Microsoft is driving users away • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#41

Post by screenobobeano » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:31 PM UTC

doawoo wrote: post #7

I really agree with this article- I used Windows as my primary OS (not counting work machines) until about 2 years ago, the mess of non coherent design and CONSTANTLY resetting my user preferences every update (like shoving new buttons [see: ads] onto my taskbar) ultimately lead me to buying the first m1 mbp as my new personal machine. Never looked back. I only boot up windows for occasional games now, and even then,…

The thing is users have no choice, it makes a complete mockery of computer programming as a profession. The people that were quality oriented lost the people selling licenses won.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#42

Post by ajkjk » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:32 PM UTC

erremerre wrote: post #25

I tried changing myself to linux (Fedora) and I still had problems with a Realtek ALC892 for audio, which is a chip from 12 years ago. No solution other than buy a soundcard with a different chip. Unfortunately, we still be using windows. Curiously the game were working quite fine as long as I was using x11.

what's a soundcard?

(being flippant but also.. Yeah why?)

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#43

Post by wouldbecouldbe » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:32 PM UTC

With the latest m2 macbook air's you actually get a significantly better laptop, for a lot less money, then a windows version I've found. Let alone the fact it just damn sexy.

I got a DELL laptop from a client to be able to access their windows applications. I used it for coding for a bit, it was so painfully slow, so I switched back to my macbook air m2.

I thought the Dell was just a cheap laptop, found out the retail price was a few 100 euros higher then my m2. I was dumbfounded a shitty laptop would go for those prices. (granted I have a 13 inch, 15 inch are around the same price)

The new macbook air's are really fairly priced and are sufficient for most professionals.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#44

Post by whaleofatw2022 » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:32 PM UTC

netsharc wrote: post #30

firesteelrain wrote: post #4

As much as I like Linux, tides won’t be shifting for desktop to Linux. It will be Microsoft Windows for years to come

Yeah, Microsoft's got a huge majority of users captive and now they can do as they please, "Oh you don't like this obnoxious new 'feature'? Well what are you going to do about it?", like an abusive partner. If only there's some company with money and clout to offer an OS with the same level of user-friendliness... Too bad Google's product managers are just busy trying to advance their own careers, plus it's not like…

They are even worse on the OSS side. They'll push azure on everyone while shitting on the community that kept .NET alive between 2012-2019

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#45

Post by seanmcdirmid » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:32 PM UTC

alerighi wrote: post #12

I think that Windows was kind of usable till Windows 7. Windows 10 was not that bad from a performance point of view, an improvement over Windows 7, but it had a ton of bloatware that you had to clean up with third party applications, after it it was kind of ok. Anyway, I use Linux and to me Windows is so far behind, for example only in recent years they introduced features such as virtual desktops that in Linux DE a…

Wasn’t 7 the one people liked vs the previous version Windows, Vista? I remember windows 7 being popular until about Windows 10 or so. Lots of people think Windows 7 was the last good Windows version (at least from my memory).

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#46

Post by probably_satan » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:32 PM UTC

traverseda wrote: post #14

firesteelrain wrote: post #4

As much as I like Linux, tides won’t be shifting for desktop to Linux. It will be Microsoft Windows for years to come

I honestly think that Gnome is a big part of this. A lot of people very obviously and loudly like it, but since I've been giving developers the option to use KDE they've been a lot happier with it all.

Xfce is far better than Gnome and KDE to me personally. Gnome-shell is nice on a tablet though.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#47

Post by thiago_fm » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:32 PM UTC

The issue with Windows that the HN public might have trouble to understand, is how bad decisions are sticky in a company with little to no taste like Microsoft.

You can't suddenly change things and expect app developers to accept it like they do in OSX. This means they can't change Windows too much.

Any new change creates lots of compromises and just slapping a new UI doesn't fix the underlying issue.

This has been the case since forever, that's why Apple could survive and that's why we have Linux.

It isn't worth for Microsoft for example, to change how program becomes initialized at system startup. What happens is that every program then will want to be initialized at Startup.

The average windows user is used to have to close lots of garbage at system startup. Also dealing with pseudo-ads all around the OS and also edge. Changing this would probably mean less revenue and no corporation would prefer to delay revenue in a bad product that will likely never die.

Mac likely wouldn't be vibrant and with so much attention to details if Windows didn't exist. There wouldn't be a market for it.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#48

Post by daft_pink » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:33 PM UTC

I would say the fundamental problem with Mac is paying through the nose for hard drive space, ram, and multiple display capabilities. However, like you say, Microsoft is driving users away with their terrible choices like forcing me bing and actively adding spyware to my machine, but they are far from the only ones doing it. Other legacy software makers like Intuit are actively sabotaging their software and the enshittification continues.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#49

Post by netsharc » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:34 PM UTC

Solvency wrote: post #23

Every single time I wake up my computer from sleep the Edge browser opens up in full screen. I have as many Edge settings disable as possible, Chrome is my default browser, and there are no keyboard shortcuts that could possibly open it. It doesn't matter if I press the spacebar, click my mouse, etc. No matter how the PC awakes, Edge launches itself in full view on top of the other apps. It's blatantly aggravating st…

If I'm not mistaken, tasks defined in Task Scheduler can be set to run at system wake, so maybe look at your tasks... I'd be worried about something configured to load a URL (i.e. call home) on every system wake.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#50

Post by seanmcdirmid » Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 9:34 PM UTC

doublerabbit wrote: post #35

JALTU wrote: post #13

Enterprise Windows is a cash cow, lock-in is perhaps...forever; long MSFT. (Typing this on one of my three Macs.)

Hate to break it to you, OSX/Mac are just the same cash cow with proprietary vendor lock-ins for forever. Unless that was the irony you were pointing out. Good show.

OS X works well especially with the hardware it was co-designed with. The only other option is an idealistic Linux, which still isn’t suitable for most people, so grandma moved from Windows to OSX, and never looked back.