Maybe if they had done that to begin with I wouldn’t have nuked the SSD and dropped Linux on it?
Too late. I’ve already switched to Linux Mint and am never going back.
Same, almost a year and couldn’t be happier.
I’m still on windows 7.
I only moved off 7 about 18 months ago. Check out W10 LTSC IoT It’s much nicer than regular W10 and it’s supported until 2032
The have done this every window release.
Very nice! I need Windows unfortunately for software, but when I get a new machine for professional stuff, my old one defs goes Mint:) Just needed more buffer time to save money!
I’m just sitting here patiently waiting for the end of the world staring at these corporations, Microsoft and Meta especially, just make company ending mistake after company ending mistake, for over a decade now. I really don’t believe companies able to absorb that kind of incompetence should exist.
Vista 2: Electric Boogaloo
ME 3: The Crappening
LOL!! I like it.
Windows 11 can be wrangled into something decent, but it requires an immense amount of wrangling on initial install to do so.
As an example, XP needed 8-12hrs worth of work before I was happy with the way I had it configured. Win11 needs about 32-48hrs of work and testing. Some bits - like violently bludgeoning File Explorer back into a halfway XP-like folder tree - takes deep, repeated dives into the registry to properly and permanently eviscerate things like the Library and Home (quick access).
More than XP 🤣 I think Linux is better for everyone
Is there a way to not require a Microsoft account? That’s why I haven’t upgraded.
Yes,
- disconnect internet on install
- install and get to the initial setup screen (out of box experience screen where you setup keyboard, etc)
- press shift+f10 to get console
- run “OOBE/BYPASSNRO”
It will reboot and bring you back to that same initial setup but when you get to the account page you will have an option for “I don’t have internet” which then will allow you to create a local account.
They were going to remove this but haven’t yet, at least the last time I setup a VM for some windows only software about a month ago.
Edit: This was a fresh install, not a 10->11 upgrade. I haven’t tried that way so I can’t confirm if it works on a keep everything upgrade.
RUFUS is a lot simpler.
And upgrades keep all settings, including local accounts. They always have.
Build your USB installer using RUFUS.
The SELECT drop-down (the down arrow itself, not the entire button) even downloads a generic multi-version of the latest Win11.
It’s at the last step before creating the installer when RUFUS gives you a bunch of settings that you can leverage, one of which is a Microsoft Account bypass so you can create a local account.
Fedora workstation with KDE.
Took like 10 minutes dude.
I still run a small constellation of programs (some obscure) that are required for my workflows that have neither a Linux version that is perfectly file-compatible, nor can be run reliably under WINE.
Plus, I also provide tech support for others, so being able to “mirror” actions on my own iron as I’m helping them is a massive plus. Differences between installs has helped me catch config issues on many occasions.
So unfortunately, running Windows is still a must-do for the foreseeable future. Now granted, I also have a good half-dozen workstations, which also run MacOS, OpenBSD, OpenSUSE, and various other virtualized fun shit (HaikuOS, etc.).
I love Linux. I really do. I would say 99.9% of all services I self-host are things I run on Linux. And the other 0.1% I’m actively looking for a way to run on Linux or just don’t run at all. But as a desktop, there are things that I just can do as well or at all on Linux. And most of that are drivers or utilities that just either ignore Linux or half-ass it. Which is not Linux’s fault, but it is what it is.
An example: I have a laser cutter in my shop. I use Lightburn. They essentially have stopped all development on the Linux version years ago. So I have an old Macmini running the Mac version (I despise windows with the passion of 1000 suns). So no Linux there. I haven’t looked for a decent Linux version so something might exist. But what I have works and I have other more fun things to try.
But Linux on the desktop can have advantages. At work, the desktop management shit is really getting annoying and increasingly affects my Mac desktop. I don’t need some central office making choices on my desktop/laptop when I know more than most of them. Not to mention I do weird things with networking for my lab that is so outside of normal, I guarantee they have never even considered. Case in point, they were forcing reboots to upgrade the day of any OS update. Even dot 0 releases. I’m like WTAF. I got them to allow a week which is better I guess. They haven’t figured at how to force that on Linux yet so there is a reason to move to Linux for sure. But this advantage for Linux is basically due to the same thing. Linux is ignored on the desktop.
