years of “Google-free” it’s tiring. I know everyone isn’t me but it’s tough watching this from the other side.
I’m using Linux on servers and for self hosting, but Linux on a desktop is a sick joke.
Linux on desktop is amazing. My experience has been absolutely flawless.
Except for (raytraced) games, for your Logitech keyboard, your Razer headset, your Xbox Controller not connecting, your Windows-only Software that won’t work.
It’s terrible. You probably just found a way to live with it and get used to.
Ray tracing works on Linux just fine. I don’t know what your talking about. I have software to control the lights on my Asus laptop keyboard if needed, my other keyboard is not addressable RGB anyway. I’ve seen Linux work with controllers too. Maybe not Xbox specifically, though I think there is a way to do that too.
Edit: Logitech keyboards have support: https://pwr-solaar.github.io/Solaar/
There are projects for supporting the Xbox controllers too: https://github.com/medusalix/xone
As I said in another post
I’m very well aware that all of these problems can be fixed. But you need to put extra work in. There is no benefit for doing that.
But you need to put extra work in
Uh, no? You just install one application to configure your Logitech peripherals. Just like you would install an application on Windows. It takes like 15 seconds to google “logitech keyboard linux” and the second result you get is Solaar.
For Xbox controllers, it’s just one package that you need to install.
This is one of the few rare cases, where the Linux kernel doesn’t include a driver, and you manually need to install it. It’s the exact opposite on Windows. You basically need to install all your drivers manually, since Linux is mostly a monolithic kernel, and Windows is not. I can name enough cases where you need to install extra drivers on Windows, in order to get basic functionality. For example if you want to connect your Android phone, every manufacturer has their own drivers that you need to manually install on Windows. On Linux, these are built in.There is no benefit for doing that.
There are many benefits. Linux is free, doesn’t force you to create an account, doesn’t show you ads, doesn’t collect and sell your personal data, doesn’t try to force you to use a specific browser, has lower resource usage and better performance, especially on older devices, doesn’t have stupid and arbitrary hardware requirements, has better security, most of the applications are free and open source, you can customize your OS to suit your needs and there’s a great community. And most importantly, you have full control over your computer.
Since fixing these things are so easy, why don’t we continue with fixing my 5.1 Surround speaker that are plugged in with basic 3.5mm plugs and don’t work at all? And my GSync monitor that isn’t doing its GSync stuff. And my games having subpar performance. How about my Mincraft Modrinth Mod launcher that has like 10 fps just in the menu. Then let’s also fix all the DRM issues with Netflix and Prime.
I’ve been using Linux in Dual boot for decades for development purposes. But only for this. Because the list of problems is extremely long. I know I can fix all of that somehow but I’m just not going to do that. When I have a problem, I’ll just boot over to Windows where I usually don’t have it or it’s easier to fix.
Ray tracing works fine, I don’t know what you mean?
I don’t have a Logitech keyboard, but I find it hard to believe something as simple as a keyboard doesn’t work. I have a Logitech mouse and that’s completely fine.
My Xbox controller connects just fine with no special behaviour required.
Windows only software mostly works flawlessly. Almost all of my games are “windows only”, and they all work fine. Which is astonishing, really. How many other OSes virtually flawlessly run software from other OSes without any tinkering?
It’s amazing. Everything just works. Plug and play. No headaches like with Windows.
- Well Raytracing doesn’t work in Cyberpunk 2077. Besides that, some other games also have terrible performance. Even Minecraft, that’s running natively. Constant stutters with low GPU utilization.
- Logitech keyboard works but I cannot configure it because the software is not supported on Linux
- Xbox controller does not connect with the dongle unless I install the xone drivers
- I can think of a dozent more software other than the Logitech one that don’t have an installation for Linux
Sure you can fix any of these problems above like running Windows software with Wine or installing the appropriet drivers. But I don’t want to do that if I can just use Windows with no extra work.
- Well Raytracing doesn’t work in Cyberpunk 2077. Besides that, some other games also have terrible performance. Even Minecraft, that’s running natively. Constant stutters with low GPU utilization.
I suspect you have GPU driver issues. What distro and graphics card are you running? Have you installed GPU drivers if your on Nvidia.
- Logitech keyboard works but I cannot configure it because the software is not supported on Linux
You just install solaar instead of the official software, one and done. Have you even tried?
- Xbox controller does not connect with the dongle unless I install the xone drivers
So install it then.
Sure you can fix any of these problems above like running Windows software with Wine or installing the appropriet drivers. But I don’t want to do that if I can just use Windows with no extra work.
None of this is extra work compared to working around Microsoft and Windows trying to push their garbage. Two Windows 11 systems breaking is what led to me switching back to Linux for the last time. Having to reinstall because of Windows issues is a lot more effort than installing a couple things.
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Ray tracing works in everything I’ve tried it in. I don’t have Cyberpunk but a quick Google tells me that it does have ray tracing and it does work in Linux.
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So the keyboard does work, you just insist on using one specific piece of software to make the keys pretty and refuse to use any others? Does it have a MacOS/iPadOS/Android version? I suspect not. Sounds like a shit product tbh, but it clearly works, unlike what you said earlier.
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Again, Xbox controller works fine. Wired, with the dongle, Bluetooth. All work great, no additional steps, completely plug and play.
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I can name a bunch of software that doesn’t support Windows, Mac, iOS, Android. I don’t see how this is an OS problem. Linux has wider software support than anything else.
You know you have to install drivers in Windows, right? And that it’s more cumbersome? With Linux in 99% of cases it’s in the kernel and you don’t need to install anything. Sometimes you’ll need to do something like type “Nvidia” into your software centre and click install.
