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The day Windows died

thomasbandt.com

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Re: The day Windows died

#531

Post by pengaru »

raxxorraxor wrote: post #524
elihu wrote: post #485

I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad from Costco for about $500. The last time I bought a computer preloaded with Windows was about a decade ago. My experience so far: I turn it on, there's a license agreement. Actually, there's two. One is from Microsoft, and it's rather long but I guess it's about par for the course. Then there's the Lenovo license agreement, which is actually a bunch of other license agreements concaten…

I don't understand how Microsoft can cheapen their main OS that much. If they really wanted to emulate Apple, they wouldn't fill their OS with trash in every corner. This also extends to the default landing page of Edge. This is the worst form of bullvard, it is a tiny bit better than directly advocating for penis enlargement on the internet. But not by much at all. There should be no ads on the OS level. Especially…

> I don't understand how Microsoft can cheapen their main OS that much.

I think the sad reality is a huge portion of the American population actually likes being fed commercial/branded b.s. Just look how common it is for folks to voluntarily affix things like Monster energy drink logos on their vehicles... The culture has no class, monster trucks dude.

Re: The day Windows died

#532

Post by kiwijamo »

dncornholio wrote: post #528
elihu wrote: post #485

I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad from Costco for about $500. The last time I bought a computer preloaded with Windows was about a decade ago. My experience so far: I turn it on, there's a license agreement. Actually, there's two. One is from Microsoft, and it's rather long but I guess it's about par for the course. Then there's the Lenovo license agreement, which is actually a bunch of other license agreements concaten…

How is this Windows fault? Format the drive and install your own Windows.

Ads appears even on fresh installs, so not sure how that helps?

Re: The day Windows died

#533

Post by GNUfanaticism »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #489
elihu wrote: post #485

I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad from Costco for about $500. The last time I bought a computer preloaded with Windows was about a decade ago. My experience so far: I turn it on, there's a license agreement. Actually, there's two. One is from Microsoft, and it's rather long but I guess it's about par for the course. Then there's the Lenovo license agreement, which is actually a bunch of other license agreements concaten…

> I guess I'll crawl back into my cave and keep using Linux for the foreseeable future. Apple makes laptops, TV streamers, and tablets. Is there some reason you're avoiding them?

And now you're stuck in a proprietary ecosystem. Of course you should avoid Apple.

Re: The day Windows died

#534

Post by apatheticonion »

ncallaway wrote: post #416
apatheticonion wrote: post #332

It's really sad that there is no where for us to go in the desktop OS space right now. I, weirdly, daily drive all 3 OSes. MacOS; Work issued laptop and longish-time user (about 6 years with it). Windows; Desktop PC mostly for games. I've been using Windows since I could walk. Fedora; Desktop PC, dual booted which I use for most everything else. I cannot believe how much of a dumpster fire Windows has become. From th…

> Windows; Desktop PC mostly for games. That's totally fair, but I would definitely recommend that you try installing games on your Linux desktop as well. Proton is absolutely stunning in what they've managed to accomplish. I'm always a little surprised when a game _doesn't_ run well in Proton now. If you've got particular games that you must play that don't run well on Linux, you'll probably want to keep the Windows…

This is actually something I try to make a point of doing frequently. I tend to try games on Linux first before falling back to Windows after.

Big call out is controller support. Sometimes I game on my TV, when I do I use an Xbox whatever-the-current-gen-is controller with the official usb dongle.

To get it working on Linux, I had to compile/install a third party kernel extension from GitHub via the command line - fine for me but I could not ask anyone else to do it.

It also doesn't always launch properly. Sometimes I have to shutdown, unplug the usb, boot with it unplugged, login, plug it in, then turn on my controller. I have gotten into the rhythm of this because I really want Linux to be the place for me but the reality is that it would be nice if Linux had built in support for this hardware.

Also, I run my TV at 1440p@120hz rather than its default 4k@60hz - the login screen in Fedora runs at 4k before switching to 1440p after logging in.

But something interesting with Proton is that it runs some games better than Windows does - particularly older titles that use older APIs. I was playing through GTA4 recently (never got through the whole game, underrated IMO) and it plays _way_ better on Linux than Windows - even when you use DXVK on Windows. Same with COD2!

Re: The day Windows died

#535

Post by wink »

pjmlp wrote: post #441
inciampati wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What elements of polish are you missing? Have you used gnome shell in the last five years? My desktop experience on Linux is so clean. Everything is a "windows" key press away. I hit they then enter the first characters of the program name. It's all composited and GPU accelerated too, and interaction is instantaneous. Almost anything that needs additional polish is on the web and looks the same on every computer... F…

Have you ever tried to develop GUI applications for GNOME versus macOS/Windows tooling?

