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Our commitment to Windows quality

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#281

Post by fsloth »

theLiminator wrote: post #235
chezelenkoooo wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're vastly underestimating the technical illiteracy most people have with computers. 99% of people buy a desktop and don't even consider what the operating system is let alone think about changing it to something else. I would imagine they don't even know that a difference exists between operating systems.

HN in general always does this. I got a lot of push back when I said that in general consumers don't care at all about open source, and the majority of them probably have no clue what it even means. You can really sense the SF-centric bubble HN lives in.

Open source is a supply chain specific issue and consumers don’t care about supply chain.

Anyone with any illusions about this name quickly the top vendor for the third item in the materials itinerary of the first thing with a materials itinerary you get your hands on (for me it’s usually food. Who is the main vendor for citric acid? Or sugar. Or that red dye that causes adhd. I have no clue)

General consumers could not care less about open source.

It’s component.

Not a product.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#283

Post by nomel »

kube-system wrote: post #262
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…

Normal people buy computers at a retail store and use it in the factory configuration indefinitely. They think about changing their OS in the same way you think about changing the type of hem stitching on your slacks.

> They think about changing their OS in the same way you think about changing the type of hem stitching on your slacks.

This is just absolutely beautiful. My grandmother would often identify stitching on my slacks. I was, quite literally, blind to it!

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#284

Post by colordrops »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #217
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…

> 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…

What a horrible take, nothing but a tautology. It only runs the apps most people want to use because it's installed on so many computers, so developers target it. Linux can run anything Windows can. It's the same hardware, and if it was a much more popular desktop you bet your life that banks and streaming companies and AAA game developers would target linux as a supported platform. Has nothing to do with the quality of Windows, only the install base, which was the original point.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#285

Post by tasuki »

operatingthetan wrote: post #240
chezelenkoooo wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're vastly underestimating the technical illiteracy most people have with computers. 99% of people buy a desktop and don't even consider what the operating system is let alone think about changing it to something else. I would imagine they don't even know that a difference exists between operating systems.

I try new distros all the time and not a single one of them is 'GUI native' in the sense that you can do everything without touching a terminal. Some weird stuff always happens and you need to do a bunch of research to figure out how to fix it. The settings GUIs never have parity with the config files and it shows.

Windows is 'GUI native', yet manages to be utterly incomprehensible. I'm a technical person and family and friends know it. Whenever someone tells me "you understand computers" and wants me to help them with their Windows, having used Linux for the past 20 years, I mostly cannot get the task done. This has become better with LLMs, but Windows gets zero credit for that.

What is the benefit of 'GUI native' if things are broken and people cannot fix them?

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#286

Post by DoctorDabadedoo »

mholm wrote: post #178
hyperhello wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently saw this comment. You made it a few weeks ago, copy and paste identical.

Not OP, but I've got a friend of a friend in the Windows org that backs this up. Most engineers are teamed up by manufacturers. HP team, Lenovo team, etc. These are the primary drivers of feature development. If it won't sell grandma another $500 HP laptop, they're not interested.

It's B2B/Enterprise in the driver's seat to keep revenue coming. Usability and polishing of the products is locked in the trunk of the car.

source: been there.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#287

Post by chistev »

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…

What about Macs, you use those?

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#288

Post by SpecialistK »

bigyabai wrote: post #96
SpecialistK wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does 7 offer over a LTSC version of 10/11 that open source couldn't fix?

A user interface that wasn't designed in the middle of 4 identity crises.

You mean Metro/Modern? I never see it anymore, and to be honest I prefer the 10 look over Aero, despite being a Millennial vaporwave fan. I haven't spun up 7 in years and years, and I don't miss it at all. But OS X 10.4's Aqua was the peak.

But also, why wouldn't UI changes be possible if the source was open? I remember WindowBlinds and patched uxTheme.dll in the XP days, and that was /without/ source being available. So in this hypothetical, what's stopping hackers from backporting the things they like about 7 to 10 or adding more rounded translucency?

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#289

Post by glitch13 »

> This includes the ability to skip updates during device setup to get to the desktop faster...

There's only one complaint that practically everyone has regarding what's required "during device setup," and it's not updates. I can't say I'm shocked that it's being ignored.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#290

Post by LambdaComplex »

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…

Enterprises love Windows for the ability to centrally manage an entire fleet's configuration using Active Directory. Is there anything for Linux that comes close to that?
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