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Our commitment to Windows quality

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#381

Post by lldb »

hirako2000 wrote: post #237

> pause updates for longer when needed > all while reducing update noise with fewer automatic restarts and notifications. Pause for longer.. why not just stop. And resume when wanted. Fewer automatic restart. What about no automatic restart. I couldn't read any further. Mind bended leadership to think this sort of wording after the obvious fiasco would make users hopeful. I stopped using windows personally 15 years a…

Apple has, AFAICT, never required automatic updates. I just checked the iOS 26 settings, and sure enough, I have both download and install automatically turned off. So it is possible.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#382

Post by legitster »

I actually don't have any particular problems with Windows. It's familiar, it works with everything I do, I don't have a reason to switch.

That said, it's completely rudderless. How important is an operating system anymore anyway when most applications are just an Electron app anyway? What does consumer Windows provide Microsoft anymore besides a gateway to Office 365 and other actually profitable services?

They also clearly fell asleep at the wheel on things like gaming. The future is clearly Linux-based.

And on the hardware front, Microsoft seemed to have given up on their own consumer gear, and their partners have left them out to dry yet again.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#383

Post by nomel »

QuercusMax wrote: post #301
nomel wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's fundamentally inferior to Linux The context here is the average user, so you need to consider if this they share this perspective of fundamentally inferiority that is so obvious to you. Here's a litmus test: Put your non-programmer relative in front of each, have them do some common simple tasks, like print an email on their printer, and ask them. You are *NOT* an average user. edit: people are focusing on the…

Setting up printers on Linux is way easier than windows. Usually you don't have to do anything at all special at all as long as it's a fairly well known manufacturer. ChromeOS is just linux after all, and it uses the exact same CUPS infra under the hood, and it works just fine. On Windows you often have to download and install drivers, which is always a headache.

> as long as ...

Manufacturers selling Linux computers could attach little stickers with ""As long as..." Inside", to commemorate the official motto of "The Year of the Linux Desktop", for the last 30 years. :P

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#384

Post by lloydatkinson »

wnevets wrote: post #350
deng wrote: post #225

If you want to know how serious to take this, just look at this gem: > Enhancing Search: [...] Clearer and more trustworthy results, with results from content on your device easy to understand and clearly distinct from web results So yeah, you still get web results in your search bar, a feature absolutely zero people want and which is just there to fake Bing success, just with a little divider now next to the applica…

Its one of the first things I turn off.

How? I feel like every time I do my ~1 yearly Windows reinstall I need to google it and then alter half a dozen registry keys and a bunch of group policy settings, and some of them are the "old" settings now replaced with something even more vaguely named (probably on purpose).

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#385

Post by bangaladore »

dijit wrote: post #243
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and its superficial superiority only comes from the ecosystem So the only superiority is that it runs the apps most people want to run? And this is why geeks are always the “Less space than Nomad. No Wireless. Lame” types or the HN equivalent when talking about DropBox: “For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and…

Most people want a web browser. Even Microsofts esteemed moat (office) is “Web only” on the lowest tier.

> Microsofts esteemed moat (office) is “Web only” on the lowest tier.

If you've ever used it before, you'd quickly come to the conclusion that web only Office is only useful for someone writing essays for school.

The moment you need to do anything more complex than that, the document renders completely differently on web vs app-- not to mention there are tons of critical features that aren't even available on the web version.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#386

Post by aduwah »

dmos62 wrote: post #195

I'm somewhat surprised that Windows is still most of personal computers. In my eyes, it's fundamentally inferior to Linux, and its superficial superiority only comes from the ecosystem, which is to say adoption, not some inherent trait. But then, since Linux adoption didn't meaningfully change in the last 20 years, I'm forced to confront the fact that either I'm wrong about its fundamentals, or the market is able to…

I had a chat with a Linux fan the other day. They said Linux is better because you can replace kernels easily to get driver support for something that wasn't working.

The problem is that I do not want to mess around to make things work. This is the power of Windows. Everything is built around it and it does not need or want you to keep hacking it.

Don't get me wrong I am working on Mac and my personal dev laptop is a Linux Mint, but sometimes it physically hurt to find something that sends me down a rabbit hole yet again on Linux. I just think the whole "you have to hack it because you can and otherwise you don't really own it" thing is a big hurdle on Linux that keeps mainstream peeps to stay away

Not sure if I made sense, but yeah basically in order to challenge Windows Linux would need to "just work" which is not the case right now (or ever was)

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#387

Post by ben-schaaf »

nomel wrote: post #255
dmos62 wrote: post #195

I'm somewhat surprised that Windows is still most of personal computers. In my eyes, it's fundamentally inferior to Linux, and its superficial superiority only comes from the ecosystem, which is to say adoption, not some inherent trait. But then, since Linux adoption didn't meaningfully change in the last 20 years, I'm forced to confront the fact that either I'm wrong about its fundamentals, or the market is able to…

> it's fundamentally inferior to Linux The context here is the average user, so you need to consider if this they share this perspective of fundamentally inferiority that is so obvious to you. Here's a litmus test: Put your non-programmer relative in front of each, have them do some common simple tasks, like print an email on their printer, and ask them. You are *NOT* an average user. edit: people are focusing on the…

> Put your non-programmer relative in front of each, have them do some common simple tasks, like print an email on their printer, and ask them.

My grandma does this all the time from her Linux laptop. My grandpa needed help getting it to work the first time under Windows.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#388

Post by andybak »

nine_k wrote: post #364
fsloth wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I want to have a computer with stable vendor supported OS so _I can do my stuff_ not tweak some os level configs. I _don’t_ want to spend my time playing an os systems programmer. OS is a _component_. Like the wifi driver. I think it’s great some people love developing wifi drivers but personally I just want network that-just-works because there are billion other cool things you can do with a computer. Simil…

> I want an OS that just works! This is exactly why modern Windows is problematic. MacOS is better. A right Linux distro (e.g. Fedora Silverblue) on right hardware (e.g. Thinkpad T series) also just works™; this basically the same kind of limitation as with MacOS. I wish they issued a Windows Rock Stable edition. Ancient as rocks (Win7 look, or maybe even WinXP look), every known bug fixed, every feature either suppo…

MacOS has the drawback today any software compiled more than x years no longer works.

That is an unforgivable sin in my eyes.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#390

Post by anal_reactor »

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #269
dmos62 wrote: post #195

I'm somewhat surprised that Windows is still most of personal computers. In my eyes, it's fundamentally inferior to Linux, and its superficial superiority only comes from the ecosystem, which is to say adoption, not some inherent trait. But then, since Linux adoption didn't meaningfully change in the last 20 years, I'm forced to confront the fact that either I'm wrong about its fundamentals, or the market is able to…

Windows is not technically inferior to Linux. To the extent it has problems, it is mainly because of top-down anti-user behaviour mandated from corporate. But anyone capable of using Linux is capable of hacking out that BS and getting a generally superior experience. I use both literally side-by-side, two laptops with a KVM switch, and I still greatly prefer Windows for many reasons. Some reasons: Even as a low-level…

Linux just isn't friendly to newcomers.

1. Lots of rough edges "yeah it almost works if you tweak it a little" yeah thank you but no.

2. CLI is better for doing the thing you want, but GUI is better for discovering what options you have in the first place. The fact that GUI is an afterthought on Linux says a lot.

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