It's a bit of an exaggeration, but I've written the whole Linux application in the same time that I needed to get my build environment working on Windows. I still don't know how people can like developing on Windows, especially if it involves anything regarding C/C++ libs. (Not using a paid version of Visual Studio, fwiw).

Re: The day Windows died

#536

Post by drcongo »

dncornholio wrote: post #528
elihu wrote: post #485

I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad from Costco for about $500. The last time I bought a computer preloaded with Windows was about a decade ago. My experience so far: I turn it on, there's a license agreement. Actually, there's two. One is from Microsoft, and it's rather long but I guess it's about par for the course. Then there's the Lenovo license agreement, which is actually a bunch of other license agreements concaten…

How is this Windows fault? Format the drive and install your own Windows.

You're advising him to do exactly what he says he did in the article. How is that going to turn out any different?

Re: The day Windows died

#537

Post by GNUfanaticism »

StrangeATractor wrote: post #452
piyush_soni wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And of course it's Linux, so there's infinite opportunity to get under the hood and tinker. - Or keep trying to fix the environment + hardware compatibility issues and not do the actual work/study. Or keep editing some random xorg.conf file because his monitor's display suddenly became weird. Or try to fix some other random files since the sound driver doesn't work. He's 10. I'm 40 and still horrified to deal with…

It's 2023, do people still have driver issues on Linux? Last I had to worry about that was when Ubuntu was (Admittedly, I've done well by staying away from nvidia)

I can't speak for laptops, but I strongly doubt any claims about drivers on desktop GNU/Linux. It's a common talking point but I believe it is mostly parroting. Anything I have plugged into my PC for the past few years has worked right out of the box. Installing Nvidia drivers is a common complaint, but it has never been more than an apt/pacman/xbps-install away for me.

Re: The day Windows died

#538

Post by gjvc »

einr wrote: post #454
phendrenad2 wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, the article isn't about that at all. It's about how cluttered, user-hostile, and specifically kid-unfriendly Windows has become in the latest iteration. Linux isn't the answer because it replaces those "features" with different kinds of user-hostility (everything is geared towards people who are on the road to becoming software developers, or are close friends with someone who is).

"Uh," maybe we can both be right. Allow me to quote directly: "I want him to be able to dig deeper. To explore. To try things out, misconfigure, crash, fix, and re-install. To get a feeling for how things work below the surface and how they do not work. To learn how to type fast and efficiently. To create things. Maybe, one day, even to learn how to code if he's interested."

Only when things are broken and in need of fixing, is one forced one to understand how they work behind the scenes. Necessity becomes the mother of understanding for a while... :-)

Re: The day Windows died

#539

Post by apatheticonion »

modeless wrote: post #496
devjab wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but no matter how much I love it, Linux is janky. I see this a little bit different. I have ADHD and this relates to my operating system because I tend to go with the path of least resistance a little more so than my peers, or at least that's my anecdotal experience. Which means I haven't used Linux for a loooong time, exactly because it's janky. Where Linux is improving, however, both Windows and MacOS aren't. Mac…

Have you tried Proton on Linux? The days of needing Windows for gaming are over now. It's all thanks to Valve's work on the Steam Deck, but it works just as well for desktop Linux too. All you have to do is install Steam and then enable Proton for the Windows games you want to play. Some of my games even work better on Linux under Proton than they do on Windows. For your specific games, I see people saying Diablo wor…

Honestly, the work Valve have done with Proton is incredible. It has made a world of difference to my daily computing life.

If only Google would put the same effort into polishing Chrome on Linux :laugh:

Also Zoom, Slack...

Re: The day Windows died

#540

Post by ThatMedicIsASpy »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #417
grumpyprole wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy a laptop with good Linux support, e.g. a ThinkPad. It should be fine for well over a decade in my experience. That is better value than Apple offer.

Thinkpads are solid devices but they’re really falling behind in screen and trackpads. Most higher end Thinkpad models have 1080p screens with 300-400 nits of brightness at most. The base M2 Macbook Air is 2560x1664 with 500 nits brightness. And it’s cheaper than a Gen2 Thinkpad T14. And of course, all Thinkpads can’t hold a candle to Macbook trackpads

I don't need 500 nits when instead I can have a non glossy screen
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