What should be disturbing is the idea that what microsoft does to us is acceptable behavior. When someone proudly declares "I use linux" like a vegan announcing their veganness you must understand it comes from a place of pride "I escaped the prison!" - Linux users declaring they use linux.
yeah I mean I know I am being annoying and it is partly just because I in fact am annoying lol, but it is also to say "this thing has no reason to be like this, it was a choice that this company made to make your life worse". I am not blaming anyone for using windows, I know most have their motives.
we are absolutely on the same page about microsoft being shitty, but I have absolutely no desire to be any more of a computer toucher than I have to be.
Wouldn't macOS be the better alternative for you then? Sure, Apple is shitty in their own way, but from experience the whole thing is a lot more hassle-free than offerings from either Microsoft or Linux distros.
I have a Mac Mini and not only do I find macOS to be annoying but it has been just about as problematic as my Windows laptop. I've had a surprising number of network issues with it.
Huh, I don't think I've ever had network issues on my Macbook. Though I've only ever owned M-series chip Macs. Could be an Intel thing? I've had the exact opposite result - since moving my parents onto Macs, "help, my computer isn't working!" calls have basically stopped.
It's an M2 machine. I bought it mainly because I wanted to see how good the processors were. The issue was that it just wouldn't connect to my office WiFi any longer. I had to change the SSID on the router. That could be a problem with the router, but I've never had that happen. Ever.
No, that almost certainly seems like a problem with the OS. My router has an SSID with non-English characters (I'm Czech) and it recognizes it fine. That's really strange and annoying though. So much for networking "standards".
I also feel like anything remotely power-user adjacent can be weirdly complicated in macOS for reasons I don't understand. Getting the Mac to see my NAS was fairly straightforward, but macOS requires you to give permission to apps to actually use it and that was both non-intuitive & keeps resetting
I have heard it said "leave it to Apple to screw up unix". I have heard it said "leave it to Google to screw up linux (Android reference). I have heard it said "leave it to Microsoft to screw up everything." Maybe an 1994 Amiga running unix or FreeBSD or NetBSD?
I’ve used Windows, Mac, and Linux. Based solely on my personal experience, I’ve found them all pretty similar in usability and reliability.
Yeah, it's only when you get to edge cases that you start seeing differences. That and reliability of your environment (because of updates). Unfortunately, those edge cases are increasingly more common, such as my grandpa needing to connect to his old HP printer. It took a manual driver install...
...on Windows, but it worked straight away on Mac and Linux. Or trying to get the scanner to work. It's little things that slowly add up.
That’s a great example of why I’m glad we have choices for our OS. While Windows works well for me, I’m glad there are other options available.
But I’m reluctant to say “Mac/Linux is more reliable” based on anecdotes. I’ve seen stories of Mac and Linux struggles, too (example: www.dedoimedo.com/computers/li...).
Free market at its finest. However the universal rule of "all software sucks" applies here as well.
For me personally, the tiebreakers were 1. as a support professional, wanting to be most familiar with the OS that most colleagues and clients used, 2. the largest selection of software and hardware. There have been a few POSIX-only programs I liked. Fortunately, CygWin provided them on Windows.
This is why I use a Mac.
yeah, well bsky.app/profile/tech...
Honestly, I'm the type of user who makes computers fail on the regular and OSX is the only operating system that I have near ZERO trouble with. So, I find your experience baffling.
Well, we undoubtedly need our computers to do different things from each other but also (and more importantly) I also have near zero trouble with Windows! If you're going to admit that the trouble you have with macOS is also *not* zero, then we're probably at the same point.
It's very very very close to if not exactly zero. My problems with Windows were damn near constant. If your error rate is near zero with Windows, then I'd say *that* is the real story.
People tend to dismiss the issues they tackle and solve with their personal computers because they grew up with them and fixing those problems just seems...normal. So "macs just work" for mac people and "near zero problems with windows" for windows people
I can't explain how wrong this is. I was an IT guy. The guy who fixes the problems. I got so fed up with Windows and Microsoft that I left the entire thing. I never have to troubleshoot my Mac for software problems. NEVER.
