Windows doesn't "just work"
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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 its 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
This isn't a Windows issue - this is an Office issue
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Windows bloat sucks. I wish Microsoft gave you the option to just install components/features you're like to use. That way you could have an agile, minimal custom installation like you do in Arch.
They do give you an option to customize OS components. But this feature isn't targeted to home users but to enterprises and OEM manufacturera
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The problem isn't the updates. The problem is microsoft downloading things and restarting my pc without my consent (annoying me until I say "fine, do it" is not consent). No one but me decides when my machine installs updates and reboots. I know I'm putting myself at risk if I let my system fall behind on updates. That's on me, it's my computer, it is my right to make that decision.
The problem is, that most people would then not update, get issues, land in a thread like this, make propaganda against Windows, since something doesn't work or is insecure, when in fact the problem is in front of the screen, who always denied the update, that fixes those issues... That is why upgrades are rightfully enforced. At some point, you gotta upgrade or stop using the system.
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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.
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I've been using Linux exclusively for about 8 years. Recently I got frustrated with a bunch of issues that popped one after another. I had a spare SSD so I decided to check out Windows again. I've installed Windows 11 LTSC. It was a nightmare. After all the years on Linux, I forgot how terrible Windows actually is.
On the day I installed the system and a bunch of basic software, I had two bluescreens. I wasn't even doing anything at that time, just going through basic settings and software installation. Okay, it happens. So I installed Steam and tried to play a game I've been currently playing on Linux just to see the performance difference. And it was... worse, for some reason. The "autodetect" in game changed my settings from Ultra to High. On Linux, the game was running at the 75 fps cap all the time. Windows kept dropping them to around 67-ish a lot of times. But the weirdest part was actual power consumption and the way GPU worked. Both systems kept the GPU temperature at around 50C. But the fans were running at 100% speed at that temperature on Windows, while Linux kept them pretty quiet. I had to change the fan controls by myself on Windows just because it was so annoying. The power consumption difference was even harder to explain, as I was getting 190-210W under Linux and under Windows I got 220-250W. And mind you, under Linux I had not only higher graphical settings set up, but was also getting better performance.
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.
Today I decided to make this rant-post after yet another game crashed on me twice under Windows. I bought Watch Dogs since it's currently really cheap on Steam. I click play. I get the loading screen. The game crashed. I try again. I play through the basic "tutorial". After going out of the building, game crashed again. I'm going to play again, this time under Linux.
I've had my share of frustrations under Linux, but that experience made me realise that Windows is not a perfect solution either. Spending a lot of time with Linux and it's bugs made me forget all the bad experience in the past with Windows, and I was craving to go back to the "just works" solution. But it's not "just works". Two days was all it took for me to realize that I'll actually stick with Linux, probably forever. The spare SSD went back to my drawer, maybe so I can try something new in the future. It's so good to be back after a short trip to the other side!
Welcome back to sanity
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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.Have a different experience. Usually, Linux does not even boot, due to driver issues, in the first place. So, the first installation process usually easily takes 5 to 10 hours, straight. And this is only for common popular distributions, not to mention lesser known and lesser supported ones. (Talking about Linux GUI based installations, only.)
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They don't know how it works, but they roughly kind of know how to operate it. And they mistake their years of experience for the intuitivness.
It's a WIMP system. They all work the same way. Worst case you have to click around a bit.
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How to install an application on Windows
- You hear about some application
- You google the application name
- You get a bunch of links
- You click the first one (and hope it's valid and not hijacked by malware ads)
- You scan the webpage to find the correct download button (and hope it's not an ad link)
- Download the application
- Double-click the application.exe
- Windows UAC pops up which you have to allow
- Install start and you click next, next, next (You hope the installer does not change your homepage or install some browser toolbar)
- Installation finished
Windows is so much easier /s
I think you were being biased.
- You heard the name of the software
- You search on Google, which takes you to their official website
- You click on the download button and download it
- Double click on the file and follow the on-screen guide to finished the installation
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What? That's just not true. If I turn on my Bluetooth earbuds they reconnect to my laptop right away as that's the last thing they were paired to
Curious what Bluetooth chip you have as this was my experience and the several devices and a couple different windows machines
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How to install an application on Windows
- You hear about some application
- You google the application name
- You get a bunch of links
- You click the first one (and hope it's valid and not hijacked by malware ads)
- You scan the webpage to find the correct download button (and hope it's not an ad link)
- Download the application
- Double-click the application.exe
- Windows UAC pops up which you have to allow
- Install start and you click next, next, next (You hope the installer does not change your homepage or install some browser toolbar)
- Installation finished
Windows is so much easier /s
- Forgot scan app with virus total
- Investigate if hits are false positives
- Get frustrated and run exe any way
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NixOS is not special there. It runs the same software as any other Linux distro.
It literally doesn't run dynamically linked executables without elf hacks
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Have a different experience. Usually, Linux does not even boot, due to driver issues, in the first place. So, the first installation process usually easily takes 5 to 10 hours, straight. And this is only for common popular distributions, not to mention lesser known and lesser supported ones. (Talking about Linux GUI based installations, only.)
