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Windows needs a change in priorities

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Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#441

Post by vladvasiliu »

kyriakos wrote: post #377
Gigachad wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The skype thing kinda makes sense. People want software which just works without configuration. When you sign in to an iphone or macbook, it immediately sets up facetime which is always active waiting for a call in the background. No one complains because this is expected and it has always happened. But then Microsoft wants to give their users the same conveniance as Apple users get with their "just works" setup and…

I see your point but maybe the reactions are because most of these efforts feel half baked? For example they are forcing teams on users, which I use as a daily driver at my work and I feel that it's the worst piece of software I have to use. On top of that the way things are integrated always looks and feels forced. Like going into lengths to hide control panel in windows 10 even if it's still there and while the set…

Absolutely. And everything is extremely confusing, even for "tech workers", which I am.

The other day, I installed Win 11 on a work computer to give it a try. I figured since it's gonna be domain joined and whatnot anyway, might as well go all in. So when it asked for an account, I plug in my Office 365 account, and got all kinds of weird errors, such as wrong password, etc. In the end I gave up and created a regular account. Now it asks whether I'm sure I don't want an MS account, 'cause it's so much greater. Right. Except it doesn't work... Then I try adding the account manually in "accounts". Same issue...

In the end, I managed to add the account via OneDrive, which installed a separate OneDrive. But at least it did it on its own, no intervention needed. But I do have two "one drive" folders in the explorer for some reason, and I can't remove any of them [0]. I don't remember iCloud showing up multiple times in Finder.

Later, I find there's Teams preload. Good, let me just log in. Strange, I added the account, said it was OK for other apps to use, but it still wants me log in. I type in my credentials, and the odd account errors are back. Turns out, that's the wrong Teams! It's teams for the plebs, apparently I needed Teams "pro" or something. At least, Skype had a somewhat different name, as in "Skype for business" vs "just skype".

---

[0] Yes, I know it's possible to change the "shortcuts" or whatever they're called from the registry, but the point is that it's half-baked, it tries to be "helpful" but it's actually a hassle. If I don't want iCloud in the Finder, I can just pull it out of the sidebar. And it stays that way, as opposed to the Explorer shortcuts which have a tendency to come back after updates.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#442

Post by zo1 »

Pasorrijer wrote: post #50
lucasyvas wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong, but office users should be locked to a browser in 2022 anyway. What do they need Windows for? They can all use a web browser. Microsoft has done an amazing job convincing the office world they need Windows, when they don't need a single feature that it provides in 99% of cases.

As an officer worker, there are many many things I do that cannot be done in a web browser. File comparison tools, macros and complex excel queries, hard applications for both new and legacy critical programs... Can this be done on Linux? Frequently. Can it be done in a web browser? Rarely effectively and often not at all.

Just wait till they start running those "native" programs in a VM on a server and streaming the UI to you in a browser for interaction.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#443

Post by tlhighbaugh »

Why is anyone surprised, Microsoft can do whatever it wants and people still spend hundreds on its OS offering that has been awful for over a decade, so of course they are going to get more abusive to lower costs and raise revenues since people still buy the thing. This is at the heart of Meta (I hate that name) and Alphabet too, the most simplistic understanding of market dynamics should illuminate how this is working. What's weird is the government not trustbusting them and letting Germany cut them down here and there (not because they care about privacy but to make room for their domestic firms) while the once called conspiracy theory NSA are still amassing a monster to make Big Brother look like Little Whimpy Cousin, does no one else see the writing on the wall here?

You really can't even blame any of them for being that way, the public could have a multitude of free alternatives with a bit of effort and yet they rather spend 200 on an upfront abusive and honestly highly flawed OS, pay google to store their photos (and scan them with emerging AI technology) and use Facebook for whatever reason people even use that for. Why shouldn't they find the edge of what the public will now accept, since its changed so much. Such is the nature of organizations interacting with a market or the public (in the case of government agencies which operate the same way just less efficiently). As my dearly departed great grandmother said about this sort of thing between drags from her Lucky Strike unfiltered cigarette while tending her rose garden, "Ya gotta get it while the gettin is good!"

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#444

Post by holyyikes »

shp0ngle wrote: post #238

Well, what are you going to do. Not use Windows? Linux still barely works in 2022 (and if one distro will become really popular, with a big investment of money like Ubuntu did once, they will ad ads, like Ubuntu added Amazon), and MacOS works just on Apple HW (and has ads for Apple services baked-in too, just less obnoxious). You can use ChromeOS! Which is literally ad tech. Pick your poison.

I find it hilarious that people even entertain the idea that the only roadblock for MacOS is that it only works on Apple hardware. Gamers would NOT want an OS run by those psychopaths. MacOS is junk.

