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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: foxieze on Fri, 23 April 2021, 08:02:23
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Interested to hear people's reasons.
I'll start:
- Less bloatware (usually)
- Less commonly targeted for malware
- Easier to find a compiler for code
- Better for programming in general
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It's all about laziness - always on top is built in to every window manager and select -> middle click copy/paste while retaining the actually copied clipboard is great.
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Because it is my computer, not Microsoft's.
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It's all about laziness - always on top is built in to every window manager and select -> middle click copy/paste while retaining the actually copied clipboard is great.
always on top is such a helpful thing sometimes, and I didn't know about that copy and pasting feature and i love it! surprised i'd never heard about it before. thanks!
Because it is my computer, not Microsoft's.
love this one and completely agree! i think it also sort of fits under my point about bloatware except in this case the bloatware is software that gives microsoft access to parts of our computer in some cases.
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Windows Update
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Windows Update
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makes sense :p
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Foxieze = Spy, nice try NSA.
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Foxieze = Spy, nice try NSA.
s**t. how did you know?
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Because Microsoft.
I was part of the beta test for Win10, seeing where Win10 was heading and seeing how MS was responding to our criticisms I knew it was only a matter of time before I had to get off the platform. I been trying to get away from Windows for a long time but being a power user meant it was quite difficult, Win10 was what finally pushed me over that cliff.
What did it?
Privacy, forced updates, stability, security, ownership of my hardware... MS has ZERO respect for the user. Windows users already assume this but you're really only seeing the tip of the iceberg, the longer you are outside the walled gardens prisons* of Mac and Windows the more you realize just how bad they really are.
*It's not a garden, the goal is not to keep animals out but to keep users in.
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Because Microsoft.
I was part of the beta test for Win10, seeing where Win10 was heading and seeing how MS was responding to our criticisms I knew it was only a matter of time before I had to get off the platform. I been trying to get away from Windows for a long time but being a power user meant it was quite difficult, Win10 was what finally pushed me over that cliff.
What did it?
Privacy, forced updates, stability, security, ownership of my hardware... MS has ZERO respect for the user. Windows users already assume this but you're really only seeing the tip of the iceberg, the longer you are outside the walled gardens prisons* of Mac and Windows the more you realize just how bad they really are.
*It's not a garden, the goal is not to keep animals out but to keep users in.
wait, who is the animal ?
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While in college learning about software development, I realized that nothing I was being taught explained why Windows was so buggy. This was when Windows 95 just came out, and my peers had plenty of BSODS, and "plug and play" was generally called "plug and pray." At the time I had an Amiga 4000. For our assignments, I did my work in the lab which had Sun Spark 20s I think they were, and then the newer lab towards the end of my time there had Ultra 5s.
Then my first assignment out of college was as a systems administrator, and again I had a Sun Ultra 5. So I basically jumped from AmigaOS to UNIX. Linux is the logical choice for someone not able to or willing to afford Sun hardware.
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Because it is my computer, not Microsoft's.
This is also the main thing for me. In the double sense of not wanting them to keep an eye on everything I'm doing, and them not constantly pushing useless crap onto me.
The greatest thing about linux is that it feels like the OS as well as the apps are made for the user, to solve whatever the user's tasks are. On windows the OS and most apps feel like they're made for the companies producing them -- as if every little function is there to extract some kind of value for the user. Basically you have to put up with this sort of "rent" to be allowed to get some stuff done.
Also: installing and keeping apps up to date is so easy with a package system. I absolutely don't miss having every app run their own little update service on windows, and constantly annoying me with tray icons and slow startups do to updates.
the longer you are outside the walled gardens prisons* of Mac and Windows the more you realize just how bad they really are.
Yes, this exactly my experience. And it's a very enjoyable one.
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It's better in literally every aspect.
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i started because it was free and i was broke, and grew tired of windows's messages about my not genuine OS, now i am just so used to all the quality of life improvement over windows that when i need to go back to windows i get annoyed, like virtual desktop that actually work, package managers that update pretty much everything without needing a full reboot, pretty much everything working as intended, less out of ram crashes, ability to actually kill crashed applications... and a lot more. and now i also appreciate the other side of the free coin, and code trying to adhere to as much of it as possible, like making my PHP and C code available to all users (usually the HTML and JS are by default :)), never locking a project on VBA, still my code is not actually mine so i can't release it on git.
although for the bloatware and ownership of your pc not all linux are built the same, for instance Ubuntu has quite a bit of bloat and Microsoft did try to jump onto the linux bandwagon and from what i remember it was as full of telemetry as is windows.
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I do still miss SourceTree every damn day on linux. Gitg just doesn't do it for me.
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although for the bloatware and ownership of your pc not all linux are built the same, for instance Ubuntu has quite a bit of bloat and Microsoft did try to jump onto the linux bandwagon and from what i remember it was as full of telemetry as is windows.
Ubuntu has pretty much cleaned up their act for the time being, but could change again at any moment.
