Been working with Windows for 30-years and Linux around 20. Yeah, Windows “just works”. Linux always needs fiddling.
I made “little old lady” computers and laptops for people who couldn’t afford my help. Take their old machine, upgrade with whatever spare parts I had, clean it up, load Linux Lite, fix all the drivers, “Here’s how to get your email and internet.”, done.
That worked because I did the OS fucking around up front. Starting with Win10, maybe even Win7, everything functioned well enough to run. You can’t tell me any given Linux ISO runs without fucking about, right out the box.
You and I aren’t your average user. Don’t put your experience on the others.
Windows has problems on a near constant basis. People are used to that but that doesn’t excuse it. I have used windows about 30 years myself, that’s how I know. It’s really a silly argument. If you used windows this long and are still willing to defend the massive issues it throws at its users, there is not much for me to say besides you shouldn’t.
Windows has a bunch of privacy and evil empire issues. But as far as just using it? It’s been pretty fucking stable since XP days compared to any other OS out there. MAC technically is more stable but only because they tightly control the hardware. You can install Windows on an insane variety of hardware.
Linux? First, please link me to the “Linux OS” oh right you can’t. Linux is a collection of 50+ (more?) OSs with wildly different UIs, functionality, and issues. Don’t get me started on installing software. Each has its repo or multiples or flatpaks or whatever the hell Ubuntu uses.
Hell only a few distributions even support (and not well) the most popular GPU maker on the market for the last 30 years. You know graphics are kinda important? Now that’s what I consider a massive issue to throw at users. And no the end user doesn’t care if that’s Nvidia’s fault or not.
I just installed Linux on a older MSI couple months ago. I spent like 3 hours reading online and trying 4 different distos before I got one that worked. Then oops keyboard lights are sol… Install a game, oops again the default install directory doesn’t work with add-ons because the distro. was immutable. So back to researching. And I’m fairly tech savvy.
So even in 2025 “Linux” isn’t ready for the desktop for your average user. Now that is a silly claim.
But I don’t have the issues I’m told I should be having. And neither did my users over the last two jobs as a sysadmin.
I’m on a plain vanilla Win11 ISO, upgraded from Win10. I honestly have no idea when I last had an OS issue. As a sysadmin, I can’t think of an OS-level issue my users had over 5-years at my previous job.
I’d be an idiot to say Windows is a perfect OS, but my experience, on the job and privately, does not jive with “problems on a near constant basis”.
I have no idea how old my Windows install is, moved the SSD from 3 or 4 previous computers. Plugged it all up, booted, waited a few minutes, all good. Never had an OS last this long without a wipe. LOL, I was astounded when Windows 2000 Advanced Server went 30-days without a reboot!
These arguments are truly strange to me. I’m told I have problems that I don’t have. And it’s not just me. I’ve overseen fleets of Windows machines. Can’t say none of the problems were OS related, but I can’t think of a single issue ATM, problems were 3rd party software or hardware failures.
Good for you - but that's not everyone's experience.
So don't put your experience on others either.
I'm sure it works the other way round, just as often.
But that last time when my sister was literally filling out an RMA form for a perfectly functional disk drive because her brand new laptop wouldn't play a DVD. That was the last straw for me and windows. (except at work of course until/ unless I can get a better job).
Windows, 20 minutes of being advertised at like the internet before pop-up blockers, being pushed to windows store to buy the film again from them, trying a few different media players from the store, various googling - i cant even remember if i was able to install vlc before giving up and going debian - fuck that, unusable, and she couldn't do it either, so that was at least two of us in the well-below-average slice of the distribution of windows users.
Linux mint live iso booted about 5-10 mins to burn it and boot, play dvd (I dont even think i had to install vlc). Plus a bit of time to figure out how to get the boot menu. So maybe she was above average in debian users?
Funny, I did the same with Linux boxes and didn’t have nearly the amount of diddling you did. Guessing this was a skill issue, and it’s your choice in parts or OS. I made some decent scratch repurposing old business desktops/add/micro systems with Linux and it was easily the most profitable line item I had.
Unpopular opinion, but I partially agree with you.
Win 7 and 10 did pretty much mostly work out of the box. And during those times, Linux didn’t work as well always.
But with Win 11? Microsoft has fucked up. Not only do things not always work (the biggest issue I get is display drivers malfunctioning and Bluetooth/internet issues with updates), but certain Linux distros the hardware works better, which was really weird to come across. Specifically KDE Fedora stuff. I can actually control the brightness on a desktop easily from a software panel for example, instead of having to manually use the buttons on the monitor.
Even HDR recently breaks on Win 11 when it was working just fine, throwing off all the colors outside of the game you’re playing if you activate it for the game.
There’s also something you pointed out in your own comment that’s a benefit that Linux sort of had since even back then - the interface is easier to use than Windows. My dad always had issues figuring out how to use his computer to just browse the internet on Windows but finally learned on Ubuntu. But like you said, at the time, I had to set everything up first. Now? I’m pretty confident certain distros wouldn’t need that.
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Been working with Windows for 30-years and Linux around 20. Yeah, Windows “just works”. Linux always needs fiddling.
