Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

himthe.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

611–620 of 1001 posts

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#611

Post by k6hkUZtLUM »

tracker1 wrote: post #228

I came to rely pretty heavily on Docker and WSL(2) in Windows. I was an insiders user for a bit over a decade, and worked with .Net and C# since it was "ASP+" ... I had setup a dual boot when I swapped my old GTX 1080 for an RX 5700XT, figuring the "open source" drivers would give me a good Linux experience... it didn't. Every other update was a blank/black screen and me without a good remote config to try to recover…

I want to chime in here. It's advertisements on my desktop that repels me. There is something deeply personal about ads in my desktop that feels like being violated. This is a computer that I paid for, with software that I pay for, that includes all my most personal files and data. Seeing ads on the OS completely eroded my trust.

Of course, I still use Windows for various things, but I have too much "ick" for it to be the system where I check my email, manage my business, keep my important files, etc.

Windows is really great for lots of things, but I don't trust it.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#612

Post by pzo »

Its was a good read until at the end ...

> For the remainder of 2026, Microsoft is cooking up a big one: replacing more and more native apps with React Native. But don't let the name fool you, there's nothing "native" about it. These are projects designed to be easily ported across any machine and architecture, because underneath it all, it's just JavaScript. And each one spawns its own Chromium process, gobbling up your RAM so you can enjoy the privilege of opening the Settings app.

I'm a little tired of people junking on react native when they have no clue what they talked about (And I'm not even react native dev but iOS dev). React Native doesn't spawn any chromium process. This is not electron. React Native doesn't even use v8 engine. All UI views and widgets are native. Platform SDK is native, Yoga Layout is native C++ and even faster than UIKit layout. Majority of RN code is Native - go have a look at github at languages section. JS is only 19% of codebase, everything else is C++, Obj-C, Obj-C++, Kotlin, Java.

The problem AFAIK with startup being laggy was making http requests to downloads those ads.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#613

Post by zahllos »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #484
billfor wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.\setup.exe /product server /auto upgrade /EULA accept /migratedrivers all /ShowOOBE none /Compat IgnoreWarning /Telemetry Disable

Where can one read the source code of setup.exe That's, e.g., how I would determine what these commands do I have had HN replies in the past that argued Windows is open source and thus comparable to UNIX-like OS projects where _the public_ can read the source code and make modifications, _for free_ Absent the source code, we can read Microsoft's documentation https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufac…

The windows assessment and deployment kit is what you need, with the windows pe add-on: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufactu...

You should be aware there's a 3 day limit to uptime, then PE reboots. You can work around that: https://lsoft.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011128377-I-n...

The other thing to tell you is that this is not a live version of windows with all the features of the full desktop. It is the windows that runs the windows installer application, so enough windows to do that and no more.

I would personally recommend linux instead.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#614

Post by CamouflagedKiwi »

I remember reading an article many years ago about product management being like being a parent, and there being a latter point where you need to let the product go and admit it's done. Windows is clearly there, and Microsoft are doing a terrible job of it. Yes, it's less relevant than it's ever been, but it's still vastly widely deployed, earns money, and delivers other cash cows (like Office) - all they have to do is do the basic stuff to keep it going and not mess it up, but somehow that is not what's happening. Wild.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#615

Post by AJ007 »

geophile wrote: post #373

FWIW, On Reddit, I am seeing more and more discussions on the Linux subreddits or people getting fed up with Windows and switching to Linux. Usually, it's the Windows 11 upgrade that finally did it.

There is a good parallel here with Myspace and Facebook. Myspace added an ad network & was hammered by spammers around the same time Facebook was opening up user registration to everyone. Facebook had no ads. Myspace was dead.

This time Linux has very good game support to the point where some games have a higher FPS on Linux. It will be so expensive for Microsoft to attempt to turn this ship around, and it will likely still fail.

This is happening at the same time AI agents have gotten really good, so users will just use local AI agents to configure and troubleshoot the rough stuff about Linux. And then they will customize it so much they will never be able to go back to Windows.

Ubuntu is just fine for 99% of non tech users. Windows has so many anti-patterns, tricks, and OneDrive rugpulls now that Ubuntu is actually much safer and simpler for non-techies to use (I can also make the case it beats iOS in that department too.)

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#617

Post by morshu9001 »

troupo wrote: post #30
bittumenEntity wrote: post #19

Like the author says: > Linux is the preferred platform for development Honestly I'm surprised he was using a non unix system this long, I guess it kinda proves his point that switching costs can seem huge

Both MacOS and Windows with wsl are perfectly fine for development. Especially MacOS. There's literally nothing special about Linux when it comes to development. And there are quite a few downsides especially when it comes to some specialized tooling because many vendors often only have Windows tools for their devices.

and iTerm on Mac is better than any of the Linux terminals

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#618

Post by doctorpangloss »

ryukoposting wrote: post #259

I just started a new job where I'm subjected to Windows 11. They gave me a behemoth of a laptop. 64GB of RAM, absolute screamer of a CPU, big GPU, the whole deal. Windows 11's file browser lags when opening directories with more than 100-ish files. Windows 11's file browser takes a few seconds to open at all. Context menus take a noticeable amount of time to appear. I'm getting used to a new keyboard, so I keep hitti…

> Windows 11's file browser lags when opening directories with more than 100-ish files. Windows 11's file browser takes a few seconds to open at all.

I've got bad news for you. Nautilus also lags when opening some directories.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#619

Post by YVoyiatzis »

That is exactly why I ditched Microsoft for Mac thirty years ago. I’ve never looked back or regretted leaving MSFT during my "formative" years; in fact, I’m glad I did. That said, it’s great to see Linux stay the course and build a real alternative for PC users.

I’ve always wanted to try running Linux on one of my Macs, but I never seem to find the time to actually explore it. One of these days...

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#620

Post by gregors »

everdrive wrote: post #548
ryandrake wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple does this all the time, though, and seems to get a free pass here. I have four Macs in my home, and they are cut off at Ventura (for the 2017 iMac), Monterey (for the 2014 Mac Mini and the 2015 MacBook Air), and El Capitan (for the 2014 iMac). They are all stuck at 3, 4, and 5 major OS versions back. Nobody really seems to complain about this, though.

I think Apple gets a pass because they're a luxury product. For the record, even though Apple has some really impressive hardware, this is one of the reasons I'm not very big on Apple. People praise their phone's longevity all the time, but I think this is crazy. I could be running a 13 year old computer right now and it would work fine if I had Linux. Smartphones don't really have options for this due to the market…

I used to install linux on older mac hardware and donate it. I don't think that works anymore with with the M chips (at least in the same easy way)
Post reply on HN