Our commitment to Windows quality • Hacker News Board

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#961

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 6:18 PM UTC

fsloth wrote: post #322

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows is not technically inferior to Linux. To the extent it has problems, it is mainly because of top-down anti-user behaviour mandated from corporate. But anyone capable of using Linux is capable of hacking out that BS and getting a generally superior experience. I use both literally side-by-side, two laptops with a KVM switch, and I still greatly prefer Windows for many reasons. Some reasons: Even as a low-level…

Exactly. I want to have a computer with stable vendor supported OS so _I can do my stuff_ not tweak some os level configs. I _don’t_ want to spend my time playing an os systems programmer. OS is a _component_. Like the wifi driver. I think it’s great some people love developing wifi drivers but personally I just want network that-just-works because there are billion other cool things you can do with a computer. Simil…

[deleted]

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#962

Post by ufmace » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 6:53 PM UTC

branon wrote: post #714

Lammy wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and now we have 3 different versions of the audio control panel in Windows And yet somehow none of them are as nice as https://eartrumpet.app/ lol

Even this cannot adjust volume levels independently for multiple tabs in the same browser, which I have always been able to do on linux with pulseaudio/pipewire. People on windows use browser extensions for this, with full access to all tabs/sites...

Thanks, I actually didn't realize that my basically stock Linux install already did this

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#963

Post by zimmund » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 6:56 PM UTC

Honestly, it feels like McDonald's commiting to food quality. At the end of the day it's still a bland burger.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#964

Post by jdubs1984 » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 7:05 PM UTC

PaulKeeble wrote: post #469

Microsoft has spent over a decade swimming against their users interests at this point and during that time frame Linux has been improving its desktop and improving kernel performance. We are now at the point where Linux emulating Window's entire API space for games with worse drivers is dangerously close on performance with none of the privacy invasion and anti user features. Its pretty late in the game for them to…

The efforts to make Windows a storefront and user data harvester over an OS will never be suspended, at least not under this CEO.

Nice to see them finally admitting user needs might be important to some level, but the way MS operates historically is that no bad idea ever dies, at best they get delayed and then shoehorned in with less fanfare at a later date.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#965

Post by brightball » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 7:09 PM UTC

trinsic2 wrote: post #932

brightball wrote: post #698

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wonder how much of an impact these AI tools are going to have on the Linux ecosystem. Seems like huge potential advantage brewing over proprietary OSs. Look how fast Omarchy came together and improved…it’s phenomenal.

I keep hearing that marketing term beautiful but I'm really not seeing it. It just looks like a tiling windows manager. Feels like we're going back in time.

It is a very well integrated, smooth and preconfigured tiling window manager that also has a scroll mode like Niri.

I was using a different tiling manager before and there were all sorts of annoyances, pops breaking things. Behaviorally, this one gets everything right.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#966

Post by mvdwoord » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 7:47 PM UTC

Only need Windows occasionally but only use it in a VM nowadays, using Win11 LTSC / IoT with massgrave.dev activation. Of course that is as a private person, not a company. Employees remain screwed.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#967

Post by lloydatkinson » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 8:51 PM UTC

cmoski wrote: post #891

lloydatkinson wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? I feel like every time I do my ~1 yearly Windows reinstall I need to google it and then alter half a dozen registry keys and a bunch of group policy settings, and some of them are the "old" settings now replaced with something even more vaguely named (probably on purpose).

There are options in Group Policy editor that you will want to disable.

That’s what I said?

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#968

Post by TiredOfLife » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 9:18 PM UTC

twobitshifter wrote: post #123

rgovostes wrote: post #67

To demonstrate the seriousness of their commitment to Windows quality, you can now move the taskbar to the left side of the screen. No no, it's not vaporware, they even included four screenshots. Everyone can rest assured now.

A feature they removed due to their inability to make it performant in Windows 11 A feature that existed as early as win95. The most requested change in user voice, since the earliest windows 11 betas.

That feature was never in windows 11. The taskbar and start menu in windows 11 are from a cancelled version of windows meant for Surface neo

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#969

Post by 7jjjjjjj » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 9:43 PM UTC

ray_v wrote: post #479

lloydatkinson wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? I feel like every time I do my ~1 yearly Windows reinstall I need to google it and then alter half a dozen registry keys and a bunch of group policy settings, and some of them are the "old" settings now replaced with something even more vaguely named (probably on purpose).

Ok, I'll bite ... why are you reinstalling and reconfiguring windows on a regular, yearly basis?

Not the person your were talking to but at work the Windows machines have a bunch of MDM garbage on them that screws up the OS and requires reimaging every few months. For that reason I have a Powershell script to automatically set up a machine.

Re: Our commitment to Windows quality

#970

Post by gerdesj » Sat, Mar 21, 2026, 11:24 PM UTC

tlocke wrote: post #853

gerdesj wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are an awful lot of groups installing Linux on Win 10 cast offs around the world. My uncle runs one in Bradford on Avon and they are slapping on an OS for you whilst you supp tea and chat. Often, the user-agent is set to something Microsoftie in the browser. If necessary Edge is installed but that is frowned on 8) I have not heard of this MacBook Neo thing ... Why would ? I only own a little IT company and hang…

Good to hear Bradford On Avon mentioned, the town where I grew up. Is there a link to the place where they're installing Linux? The Tithe Barn in Bradford On Avon was the medieval equivalent to an Amazon warehouse!

Good question ...

I finally managed to query one of my mailboxes effectively and its part of this:

https://shareandrepair.org.uk/

A quick gander on that website turns up: Wallington Hall.