You have to do the essentials on Linux. You have to fight for it. The more people turn on Linux and bitch about stuff not working, the more likely companies/people will start building drivers for it. It’s a fight, no shame if it doesn’t work, just use other operating system to get it working but spit on it while doing it
You’re not wrong. And we have several people in my group especially since most of us are geeks and technical, that are running Linux as a desktop.
Linux can be made to do those things too. That’s a management issue. Head office is dumb and doesn’t know what they are doing and they make that your problem.
As for the CNC, aren’t those all some variation of GRBL anyway? I feel like there’s a major disruption opportunity for retrofitting a more standard control system onto existing CNC machines. Something supported by Linux/bsd/temple/whatever. The CNC machines are technological anchors for any shop and honestly they don’t need to be. They aren’t as complex as people think.
I know. Just don’t tell central IT. Plus the few number of Linux desktops is also reasonable n to not bother. And anybody running Linux as a desktop has way more of a clue than some admin running windows 11.
It’s not the GRBL that’s the issue. It’s the turning things into GRBL that’s the issue. Like I said they probably exist. It’s just a matter of being lazy and not fixing something that already works. If it was windows only, I’d be more inclined.
Ha! Suck it, every computer tech that told me I had to move to 11.
After switching to Linux (CachyOS) over a year ago now, I think I’ve booted my still existing windows installation twice. Both times was at the very start to get some settings from installed software to migrate and to sync some data or something, I barely even remember. That has also been over a year ago.
Ever since I’ve switched, I stopped noticing I even have an operating system. I just use my PC. Unbothered by popups, updates and bloat are (re)appearing pinned in my start menu (no I didn’t want to have candy crush installed). Literally everything just works, and I’m mostly using my PC for gaming.
I regret not switching much sooner.
I left windows years ago and have been splitting the difference between Mac and Linux since.
I’ve been working on moving off Mac too. The current beta is a speed demon (seriously impressive compared to Tahoe) but it’s still just a faster set of things I’ve come to hate. They are not even trying to solve a problem with their changes anymore. They are just selling things they have decided I must have.
Remember when Siri just used wolfram alpha for everything and was loaded with Easter eggs? Now we have an invasive AI nobody asked for and all efficiency gains get wasted on horseshit.
CachyOS is arch right, is that regular work to keep it running or gaming?
It is absolutely no effort at all. When there are updates, you’re told in a notification. Click on it or don’t, up to you. You can of course also disable the notification and just manually update whenever you want (or not). Updating can generally be done through that tool, or through a normal GUI application that exists (where you can also install new software), or of course in the terminal if you prefer.
There will be updates basically daily, that’s the nature of the rolling distro model. If there’s like 5-10, they install in literally 5-10 seconds. If you’ve gone a month it’ll probably take 1-2 minutes. Also just cause there are updates doesn’t mean you need to care about it. You should of course update frequently enough that security fixes get applies, but many people just update once a week or once a month or something.
Appreciate the response. Interesting vs my experience with Bazzite. Have the rolling, frequent updates broken anything?
In just over a year the only thing that ever broke was a minor thing (probably a bug in KDE that slipped through) with no practical impact and an easy workaround, which then got fixed in like 3 days or something without any intervention from me. I’ve had more (in numbers) and more severe breaks in the same time frame on a server at work that’s running debian, one of which was related to actually booting the server.
The whole “rolling releases are so unstable” mantra gets thrown around a lot, and it almost stopped me from trying CachyOS/Arch when I switched. My personal experience has been the complete opposite. I honestly can’t tell if people who never tried these distros just keep repeating what they heard or read somewhere, or if I really am just pretty lucky.
