One of the strangest phenomena that I’ve encountered when occasionally using Windows is that sometimes there’s a problem that’s so stupid you can’t smart your way out of it. As an example: when trying out Windows 11, I made a restore point after a fresh install so that if I fucked something up I could roll back to a clean install. I then fucked something up and thought “no worries, just roll it back.” I then discovered that Windows only keeps one restore point, and manages it automatically by itself, meaning that when I fucked up, it decided to take the state of the machine immediately after I broke it and overwrite the clean restore point with the broken one and at no point asked or informed me that that’s what it was doing.
Like how do you even begin to deal with an issue like that? The only solution I know of is to pre-assume that everything actually made by Microsoft will behave in an idiotic way sooner or later, and to replace as much of it as you can with third-party solutions as quickly as possible immediately after a fresh install, but anyone new to Windows/not a tech person has absolutely no way of knowing this.
When people comment about having issues with Linux, this is what that should be compared with.
Or not, since linux distros ideally shouldn’t be bound to windows. (but realistically they are)
20 years ago, fixing easy stuff in Linux was a matter of Google searching, finding it, then copy pasting what you needed to do from the browser into a terminal.
Since the beginning, the difference between a problem in Windows and a problem in Linux is that the problem in Windows can (and often does) hit a dead end - proprietary wall, it’s broke and you just have to live with it. In Linux (more generally: free open source software) it may be broke, but the fix is always possible, if you’re willing to put in the necessary work.
With AI reducing the effort necessary to do this kind of work, rather dramatically, I expect Linux and FOSS in general to be getting a bit of a boost. Not taking over the world, 2030 still won’t be the year of the Linux desktop, but… the ability to scratch all the itches is more valuable today than it was a year ago.
I used to fairly frequently hit dead ends on Linux, e.g. regarding Wifi drivers or getting some (Linux) applications running. But the driver situation has improved greatly, and thanks to Flatpak, Distrobox & co. I’ve only ever run into one application I couldn’t install - a corporate antivirus. Whoopsie!
regarding Wifi drivers or getting some (Linux) applications running
Yeah, there is that about drivers, definitely been there and there were times “the grass was greener in Redmond” - but… as you say that has improved, to the point that I recently can’t get Windows WiFi drivers from Ezurio, but they support every flavor of Linux.
I have to regularly jump between Mac, Linux, and Windows. On Mac and Linux it’s easy to make same keystroke shortcuts work, even inside apps.
On Windows, total crapshoot. And now, if on a newer machine, if you hit the wrong button (Copilot) because of muscle memory, you get the damn AI jump in your face.
I’ve used Linux as my “daily driver” PC and for 95%+ of my computer work since about 2012. Starting last year, my company decided to migrate the next generation of our product to Windows, and my daily driver desktop PC died, so… I figured I’d just eat the dogfood and replace it with an off the shelf Windows PC - I’m typing this on that PC now.
First place I’d diverge from the article is: most Windows users don’t install windows, ever. It comes pre-installed. They’re afraid of operations like installing an operating system, and rightly so: the Windows installer is a bit scary. I have installed Windows, mostly in virtual machines, but several “bare metal” systems too maybe 20 times over the past 10 years. It’s not impossible, but it’s certainly not as user or developer friendly as installing Linux. Particularly the part where you enter the license codes.
There’s still pain jumping between Linux and Windows, I have a colleague who goes through it regularly - trying to copy files between systems, ending up with line ending translation issues… If you stay on one side or the other it’s not an issue, but if you don’t strictly use a tool like git to move code between systems it can bite in surprising / unexpected places.
The main thing I HATE about my Windows system is how the OS periodically pegs the CPU utilization for… well, it’s unclear what it’s doing it for - it has a habit of stopping immediately when you touch it - but the fan noise is clear enough, and that’s something that you could easily configure a Linux distro to not do, Windows 11… not very cooperative in that respect.
After a year on Windows as my daily driver, I haven’t really found anything I actually like about it better than the various Linux distros. The desktop toolbar is a bit more user friendly than, say, XFCE4, but I still prefer XFCE4 on the whole to Gnome or KDE for… reasons, so… I’m not going to give a lot of kudos to Windows there. I don’t often feel stymied by Windows, I can usually get it to do whatever I want it to do that Linux can do. But, unlike 30 years ago when I used AutoCad - available only in Windows, no real Linux substitute at the time - the tools I use today are readily available on both sides.
If it weren’t for work, I’d re-image my daily driver to Debian + XFCE, but I don’t feel heavily hobbled by the current situation, and now when somebody has a “but I’m using Windows…” question I can concretely answer “I’m using Windows too… it’s not the OS, it’s something else.”
Incidentally, I must also be paid to use Windows.
I’ll gladly wait for the Node.js start menu to render on company time 👍
That’s called a job buddy. There’s no way I’d be using windows otherwise.
$5000 isn’t enough money to go through that hell.
I guess I get paid a lot more than that… I do it for work.
Back in Houston the badges read “HO” - the badge wearers said “we do it for money.”
Lol it reads like a uno reverse card against the Linux trial articles in previous years:
converting my Linux gaming PC to Windows just to play the same games seemed silly
As far as I can tell the article comes from real Windows experience though.
I’m not surprised that laptop had issues. It’s purpose built and likely has sub 1% usage across the windows install worldwide.
Not supporting a 3+ year old Intel wifi chipset out of the box is kind of wild though, that’s a super standard part.
I replaced an NVMe drive on a Windows 11 machine the other day. Cloned to new disk, booted up. After posting and entering the bootloaders, it said “BOOT DRIVE INACCESSIBLE”. The drive needed a driver to BOOT once Windows took over.
A Western Digital 850x black 2TB. This is not an uncommon drive, but I had to patch in the driver to the disk from a live CD.
I don’t see how people put up with this crap.
I buy a lot of Dell refurb laptops to use in cheap timing setups for rfid chip timing. Recently they had to start selling some without an OS because they literally are stuffing anything they can find into them and Windows refuses to install without drivers.
Keep in mind windows users don’t install their os from scratch. The OEM will include those in their deployment.
Looks like a Clevo Chassis. They’re actually not that uncommon, a lot of smaller ‘laptop manufacturers’ offer them with slight customisation.
only read the title. either your title is fucking stupid or fucking dumb.
Windows controls over 60% of the end user PC market share. so you had to be paid to be a normal fucking user? it’s nearly equivalent to setting up a GoFundMe for a bullshit cause
I wish you were charged for writing this article