While not an excuse, even with all the telemetry and things they had it was still a step up and a step in the right direction for Windows users.
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I do still miss SourceTree every damn day on linux. Gitg just doesn't do it for me.
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if you can make do with 1.8 it looks like it should work with wine: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=15064
although for the bloatware and ownership of your pc not all linux are built the same, for instance Ubuntu has quite a bit of bloat and Microsoft did try to jump onto the linux bandwagon and from what i remember it was as full of telemetry as is windows.
Ubuntu has pretty much cleaned up their act for the time being, but could change again at any moment.
While not an excuse, even with all the telemetry and things they had it was still a step up and a step in the right direction for Windows users.
yeah any level of POSIX compatibility is an upgrade compared to windows :)
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Because Microsoft.
I was part of the beta test for Win10, seeing where Win10 was heading and seeing how MS was responding to our criticisms I knew it was only a matter of time before I had to get off the platform. I been trying to get away from Windows for a long time but being a power user meant it was quite difficult, Win10 was what finally pushed me over that cliff.
What did it?
Privacy, forced updates, stability, security, ownership of my hardware... MS has ZERO respect for the user. Windows users already assume this but you're really only seeing the tip of the iceberg, the longer you are outside the walled gardens prisons* of Mac and Windows the more you realize just how bad they really are.
*It's not a garden, the goal is not to keep animals out but to keep users in.
If I could like a post 100 times...
The direction of operating systems and software in general is anti-consumer, it seems. The privacy issues, subscription models, forced+permanent "updates", degrading performance, awful user interfaces, etc... but people are more and more "locked in" to their "ecosystems", if you will.
Not so long ago, Windows 7 was my favorite OS. It was fast, relatively stable, supported hardware and software brilliantly, and just did everything I needed. At the time, Linux was okay but really had a lot of drawbacks and struggles. Windows 10 has been degrading since day 1 for me, and since then many Linux distros have developed into what I consider to be just as good as Windows/macOS.
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On servers, probably cost, stability and privacy are the biggest reasons.
I don't want to have to buy the OS, then buy licences for each user to connect, then buy licences for each application that runs, then buy licences for each user who uses those applications, and pay more for each upgrade and so on. Yes there are free applications that run on Windows servers, but then stability and privacy.
Apart from a legacy MSSQL server that only runs on Windows (needed to support one of our clients), I have no Windows servers at home or work any more.
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Main reason is I just like to be different jk,(well there may be a bit of truth to that lol) True main reason is I can install a lightweight system with just the stuff I need. Also, no forced updates and things generally just work. Linux has come a long way the past 17 years I have used it but does seem to lag lately in some development.
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- Less bloatware
- More customization options
- Faster in general
- More privacy (usually)
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The why has basically already been covered by other replies in this thread. It was just all becoming too much. Didn't really enjoy using the OS any more.
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Title managers. I can't use an OS without it. Yes, Windows & Macos has their own version of it, but it's lacking general usability as I find myself fighting with their solution than getting work done. Currently using i3.
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A topic I think no one has touched in is long-term support.
As much as Windows is used by 99.999% of the PC users (or something like that), MS can be sure that if they released a new Windows version a year people would still buy them.
For instance, now that we are going through the W10 -> W11 cycle, we can be pretty sure that W10 will be eventually left with no updates, hence security issues. This means that the license I bought for W10 is being thrown away and I need a new W11 license.
I don't need that with Linux, especially rolling releases like Arch or Gentoo. Ive been using Linux for pretty much everything except gaming since 2012 and never looked back; meanwhile Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 came up with their release processes and expenses to update hardware. Not to mention that everytime a new Windows comes up there's a crapton of problems with drivers, peripherals, specially printers, oh God printers.
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I started computers on Commodore (so with Microsoft) in late 80s...
Windows was a crappy piggyback on DOS, just like MSDOS was a crappy clone of DRDOS.
I really hated to jump thru loops to be able to do coding or run calculation programs that spew graphs and tables (QBasic on Win95...98)
On Linux I'm almost like home, enjoying Slackware and the loooooong release cycle (few updates and no upgrades for YEARS baby)
Just doing actual useful things on my computer, not always in administration/maintenance mode.
I fire up a terminal and can code right on, or with Geany - in seconds and no internet needed all the time.
And OS support is world class :thumb:
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For instance, now that we are going through the W10 -> W11 cycle, we can be pretty sure that W10 will be eventually left with no updates, hence security issues. This means that the license I bought for W10 is being thrown away and I need a new W11 license.
Win10 licenses work with Win11, no one needs a new one and it's been that way since, Vista? So long as you upgraded during the first year... That time when all the driver issues and such were a problem.
While MS has gotten better at the update process (they can do it without absolutely really wanting a fresh install, finally), the driver situation has certainly gotten worse and it's the first time they've left so many computers out in the cold, including their own models still sitting on shelves.