I almost never had Linux not boot after a fresh install, even with nVidia hardware. It happened a few times like 10 years ago and never again. What hardware are you running?
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I almost never had Linux not boot after a fresh install, even with nVidia hardware. It happened a few times like 10 years ago and never again. What hardware are you running?
Happened to me all the time, when, for example, setting up very generic and common laptops for family & friends. It never worked out of the box. Every single time, I had to give special treatment. Research extra drivers, etc... Hard to do in some locations, when they do not have a second system to do all the work from.
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Happened to me all the time, when, for example, setting up very generic and common laptops for family & friends. It never worked out of the box. Every single time, I had to give special treatment. Research extra drivers, etc... Hard to do in some locations, when they do not have a second system to do all the work from.
Laptops have historically been a little iffy yeah. Personally I haven't had many issues except for Nvidia optimus, but since most of them are non standard and proprietary it used to be kind of a pain.
Now though it's much better, at least on newer hardware, even my newest laptop with hybrid graphics just worked out of the box. -
Laptops have historically been a little iffy yeah. Personally I haven't had many issues except for Nvidia optimus, but since most of them are non standard and proprietary it used to be kind of a pain.
Now though it's much better, at least on newer hardware, even my newest laptop with hybrid graphics just worked out of the box.Tried it over many years. Last one was last year. Every time, the same problem. I even considered moving to Windows, but it would be tougher for me to administrate for me, as I'm used to headless Linux. It's just, whenever Linux tries to GUI, it fucks up everything colossaly.
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Tried it over many years. Last one was last year. Every time, the same problem. I even considered moving to Windows, but it would be tougher for me to administrate for me, as I'm used to headless Linux. It's just, whenever Linux tries to GUI, it fucks up everything colossaly.
I just don't see it. I run it on all my PCs with nvidia, amd, hybrid graphics, pretty much any combination (I have too many
). It works.
Even various friends of mine have tried it on their older setups, no problems there either.Unless you're using something like Debian or whatever with crazy old packages, everything works for the most part. Nvidia is still not great on Wayland but it at least works now.
I'm not saying your experience isn't valid, I'm not trying to gaslight you, but I'm not sure it's representative of the average experience nowadays.
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I canât 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 donât want to have to be a nerd in my free time to manage Linux which I was assured isnât 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 canât understand all these people against it.
Was windows dev for 10 years, I switched to Linux for work and I'm never going back : everything is simpler (may not be easier though) and makes sense whereas you constantly work against the system in windows. It's an opinion so widespread they even made a subsystem to use Linux tools on windows.
As a user windows installation is an utter nightmare, getting rid of the thousands stuff you don't want is horrible. And also you may not even be able to install it without special ssd drivers that you have to side load manually (for some pretty basic asus hardware)
Also don't get me started on the nearly mandatory microsoft account
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The problem is, that most people would then not update, get issues, land in a thread like this, make propaganda against Windows, since something doesn't work or is insecure, when in fact the problem is in front of the screen, who always denied the update, that fixes those issues... That is why upgrades are rightfully enforced. At some point, you gotta upgrade or stop using the system.
If i have to suffer because I'm a dumb dumb, that's on me. I'm tired of suffering because other people are stupid.
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I've been using Linux exclusively for about 8 years. Recently I got frustrated with a bunch of issues that popped one after another. I had a spare SSD so I decided to check out Windows again. I've installed Windows 11 LTSC. It was a nightmare. After all the years on Linux, I forgot how terrible Windows actually is.
On the day I installed the system and a bunch of basic software, I had two bluescreens. I wasn't even doing anything at that time, just going through basic settings and software installation. Okay, it happens. So I installed Steam and tried to play a game I've been currently playing on Linux just to see the performance difference. And it was... worse, for some reason. The "autodetect" in game changed my settings from Ultra to High. On Linux, the game was running at the 75 fps cap all the time. Windows kept dropping them to around 67-ish a lot of times. But the weirdest part was actual power consumption and the way GPU worked. Both systems kept the GPU temperature at around 50C. But the fans were running at 100% speed at that temperature on Windows, while Linux kept them pretty quiet. I had to change the fan controls by myself on Windows just because it was so annoying. The power consumption difference was even harder to explain, as I was getting 190-210W under Linux and under Windows I got 220-250W. And mind you, under Linux I had not only higher graphical settings set up, but was also getting better performance.
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.
Today I decided to make this rant-post after yet another game crashed on me twice under Windows. I bought Watch Dogs since it's currently really cheap on Steam. I click play. I get the loading screen. The game crashed. I try again. I play through the basic "tutorial". After going out of the building, game crashed again. I'm going to play again, this time under Linux.
I've had my share of frustrations under Linux, but that experience made me realise that Windows is not a perfect solution either. Spending a lot of time with Linux and it's bugs made me forget all the bad experience in the past with Windows, and I was craving to go back to the "just works" solution. But it's not "just works". Two days was all it took for me to realize that I'll actually stick with Linux, probably forever. The spare SSD went back to my drawer, maybe so I can try something new in the future. It's so good to be back after a short trip to the other side!
fresh install of windows 10 i have to turn my monitor on and off twice to get anything to display on my screens