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Getting rid of Google would require switching phone for me as there isn’t a google free ROM for the Redmi K50 Pro.
GrapheneOS for the Google Pixel. I’m using a Google Pixel 4 which was like $120 and super easy to flash. I’m from the US, so I understand if things might be different where you are.
That would be a hilariously bad downgrade. I could probably afford to replace mine with a Google Pixel 6, but that would still be a significant downgrade (90Hz screen). After having two phones at 120Hz, I won’t go lower.
25% reduction in refresh rate to only 4x the historical standard that most humans alive grew up with balanced against any semblance of privacy seems like an easy win…
At this point, I have lost count of the number of times that I’ve left my perfectly working Windows computer at the end of my work day, only to return to a completely broken computer that won’t boot the next morning.
I find this to either be a lie or self inflicted. I manage a small fleet of a few hundred windows systems and all updates have been fine for years.
In the windows admin user groups there are more than a few that are deploying updates within 24hrs of release to thousands of servers and workstations and have not reported issues.
Lastly I think that tech bloggers say things like this to get clicks, so they can get ad revenue. Then they also tell you how to disable updates so they can get more clicks and ad revenue.
It’s disingenuous and probably harmful to be telling people to disable updates that lead them to be exposed to vulnerabilities.
Doesn’t even need updates, in the 10 years I was on Windows it didn’t want to start after shutting it down again like 7 times
I hated having to reinstall every year
I‘ve had several faulty Windows updates in recent years and my machine is pre-built. And going by the threads I sifted through in search of solutions I am far from the only one. It‘s perfectly fine to not have the newest update at all times so as long as you update once a month when you can afford a potential faulty update. Having an older than most recent version is far from your biggest concern regarding security. I would even say it‘s a non-issue compared to good old fishing mails.
I can kind of feel the author on this. I’m in charge of a lot of “special projects” at work that basically come down to, “figure out a way to replicate this extremely expensive technology or software using low cost or free alternatives”. It ends up being an unholy mix of programs and hardware that is held together with duct tape and super glue and any minor perturbation means something breaks.
Sounds like less of a Windows problem than an individual problem, though.
Blaming Windows cause your Frankenstein machine breaks often is disingenuous.
I hate Windows for all the monetisation and privacy issues but I never really had problems with it killing my computer.
My biggest issue with Windows (at least on my desktop) is with my GPU driver for my Intel Arc A770 LE. Windows Update will not stop automatically “updating” my driver to a driver that was made about a year and a half ago. It’s too old that Intel Arc Control doesn’t even work with it. It doesn’t matter how I install the latest driver from Intel, I can DDU the old one, install the driver and wipe all custom configurations or just install it normally. Nothing works, upon the next reboot, it automatically says “there’s an update” and installs regardless if I want it or not. The driver installation also has a 50/50 chance of blue screening my whole system when installing, both the installation from Windows update, and from Intel. The Window driver “updates” for my driver have also just happened randomly with no notice, they’ve occurred during hour long Blender renders, crashing it and wasting hours of my time redoing work. (This is all on Windows 10). It is frustrating to deal with
Meanwhile, my Linux install on the same computer just runs mesa and I’ve had no issues at all with my GPU. (Or any issues with drivers really, it all just works).
Although it didn’t “kill” my computer. Whenever I still used Windows, it would spontaneously install this outdated driver which would either blue screen or crash whatever I was in the middle of doing such as working in Blender, playing a game, etc.
Seriously, anytime people make complaints like these about windows, it just tells me they are either
- Tweaking their system in ways far beyond what the OS is designed for (which is fine, but then don’t blame Microsoft when updates break your system)
- Doesn’t know how to use a computer
- Knows how to use a computer but is willfully ignorant so they can rant at MS and get clicks
- Incredibly unlucky and not representative of the general population
#1 is by and far the cause I see when people ask me ‘why did thing break?!’
There’s a lot of ‘Well, I edited the registry and then deleted these two files and installed this 3rd party software so that it looks like it did in Windows XP!’ floating in my circles, which almost entirely correlates to the people who are mad that their install is, yet again, broken/not working as expected/having weird problems.
Of course, people are doing this because Microsoft can’t stop shitting up Windows in a way that annoys people, and thus leading them to do things that maybe aren’t the best idea.
So, in summary: it’s a land of contrasts, but stop adding bullshit nobody wants Microsoft.
It’s kind of disingenuous of you to proudly say, “I don’t use the same version of Windows that this person likely does and I don’t have the same issues that this person does so they must be full of shit”.
It’s kind of a wide disparity for something that’s so locked down, though. It’s not as though one person is saying they get occasional issues and the other is they often have issues… it’s one person basically saying their own personal computer is nigh unusable and the other providing an example of a large number of examples of that being extremely unlikely…
It’s far more likely this individual is fucking up their computer on a regular basis, or has a very high bar of usability that is broken any time there is even the slightest hiccup or inconvenience.
There aren’t many versions of windows since 10 and 2016. They are all very similar now.
There are vast differences between Windows home and Windows pro and Windows Enterprise editions as far as how easy it is to control and block off the annoyance ware that Microsoft builds into it.
If you use deployment software to roll out your images after standardizing them and have a set image that you can deploy to a thousand computers as easily as one then it’s very simple to sign in with a local domain account and disable the windows things through a group policy and just start rocking and rolling whereas your average Windows home user is not going to even have access to GPO and we’ll have to tediously for each and every single computer every single time they reset it redo all of the things to disable all of Microsoft’s crap activation.
They are not entirely different but definitely distinct versions of Windows and dismissing the home and non-enterprise users that their experience is inferior to your experience on the Enterprise side is what I’m saying is disingenuous
