Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#101

Post by Aardwolf » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 7:56 PM UTC

zozbot234 wrote: post #100

Aardwolf wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually remember myself having to fiddle more with Windows than with Linux, in the Windows XP days. Windows would always invent some reason to require some reboot, or get random corrupted system files, or vcredist incompatibilities, or failed attempts at auto updates, or reinstall drivers for the mouse you just unplugged and plugged in a different USB port, or I don't remember what else it was with it all the time…

The thing about Archlinux is that apparently it requires constant updates or you won't be able to keep up with the current distro at some point. That's not really a recipe for stability, especially if you care about actively using the system and not just testing/playing with the bleeding edge stuff.

I update every few months and that works out fine. More than a year of no updates could make it difficult. All you have to do is pacman -Syu, and it doesn't really interrupt your flow since you can just continue working while it updates. The few times something doesn't work, you look at archlinux.org and the issue plus solution (usually remove some package or update in a specific order) will be described right there on the front page. Seems like a smoother experience than what I remember from Windows with autocountdown timers and what not...

But it's actually also amazing how when you reinstall Linux, and copy over your home directory, everything looks like it was before and you can just continue on as if nothing happened.

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#102

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 7:59 PM UTC

nvarsj wrote: post #29

ravenstine wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree to an extent, but exactly how far back should we go in terms of backward compatibility? Should we expect modern software or hardware to support 16-bit?

For businesses, as far back as they need. Consumers don't care, and for consumer grade OS it's fine. Let's say I invest 1 million in machines that use 32-bit software for my professional studio, and it's working perfectly fine. Then Apple decides one day to remove 32-bit support. The vendor is small and can't easily afford to port their software over to 64-bit. And for what reason? It was working fine from the start.…

[deleted]

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#103

Post by _bxg1 » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 7:59 PM UTC

Aardwolf wrote: post #94

kardos wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Want to be constantly fiddling with your system just to keep it running? Use Linux. This may have been true 10+ years ago; the amount of fiddling required is pretty low these days.

I actually remember myself having to fiddle more with Windows than with Linux, in the Windows XP days. Windows would always invent some reason to require some reboot, or get random corrupted system files, or vcredist incompatibilities, or failed attempts at auto updates, or reinstall drivers for the mouse you just unplugged and plugged in a different USB port, or I don't remember what else it was with it all the time…

> Linux (at least Archlinux) doesn't require much once you install it, are happy with the set-up and regularly update it.

Using Archlinux presumes you already know your system intimately and have taken the time to hand-craft it. That would make solving problems down the road much easier.

On the other hand, if you're like me and you want to just drop standard-issue Linux (i.e. Ubuntu) on a computer and then just use it, you quickly encounter gaps in the defaults/automatic setup and have to dig in and try to figure out where things went wrong. Your graphics driver gets confused when you plug in a second monitor. Your WiFi card isn't detected. There's no sound. Little things that kill your workflow in a death by a thousand cuts.

Windows has just as much intrinsic fragility, if not more, but through sheer economy of scale nearly everyone's real-world problems have been addressed by layer upon layer of defaults and automatic checks. That's how Windows manages to "just work" most of the time.

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#104

Post by Aardwolf » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 8:01 PM UTC

ragequitta wrote: post #41

npo9 wrote: post #24

I remember a time in 2012. I was installing Windows on my computer to play a video game. It was the first time I used windows in about 2-3 years. I started installing some utilities. A web browser, steam, a music player, etc. One of them asked me to install the Ask Jeeves toolbar. I became very angry. Of course I didn’t want to install the Ask Jeeves toolbar. No one wants the Ask Jeeves toolbar. What a dark pattern t…

Wouldn't you be able to say the same about literally any OS that doesn't have a completely walled garden? I'm positive I can find software on linux that bundles the askjeeves software as well. And probably MacOS. You blame the software developer for that and never use their product, you don't blame the OS.

Never saw that in a package for Ubuntu or Archlinux, not even AUR packages.

Maybe it's just not the target audience of such toolbars, but if there were I'd also expect package maintainers and user comments would deal with the issue.

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#105

Post by zamadatix » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 8:02 PM UTC

gustavorg wrote: post #48

ksbakan wrote: post #30

Been using win7 since forever. Win10 is such a huge step back that I just install win7 even on new PCs. Even hidipi works almost as well on win7. Probably the only thing I miss that I care about is hdr and ble. The fact that ms wants you to use win10 so badly is a big hint that it's full of antifeatures.

