Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Our commitment to Windows quality

blogs.windows.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

831–840 of 1001 posts

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#831

Post by rock_artist »

I see people mentioning Linux. And indeed Linux in general is now fairly compatible, especially in the age of web apps.

Still, each time I install Ubuntu I discover unpolished side of Linux that makes it harder to recommend to the non technical user. After install I always need to figure something out, with Wayland the graphic stack is complex so even basic remote control (including the built in one) becomes a complex task.

For governments: We already see some shift to OSS and non-US from all sort of reasons.

For businesses: Tech companies are more agile to changing stacks and devices. But traditional business are less easy to switch.

For private users: Younger generation will shape the future of the above. But there’s no real OS lock in today for general use. The MacBook Neo is great investment by Apple. Google might also introduce eventually something that fuse ChromeOS and Android in a way that will spark this discussion again. AI companies already shaping some ideas that will change OS workflows (yet OS product managers shouldn’t try to shove things as it is now - also mentioned in the above post)

Anyway, future of OS will be very interesting

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#832

Post by frm88 »

999900000999 wrote: post #821
frm88 wrote: post #809

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did you ckeck last? They are everywhere, even Bestbuy sells them: https://noai.duckduckgo.com/?kax=-1&q=pre-installed+Linux+PC...

Best Buy has a marketplace of 3rd party sellers. I guess you might be able to order one or something? I can not walk into my local best buy and get a computer running Linux. It's a moot point anyway, since you'll usually have to pay more for a Linux laptop vs buying a Windows one and installing it yourself.

I bought two Linux pre-installed PC's last October. They were €350 cheaper apiece than the same Windows PC (presumably because the Windows machines came with a lot of additional software installed idk).

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#833

Post by GettingOld »

fgonzag wrote: post #412
GettingOld wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm only a decade younger - I write .Net (C#) professionally - work it is Windows & Visual Studio (there is no way I'd want to mange any project that size without an IDE, tbh I much prefer using a IDE since I first got one in early 90s) But at home - I use Jet Brains Rider (free non commercial) for C# .Net projects on Linux machines (Debian + KDE or Mint depending on machine) I wonder if you mean Notepad++ not Notepa…

I mean Notepad the original. He tried textpad (the other included text editor ) at some point and hated it

I didn't think TextPad was included in Windows as it not a Microsoft product or free.

If you mean WordPad, which was on Windows - that is a simple Word Processor , so not suitable for writing code in.

Not sure how he will get along with all the stuff MS is adding to I'd suggest getting to look at NotePad++. On Linux Mint Xed behaves similar to Notepad

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#834

Post by imjustmsk »

PaulKeeble wrote: post #469

Microsoft has spent over a decade swimming against their users interests at this point and during that time frame Linux has been improving its desktop and improving kernel performance. We are now at the point where Linux emulating Window's entire API space for games with worse drivers is dangerously close on performance with none of the privacy invasion and anti user features. Its pretty late in the game for them to…

I genuinely wish they woulda gotten beytet, it's always good have some competition Nd alternatives, but Microslop just wanna slop around after all.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#835

Post by Gud »

suby wrote: post #814

Quality is not the issue. We should be more specific - Microsoft has been consciously employing dark patterns that they know will be harmful to users but they do not care because their incentives are misaligned. Employees of Microsoft have surely had meetings scheming of ways to degrade user experience for some internal metric they are trying to hit. A decade+ of conscious, willful decisions which negatively impact u…

Why will you not “forgive them”? That is a logical consequence of using a Microsoft operating system.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#836

Post by alashow »

ivl wrote: post #13

> More taskbar customization, including vertical and top positions: Repositioning the taskbar is one of the top asks we’ve heard from you. We are introducing the ability to reposition it to the top or sides of your screen, making it easier to personalize your workspace. I wonder if this will include being able to put it on the non-primary display once again. It's not mentioned, but that was one of the biggest frustra…

I thought this was already possible before?

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#837

Post by rmunn »

suby wrote: post #814

Quality is not the issue. We should be more specific - Microsoft has been consciously employing dark patterns that they know will be harmful to users but they do not care because their incentives are misaligned. Employees of Microsoft have surely had meetings scheming of ways to degrade user experience for some internal metric they are trying to hit. A decade+ of conscious, willful decisions which negatively impact u…

Precisely. When I noticed the vagueness of most of those points, I did a Ctrl+F for "OneDrive". It produced zero results. Which is all I needed to know about Microsoft's sincerity. In fact, let me quote the first two items on that list in their entirety, then comment on them:

> More taskbar customization, including vertical and top positions: > Repositioning the taskbar is one of the top asks we’ve heard from you. We are introducing the ability to reposition it to the top or sides of your screen, making it easier to personalize your workspace.

Yes. Not being able to reposition the taskbar is definitely the biggest problem that users have been complaining about. They don't care about Recall trying to store screenshots in an insecure database, or OneDrive uploading copies of all their data without asking permission. It's being able to put the taskbar on the side of the screen that they care about most.

(To be fair, people do care about this and it's not at all a bad thing that they're giving more options back. It's just not deserving of the #1 spot).

> Integrating AI where it’s most meaningful, with craft and focus: > You will see us be more intentional about how and where Copilot integrates across Windows, focusing on experiences that are genuinely useful and well‑crafted. As part of this, we are reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad.

Notice this does not say "You will have one checkbox, prominently placed in the Settings app, that says 'Turn Copilot off entirely, remove it from my computer, and never mention it again until I uncheck this box'." Nope, they're still going to push Copilot in unnecessary places, they're just going to be more subtle about it.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#838

Post by beAbU »

wojciii wrote: post #794
queuebert wrote: post #676

Earlier quoted context omitted.

System76 sells some pretty nice computers with Linux preinstalled. Not to mention every Chromebook is a Linux machine.

> Not to mention every Chromebook is a Linux machine. .. which might need a bit of tinkering to install Linux on. Just because it runs a kernel doesn't mean it will be usable out of the box. For example this: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1nc1jui/how_to_actua...

I think GP's point is that a chromebook is a perfectly cromulent apternative to windows, running normal ChromeOS, for users looking for a simple web/docs/email machine.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#839

Post by rmunn »

Gud wrote: post #835
suby wrote: post #814

Quality is not the issue. We should be more specific - Microsoft has been consciously employing dark patterns that they know will be harmful to users but they do not care because their incentives are misaligned. Employees of Microsoft have surely had meetings scheming of ways to degrade user experience for some internal metric they are trying to hit. A decade+ of conscious, willful decisions which negatively impact u…

Why will you not “forgive them”? That is a logical consequence of using a Microsoft operating system.

Making (and uploading) a copy of your data, which might include private documents or corporate secrets that you're contractually obligated NOT to disclose, without asking you permission? That's a "logical consequence" of using a Microsoft OS? If so, then that's the best argument I've heard for not trusting Microsoft.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#840

Post by dupdrop »

vitorgrs wrote: post #798
lm28469 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently installed Fedora and holy shit it's still not production ready. During the initial setup you need to input your location, you have a choice between clicking on the map or typing the city, I don't remember which it is but one of them makes your system freeze, no way to get out other than a reboot. It's documented since Fedora 42, and was still there on Fedora 43 Every time my swap is full the entire system…

Try arch, it's RAM management it's way better. Use Endeavouros if you don't want to deal with the arch install. I have the same experience on Fedora, and most distros. Arch is the only distro that it's 100% smooth for me. OpenSuse comes second.

I'm curious: what would make it so much worse in Fedora compared to Arch?
Post reply on HN