You guys complain but you never actually switch to Linux. :)
If you truly cared about being a technological slave, you would learn Linux tomorrow. But just like someone stuck in a abusive relationship, you hang around despite the horrible treatment because you are afraid to leave what's comfortable.
I made the swap after they forced Windows 7 update behavior to change. You used to be able to download updates but you got to choose when to install them. Then they changed it to either they're on and fully automatic, or fully off.
At the time, I was running a computer repair company, and my work computer running Win7 was running a data recovery on an accidentally formatted drive for almost two days. After I had left and the program finished, Windows was all "Oh, the computer is idle now. Let me give you a 15 minute warning that I'm going to install updates and reboot if you don't cancel".
After the second time, I formatted my work computer. Shortly after, I did the same to my gaming PC. Haven't looked back once.
I love to hear it. Linux has done pretty much everything I've needed it to to and it's great to see a lot of programs are available for Linux natively.
I think my favorite part of swapping has been forgetting how Windows does things. I'm so embedded in Linux and how it works every day that I don't remember where to go for certain things in Windows without having to search.
I remember some power user shortcuts like run prompt shortcuts (appwiz.cpl or control userpasswords2) but I used to be able to walk people through how to get certain pages in the Windows UI, and I couldn't do it today.
Microsoft went too far in 2001 when they included a new online activation feature in Windows XP which spearheaded the future of drm and enshitification. They've been one-upping themselves ever since. All the most recent stuff is just more icing on the shit cake.
I'd say that the 'modern' era of Microsoft Enshittification started with IE4 as well as Windows 98.
The Channel bar put ads on the Windows 95 & 98 desktops. It was easily disabled, but even that far back, Microsoft was starting to work on making their stuff suck just that much more.
Next was Windows ME blocking DOS access, while still running on DOS, making the OS a bit ... unstable, followed by your point of Software Activation in XP.
People think I'm nuts when I say Win2k was my favorite Windows. I switched to Linux before Vista came out. People say WinXP was good, but really, it was just tolerable.
High five, brother :)
I think the XP crowd was just the generation of "one step more tolerant towards privacy intrusions" / not quite computer knowledgeable enough to understand the implications of letting your operating system phone home. In terms of user interface, it was indeed tolerable - you could still configure it to look and behave like Win2K mostly, which is what I had to do for work for quite a long time.
Compared to Win2k, it would just be a resource-hog. :/
Forget Apple. Without buying any new hardware, i managed to replace Windows with Ubuntu just a month ago. My most hated moment on windows was the time i saw the onedrive ad in file explorer... That felt way too intrusive.
Dont forget that the vast majority of users either doesnt know Linux, distrusts Linux, has heard rumors at any point in time about some feature or component not working as perfectly as under windows, is uninterested in computers beyond their daily usage function, or finds themselves in a social circle or job environment hostile to Linux.
What Linux needs to get widely adopted is settle for one central distro, iron out all bugs and compatibility issues and do a bunch of testing with windows users to determine what differences they are confused by. The goal must be to create total feature and compatibility parity with windows, and make the whole process so incredibly simple that even absolute morons with zero interest in computers can both use it instinctively and not miss anything their windows used to do. Then run a massive adoption campaign.
Now I know many aspects of this are directly opposed to the fos ethos, but if Linux ever wants to claim market share they need to spend big on it and pick up the users where they are; in a place of zero user ability and a lot of ignorance.
i think the only way Linux is increasing it's market share beyond fringe enthusiasts (that's us) is by more devices coming with it pre-installed. expecting anyone outside of the tech space to change the operating system their device came with is a pipe dream
finds themselves in a social circle or job environment hostile to Linux.
Ugh. Tell me about it.
I haven't tried to run the latest Corel graphics suite in Wine recently, but the last time I did it exploded in my face so spectacularly I think my eyebrows still haven't fully grown back. I really need that to work for... work. Basically everything else I already use is FOSS anyway.
What Linux needs to get widely adopted is settle for one central distro
One central distro guarantees its eventual enshittification. I'm happy with the knowledge that if my distro enshittifies I can just move to a different one.
I'm not saying we should shutter all the others or make a Linux for profit corporation, just that if there is a sort of "base" Linux that can be used and referenced as universally as windows, with the same capability, stability and compatibility, catering to the same crowd of dumbest possible user, that would go a long way in my opinion in getting Linux more widely adopted.
What's next Microsoft? Replace the windows os loading windows page with a 30s ad? Or have defender uninstall apps if a competitor pays enough? Maybe capture a screenshot of my screen every 3 seconds for AI analysis?
Nah. I've been advocating for Linux for decades. For decades I've been trying to convince people to switch on its own merits, but none of that has been effective.
It took Microsoft sabotaging their product for me to see the needle shift. So I'm done trying to convince people with carrots, it's time for Microsoft to convince the masses with sticks.
I legitimately, non-ironically, prefer Edge over Chrome, and I cannot explain why; possibly brain damage, possibly too lazy to download Chrome or Firefox and setup my account for either.
Edge and Chrome are basically very similar at this point. Firefox is my browser of choice these days. It's not perfect, but at least it isn't anti-adblocking and doesn't freak out when I block 8.8.8.8 like Chrome and the Google devices in my house. I'm moving away from Google as they move away from not being evil. Moving to self hosted stuff as much as I can for photos, email, file storage, and soon, home automation.
"Too far" is what they're looking for. In other words, "How much bullshit can we cram down their throats before they'll spend an absurd amount of money on a disposable Macbook or spend their days becoming a sysadmin so they can use Linux?" Doesn't seem that they've found that line yet. They're still looking.
For what, may I ask? Can you give an example? I'm on Debian, arguably a less friendly distro than most, but I haven't had to touch the terminal in two weeks. And it was just to ping a server somewhere, something you need to do on the command line in Windows as well.
Yes it is. You seem reluctant to tell anybody which distro you're using (even downvoting the person who asked), probably because you know they'd point out that it is in fact there.
Below I'm showing you how it is on my laptop running GNOME, the most used desktop environment. It's similarly easy in KDE Plasma and Cinnamon. Even the more niche DEs like Pantheon, Budgie, XFCE, and LXQT have had that functionality for many years.
I'm "reluctant" because I've used a dozen of them. None of them had this option. No sense in wasting time arguing about something I already know you can't do.
I did not say how to change them. I said how to change the default device. Not sure why you feel the need to lie about this.
Every time I turn on my PC it defaults to the wrong audio device and the wrong power profile and I have to change it back. I can Google a dozen different commands that do nothing but give me some sort of generic error.
You really don't. I don't know what on earth you're doing that requires it.
And I have to do bullshit like go onto powershell and the heap of shit that is the Windows registry from time to time, too. Shit, you need to enter commands to install windows with an offline account now, it's insane.
I wish Microsoft could make Windows as user-friendly as most Linux distros are. It seems like you need to be a computer scientist to use Windows sometimes.
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