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For instance, now that we are going through the W10 -> W11 cycle, we can be pretty sure that W10 will be eventually left with no updates, hence security issues. This means that the license I bought for W10 is being thrown away and I need a new W11 license.
Win10 licenses work with Win11, no one needs a new one and it's been that way since, Vista? So long as you upgraded during the first year... That time when all the driver issues and such were a problem.
While MS has gotten better at the update process (they can do it without absolutely really wanting a fresh install, finally), the driver situation has certainly gotten worse and it's the first time they've left so many computers out in the cold, including their own models still sitting on shelves.
My Windoes 8 computer, which has gotten a windows 10 upgrade, has not gotten a W11 license.
My (old) W10 license was not updated. Maybe it's something regional (I'm in Brazil).
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Let me cite Gandalf the gray from a certain occasion:
"Run you fools"
I find this amusingly applicable to "W10 to W11 upgrade or not"
There is a Live Linux for everyone's taste out there.
Try Linux Mint first, for example.
https://linuxmint.com/download.php (https://linuxmint.com/download.php)
(Try the Cinnamon first)
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My Windoes 8 computer, which has gotten a windows 10 upgrade, has not gotten a W11 license.
My (old) W10 license was not updated. Maybe it's something regional (I'm in Brazil).
Win11 hasn't been released, it's barely in early beta testing, you won't get a license or upgrade until it's released.
If you already installed Win 11, well, again, it's still in early beta and you aren't in the US so who knows if they will activate it right now or not, but even then activation is not a license and both can be revoked. It can work now and then you wake up on release day and find they rolled you back to Win10.
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My Windoes 8 computer, which has gotten a windows 10 upgrade, has not gotten a W11 license.
My (old) W10 license was not updated. Maybe it's something regional (I'm in Brazil).
Win11 hasn't been released, it's barely in early beta testing, you won't get a license or upgrade until it's released.
If you already installed Win 11, well, again, it's still in early beta and you aren't in the US so who knows if they will activate it right now or not, but even then activation is not a license and both can be revoked. It can work now and then you wake up on release day and find they rolled you back to Win10.
If anything that makes a point for Linux; most distros use GPL-like licenses which are worldwide and non-irrevocable
Not only non-upgradable, Windows licensing is neither of those
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well when your product is free to use there is not much point in making a limited license, revoking it would have about no effects, while for microsoft with they rather high price (well extremely high price considering the polish and support compared to linux), revoking a license means making money, so of course they want to option, the more limits there is the higher the chances you will have to buy multiple licenses.
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The first time i read that W11 is going to be released i went:
"LOL Certainly they've meant X11?"
;D
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well when your product is free to use there is not much point in making a limited license, revoking it would have about no effects, while for microsoft with they rather high price (well extremely high price considering the polish and support compared to linux), revoking a license means making money, so of course they want to option, the more limits there is the higher the chances you will have to buy multiple licenses.
Certain places have mandatory support periods for anything you sell, revoking your license to use it means they can wash their hands of your problems and you have no recourse. Not all licenses are about you, they're about indemnifying the creator.
Polish?
A good Linux DE is just as polished as Windows and for every fault you will find on the Linux DE I can find just as many faults in the Windows DE (how about those control panels). They may be more glaring at times on the Linux DE than the Windows DE, but they're there.
As for support
You haven't actually called MS for support have you? Most people call the system vendor in which case the OS vendor doesn't matter. Few realize this, but MS charges you for support. It's not free even if you have a license.
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The first time i read that W11 is going to be released i went:
"LOL Certainly they've meant X11?"
;D
ha - i thought the exact same thing when i was scrolling through reddit the other day!
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well when your product is free to use there is not much point in making a limited license, revoking it would have about no effects, while for microsoft with they rather high price (well extremely high price considering the polish and support compared to linux), revoking a license means making money, so of course they want to option, the more limits there is the higher the chances you will have to buy multiple licenses.
Certain places have mandatory support periods for anything you sell, revoking your license to use it means they can wash their hands of your problems and you have no recourse. Not all licenses are about you, they're about indemnifying the creator.
Polish?
A good Linux DE is just as polished as Windows and for every fault you will find on the Linux DE I can find just as many faults in the Windows DE (how about those control panels). They may be more glaring at times on the Linux DE than the Windows DE, but they're there.
As for support
You haven't actually called MS for support have you? Most people call the system vendor in which case the OS vendor doesn't matter. Few realize this, but MS charges you for support. It's not free even if you have a license.
you read me completely backward, i was saying MS was expensive given the polish and support of their OS, i meant that linux distro, often free, have better polish and better support than the very expensive windows, because i had to deal with windows support, and hundreds of bugs supports just knows about and just do not know what to do to fix or alleviate them.
not that i spend my time on OS threads here complaining about windows complete lack of polish, if you can call it polish at this point.
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I've been using Linux for home OS for more than a decade that I actually forgot the reason. but certainly I appreciate the ease of programming for stacks that I want to write.
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I don't need Windows for anything. And I like Linux more for its hackability and it's more comfortable development environment for me.