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Microsoft is driving users away

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Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#101

Post by wl »

hypothesis wrote: post #37
doawoo wrote: post #7

I really agree with this article- I used Windows as my primary OS (not counting work machines) until about 2 years ago, the mess of non coherent design and CONSTANTLY resetting my user preferences every update (like shoving new buttons [see: ads] onto my taskbar) ultimately lead me to buying the first m1 mbp as my new personal machine. Never looked back. I only boot up windows for occasional games now, and even then,…

> CONSTANTLY resetting my user preferences every update (like shoving new buttons [see: ads] onto my taskbar) ultimately lead me to buying the first m1 mbp as my new personal machine. Boy are you going to be disappointed when you discover that settings reset quite aggressively, especially in cases where Apple really thinks it knows better. Want to keep bluetooth off? Both iPhone and macs will not abide. Want to keep…

A warning for anyone who is using local keychain: Don't. Either give in to iCloud keychain or use a different secrets manager.

If you're using a Mac with a T1 or T2 security coprocessor or Apple Silicon, your local keychain can only be decrypted with a key stored in those chips. Your backups are useless. I figured this out the hard way when an Apple depot repair for a failed display flex somehow ended up with my logic board getting replaced as well. After reimaging from backup (SSD was integrated on the logic board), the keychain was unreadable and I lost several accounts without recovery options. AppleCare's response was, well, you should have backed up your files, even though I had...

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#102

Post by FirmwareBurner »

overgard wrote: post #99
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What problem? In 2013 Microsoft only had 2-3 big products, Windows, Office and X-Box. Now it's significantly more divested and the company's growth no longer depends on Windows' success or failure, and the stock pricing reflects that.

So, you're saying that losing 21% of their OS market share by actively pissing off their customers shouldn't be seen as a problem? OS stagnation would be an improvement compared to what they're currently doing.

Why is having even bigger market share so important? Android has bigger market share than iOS too yet iOS is the more profitable one. Microsoft cares about profit first, not unprofitable market share.

Not saying they're right or wrong, just saying it seems to be working for their bottom line as Windows is less relevante towards that as the PC market has been in a continuous decline anyway in the last decade.

Fighting to capture more % of a declining market seems like a fool's errand, when they have bigger fish to fry now.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#103

Post by dghlsakjg »

throwawaymedic wrote: post #55
hypothesis wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CONSTANTLY resetting my user preferences every update (like shoving new buttons [see: ads] onto my taskbar) ultimately lead me to buying the first m1 mbp as my new personal machine. Boy are you going to be disappointed when you discover that settings reset quite aggressively, especially in cases where Apple really thinks it knows better. Want to keep bluetooth off? Both iPhone and macs will not abide. Want to keep…

I’m guessing you must be referring to something niche? [parent post kindly edited to add examples] I’ve been using macs since 2012 and never had any setting change on me.

iOS has a “feature” where wifi and Bluetooth will switch itself back on after a set period of time if you use control center to turn it off. If you use settings it behaves as you would expect.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#104

Post by OsrsNeedsf2P »

Animats wrote: post #40

"To Access the old devices and printer use the run prompt and type the following: shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}" And people complain about Linux.

That's something I've noticed over the years. More and more of Windows debugging and configuration is happening on the (various) command line terminals. You're even starting to see it with official Microsoft installers.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#105

Post by overgard »

nickelpro wrote: post #96
overgard wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every Windows user I know hates the new control panels. (I use plural because they've been trying to replace the actual good control panel basically every version of Windows since 7 and it's an incredible mess). Enterprise users put up with Windows because it's better to administrate than anything else, so taking away that stuff really is murdering windows.

I did enterprise administration of Windows boxes, ~400 seats. We did not manually muck with control panels per station. I could not care less what the settings UIs for home installs of Windows are. And that's the real truth, power users and these small fry IT install bases are not major markets. The most prominent markets are OEM installs for non-technical home users (who hate complex panels and love the push-button…

I dunno man, with Steam on linux and most of the major game engines making porting easy (or at least moving in that direction) I have very few reasons to stick with Windows anymore. At this point it's basically Photoshop and Fusion 360, otherwise I'd abandon it completely. If they lose gamers, I think they'll have a real issue.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#106

Post by earlone »

firesteelrain wrote: post #4

As much as I like Linux, tides won’t be shifting for desktop to Linux. It will be Microsoft Windows for years to come

Yes agree. I started using Linux (Gentoo) as student 20 years ago to learn LKMs programming, and with my main Desktop being Windows currently, I give a new try to linux distros every year. I see Linux distros improve year after year, but they are still light years away from providing a good user experience. And even if I don't agree with many Windows 11 updates (like the cumulating number of services required to run user interfaces, the taskbar which can't be moved anymore, the bloatware by default and so on...), Windows still provides a better & smoother user experience overall. Even Desktop multitasking experience feels better engineered in Windows, probably because of a better Desktop processes timing.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#107

Post by rincebrain »

overgard wrote: post #54

I really hate the way they're forcing their products I don't want on me. Stop opening things in Edge, I'm never ever going to use it. And stop asking me to backup folders on OneDrive, I already have Dropbox, I don't want it. And jesus, stop breaking the taskbar. Every major windows version they just make it worse. Now you can't even dock it to different parts of the screen. Why?!? The Windows 2000 taskbar was infinit…

A number of people really want widgets of some kinds - little things showing information like the time, or CPU clock, or battery left, or music playing.

The problem becomes that A) people really want different presentations of information, B) something tiny and satisfying in the corner isn't as easy to justify as a big improvement, even if it is, as a big flashy thing, and C) some people get very upset at anything doing this at all.

Look at how people got super excited about active desktop backgrounds, or how people used media players which turn into tiny widgets displaying pretty visualizations and a little bit of information.

People want widgets, but getting a consistent design that many people will use without introducing so much complexity that most people will never bother is hard.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#108

Post by andyferris »

What’s happening in somewhat poorer (BRICS, say) countries? Surely they’d be price sensitive enough not to pay for a Windows license if suddenly it has a (widespread) reputation for being less user friendly than Linux? (And this cohort would eventually become the majority of computer users over time… where would that leave Microsoft?)

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#110

Post by asd88 »

wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #43

With the latest m2 macbook air's you actually get a significantly better laptop, for a lot less money, then a windows version I've found. Let alone the fact it just damn sexy. I got a DELL laptop from a client to be able to access their windows applications. I used it for coding for a bit, it was so painfully slow, so I switched back to my macbook air m2. I thought the Dell was just a cheap laptop, found out the reta…

I suspect Apple Silicon is still in a league of its own and worth every penny compared to Windows laptops.
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