631–640 of 925 posts
Just look at many Android phones and how something like Facebook can't even be permanently removed...
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Sounds like hell. They will quickly be turned away from Linux and want something simpler. Yak-shaving in lieu of work sounds cool, but it sucks when you really need to do stuff other than dick around in the terminal.
> Sounds like hell. They will quickly be turned away from Linux and want something simpler. Yak-shaving in lieu of work sounds cool, but it sucks when you really need to do stuff other than dick around in the terminal. Kids did fine with Amiga or Atari ST back in the days. Linux isn't a problem at all, they'll get used to it. And Valve/Steam proton platform allows them to run plenty of games.
A tiny number of very interested kids did fine, most just ignored computers.
I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad from Costco for about $500. The last time I bought a computer preloaded with Windows was about a decade ago. My experience so far: I turn it on, there's a license agreement. Actually, there's two. One is from Microsoft, and it's rather long but I guess it's about par for the course. Then there's the Lenovo license agreement, which is actually a bunch of other license agreements concaten…
More hours spent internet searching. Apparently, that "missing drivers error, please insert media containing drivers" error has nothing to do with missing drivers. No, it's because I was dumb enough to think I could just DD a Windows ISO, like every other ISO I've ever encountered. Microsoft are special, I need to use special tools. Fine, OK, done.
Oh, you didn't think you could just boot the latest Microsoft Windows USB, did you? Oh no, friend, Microsoft corporation wishes to protect you from the threat of unsecured boot routines. You first have to choose the right combination of bios options to enable EUFI, or secure boot, or whatever.
Now you've chosen all the right bios options, and you have created the boot usb, in a Microsoft compatible fashion, let's go! Wait, is that a usb3 key? That might not work, best use an old usb2 one, oh, but not that one, use a good brand, and don't insert it into that slot, use the other one, the black one, no, not that one... ARGHH!!
Finally, after about 6 hours, it's installed. All that's left is to wait another hour or two while it updates and installs drivers, then install the other drivers from the motherboard makers website, and activate the licence. But the licence server doesn't work, I have to perform a phone activation. That means all the usual pain of automated phone systems... like, listening for 10 minutes to all that "hey, did you know it's easier to activate online? Simply log on to this, and that, and activate your licence the easy way! Are you sure you don't want to do that? It's easier, you know? Ok then, let's get ready to do a phone activation. You can still hang up, though, just hang up! No? Oh, ok then... Please enter your 64 digit code, and, if you get that right, I will give you the 64 digit response code that you can enter into your PC"
At this point, I'm honestly wondering if I can sue Microsoft for the (hopefully mild) PTSD I will inevitably suffer from this.
I'm never installing windows, for anybody, ever again. Ever. Never, never, never.
Sorry for the long rant, but I thought, maybe, talking about it, openly, might help reduce the nightmares. Oh, the nightmares.
Setup your 10 year old with bleeding edge Arch Linux, add a script to automatically update nightly (or even hourly lol), and give them a secondary device like a tablet loaded up with access to arch wiki, every man page, etc. but nothing else. They will be an absolute Linux wizard in months and maybe a core contributor soon after.
I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad from Costco for about $500. The last time I bought a computer preloaded with Windows was about a decade ago. My experience so far: I turn it on, there's a license agreement. Actually, there's two. One is from Microsoft, and it's rather long but I guess it's about par for the course. Then there's the Lenovo license agreement, which is actually a bunch of other license agreements concaten…
> I guess I'll crawl back into my cave and keep using Linux for the foreseeable future. Apple makes laptops, TV streamers, and tablets. Is there some reason you're avoiding them?
That's a good enough reason to avoid them.
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I don't understand how Microsoft can cheapen their main OS that much. If they really wanted to emulate Apple, they wouldn't fill their OS with trash in every corner. This also extends to the default landing page of Edge. This is the worst form of bullvard, it is a tiny bit better than directly advocating for penis enlargement on the internet. But not by much at all. There should be no ads on the OS level. Especially…
Apple is probably Apple because individuals in management believe that maintaining "good taste" is in their professional interest, above goals like boosting a quarter's revenue through any means possible. That's not a simple switch you can flip on in an organization. Especially if you lack a culture that has a consensus view of what good taste even is.
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I don't know about OP but they're significantly more expensive for me (non-US; Asia) than any other offerings, that I feel like I'm being scammed. That with more subscriptions for anything I might want to use (Spotify/Netflix/Prime) just make it kind of a pinch, and so for a lot of people in my country. Edit: for ex: the $799 iPad pro costs an equivalent of $994.35 in India.
To be fair, you can easily use apple hardware for 5 years, where windows is just completely dead and unuseable after 2.
First, there's no "Windows" hardware. Unless you are talking about Surface.
Second, all laptops I had were useful for far longer than 2 years. My current one is almost 4 years old and still extremely good for everything I need.
I also replaced Windows for Linux recently, and I suspect that will extend its lifespan for many years still.
I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad from Costco for about $500. The last time I bought a computer preloaded with Windows was about a decade ago. My experience so far: I turn it on, there's a license agreement. Actually, there's two. One is from Microsoft, and it's rather long but I guess it's about par for the course. Then there's the Lenovo license agreement, which is actually a bunch of other license agreements concaten…
> I guess I'll crawl back into my cave and keep using Linux for the foreseeable future. Yeah you could do that, but now even Ubuntu includes ads when invoking apt. There is no escape from the ads, and it will only get worse. Even flatpak must be immediately removed, and snaps for that matter. As it is adware clutter for the system.
I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad from Costco for about $500. The last time I bought a computer preloaded with Windows was about a decade ago. My experience so far: I turn it on, there's a license agreement. Actually, there's two. One is from Microsoft, and it's rather long but I guess it's about par for the course. Then there's the Lenovo license agreement, which is actually a bunch of other license agreements concaten…
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What configs are you talking about? Because most things in the official UIs are carefully crafted to be permanent user preferences that windows updates don't touch.
Just one example: I can't have Acrobat as the default PDF reader for longer than an update cycle. It gets reset to Edge.