Can you please, because I'm terrified, 2-3 reasons why win7 and no windows 10? I need to make a decision soon (1 week or sooner)

Windows 7 goes end of life in 2 weeks. Unless you're using an old computer your hardware (e.g. CPU) is probably not supported, even if it does run it won't run properly. With EoL approaching Nvidia/AMD will stop publishing driver updates and new GPUs won't be hardware accelerated. The security model in Windows 10 is as big a jump as XP -> 7 was. It often takes manually loading additional drivers to even get the installer to recognize your disks/hardware.

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#106

Post by giancarlostoro » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 8:02 PM UTC

zamadatix wrote: post #88

intrepidhero wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. I looked into disabling Hyper-V but I think there is some IT installed spyware on this machine that squawked when I tried.

Windows 10 has virtualization based security which requires Hyper-V to function, sounds like that is being leveraged.

If that's an issue, I would see about making VirtualBox use Hyper-V for the hypervisor.

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#107

Post by kgwxd » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 8:03 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #38

ogre_codes wrote: post #11

Apple hasn't done a great job of supporting MacOS over the past few years. Catalina in particular has been a bit rocky, but every time I look seriously at Windows as an alternative it falls short. It's quite sad to me that my choice of OS has essentially boiled down to "Sucks less, costs more". It's been a few years for me, but maybe time to start seriously looking at Linux on the desktop again.

I don't see how Apple hasn't done the best job in terms of operating systems. macOS hasn't changed significantly in the last decade; it's essentially the same interface, but less skeumorphism. The only bug I've experienced that's close to being serious is the touchbar freezing(seriously wtf). Windows, on the other hand, has changed significantly. Sure, it runs 32-bit programs, but the interface difference between 7 a…

Xubuntu has had the same look and feel for it's entire existence. Screen tearing is the only issue I've ever had with it on fresh installs, but that's easily fixed by a copy/paste.

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#108

Post by rjsw » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 8:05 PM UTC

cpach wrote: post #22

pxeboot wrote: post #9

Very valid issues here. Although it has improved, Windows Update is still shockingly bad compared to any decent package manager used on Linux in the past 10+ years.

Is there anyone who can explain why Windows Update is so much slower than running »apt upgrade« and similar?

I have wondered whether the servers are overloaded, will maybe try logging the network traffic the next time I try to update.

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#109

Post by Wowfunhappy » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 8:05 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #38

ogre_codes wrote: post #11

Apple hasn't done a great job of supporting MacOS over the past few years. Catalina in particular has been a bit rocky, but every time I look seriously at Windows as an alternative it falls short. It's quite sad to me that my choice of OS has essentially boiled down to "Sucks less, costs more". It's been a few years for me, but maybe time to start seriously looking at Linux on the desktop again.

I don't see how Apple hasn't done the best job in terms of operating systems. macOS hasn't changed significantly in the last decade; it's essentially the same interface, but less skeumorphism. The only bug I've experienced that's close to being serious is the touchbar freezing(seriously wtf). Windows, on the other hand, has changed significantly. Sure, it runs 32-bit programs, but the interface difference between 7 a…

> macOS hasn't changed significantly in the last decade

See, my problem with macOS is that it has changed far too much in the past decade. Mac OS X circa-2010 was stable, intuitive, robust, and beautiful. There was no need to re-architect anything.

I wish Apple had gone into maintenance mode. Patch security holes, add new drivers, and update your hardware. That's all I want. New features are okay if they address a real need, and if they can be fit into your (at the time) very strong interface metaphors and guidelines.

As a tradeoff, your users won't have their apps suddenly break, and your developers won't have to spend stupid amounts of time keeping up with unnecessary system changes.

This is what's most grating about the deprecation of 32 bit support—as a user, I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it. Catalina is all downsides. In exchange for broken apps, I get an OS which is more buggy than ever and a bunch of ported cell phone apps. Just what I always wanted!

I am by no means against change, but I am 100% against unnecessarily change. From where I'm standing, the tech industry right now is full of unnecessary change. Why does Windows have two control panels? I'll admit the new one looks nicer, but I'd much prefer having just one, even if it looks slightly dated. Maybe that's Microsoft's goal, but why should we all have to deal with a UX downgrade in the interim?

Re: Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows

#110

Post by majewsky » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 8:05 PM UTC

oaiey wrote: post #73

zozbot234 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet Wine is actually more compatible than Windows itself. Especially if you just look at software up to the Windows 7 era. Can you run Windows 3.1 programs on a modern 64-bit OS? With Wine it can be done.

I think a bet you would loose :). Wine is an awesome project but 100 devs vs 10.000 devs is not fair on an API surface as big as Win32.

The Wine devs don't have to spend time on stuff like telemetry and ads. And they only need to replicate a tiny sliver of Windows' UIs.