Linux

Linux and BSD doesn't just work. I've been using Plan 9 and when I have to use linux I feel very frustrated when graphical windows doesn't open in a terminal like in plan 9.

Well, Windows was never perfect. People just got used to its shenanigans. They tend to meddle with bullshit registry yet somehow basic commands on Linux is too complicated.

My main issue with Windows isn’t its technology, but its attitude. The user is no longer the most important consideration. In that way it’s become adversarial.

I have an ongoing irritation with windows (use it for work, Linux at home): It steals focus from the window you're using if another window opens.

Drives me nuts. I'll be typing my password and pop! Oh look I just typed my password into something else that popped up because IT requires this program to run on login today.

KDE is much better about not stealing window focus like that.

I just reinstalled and configured Windows for a friend who's machine was hacked, so my frustration with Microsoft is very fresh. (She lost 8 thousand dollars of her savings she's still trying to get back.) After years of using Linux I feel like I'm being punished every time I help someone with their Windows machine.

/Rant

These things in particular drive me nuts:

• Sending everything users do and type (including passwords) back to Microsoft. It's called spyware when other companies do it. It should be called spyware when it's an OS called Microsoft Windows.
• Flooding 1/2 the screen with web search results when a search is done from the start menu. I'm looking for an installed program, not a potato recipe.
• Requiring a registry edit to turn that web search off and lots of other simple things that use to be configurable in settings.
• Placing ads throughout the operating system and making it difficult to turn those ads off.
• Forcing the use of the Edge browser no matter what users choose.
• Preventing the removal of unwanted programs without editing the registry.
• Forced updates at Microsoft's convenience.
• Absurdly long restart times after updating.
• Forced OS version upgrades.
• Reverting settings that have been changed by the user to settings that directly benefit Microsoft's sales and marketing goals.
• Forced restarts of the operating system causing data loss and the loss of millions of hours of work for millions of users.
• Removing more and more user settings with each new OS release.
• Burying commonly used menu items multiple menus deep.
• Preventing the removal of Start menu items. I will never use the Xbox Game Bar no matter how many time I'm forced to see it.

/

I forgot how terrible Windows actually is

Windows, while always shitty, has seriously gone downhill in the past 5 years. I'm looking to switch back to Linux myself, but I have an NVidia GPU that needs constant driver babying on OpenSUSE (my preferred distro). My current plan is to find someone who is willing to swap a RTX 4070 for a equivalent or slightly worse AMD card, and then switch back to OpenSUSE.

I dunno, I dont think it's normal to get two blue screens on a fresh windows install.

Windows audio really is trash though, I'm totally with you there.

Windows sure is bad, though I haven't seen an actual blue-screen in years. That's some foul luck.

Yep. The difference is simply put just ppl are used to the quirks on Windows but not on Linux.

There is no perfect OS that just works for everyone. They are all software so they all have bugs. People how say an OS just works have never hit those bugs or have gotten used to fixing/working around or flat out ignoring them.

This is true of all OSs, including Windows, Linux and MacOS. They are all differently buggy messes.

Linux is the buggy mess that works best for me though.

It's interesting seeing the variety of experiences in this thread. I definitely had to fight Linux to get it setup and stable on my machine, but ever since then it's been rock solid in a way I've never experienced with a Windows install.

Windows has a mind of its own...and being at the mercy of their update cadence or w/e other nonsense Microsoft is pushing sucks.

Meanwhile on Linux, I've had two CPUs that have C-State/P-State issues (5900x, 1700x), some weirdness with my audio interface, and a GPP0 bug that interferes with sleep. All of them are fixed or managed on Bazzite now, and it took plenty of digging for docs/reddit threads but now it's rock solid.

On Windows, any time I've needed to deal with the Microsoft Store I run into issues that require registry fixes, uninstall/reinstalling various things, etc. Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 5 had issues launching as a result on Windows but not on Linux.

Ultimately, not being under the Microsoft gun is such a relief that the initial battle is completely put out of my mind. I've had some instances where I'll boot into Windows for games, or HDR/Atmos support more reliably for my living room setup, but they have gotten rarer and rarer over the past couple of months.

Yeah when I see people say that gaming on Linux "isn't there yet" I have to wonder how long it's been since they've tried. And people who install Windows on their Steam Deck? Don't get it.

I'd summarize the current OS situation as

Windows Just Works until it doesn't, at which point there's basically nothing you can do about it and you just have to kick it until something clicks into place and it starts working properly again.

Whereas linux Just Works to a slightly smaller degree, but when it stops Just Working it does so in granular steps most of the time, and every part of the ecosystem tries to help you fix things when they break.

Windows is a resin-potted black box that takes input and does stuff, if it breaks you're supposed to just chuck it and buy a new one.
Linux is a slightly bulkier thing that you can just unscrew and replace a capacitor when it breaks.

i setup my old job with linux internally. never had issues. day i quit boss told me to install windows so he can find a replacement employee. sure.

3 years later. boss wants me back. they've had nothing but problems. but i'm not allowed to install linux again.

he says, "if windows didn't have so many problems you would be out of a job."

I disagree, as much as I wish it weren't so. Compared to Linux from the perspective of this gamer, it does just work. I wish I could main Linux but I can't handle any more critical boot issues or significant reductions in framerate. Not to mention that I cant easily auto-wol my lg tv "monitor" like I could from windows.

Bluetooth is so bad on Windows. You cannot simply "reconnect" a headset

You have to unpair and pair each time you want to use it.

