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Windows needs a change in priorities

den.dev

521–530 of 884 posts

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to frequently be true that Microsoft releases a horrifying nightmare OS, polishes is up and removes hated features, and then releases a new version. It's been a bit of a pattern. Windows 8 -> Windows 10 Windows Vista -> Windows 7 and even before that: Windows Me -> Windows 2000 -> Windows XP was a pretty solid chain that shows it over three releases (personally I think XP was buggier, I don't know what the i…

I really need to dig very deep into my memory; wasn't Windows ME kind of dead on arrival? And MS themselves half acknowledged it by releasing XP within a few months.

No, there was a shift.

The Win9x/ME (please read as DOS based) series of OS was intended for home users.

The NT/2K was intended for business users.

Only as an example most games at the time would not have run on NT/2K, and Win9x/Me was essentially single-user only.

For some reasons with XP the good MS guys decided to force down the throat of pro/business users (that were very, very, very happy about Windows 2000) the bells and whistles and graphics they didn't ask for and force down the throat of home users (that were very, very happy about Windows 98, not so much about ME [0]) the complexities of the NT, user access, permissions, NTFS, and other things that at the time made no sense whatever.

Basically they (the MS guys) unified the two branches into one and the result was (of course) a compromise.

[0] I know it is hard to say this, but ME, beside some quirks that there was no time to fix, was not as bad as it has been depicted, as a matter of fact the "best" bastard retro system you can make today is a Windows 98 with selected components of ME integrated/backported or a ME with some features of 98SE brought back, the failure of ME (not entirely unlike the later Vista one) was greatly induced (IMHO) by two factors, underpowered hardware and issues with drivers, both - if you want - essentially the responsibility of OEM's.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#522
post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All my games may randomly freeze for no discernible reason, All ? My experience is that 90% work fine, 9% have weirdness, (for instance, voices in Skyrim are out of sync with mouth movements) and 1% of them have game breaking bugs.

Yeah, I have the experience as OP. Every single game I play on Linux has random hitches for seconds at a time.

Sounds like a typical problem with an Nvidia GPU.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#523
post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Quoted post unavailable.

> "I don't have a variable refresh monitor, I don't have an HDMI surround sound setup, I don't own any game pads, the only game I play is Doom 1 from 1993."

It really depends on what your GPU manufacturer is. You can't blame Linux for the shit show that nvidia releases as drivers nowadays. Game pads works fine. You are being disingenuous.

Issues on Linux exists. But, ironically, in 2022, simple things like sound, bluetooth, or even memory management works better on Linux than on my Windows laptop where I'm never sure my headset will be detected when I plug in on a daily basis.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think even the LTSC edition avoids the UX problems discussed here. All the LTSC does is freeze the features Windows had at release and give you security updates. You're still stuck with whatever was there at launch. Suggesting switching to an entirely different OS to someone who's complaining that their habitual OS no longer behaves as it used to isn't very useful. >I'm not really sure what to make of this as…

> You don't understand because you're failing to empathize with what people are saying, because it's not a problem you personally experience. To be clear I support my wife's LTSC install and use Windows 11 with WSL and WSLg for work. > I don't think even the LTSC edition avoids the UX problems discussed here. I think it does but please highlight which problems it doesnt avoid. > suppose you find a shoe manufacturer t…

>I think it does but please highlight which problems it doesnt avoid.

I've never used it, I was guessing based on my understanding of what LTSC is.

>Do they respect me as a user? What are their capital incentives? If not aligned with mine why do I love them?

The thing you love is the shoes, not the shoes' manufacturer.

>Can I change my purchasing habits so their capital incentives align?

Can you, as in, is it possible for you at a reasonable cost? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on the user. "Would you?" is the real question. If we're assuming that your shoes fit you best, why would you switch to a different brand that would fit you worse? Are you implying that the natural tendency of a product is to get worse until it's no better than its competitors?

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#525
post #20

The only direction Windows should go is being more modular and less features. Speed is probably the only feature all users want. So make all features modular with advanced user being able to remove and get a lean and mean OS. We want less, we want speed. P. S. It is about time to upgrade the File System. It is too slow...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30749512

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#526
post #299
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.

Just try preinstalled Linux with support. Works for me.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#527
post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say it was going to save me. I do think I had a type that said 'good future.' I meant to put something along the lines of 'good probability of a future.' Chrome OS is going to be another user hostile environment for sure. But the point is, Chrome OS has a good shot at displacing windows not because it is better or less user hostile, but because it is putting cheap machines in the hands of kids who will one d…

Purchasing decision are made by business executives. I use windows because i am forced by my employer.

> kids who will one day, grow up, and enter the workforce and lead the workforce later on

I noticed chromebook getting big in the education space and really getting into the hands of kids 7 years so. Your business executives I assume are old enough to pre-date chromebook's big debut in eductaion? They likewise are probably most familiar with Windows and that is why they hand it down as the required bit of software? or probably a sweet business contract, that also plays a factor.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#528
post #3

Windows 11 is the first windows release I haven’t used. It’s also the first windows release I will never use going back to windows 3. I am completely done with it now. The last release which wasn’t a complete punch in the balls was nearly 20 years ago.

>The last release which wasn’t a complete punch in the balls was nearly 20 years ago. Windows 7 was actually pretty bloody good.

I still have a not-connected-to-the-net w7. Runs my software great.

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#529
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…

> 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…

Oh, I installed two OSes last year: Ubuntu on my then daily driver (it still is my private one) and a clean Windows ten on my son's laptop. That used to be my old back-up and had my old company account on it, in addition to his school teams account. I tried to convert it to a local admin and throw his educational MS Office license on it. It ended with buying a second market Win10 license (I bought two, only one worked) and a clean, new install. Everything else just failed. I'll never use a MS Account for anything again.

That expends to MS Office subscriptions as well. I once bought one through (stupid, I know) GoDaddy as an extension to my domain mail service. It never worked, not once. I still paid for it, so. The user account didn't even exist on MS's end. Only way to get rid of it was to cancel the credit card behind it. MS stopped bothering me after two months of unpaid subscriptions...

Re: Windows needs a change in priorities

#530

It's mind boggling how user-hostile one can make a piece of "premium" software. You pay 145€ for the Home or 259€ for the Pro Edition and they treat it like it's freeware. I want my computer to support me in achieving what I want to do, but Windows just keeps grabbing attention with intrusive ads and never-ending notifications.

Yeah I think the issue is that for most people it is freeware. Very few consumers are actually paying €145 for Windows. They might have got Windows 7 with their PC (I believe the actual cost is around $10) a literal decade ago and paid nothing since.

I can see why Microsoft are trying to explore other revenue sources. If they give Windows away they make a huge loss but if they charge for upgrades nobody will upgrade and it will become a support nightmare.

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