And Valve/Steamdeck is really just creating even more Windows dependence. Because of Proton everyone just assumes you don't need to make cross platform games anymore, so game devs are just happy making Windows only games.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#445

Post by pjmlp »

emptysongglass wrote: post #435
pjmlp wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why cherry-picked? It is what I got the fortune of owning, same thing can happen to anyone else. XPS 13 Developer Edition you say? https://medium.com/@AlexMichelOrg/like-linux-then-dont-buy-d...

Yes but it's an extremely old example and not at all indicative of the environment around owning a Linux-shipped laptop today. Have you owned and used an XPS 13 Developer Edition? Because now it just looks like you're driving around the internet for examples of things that prop up your argument. I have one I use every day and have for the three years I've owned it. It works great on Ubuntu and Arch Linux. No complain…

Not at all, showing that it isn't the walk in the part that gets sold even when buying hardware that is shipping with Linux in the box, and far from what most people get at best buy and friends with other desktop OSes.

It is always the other people's fault that Linux doesn't quite work, but "my system works just perfectly", when in reality keeps being the same hit and miss as always.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#446

Post by vladvasiliu »

Gigachad wrote: post #415
kyriakos wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see your point but maybe the reactions are because most of these efforts feel half baked? For example they are forcing teams on users, which I use as a daily driver at my work and I feel that it's the worst piece of software I have to use. On top of that the way things are integrated always looks and feels forced. Like going into lengths to hide control panel in windows 10 even if it's still there and while the set…

I agree it’s an implementation issue. Windows always feels like annoying nagware while macOS and iOS largely get out of your way. Teams would pop up with a window on every boot to annoy you while FaceTime just sits in the background. But the power users on this site would rather we have some kind of advanced configuration page where every single feature of windows should be opt in. While simultaneously praising the A…

> While simultaneously praising the Apple “just works” system.

Because included into that "just works" system is just leaves you alone.

Maybe if the "helpful" Windows feature wouldn't nag all the time, as you put it, the power users wouldn't complain about it and look for ways to turn it off.

I've been using a Mac for more than 10 years now without an iCloud account. It asked me once whether I wanted one, when I bought the computer new, I said no, and it's left me alone ever since. And I went through I don't know how many "major" upgrades. Windows bugs me all the time.

So there's really no reason for me to complain about FaceTime, or whatever. I don't even know it's there if I don't go looking for it specifically. Whereas Windows, it's in my face, all the time. So there's a direct benefit for me to look for ways to shut that crap down. Maybe, just maybe, if Teams isn't installed it will shut up and leave me be. At least until the next update brings it back...

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#447

Post by holyyikes »

dimgl wrote: post #299
ficiek wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Linux still barely works in 2022 I have had zero problem running linux as my daily driver for the last 10 years, care to explain your comment? The only problem that I have is that video games don't always work because the developers don't care.

I see this argument in every thread about Linux. There's always this one magical user where everything "just works", has had 0 issues and everything's just dandy.

No post body was provided.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#448

Post by 0dayz »

This article resonates really well with my frustration with Windows and oh how I wish I could just switch to Linux, sadly the lack of hardware customization on Linux is still a deal breaker for me.

It's strange to me tat the company during the xp-7 years had very solid and firm understanding of conservative UX design and seemed to take pride in it (essentially enterprise quality even for the end user), that ship seems to have sailed and instead acts like a hybrid of Facebook, Google and Apple worst practices.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#449

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

chillwaves wrote: post #399
mikevin wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's even worse when you activate Office 365. There is a small checkbox at the end which if you don't uncheck, converts your local administrator into your Microsoft account.. Going back to a local administrator account is not an easy task. I'm not even sure it's possible, I've tried multiple approaches but gave up after almost having to do a clean install. Now I have to deal with an accountname that contains multip…

Can't you just make a new local admin account and delete all traces of the other account, including in the registry?

The word “just” is doing some heavy lifting there…

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#450

Post by Zardoz84 »

_Algernon_ wrote: post #66
rbut wrote: post #56

Talking about dark patterns, here are a couple I've noticed. In Windows, I'm very careful about NOT signing in to anything Microsoft, unless I have to. I make sure I use a local administrator account instead of a Microsoft account. Yesterday I had to open Microsoft Edge for something that would only work in Edge, and lo-and-behold, Microsoft had taken my Xbox Game Pass sign-in and applied to Edge, then informed me th…

Looks like switching to linux when win 7 support ended was the right move. All my games may randomly freeze for no discernible reason, but at least I don't have to deal with that BS.

I made Kubuntu my main OS a long time ago, and I play a lot of (thanks to Valve, Steam, Wine and Proton...) games, and I never experienced a game freezing. My experience it's so good, that I only touch Windows to play Fornite.

The only annoying bug/problem that I have actually, it's that Dolphin could have a erratic behavior if I had mounted a SMB folder via an VPN and I end the VPN before un-mounting the SMB folder.

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