I love that I don’t have to worry about getting some semi-modern software to run, like I’m often worried when on a debian based server and have to manually install so much shit by hand that I’m losing track, which I then manually have to update in the future. On CachyOS, I just assume whatever I can install is the latest version (it usually is, only once was it not I did took a minute to figure that out as I just dind’t expect it anymore). And usually I can just install whatever I’m looking for.
Another note: I’m running CachyOS on both my desktop and my laptop. My desktop I use daily, and I usually even update daily (it’s just the way I’m wired, and I don’t mind). My laptop I use rarely and consequently I only update it every few months or at least weeks. Neither approach has caused any issues. But do not assume that your install can’t break either, things can go wrong (as they can on Windows). But support for even relatively specific problems is reasonably easy to come by, and people are generally helpful (discord, forum, …).
Awesome recount, cheers.
I’m definitely giving catchyOS a go then, Bazzite proved games can (on a N 4070s) run in a fun way, so now I’ll get CatchyOS to replace windows (gaming/light work).
I’ve never had windows break on me, but I’m just so sick of the slop. I just want some peace when I switch on my desktop.
I run CachyOS on my gaming PC. I installed the OS, installed Steam, and the only regular work I’ve had to do since then is clicking the “upgrade now” button every couple weeks.
Anything break along the way?
Once the bluetooth stack updated and both steam and the OS were fighting for which one was doing the controller emulation for the nintendo switch pro controllers. I just went in and turned off the OS controller support in the bluetooth settings.
That’s literally the only problem I’ve had in… 9 months of this setup?
Interesting, quick solve too.
This has convinced me to try it out. Pretty impressive. Now i’ll try CatchyOS to replace windows.
Bazzite has been awesome while I only wanted to game.
Yeah, it was kinda frustrating cause I was trying to start a group game. BUT, I just clicked around a bit and figured it out, took maybe 5 minutes (of people watching me).
Before that I used Windows for my console PC, and I can honestly say that CachyOS is easier to use than Windows, and less likely for an update to break something.
Troubleshooting with an audience is never fun haha.
My only disadvantage seems to be my nvidia 4070 super…. But i haven’t seen a big issue with it in Bazzite. All im seeing and hearing are wins
I have a Windows drive on my current machine. I boot it every six to eight months just to see what people are talking about in forums. So I shake my head and boot back into fedora.
In theory, I’m keeping it in case I bring my oculus cv1 out of storage. In practice, I’m pretty sure I’ll have bought a steam whateveritscalled long before that happens.
It’s been literally years (possibly more than ten by now) since I’ve had to use it to run a game.
I switched whenever it was that I woke up and Copilot was installed on my computer without my consent. 2 years ago? More? Idk. I bought new drives because I didn’t want to dual boot, but also wanted to keep Windows “just in case.” Well, I haven’t booted from those drives once in that time. I did plug them in to get some files off them a few months ago, but they are back to collecting dust again. I think it’s about time to finally wipe them and put them back to work.
I actually got rid of windows instance entirely, I just realized one day that I hadn’t booted it up in 6 months, thanks Linux.
When you say gaming, mostly indie titles and singleplayer?
I’d love to switch over, but a lot of games don’t run on Linux (especially multiplayer games with anti-cheat). Yes, it’s mostly on the developers, but it’s annoying as hell.
I play almost no single player games, and I switched to Linux (Cachy) earlier this year. It’s been a blast.
Yes and no. I play singleplayer and indie games, but I also play competetive online multiplayer, but that’s mostly one game: Predecessor. It uses EasyAntiCheat and also just works. The games you play you can just look up if they work, usually it’ll be a yes/no and not more complicated and that mostly depends on the dev. Like Predecessor, where they ticked the box in EAC so it’s just fine. The number of games that do not work (specifically due to anti-cheat) isn’t huge, and well-known to check. You can just look up if it’s just a game or two you occasionally play, or if all you play is on that list (for a quick glance, check ProtonDB).
