I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

Post by immibis » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 12:30 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #349

toddmorey wrote: post #9

Commercial OSes (both Windows and MacOS) now feel so insanely agenda driven, and the agenda no longer feels like anything close to making the user happy and productive. For Mac, it feels like Apple wants to leverage what came out of VisionOS and unify the look and feel of mobile and desktop--two things no one asked for. For Windows, it feels like ads for their partners and ensuring they don't fumble the ai/agent tran…

I’m stuck in a world of AirDrop and expecting my phone to know the Wi-Fi password on my laptop, so I’m not gonna leave MacOS but it absolutely does suck. It used to be that Spotlight file finding was broken, but as of the last today Finder file finding is broken too. This is on multiple new Macs.

Post by LeFantome » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 12:39 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #567

robocat wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the BSDs as US-focused?

Yes, it started at Berkeley after all, with mostly contributions from US universities, and compiler toolchains are GCC and clang.

Post by noisem4ker » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 12:58 PM UTC

immibis wrote: post #605

palata wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that the proprietary office suites are needed. The alternatives are good enough for what people do, aren't they? The problem is that people don't want to change, because it takes some effort. Why would people use WhatsApp instead of Signal otherwise?

There used to be programs that would connect to multiple proprietary systems, like Pidgin. If we had this today we'd have one free-software app for WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram (and some used in other countries, like IIRC Zangi?). However, the social and regulatory environment changed - now whoever made that app could expect to be charged with a crime.

Post by littlestymaar » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #287

littlestymaar wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ubuntu's UI isn't particulates intuitive for people coming from Windows anymore (it hasn't been for the past 13 years tbf). Mint is the best default to advise to someone switching to Linux (it's mostly Ubuntu under the hood, but without the snap nonsense and with a less imaginative UI).

I really struggle when folks recommend a distro that is only now getting itself unstuck from a decade++ of inaction, starting an advance that other distros have been up to for decades. Starting people out on a dinosaur has some advantages yes but personally I think it's malpractice, setting users up to have to make major painful shifts in the future to update all the derelict knowledge they gain. https://forums.linux…

Post by AnonC » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC

blauditore wrote: post #594

snek_case wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ubuntu also tried this with Unity. They were hoping that Ubuntu would become more popular on tablets if they had a more tablet-friendly UI... They imposed this on desktop users even though nobody asked for it and basically nobody used Linux on a tablet. It was kind of a disaster. Ubuntu is a commercial entity though, so yeah, prone to the same kind of bad management decisions. as Microsoft and Apple. At least with Li…

>They imposed this on desktop users even though nobody asked for it I loved Unity on desktop, and I know many others too. But there was a very loud group of complainers who made them kill it. I still use it on some installations, bit it's obviously breaking more and more.