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Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

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Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#91
Comment threads on the Closed Source OS topics like this regularly remind me about the large disconnect between skilled technical users and the "average" user. That average probably isn't your (great) grandparent who never learned how to type suddenly needing to learn the rapidly evolving early-days internet, but it's still just as dangerous to suggest "Use Linux" as the solution for everyone when plenty of "Average" users still don't know enough to be doing things safely in the console.

The "sudo rm -rf" and equivilant horror stories get told all too often as mistakes even made by "skilled users" who were in a hurry, and while that particular problem is becoming less common there is still a minefield out there. Wider use case where we need IT support is worse since there are plenty of Microsoft and Mac favoring restrictions and lockdowns required in the name of corporate level security requirements and certifications add to the mess and "security concerns" you can't get corporate to move away from.

I'm a daily Linux user who has had to put years of a software developer career's time into learning the easier system administration aspects and working with those who handle the harder issues, but doing this in my career I have had to step back every time someone comes to me with a problem. Once I understand the problem then go on to ask "at a guess, how much time will diagnosing this even take?" with the estimates varying based on how standard the OS install or deployment is.

Time and a relatively small amount of training is the problem with switching users from Windows to Mac or the reverse. Switching to Linux is training and introducing a technical mindset into a person. Idiot-proofing the system is a major issue Linux hasn't solved yet. VDI systems and the like might be a step in the right direction, but as soon as your use case for Linux requires a "average user" to open a terminal the problems will pile up and the minefield is exposed.

Years removed from using a Mac I still think of it as the most "child-proofed" OS. Windows being less restrictive but still doing a good-enough job of locking up the more dangerous things while also not drawing attention to them on a regular basis. Linux is like seeing the dangers left out in the open with few useful warning signs beyond some generic unspecified danger signs around the worksite.

Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#92
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notepad++ isn't [Windows Notepad]( https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9msmlrh6lzf3 )

Hilariously related, the title of this topic now looks to me like "Notepad--"

And a minus-minus version is also available, which seems to be aimed at Chinese needs.

Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#94

> I'm still a Windows guy, and I always will be. And this is exactly why Microsoft can get away with a buggy mess of a user hostile operating system. They only have an incentive to make a good OS if people are willing to leave when it’s a bad one.

It likely just means they will always prefer certain classic aspects of Windows over how other desktop OSs do things. I’m largely in that boat as well. Of course Windows could get so bad in the future that another OS will be the lesser evil. Or another OS could adopt those preferred Windows things. But it won’t change the mentioned preferences, hence “always”.

Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m my experience, unwavering Windows folk are simply power users who find *nix shells burdensome.

I deploy all my code on linux and have been thinking about switching from windows to linux for my daily driver. But even I dread that. It´s as if linux has tried as hard as possible to make every single little thing as complicated as possible. imho, user experience is nowhere to be found in the linux landscape. There is very little focus on that. People will tell you try this or that distro. But once you run into a s…

If I could wave a wand and ban a single class of comments on HN, it would be this. Rambling, non-specific handwaving useless text.

> user experience is nowhere to be found in the linux landscape.

It's ignorant, and its insulting, and it's stupid. You can read one or two KDE blog posts, look at the roadmap for Cosmic, look at the attention Valve has put into Linux and know that sentence is just rude. It's just so frustrating.

> People will tell you try this or that distro.

Dumbasses on reddit will. No one that has a single clue encourages distro-hopping.

Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has an even bigger loyalty problem. For them and Microsoft it's arguably good, but it's bad for users, even the loyal ones. It might even be bad for Apple and Microsoft long term.

I'm not saying Apple can't go the way of Microsoft, but if you've used macOS and Windows through the previous 5 years there isn't much of a comparison. Windows has gone from something I tolerated to something I absolutely dislike using. It's so bad that if it wasn't for WSL then I would consider finding a place to work where they didn't force me to use Windows. MacOS on the other hand hasn't really changed. The momen…

> The moment someone makes a non macbook air, that does the same as a macbook air in terms of being cold to touch, battery life and no-noise I'm leaving for Linux though.

I think a lot of people are waiting for a non-Apple Macbook, but we unfortunately might be waiting for a while. It seems to pain other manufacturers to not cut corners in some critical area or another…

Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#97
post #30
post #21

I work in academia and I've gotten most of my people to switch to Macs and no, Linux is not an option here. I have about eight Windows PCs against about sixty MacBook Airs and guess which platform causes me the most work? 1:20 issue ratio. Even simple things like SMB in Windows 11 are hopelessly broken.

What makes Linux not an option? Is there specific apps you need to use? Or IT policies? Or something else? The company I work for got bought by a big conglomerate, and I managed to stubbornly hold out using Linux for a really long time. It turns out if your workplace has adopted “Bring your own device” type policies, that often means you can auth with enough services that working on Linux is feasible.

The issue isn’t the technology, it’s that there’s more than one way to do everything and people tend to scratch their itches.

If you started a company today, you can immediately and cheaply hire people or an MSP to manage Windows PCs. I hire entry Windows techs for $70k. M365 E-whatever is $30-60/mo.

Apple fully aligned their products, so the guys running the iPhone fleet can run the Macs. They may need some higher level assistance to setup the configurations. Unless you have a lot of compliance work, enroll in MDM, done.

With Linux, other than Chrome, there’s no standard. You’re gonna need a smart/expensive person to setup things and you’re going to need smart/expensive people to operate. If you have compliance requirements appear, you’ll need to buy RHEL or something and rework stuff, which is more expensive than windows.

Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#98
post #77
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is better?

I think you're missing the point. If a friend stated that they will stay with their partner regardless of how deceptive or abusive said partner's behaviour becomes, you would rightly question the wisdom of that choice. Stating that you will remain loyal to a company come what may is even worse. It's an entity with no interest in your wellbeing. It exists to extract as much money or information from you as possible. Q…

For folks that still like the win32 ecosystem, they should pirate the heck out of LTSC. just as Microsoft don't have interest in them, they shouldn't give a damn about it and enjoy a dramatically polished Windows experience.

Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#99
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux desktop environments are developed by its users wanting the best experience possible. Windows is designed by a committee that tries to do as little as possible and has ulterior motives higher on the priority scale than UX. Like marketing copilot and other Microsoft subscription services. Microsoft software is always aimed to be just good enough for the users to not choose something better. They love just coasti…

> Linux desktop environments are developed by its users wanting the best experience possible. have you used GNOME?

I'm a lifelong KDE person but it's still clear to me that GNOME is crafted with care, and I find it pretty usable.

Re: Microsoft account bugs locked me out of Notepad – Are thin clients ruining PCs?

#100
post #63

To be clear, this is the horrible "new" Notepad "app" that I absolutely hated and instantly removed when it was forced upon everyone. I doubt the old "edit field in a wrapper" one which has been nearly the same since Win95 has this problem. (My newest machine is now running Linux.)

Is that old still provided?

Yes, it’s still under C:\Windows\notepad.exe, probably for backwards compatibility.
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