You can also just try to switch, if you actually want to, and only go back to Windows for the few games that need it. Maybe you’ll switch back and forth for a long time. Maybe you’ll find it’s too much effort to switch back to Windows and you play something that “just works” on Linux. Or you’ll find the switching annoying and you’ll keep booting mostly to windows “just in case” you wanna play one of the games that need it. Trying it out is very little effort and time these days.
You say “especially” when it’s more like “almost exclusively”. Almost all games not bundled with malware (kernel-level anti-cheat) work with zero or minimal tweaking. It gets a little harder if you like to play with mods, though.
Linux gaming has come a long way. Back when The Witcher 3 came out, there was no Proton and running a game with Wine involved a lot of tweaking. Even then, I got better FPS than in Windows but it was hard. Now, I don’t even think about it. I just assume it’ll work.
Not who you asked but I’ve played Sims 2 and 4, stardew valley, Minecraft, grounded, Ark, Alice Madness returns, and something I’m blanking on right now. I’ve only had linux mint installed for 3 months now so I’m sure I’ll try more games. I’ve had no issues. Well, I used issues with extras for as 2 but that was a simple, I didn’t read directions lol.
That’s changing ATM as well, but i wouldn’t say a lot.
It’s like about ~10 of the biggest multiplayer games that’s unsupported because of kernel level anti cheats. P much every other games work.
If you’re in doubt about the compats of a specific title, check protondb :)
Everyone should be able to enjoy their life without the curse of microslop and the hauntings of it’s pharaoh Gill Bates
For me it wasn’t alot, pubg would be fun to play every once but the developers basically killed it with the bots update anyway. Rust has a nice but sadly small linux community and alot of other shooters like squad and the finals should just work. Rocket league just needed a line in the start options to work after the anti cheat update. Overall i was positively suprised how many games still run.
Huh, cool that The Finals work, seems like developers can enable EAC for Linux. Bit dumb that not more do it.
I’m hoping with the Steam Machine getting more popular that we get even more of a shift in the future.
In my experience, I use Windows 11 pro and don’t get any stupid pop ups like that besides when I need to update the OS or update other programs I installed myself. Maybe it’s different on the other versions? I dunno… but it’s never been that big of a deal for me. I disable a lot of shit on it so it doesn’t do that to be fair.
Never used a windows version that wasn’t “pro”. It was even win10, not 11 as I refused to upgrade (and the reason for this post/thread). It wasn’t that constant, but annoying enough (despite numerous debloat sessions) that staying on Windows stopped beeing an option. I’m on Win11 pro at work, and it’s still a frequent enough fight to get rid of all the shit.
People usually have different tolerance level for pop-ups and distractions based on their neurobiology.
I have heard autistic people say pop-ups hurt and overstimulate them, ADHD people say they can’t ignore pop-ups, while neurotypocal people say they don’t even notice the pop-ups.
So both experiences can be true at once. You have no issues with pop-ups, while for someone else physically can’t tolerate a single distraction without stressing them out.
I’ve also only booted mine twice. Both times because apparently you can’t update an Xbox controller from anywhere but windows or an Xbox and all I wanted was to Bluetooth connect my controller to linux so I could get an extra cabin in stardew valley 🤣
The current Xbox is still a decent emulation machine if you want to play old 360 and some OG Xbox games plus it does have access to retro arch so you can even play everything below 7th gen consoles. Not a bad system if you can find one used.
Oh that’s great to know. I have hardly used mine.
And their CEO is probably going to just get handed an extra 10 or 20 million in pay for sucking this bad, probably.
We don’t need no stinkin’ repercussions…
yes, and if the person sucks bad enough they get 10 times that and a new ceo position.
It’s the circle of (ceo) life.
Yeah, sorry Microslop, you lost me years ago with Windows 8 and the absolute shit-show that was a tablet/touch GUI shoved onto the desktop for no good reason. XP was where Windows peaked. Windows 7 was the last one I actually used. Windows 10 and 11 are literally malware.
To be fair, windows 8 was great at what it was designed to do: make a touch friendly UI for doing actual work, which iPad couldn’t really do at the time. Apple has since copied the best ideas Microsoft demoed back then in win 8. But Microsoft mismanaged the project and shoehorned that UI into everything and ruined it.
