this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
772 points (95.7% liked)
Technology
59091 readers
5160 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
How about you galaxy brain "just switch to linux" people actually give some helpful advice? Clearly there's a registry edit that can be made for Windows users that would take all of 5 seconds to complete, rather than an entire week formatting, installing, reconfiguring an entirely new OS that also requires a degree of command line knowledge.
yeah, it's frustrating when they're smug about it but I'd argue that suggesting an alternative where this issue doesn't happen is helpful advice even if you don't agree with it. I do agree that 'just switch to linux' is a gross oversimplification as there will be some growing pains and there are a few hurdles that may at present be unsurmountable. I also find it amusing that you present digging up registry hacks and fighting for control over your system for the rest of time to be easier than a modern linux installer that takes about 5 minutes to click through the gui with no command line knowledge needed. I guess the point is that you should use whatever you're comfortable with, but if you haven't tried linux in a while you might find it to be less of a fight than windows is becoming.
This... is actually true. I'll concede that even as recently as 4, 5 years ago it might have not been entirely true, but now it is - Linux has become so accessible (look at Mint, Pop_OS) while Windows has (somehow) become even more hostile to its user base to the point that an average user would actually have an easier time switching than staying in the long term. I didn't think I'd be able to write this with a straight face, but I honestly think this is now true.
Spend a "week" installing mosquito net >> spend 5 sec for each mosquito
I don't want to force anyone to use Linux, but everyone have the choice, to have a better experience.
No, it doesn't takes a week to install nor endless time of os configurations nor galaxy brain, in 2023.
And most games work, and most programs work, and for the rare ones that don’t you can use a Windows VM as long as you have just enough attention span to sit through a youtube tutorial
Ok: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
I use Windows for gaming but if we need an in-depth technical solution every time Microsoft comes up with some new annoying BS, maybe Linux users have a point to suggest something else. It's not like the Registry is exactly intuitive to the average user.
The person asks to get rid of these messages, there is no fucking way, it's their platform, their rules, deal with it or leave it.
So stfu with your whiney "why Microsoft" posts and do something about it.
You get rid of 50 messages and 300 will come a week after that, they are knowing what they're doing.
The next feature upgrade will reset your little PowerShell scripts anyway.
I like Linux and used it as my only OS for a decade but I play games and have to use MS Office. But thanks
Proton for gaming on Linux has come a long way. You still cannot get to 100% parity with all games and programs, and if you absolutely need something that isn't supported on Linux, you are out of luck, but chances are that most people would actually be able to use everything they need. I understand there's also the learning curve and not everyone has time or inclination, but for those that do, in 2023 it's absolutely worth a try.
I don't think the Fanatec drivers and or driving profile software would work, so I haven't even bothered.
Games themselves would mostly work, given my experience with the steam deck. But I have a lot of gog games and I know that's a hassle on it
I find it a bit ironic that the thing that made it easier to ditch windows completely was o365 web apps, they're actually decent if you have to use them. Thanks microsoft.
I think the just use linux voices are getting louder because every day more things just work out of the box, it may not quite be there for everyone yet but it's getting better every day.
Microsoft will never stop developing new ways to be anticompetitive leeches on society. You learn how to use one debloating tool, they'll take the developer of that debloating tool to court and have it pulled from circulation. You learn what registry key to edit, they'll change it. You get used to a menu, they'll remove it.
You have a choice: 1, You can continue that arms race with a monstrous evil megacorp, which you will continue to lose, or 2, you can switch to a platform that doesn't treat you this way in the first place.
Linux Mint among many others has a feature complete GUI which will provide anything the average user needs, including a graphical app "store" for installing software. The desktop paradigm is quite similar to Windows, it will be mostly familiar. The CLI is frankly easier to deal with than Windows' endless and redundant series of settings menus and applications. When someone asks for help on a text-based forum like StackOverflow or Reddit or Lemmy, it's easier to tell them "Open a terminal and copy-paste
lshw -f" than it is to tell them "Open the Start menu and click Programs > Administration >Regedit then look for a thing that says win11embraceextendextinguish and toggle that from 1 to 0, and do this after every update because it automatically changes it back."Linux does not require a week to install. Windows does. My father bought a new Dell about the time I built my little Ryzen box I'm typing this on. It took him over a week to wipe the factory Win 10 Dell Bloatware Edition image for vanilla Win 10, fuck around with drivers, then manually go to individual software websites, download installers, run them, haul out CDs and DVDs and install software (including Office 2010, the damned old chad) one at a time, then restore a backup of his files...He was actively engaged with this task for over a week. I had it done in about three hours, most of which I actually spent trimming my hedges while waiting for files to download or transfer from an external HDD. It was a 100% GUI process; I didn't open a terminal throughout.
Sure, Linux is different than Windows and this will take some learning. Just like Windows does every time they come out with a new version and you have to learn where they arbitrarily rearranged basic functions to this time. When I switched to Linux a decade ago, it was a similar process in going from Win 98 to Win XP, or XP to 7. Except after awhile the basic reorientation finished, and I started learning new things.
People who spend half their free time troubleshooting a simple driver install on their OS need to feel like it's worth it, hence they justify it by their sense of superiority. Sunk cost.
“Driver install” is mainly a windows thing. Linux ships with drivers that just work out of the box for nearly everything, with the only notable exception being Nvidia‘s proprietary drivers. However, every distro streamlines the installation process for that since it’s so common (And Nvidia is slowly moving towards open source anyways)
The first time you connect a printer to your linux machine and you find that it just fucking works is when you will see the light.