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Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

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Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#131

Post by dismalaf »

joshstrange wrote: post #59

> System resources ... the requirements are much higher than they need to be They don't mention the requirements directly because people would laugh them out of the room. For hardware (aside from the TPM): 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor, 4 gigabytes (GB), 64 GB or larger storage device. That is "higher than they need to be"? I don't think so. That's the absolute _flo…

Linux Mint is a buggy POS, the fact it's ever recommended is a disservice to Linux.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#132

Post by dismalaf »

nottorp wrote: post #18

How's Mint? I'm asking because I installed a fresh ubuntu desktop in a VM today and the spam I got on first run reminded me of ... Windows.

Mint is horrible. They love using forks of long abandoned software and it's way buggier than the Ubuntu base they base it off...

Just install the current Ubuntu release (not LTS) for a good experience.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#133

Post by tiahura »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #34
tiahura wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they run Word Excel and Outlook.

>Outlook Even more reason to switch.

It's 2025 and there is still no open source equivalent with an integrated datastore for contacts, events, emails, and tasks.

The last time I checked, Thunerbird can't flag a contact for reminder, or set the same category for an email and a task?

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#134

Post by tiahura »

zdw wrote: post #55
tiahura wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they run Word Excel and Outlook.

This is the real reason. Put your data in the MS format roach motel, and it's a challenge to ever get it out with full fidelity. The mid-oughts battle over this in the international standardizations space is pretty fraught: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardization_of_Office_Open... And even now, even though there is a "standard" and schemas for, MS's apps mostly ignore them, or use undocumented extensions (as fa…

"get it out with full fidelity"

Primarily because there isn't a fully-functional equivalent.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#136

Post by ethbr1 »

burnt-resistor wrote: post #118
imzadi wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like it or not, Linux is still not really user friendly compared to a windows computer. Users still have to do command line stuff, and the software you are used to is not available. The equivalents are not as shiny as the windows versions. Macs might be too expensive for some people who are still running on old hardware.

Not Ubuntu, but we need a Linux that's pretty, standardized, simple, fail-safe, developed as an immutable whole, consistent, and integrated as macOS and long-term compatible similar to Windows without the M+MAANG corporate bullshit of either, perhaps through a non-profit, employee-owned co-op social venture. Perhaps a far more polished and documented version of Qubes with various btrfs trees selectively presented cle…

The philosophical problem with this is it would require a huge number of volunteers to standardize.

That's something you can make happen if you're paying people... but it's pretty hard when you aren't.

Why should someone work on something they're not thrilled about? (from their perspective)

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#137

Post by rich_sasha »

ryao wrote: post #22

Every time this happens, I wonder why people do not just drop Windows entirely.

I'm back to Windows for a new $job. It's truly awful in so many ways, Linux is a joy by comparison for daily driving, with Mac a close-ish second.

With one difference: I'm not scared of software upgrades. The number of times my laptop was semi-bricked by an update, usually graphics driver, which required frantic googling for random commands, GRUB scripts with enormous disclaimers about how mistyping something will brick the laptop for good, discussions about Nouveau and how it's lal Nvidia's fault really... That's bad, always was, never got better for me, and I really don't miss it.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#138

Post by bigyabai »

TremendousJudge wrote: post #115
JohnFen wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Users still have to do command line stuff Not really, unless they're doing something special. But if they're doing something special, they're not average users.

> unless they're doing something special In my experience with Linux desktop, this could be "have the touchpad work the same as it did on Windows", "plug in an extra monitor and have it behave somewhat normally", or "play this game". But yeah, I guess that as long as we only expect "average users" to only use a web browser to look at Youtube, it's fine.

GNOME and KDE both have the same touchpad gestures as Windows 10/11, and the monitor extension logic is basically identical too (GNOME even has a Win+P accelerator). Game variety hasn't really been an issue since the Steam Deck came out, with apologies to League of Legends addicts that probably ought to move on with their lives anyways.

Like, I understand that my MRI operator can't just install Linux on their PC. But the majority of people are usually not dependent on Windows-exclusive software, especially in the smartphone era.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#139

Post by AlecSchueler »

JohnFen wrote: post #72
cedws wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I don't know. It's been years since I had any sort of problem with drivers. But, as always, YMMV.

Yeah for years my experience is that Linux "just works" in the plug-and-play sense but on windows I'll have to download and install something from the web that could be on trustworthy looking site or not.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#140

Post by k0tan32 »

JohnFen wrote: post #96
k0tan32 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I often notice that Linux (and maybe some BSDs) can accommodate two extremes on the tech competence spectrum especially well: the least opinionated users may treat their computer as a black box and just enjoy web browsing / chatting / media with some help, while the most savvy can extract value from tailored and private setups (like stability of Debian or power of Nix). At the same time, Linux on the desktop fails of…

> the learning curve is still higher (especially for people coming from Windows) I don't think the learning curve is higher at all. It's roughly the same as with Windows. But if you're coming from Windows, the fact that you have to mount a learning curve for the new OS can be a real friction point. When most people learned Windows, they did so over time, without pressure. If you're switching operating systems, you li…

I agree with you per se that the learning curve in many ways is a function from your past experience, but there's no contradiction with what I previously stated in the context of this article - since émigré from Windows will obviously have some experience with Windows, they have this learning bias already, and potentially a different mindset/expectations (the most famous - why can't I just download an .exe?!)

Some [1] Linux distros were even trying to emulate this experience (which is a dead end obviously)

[1] Like Linux XP https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=linuxxp

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