Microsoft can do amazing things, even now. They just cant manage themselves out of a paper bag. When they try something new, they generally come up with some impressive shit. But then it gets handed off to the shareholders goons to mismanage and weaponize. So the metro UI went from a problem solver to a punishment.
Xp failed to much imo, 7 was better
I don’t remember writting this comment…it sounds like me, but…Hey! That’s not my account!!!
Wow. I have a mental doppleganger! Neat!
Just spent the weekend moving to Kubuntu. It only took about 5 hours and my computer is snappier than it’s ever been. I have been on Windows for 30 years. Microsoft, you should be scared. You can’t compete with free competition.
Windows has different design pressures. They have painted themselves into a corner and can no longer afford to manage it. If they make sweeping changes they break the number 1 rule of windows, maintain legacy compatibility wherever possible. If companies have to buy new, it’s a harder sell for Microsoft because there are better, cheaper options out there they can’t compete with. Their own ecosystem is holding them back and they cannot do anything about it.
The only way to meaningfully compete with freeware is a feature advantage: if your revenue can sponsor developers to focus on polishing and improving your system beyond the free alternatives, there will be a market of people willing to pay for (immediately*) better products.
It’s what keeps Excel a step ahead of Calc: between a rather clunky UX and frankly awful documentation for some features and functions, Libre just doesn’t quite have the same maturity. It’s good enough for the majority of use cases, okay for some more and I’m really only aware of one feature I miss (Power Query or equivalent) or haven’t found. But it’s not as polished, and for some, that alone is reason enough to stick with paid products.
Conversely, it’s why more people are starting to move off of Windows: between user experience improvements, smoother installation, the spreading realisation that most stuff happens in browsers anyways and Proton making a lot of gaming a lot more accessible, Windows is losing that edge in features. If the list of anti-features and drawbacks grows large enough, the familiarity alone just doesn’t hold people any more.
You can compete with free competition, but that requires an eye on the market. And performance-impeding spyware just isn’t must-have for everyone.
*as opposed to supporting open source devs to the point where they could focus on their software, hopefully leading to better products some time later, which is less gratifying and less reliable than paying for a project you get right now
Yeah, the real “Year of the Linux Desktop” only occurs when devs actually get input from UX designers and stop designing clunky as fuck UIs.
The UX designers I knew had a bit of a circular problem: the poor UX put them off too much to develop that passion for FOSS that drives devs to work on it for free. They’d first have to puzzle out what things are supposed to do and how they’re supposed to go about achieving whatever they’re looking to do, basically reverse-engineering user flows that were never properly engineered.
I don’t have a solution for this and I don’t know if they’re representative, but acknowledging the importance of UX is a start for sure.
I strongly feel the only reasons Linux is actually gaining traction right now are
A) proton/wine getting good enough interfaces for regular people to start using them (steam, heroic, hopefully bottles someday gets easier to use)
B) KDE making strides with their desktop envoronment.
C) flatpaks being easy to use and fairly reliable once someone learns to prioritize them
All still have a LOT of work to do with UX, but they are close enough to good that its less of a hurdle for new people to pick them up.
Honestly there are some things I feel Microsoft and Apple do still do better and since they are UI-first considerations, Linux will likely never keep up.
For example: Apple has app packages. Imagine a flat pack to install by just dragging into a folder. Thats it all dependencies are there in the package. When you double click, the default action is to run a predefined binary within the package. It’s basically a folder whose default action is launch a binary within rather than open and browse. If you want to uninstall, just drag to trash. The OS keeps receipts and when I sees a package is sent to the trash, it handles the cleanup for you.
Flatpaks kind of do this but not really. It’s really clever and there’s no reason Linux can’t do this other than it just doesn’t face the same design pressures Apple did when they made it. Apple was GUI first, Linux had a GUI as an afterthought.
