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The day Windows died

thomasbandt.com

761–770 of 925 posts

Re: The day Windows died

#761
post #688
post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that you lack the experience with proper Windows development tooling kind of shows, it isn't an exageration, otherwise you would realize how stone age is anything Gtk+ related, specially after Glade was killed.

I dunno, I've used Qt. You can argue that it's not "proper windows development tooling" and I can argue that 90% of apps I've written in my life have benefitted from being cross-platform. Happy to be corrected here, but I've seen most hobbyists not use Visual Studio because historically you had to pay for it in the first place, and it's only common between Windows-only devs, to no surprise.

Qt isn't GNOME either.

Visual Studio has had free express editions, before community was introduced, since 2010.

Even those express editions were more feature rich than GNOME tooling.

Re: The day Windows died

#762
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is unfortunately the new state of Windows, and why I also may be switching away after being a dedicated user since Windows 3.1 I doubt I'll go to Mac, I'm just not a fan, so looking at different linux options, even though I barely do any coding anymore. Windows used to have bloatware and shareware, but I never felt it was in your face like it is now. But it really is the volume of advertising and crap that has g…

I use both Linux and Windows. Windows Pro 11 on desktop and Linux on desktop and servers. I removed ads from "Search" using settings and see no other ads. Am I special or it is related to Pro vs Home?

Everybody on here like to think they are amazing power users but can't disable a single setting, that I'm pretty sure is part of the standard setup process, to get rid of ads. I've used a number of Windows 10/11 pc's and never seen any of the issues hn complains about regularly.

Re: The day Windows died

#763
post #737

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh and don't get me started about the latency all the trash causes to the start menu. I had this routine, computer starts, you press win-key type 2 letters hit enter and the program you want starts instantly. Since Windows 11 this is horribly slow, like seconds sometimes, especially the first load. I can assure you this is not my hardware setup. Clearly their goal is not "provide the best, smooth and performant user…

Just leaving some links here since not everyone is aware. You can restore the Windows 11 Taskbar to a more normal state. First, remove the Win11 changes with ExplorerPatcher. Then, install openshell. It's unfortunate how much the windows ui has degraded. https://pureinfotech.com/restore-taskbar-location-windows-11... https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

Given my experience with debloating w10 you're probably setting yourself up for misery when a mandatory update inevitably conflicts with whatever workarounds you've been using

Re: The day Windows died

#764

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> How is this Windows fault? By allowing OEMs to do this? Microsoft could stop it if they had any interest in making Windows a more consistent and reasonable experience. Yes, you can and should reinstall Windows, but you shouldn't have to.

Microsoft's issue is that they _can't_ stop OEMs from doing it, or they'll run afoul of antitrust legislation. The Epic v. Google suit (which isn't going well for Google) is based on the argument that Google, as the OS creator, can't impose limits on the software OEMs ship on top of that OS.

Re: The day Windows died

#765

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting mental gymnastics. Calling for more empathy is... the same as not having empathy?

Calling for more empathy has nothing to do with empathy. It has to do with status.

Ouch! But yes I suppose you're right that it comes across more as virtue signaling.

Re: The day Windows died

#766
post #39

It's infuriating how much work one has to do to clean up what should already be a bare-bones, stock, factory environment. All of these 8 kb "apps" like LinkedIn, TikTok, etc. that you "uninstall" but then re-appear right in the Add or Remove Programs menu. I haven't tried, but what do these little TikTok, LinkedIn apps even do? I imagine they don't install a local version of LinkedIn to peruse, right? I don't totally…

I've never seen those apps on my machine, very strange. Is this an OEM choice?

Yea, people are confusing what comes in windows by default with what is added by the OEM as most of them have never installed a fresh copy of windows.

Re: The day Windows died

#767
post #232

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The modularity and keyboards of the older Thinkpads (e.g., X220) were worth the extra bulk. But the new laptops sure are pretty, thin and light.

Replying on my X220, which is my go-to device for writing, non-graphic intensive gaming, and general web use. It's light enough for my needs, and is built like a tank. Plus, I cannot stand more modern laptop keyboards, and I'm hooked on pointing sticks. I've got my desktop for anything that really needs processing power. I enjoy how my X220 really is a laptop of Theseus; over the years I've replaced everything except…

FWIW, this battery was recommended somewhere. I bought a couple, and they work:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7FKDGQ

Re: The day Windows died

#768
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just not if gaming is the goal. Steam would be only available as a Flatpak, says https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Steam . And the Flatpak version is problematic. Void would be a better choice if liking simplicity. Or to keep it simple, maybe Pop!_OS. Or Debian. Or Arch. Pretty much everything not Alpine ;)

I’ve used Alpine, Void, and Debian for years. I certainly would never use Alpine for gaming, any more than I’d use OpenBSD. I don’t use it for multimedia, either. My normal setup is i3 on Alpine. I like to think I have a good understanding of how an Alpine system is built up via its install scripts and maintained by its packaging system. There’s not a lot of cruft lying around that I don’t need and didn’t request. Th…

They are much easier to use for gaming, as you can install Steam without any hurdles. Note how the grandparent comment of your response mentions that being able to game easily now was what made the switch to Linux possible.

Re: The day Windows died

#769

I just don't get it. I genuinely don't see most of this. Yes, the solitaire etc issue is there, and the account sign-in, but my Windows 11 start menu is clear, uncluttered, and ad-free - Windows just keeps out of my way. I don't know if it is something to do with using my own retail Windows 11 license (which was a free upgrade from Windows 10, which was free from Windows 8, which was free from a purchase of Windows 7…

If I remember correctly from when I installed Windows 11, none of those ads get put in the Start menu if you upgrade from Windows 10. They didn't want to scare off the users who actually had an easily accessible choice to downgrade. Installing a new copy of Windows 11 on a machine that didn't have anything on it previously was what resulted in ads being put in the start menu for me.

Re: The day Windows died

#770
post #759

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why is that user-unfriendly? Didn't it work? Did you miss the ads and the tracking you cannot turn off, updates that ninja-popup and log your PC for half an hour if you not careful for half a second while writing something or the simplicity of selecting the type of user you want to setup by pulling the network cable or disabling your wifi?

>why is that user-unfriendly? Didn't it work? assuming you're not trolling, it's user-unfriendly because novices are used to changing settings in GUIs. changing settings in a bash script is a qualitative difference, and paradoxically leaves novices more helpless, despite being a more powerful tool in principle. they don't know any of the syntax or semantics of bash, so they may as well be pasting something written in…

> novices have a perfectly rational fear of screwing with things on the terminal.

This is a very valid point. When I first started with Linux, pretty terrified of screwing something up fundamentally with the terminal.

Most terminal commands are not particularly intuitive either. I'm technically very competent but before I learned how to code, I would have no way of knowing that "sudo" gives you admin privilege, or that "cat" shows the contents of a file.

For the average person, "sudo" or "chmod" are pure gibberish, and "cat" is an adorable pet.

Like this is part of the code for creating a mouse scrollwheel control script:

"if [ ! -f ~/.imwheelrc ] then cat >~/.imwheelrcYou can't be serious if you pretend that a non poweruser is supposed to understand what -f or cat, or E0F are supposed to mean.

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