I made “little old lady” computers and laptops for people who couldn’t afford my help. Take their old machine, upgrade with whatever spare parts I had, clean it up, load Linux Lite, fix all the drivers, “Here’s how to get your email and internet.”, done.
That worked because I did the OS fucking around up front. Starting with Win10, maybe even Win7, everything functioned well enough to run. You can’t tell me any given Linux ISO runs without fucking about, right out the box.
You and I aren’t your average user. Don’t put your experience on the others.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Windows has problems on a near constant basis. People are used to that but that doesn’t excuse it. I have used windows about 30 years myself, that’s how I know. It’s really a silly argument. If you used windows this long and are still willing to defend the massive issues it throws at its users, there is not much for me to say besides you shouldn’t.
Crashumbc@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’ve been using Windows since 3.0
Windows has a bunch of privacy and evil empire issues. But as far as just using it? It’s been pretty fucking stable since XP days compared to any other OS out there. MAC technically is more stable but only because they tightly control the hardware. You can install Windows on an insane variety of hardware.
Linux? First, please link me to the “Linux OS” oh right you can’t. Linux is a collection of 50+ (more?) OSs with wildly different UIs, functionality, and issues. Don’t get me started on installing software. Each has its repo or multiples or flatpaks or whatever the hell Ubuntu uses.
Hell only a few distributions even support (and not well) the most popular GPU maker on the market for the last 30 years. You know graphics are kinda important? Now that’s what I consider a massive issue to throw at users. And no the end user doesn’t care if that’s Nvidia’s fault or not.
I just installed Linux on a older MSI couple months ago. I spent like 3 hours reading online and trying 4 different distos before I got one that worked. Then oops keyboard lights are sol… Install a game, oops again the default install directory doesn’t work with add-ons because the distro. was immutable. So back to researching. And I’m fairly tech savvy.
So even in 2025 “Linux” isn’t ready for the desktop for your average user. Now that is a silly claim.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Please go back to windows. We don’t need you.
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
But I don’t have the issues I’m told I should be having. And neither did my users over the last two jobs as a sysadmin.
I’m on a plain vanilla Win11 ISO, upgraded from Win10. I honestly have no idea when I last had an OS issue. As a sysadmin, I can’t think of an OS-level issue my users had over 5-years at my previous job.
I’d be an idiot to say Windows is a perfect OS, but my experience, on the job and privately, does not jive with “problems on a near constant basis”.
I have no idea how old my Windows install is, moved the SSD from 3 or 4 previous computers. Plugged it all up, booted, waited a few minutes, all good. Never had an OS last this long without a wipe. LOL, I was astounded when Windows 2000 Advanced Server went 30-days without a reboot!
These arguments are truly strange to me. I’m told I have problems that I don’t have. And it’s not just me. I’ve overseen fleets of Windows machines. Can’t say none of the problems were OS related, but I can’t think of a single issue ATM, problems were 3rd party software or hardware failures.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
False. Trivial to name name but you’ve already admitted how you will respond
bryndos@fedia.io 2 weeks ago
Good for you - but that's not everyone's experience.
So don't put your experience on others either.
I'm sure it works the other way round, just as often.
But that last time when my sister was literally filling out an RMA form for a perfectly functional disk drive because her brand new laptop wouldn't play a DVD. That was the last straw for me and windows. (except at work of course until/ unless I can get a better job).
Windows, 20 minutes of being advertised at like the internet before pop-up blockers, being pushed to windows store to buy the film again from them, trying a few different media players from the store, various googling - i cant even remember if i was able to install vlc before giving up and going debian - fuck that, unusable, and she couldn't do it either, so that was at least two of us in the well-below-average slice of the distribution of windows users.
Linux mint live iso booted about 5-10 mins to burn it and boot, play dvd (I dont even think i had to install vlc). Plus a bit of time to figure out how to get the boot menu. So maybe she was above average in debian users?
michaelalf@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Bazzite just works. Dual boot is king.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Funny, I did the same with Linux boxes and didn’t have nearly the amount of diddling you did. Guessing this was a skill issue, and it’s your choice in parts or OS. I made some decent scratch repurposing old business desktops/add/micro systems with Linux and it was easily the most profitable line item I had.
Lumisal@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Unpopular opinion, but I partially agree with you.
Win 7 and 10 did pretty much mostly work out of the box. And during those times, Linux didn’t work as well always.
But with Win 11? Microsoft has fucked up. Not only do things not always work (the biggest issue I get is display drivers malfunctioning and Bluetooth/internet issues with updates), but certain Linux distros the hardware works better, which was really weird to come across. Specifically KDE Fedora stuff. I can actually control the brightness on a desktop easily from a software panel for example, instead of having to manually use the buttons on the monitor.
Even HDR recently breaks on Win 11 when it was working just fine, throwing off all the colors outside of the game you’re playing if you activate it for the game.
There’s also something you pointed out in your own comment that’s a benefit that Linux sort of had since even back then - the interface is easier to use than Windows. My dad always had issues figuring out how to use his computer to just browse the internet on Windows but finally learned on Ubuntu. But like you said, at the time, I had to set everything up first. Now? I’m pretty confident certain distros wouldn’t need that.