Microsoft has the plus of turn it on and it’s already there. Anymore, that’s pretty much all it has. Linux is getting much better with easier to use graphical installers and pushing themselves into a system much faster than windows does. But if a user doesn’t understand how a computer boots, that they can tell the computer to just boot something else, it’s overwhelming to get to the Linux-is-easy part. I feel like there should be a single click installer that creates a recovery partition, tells the uEFI to boot into it, wipes the original windows partitions out and installs to the computer, then removes itself, lets Linux reboot and reclaim the entire drive with a partition resize.
I feel like there should be a single click installer that creates a recovery partition, tells the uEFI to boot into it, wipes the original windows partitions out and installs to the computer, then removes itself, lets Linux reboot and reclaim the entire drive with a partition resize
Most linux installs are easier than Windows. It’s not a Linux issue, it’s an “already installed” issue. I wouldn’t want installations to be any easier than they are because the steps you’re involved with are steps that someone needs to give input or you risk destroying everything you had. Any OS installation that isn’t OEM, linux or Windows, starts with the assumption that there might be something important that it shouldn’t touch. Linux has OEM installations that from the perspective of the user receiving the computer, are identical to starting Windows for the first time.
How the hell do UX designers contribute?!
Every year I look how I could give a few hours a week, but I leave bewildered (seems like every projects wants you to fork ans submit changes). Do you or anyone know of arrangement more like “here’s a ticket, punch in, do it, punch out”.
seems like every projects wants you to fork ans submit changes
I think that’s just how software devs tend to work: a main “trunk” of code, from which they branch off for a feature or change, then when they’re done writing the new code, merge it back into the trunk. That’s the mode we’re used to, the only tool we know for managing parallel code development.
How else would we do things? Or rather: how would you do things? This isn’t a rhetorical question: I genuinely admit I don’t know how you’d prefer to operate, or what you mean by punching in and out.
If you’re asking for specific tasks, projects may have an issue tracker of some form where you can find stuff other people found, but other than that, FOSS often is a “see something that needs fixing, go and fix it” thing. Particularly if the devs themselves don’t notice a problem, because they know what that confusing icon means or how that tool works, they won’t create a task they don’t even know needs doing. Even if they know something is bad, they might not know how to make it better.
If you’re using or trying to use a program and notice something has been done poorly, is too complex for an entry-level user, whatever it is you think could or should be improved, talk to the people making it, or look for a contribution guide.
Even if you can’t contribute code, it might be helpful to share your skills and knowledge by opening issues, explaining specific problems and offering ways to solve them.
Great points.
The way I’ve worked is usually: onboarding, identify work to be done, tickets (part of that forking), review/done.
So if the onboarding, identifying wtbd and then the work is done by me independently… that seems like weeks of work to submit a suggestion… you know?
UX design work needs a lot of research, understanding and alignment to stick.
Am I missing something?
Becsuse you get someone in on the creation thst can say things like.
“99% of all software uses Control+s to save, yes W stands for Write Out, but literally no one thinks that way and Control W is unintuitive.”
“People prefer larger icons with meaningful symbols.”
“This setting is only accessible by using a CLI to edit a .conf file in /etc/software/config/current and thats a terrible design.”
“Your pop up dialogs should all be consistently sized with Yes/Cancel buttons in the same space so users can more instinctively know where to click.”
“The window design looks like Windows 95 and makes people think they are in prison and has driven at least one user to depression and suicide, maybe consider modernizing the look with some color and roundness.”
Too late, already on Mint.
My desktop has been running Linux for a while now, but I finally got tired enough with the repeated flops from Microslop™ that I switched my 6 year old Surface I use for surfing from the couch over to Mint.
Not looking back at this point.
If you ever distro hop on that, let me know how a touch centric distros works on it like Ubuntu touch. Was thinking of picking one up for couch browsing. RIP in peace my hackintosh Dell mini 9.
I’ll let you know!
FWIW, touch works fine on Mint, and you can scale the UI up a bit to make it a little more touch friendly
Users rejecting corporate GovOS forced telemetry upgrades.
