Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#481

Post by hackerfromthefu » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 1:49 PM UTC

imtringued wrote: post #379

duxup wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has been ages since I had to reinstall windows. I was a thing I just did once in a while more than a decade ago but I haven't had to on multiple systems for a long time now.

Unfortunately I always got my windows updates as soon as possible which meant lots of bricked systems because Microsoft doesn't test their updates.

Maybe try to defer them for a week?

I do that, and have had no issues in the Windows 10 timeframe across 3-4 Win 10 OSes, one on canary, err Windows Insider (slow ring).

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#482

Post by the_only_law » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 1:53 PM UTC

sergeykish wrote: post #280

cjbconnor wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the multiplayer games I play won't work on linux, typically due to the anticheat software they use. Also, there's typically a few hoops to jump through for popular games.

Anticheat is a rootkit, right? That's almost complaining Windows viruses does not run in Wine.

Yeah well thats just modern software I guess. Malware as a feature.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#483

Post by the_only_law » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 1:57 PM UTC

1986 wrote: post #20

I know quite a lot of folks here are fed up with moves away from native apps and towards Electron-wrapped web apps (and often for totally valid reasons) but it's been a godsend for making Linux a usable daily driver OS. IMO if you're doing eg web dev work in a GSuite / Slack / Figma / etc organization, it's never been a better time to try desktop Linux!

On the flip side side: my low end machines no longer seem to be usable anymore.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#484

Post by snazz » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 1:58 PM UTC

omg_ponies wrote: post #254

toyg wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Microsoft doesn't really enforce Windows activation anymore Except an unactivated Windows, once past its trial window, will shut down after an hour of use, without warning. That's very annoying. MS absolutely does enforce activation. They likely won't come after you for using cracks (unless you have hundreds of corporate machines using them), but they will make your life awkward remotely, as they are entitled to by…

This has not been true for some time. You can continue to use un-activated Win10 installs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Product_Activation#A... You just can't change the wallpaper away from black, and there is a notice displayed on it.

You can change the wallpaper by right-clicking on an image file, just not through the personalization preferences.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#485

Post by lodovic » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 2:00 PM UTC

sergeykish wrote: post #429

tester34 wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I have so many packages, they are free and safe. I've tried Windows recently, have to install software from the web. It is scary. If you write it this way (without details) then how people can argue? What's so scary? I think I'm using 99% of my software from an actual vendor sites and never felt that way. Also using things like virustotal.com.

It was unexpected. But could you feel it without experiencing? I've used open source OS for a decade. It has changed my mind. I've never downloaded software from site. I trust community, not vendors. I use just one non open source application (slack) and I do not trust them, I'd rather run it in a sandbox. My system comes with a framework to download, build, install any package with just a few commands: $ yay -G foo…

This is actually one of the major annoyances for me in Linux. Each distro has its own package manager and set of packages. Yay, yum, apt, pacman, dpkg, portage, the list is near endless and as each package manager needs a reason to exist, each will try to be different. For simple use cases such as installing a package, this is fine. But for example, finding out how to search for available packages can take quite some time on a new distro.

And having all these different package managers require me to either have blind trust in a lot of different communities, or spend a lot of time comparing CRCs and reading code.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#486

Post by bregma » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 2:10 PM UTC

simonh wrote: post #342

rubyn00bie wrote: post #214

I just moved to Linux as my primary OS; been fucking great. 11/10 Overall, everything seems to "just work" at least as well as on MacOS and is not quite (for me) as endlessly frustrating as Windows. Gaming has also been effortless and honestly just the most delightful surprise about the whole thing. I can write code AND play games... on the same machine... and it's running Linux?! I would've lost that bet ten years a…

In 2018 I ended up calling both Apple and Microsoft for phone support within a few months of each other and, to my surprise, got excellent support from both of them. The Apple issues turned out to require an NvRAM/SMC reset to fix a weird performance issue. The Apple support person was very polite, helpful and knowledgeable. The Microsoft issue was I’d bought a laptop which came with an Office trial, but wanted to en…

> you basically have to reinstall from scratch every time

My main dev machine started as a Thinkpad running Ubuntu 9.04 and has not only been upgraded many times but has migrated its hardware twice and is now an Intel NUC on my desktop. Never reinstalled anything.

I used to reinstall Windows machines regularly because they'd bog down to uselessness or stop working after a few months. Since it's only a games machine I have learned the best maintenance program for Windows is to toss the machine every few years and replace it with brand-new hardware and software and reinstall the games from original media (mostly Steam). Also, never reboot because it will bog down my home internet connection doing a massive set of downloads from all MS and all the driver vendors and resynching all its trackers. Also also keep it isolated in the DMZ because it should be considered asymptomatic but infected at all times.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#487

Post by torgian » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 2:11 PM UTC

I actually have Linux as my main work OS ( Linux mint ) and have been enjoying it. It’s user friendly enough to get started and if you can read instructions, not that difficult to install software ( even when some may be more difficult than others... Docker on Mint, for example ).

I actually prefer it to Mac, but there are some programs that I just can’t use on Linux. And I now use Windows as my gaming OS.

So while I wish I could do everything on Linux, I’m happy to switch as needed. Linux is my home work station, Mac for the cafe and some other things, and Windows for everything else.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#488

Post by cgtyoder » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 2:11 PM UTC

I had to LOL a tiny bit when I opened up the webpage and found the actual name of the article is Objective reasons to prefer Linux to Windows. I wonder why that word got left out of the HN title submission... :^)

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#489

Post by jamaicahest » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 2:18 PM UTC

jamaicahest wrote: post #352

pxeboot wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Really, most modern Linux distros are pretty god damn nice. This has been my experience recently as well. For laptops at least, as long as you buy a system with known good Linux support, the vast majority of the common complaints I see are not really valid. If you need macOS or Windows to run a specific application exclusive to that platform, great. If your software all runs on Linux, you can gain a lot of freedom…

> as long as you buy a system with known good Linux support And that is where the problem lies. With Windows I can buy pretty much any laptop and expect it to work with. With Linux I have a limited selection of laptops, if I want it to work fully. I'm a developer and I know my way around Linux pretty well, still I usually run into "missing drivers", "package management is broken", "hardware working mostly but not ful…

Did any of you replying actual read my comment or did you just auto-reply "buy a supported Linux laptop"? I said ". With Windows I can buy pretty much any laptop and expect it to work with", and you are saying "Just research if the laptop you want to buy works with Linux", you are completely missing the point. I do not want to have to bother researching if a specific laptop will run Linux and research if all the hardware in that particular laptop will work. I want to buy the laptop I like and I want Linux to support that laptop, since it is commodity hardware. Same as I expect of Windows and Windows delivers in this aspect.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#490

Post by minton » Mon, Nov 16, 2020, 2:20 PM UTC

I think part of the issue with Linux for a casual user can be perfectly illustrated in this HN thread. The comments are filled with endless recommendations for different packages that do the same thing. Choice is great and part of the Linux charm, but for the average user keeping up with it all is overwhelming and simply not worth it.