This was with Intel Bluetooth too which works extremely well, under Linux and Macos.

Level1tech was reviewing the Ryzen 9950X/9900X and he noted how performance on Windows was wildly inconsistent depending on peculiar settings such as sidestepping security features and marking apps to run as administrator (aka also sidestepping windows security features) yet on Linux you can get better performance via Proton OOTB.

Linux has its quirks too but people kid themselves when they convince themselves that the dozens of weird tasks and apps and tweaks they make to Windows are "plug and play" compared to Linux, which in my experience has been way less tweaking.

The main tweaks I've done on linux usually include installing ROG-control-center (optional laptop faff) or cryotweaks on Steamdeck (which just sets some sensible options already enabled on most distros)

As somebody who works in IT at a Windows-only environment, I know exactly what you mean.

I have to fight with Windows on a weekly basis. Driver issues, firmware issues, software crashes/lockups, performance issues, etc etc.

Just this week, I have two users experiencing issues with their monitors. Identical enterprise grade laptops, identical drivers, identical docking stations, all totally up to date on Windows 11. Their old Windows 10 computers worked fine. Still trying to figure out what's wrong.

The problem with Windows is that it is not build to be parametrised. Anyone a bit tech-savy will be frustrated by the inability to tune it effectively for their need.
The problem with Linux is that it is not tech-normie friendly. Sure it has distribution easy to use and pre-parametrised so anyone with basic computer skill can use it. But people with basic computer skill don't have computers with Linux. Anyone who just want to use a computer has to first learn how to install an OS.

Yep, I have used Linux since 2017 after W10 just made everything slower for home use and work. I have been using W11 for work lately, and it sucks. The office16/root/vfs/ProgramFilesCommonX64(86)/office16/ai.exe and aimgr.exe keep hogging resources in task manager and bogging down the system when ever I try to get work done. Deleteing those files helps but they come back after updates, so for now I created two empty text files and changed the filename and extensions to match the deleted files, so far that has kept updates from reinstalling those ai files

In my experience as well, fedora just works more than windows. Games work and run better without crashing. No bsods. No needing to manually start drivers for my tablet and restart my DAC.

Only thing windows has is coherent one release and exclusives in terms of a few softwares. Like adobe which is a scam now.

And the second advantage will vanish with more people on linux.

I can’t relate to this at all.

We use windows machines as software developers at work and really have no issues at all. Never had a bluescreen in these two years.

I use windows at home to play Factorio, Minecraft, and RDR2. Again, never had an issue. No blue screens. I turn it on open steam and play my games then turn it off when done.

I tried Linux again cause I got sucked in by this echo chamber and that did not go well at all. I explicitly said I don’t want to have to be a nerd in my free time to manage Linux which I was assured isn’t the case. Then one day I turn it on and have no sound and no idea why it just died. I swiftly removed Linux and went back to windows.

I do use Linux for servers for Jellyfin and stuff and I like it for those things, but me personally have had a better experience using windows and I can’t understand all these people against it.

Welcome back to sanity

Third party licensed apps are everything on Windows.

I tried connecting my bluetooth earbuds to my PC. Alright, the setup itself was fine. But then the problems started. My earbuds support opus codec for audio. Do you think I can change the bluetooth codec easily, just like on Linux? Nope. There is no way to do it without some third party programs. And don’t even get me started on Windows randomly changing my default audio output and trying to play sound through my controller.

Bro wait until you want to use them for a call. How do you tell it to switch to call mode when it won't by default. Ah yeah that's right, you can't. And if you do, good luck switching it back for music when you're done. I've had friends who got bluetooth headphones and tried to use them wireless on Windows and it's just a battle every single time

Using Windows since Windows XP was sired. Using Linux for longer than that, mostly Linux servers, but have tons of years of Linux Desktop experience under my belt, with probably half of all Linux distributions on DistroWatch.com.

Conclusion: Linux server rocks. Windows Desktop sux in many ways, but it just works and I personally have no issues with it. Linux Desktop is the worst hell possible. Barely ever works. It is literal hell and I hate it.

Whenever I try to get into Linux Desktop, I have to meditate and drink a de-stressing tea beforehand, or else I cannot guarantee the laptop's or PC's screen's safety, when dealing with Linux Desktop.

For anyone attempting to comment: note, that there is a huge difference between headless server Linux usage and Linux Desktop/GUI usage. I'm only talking about Linux GUI. Linux headless is fine and works great!

I came to the same conclusion recently. Had a bunch of issues after i decided to try running windows 11 instead of 10 in a vm. One of them being that my usb dac refused to work, turns out after googling and finding a weird random chatgpt article that it was caused by a specific update. Had to roll the update back to solve it. Now i have to hope that they solve it before they decide to force the update on me anyways.

I think Windows is successful because it creates a nice Enterprise environment, where companies can easily get into investing into new apps to use in their offices. I think that's why it's successful.

In my experience, a stable beginner friendly distro such as mint, is 10x closer to "just working" but...

I do think that the windos DE tends to be more reliable than any linux DE I have tested. The only DE that compares is gnome, which I find very very stable (but I hate it)

I think that non-technical people are just used to a simple playbook of:

1. GUI is rarely the issue, so you never need to see the terminal.
2. If there is an issue, restart
3. If that didn't work, ask for help from your local techy

And for linux step 3 usually doesn't work because your local techy is probably someone who just knows how to google and paste into cmd.