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

371–380 of 1001 posts

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#371

Post by bargainbin »

rolandhvar wrote: post #305
applfanboysbgon wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

+1 on the UI thing. I don't know what it is, but UI on Linux always feels too disjoint from the rest of the system. It's a bit like how Windows 3.11 was just UI-on-DOS. I get the same feeling. Don't get me wrong - I love Linux for all its CLI use but for some reason I've never been able to primary drive it without going insane after a week. Windows just seems to feel more put-together and I guess that's because the k…

I’m daily driver Linux now after three decades of Windows usage. I have Bazzite-dx (Fedora based) on my desktop and Cachy (Arch based) on my laptop, both using KDE Plasma for the GUI.

I can’t place my finger on it, but Bazzite feels more “coherent” despite using the exact same GUI.

I had the misfortune of using a Windows 11 machine the other day and I didn’t even recognise it. They’ve taken a huge misstep with the Copilot rollout.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#372

Post by paxys »

Weren't you able to move the taskbar to the top in like Windows 98 and XP? So they deliberately took away a feature, are adding it back after years, and selling this as "see we listen to our users!!"

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#373

Post by Eisenstein »

brailsafe wrote: post #334
seba_dos1 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it still was lame and ultimately made the world a worse place; and mounting remote storage is convenient and often preferable to something like Dropbox for several reasons. The fact that these aren't what matters for gaining wide popularity doesn't make such statements false.

> ultimately made the world a worse place I feel like people dramatically overestimate their impact on "the world" by way of making niche software choices or consumer products or whatever.

If you follow the reasoning that the iPod led to the iPhone which made mobile internet use dominant and common, you can also follow that line to social media and attention economies which many would argue have caused the world to be worse.

But this is kind of like the 'great man' theory of history where you can also argue that the markets would have converged on this outcome regardless of what the specific device was that we attribute to it.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#374

Post by Mesmoria »

radlad wrote: post #266
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.

Do non-tech people even buy computers anymore? I imagine you basically have tech enthusiasts, gamers, and IT at offices buying desktop computers at this point.

One reason to buy a laptop is school/uni. After that it feels like many people move there "computing" to their phones.

Time for some Internet researching...

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#375

Post by chrysoprace »

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…

You've gotta understand that most people outside of IT have very little to no computer literacy. They want something that just works, and Linux doesn't do that.

I've completely replaced Windows with Bazzite since November and it's been great for me, but it's not been without issues. Those issues are doable for me, but if I put Bazzite, Fedora, Linux Mint or any of the other beginner friendly distros on anybody else's PC they'll encounter a roadblock that they won't know how to resolve and that'll taint their Linux experience. Not to mention spotty hardware drivers (I've had several wifi drivers just stop working with an update, which is infuriating if you don't have a reliable wired connection), volunteer software for many configurations (OpenRGB doesn't support my motherboard), nVidia drivers and finding alternatives to software people know and use like Office and Photoshop.

These might not seem like a big deal, but they're dealbreakers for many and they'd rather put up with some dodgy window resize behaviour or their OS spying on them.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#376

Post by paxys »

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 superior to Linux because people can actually use it. Everything else is secondary.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#377

Post by bigstrat2003 »

rfrey wrote: post #253
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…

People loved the iPod. Users loved Dropbox. Nobody loves windows.

I love Windows, or at least I used to before Windows 8. I think that it is a truly pleasant OS to use, and is my preference. I use Linux as my daily driver today, but it's because I'm a refuge from the anti-user thugs MS has done (ads in the OS being first and foremost among them), not because I don't like Windows. If they brought back Windows 7 security updates, I would switch back to it in a heartbeat.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#378

Post by jwpapi »

I switched to Fedora as my first full time Linux OS and it’s honestly changed my life.

I can use my computer as a tool to do my craft and I’m not constantly sucked in ai features, news, or external search results, if I don’t want it.

OS stands for operating system, Microsoft is not that for me.

I wouldn’t know how to ever go back. I really hope I’m not forced to for some reason.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#379

Post by JoelMcCracken »

chezelenkoooo wrote: post #219
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 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.

This. While I was in college, I worked for Circuit City doing tech support (the "IQ Crew", heh, later called "firedog". Memories). People would call/come in and I would try to gather information about their setup.

It was extremely common to get Q/A like:

Me: Who is your internet serviced provider?

Them: I just click the 'e'.

Translation: They were telling me they use internet explorer.

Me: OK, bring in your computer and I can look at it.

Them: (arrives some time later, plops their CRT monitor on the table).

It was always like that. It took me a while to figure out how to ask the right questions to get the information I needed from them. TBH, this was most of the job.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#380

Post by xp84 »

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.

Tbh all OSs handle printers that way. Ones that have drivers “just work.” It’s just that if you buy any printer in the store you can be assured that if it isn’t on that list of drivers that ships with the OS, there will be a driver for Windows and Mac from the manufacturer. You don’t get that assurance automatically with another OS.
Post reply on HN