You're either being dishonest or are extremely lucky, in my personal and professional experience macs are a massive pain in the ass. As much as windows? IDK. Maybe not. But NEVER have to troubleshoot software? What? BTW I also abandoned windows 100%, fuck that hot mess.
That's a crazy take. Between the three, OSX is magnitudes less trouble than the other two
The truth is they are both power users, they're just accustomed to their environment so it doesn't seem like it.
If you've not seen the non-enterprise side of Windows in 10 years, then you've probably not seen what I can identify as real progress. And now that I'm dipping my toes into macOS, I'm finding more issues than I was led to believe there would be. And there is *definitely* user-hostile stuff in Macs
Huh. I ditched Windows like a decade ago, and my Macs almost never do weird shit. I love Linux but I got tired of going down a rabbit hole every time something went wrong.
I’ve been a Mac user for forever, but I also did tons of Mac and Windows IT. For me, Macs just make sense and seem easy where Windows seems, well, odd. But millions of folks see it the other way! Neither is really inherently better than the other though, despite how people tend to argue about it.
I have to vehemently disagree. Windows is god-awful.
I genuinely don't believe that you would need to spend more time in your computer if you used linux. my linux PC just stays out of my way when I need to do my things, different from windows machines I use. But I also don't believe that it would meet your needs as a video creator also...
For video creation or similar, I have a headless Windows VM with on my Linux desktop with a GPU passed directly through. I connect with RDP and it's basically a full speed Windows machine. The best of both worlds, if you wanted Linux. Which you don't. So I recommend not. 😂 Pretty amazing, though.
sadly creative software is its biggest weak point, no adobe products, even pirating them is incredibly difficult on linux, very weak graphics design alternatives, one really bad DAW, and only kdenlive and paid davinci resolve for video (free resolve lacks most common codecs on linux so its useless)
that's the thing. I think a useful analogy might be that I view Windows like a restaurant and Linux like a well-stocked kitchen. There are equally valid arguments for both, and even though I usually cook for myself, I don't pretend that's better for all people in all situation.
Even if Microsoft is McDonald's, sometimes you just need to eat.
And as much as I genuinely like Linux for much of what I do, I still go back to W*nd*ws for multimedia stuff. It's probably possible for you to do your video editing on Linux, but I'll bet it's easier in The Evil OS.
sometimes my windows experiences feel a little more like dumpster diving round the back of the mcdonald's
I dropped windows because I could no longer tolerate the abusive nature of windows 11 which is obviously only going to continue and get worse. Re-enabling disabled features during updates? Screenshotting your desktop for AI you have no intention of using?
Contacting and delivering encrypted payloads to telemetry servers even with telemetry disabled? The battle against the concept of a local account? Default bitlocker and cloud-based key storage???? More managed services that never actually get MANAGED? Fuck M$ I'd sooner use a mac.
MacOS has everything you just complained about, and has arbitrary limitations on compatability with non-apple devices. I doubt you'd sooner use a mac. That's like saying "fuck BMW for making subscription service heated seats, I'd sooner buy a tesla."
I'm no mac fanboy but it really doesn't. Mac has things like App tracking transparency, privacy labels, differential privacy. In general their privacy policy protects the consumer. Microsoft meanwhile has NONE of that, their policy allows blanket collection and they certainly do exactly that.
Fair point, but what I'm getting at is that macOS is straight up designed maliciously. It doesn't matter that it's more secure when that security is mostly performative and only really exists to inconvenience people into giving up and fully switching to the apple ecosystem. 1/2
If you have some extra time, and care at all, you should take a look at Linux Mint-- It's at a similar state of usability to windows and mac. I've been on it 8 months now and I haven't used the terminal for anything, every issue or customization has been doable via GUI like win/mac.
Look, the main reason I have to check out linux is that people are telling me I should check out linux. I don't actually have many problems with my computer. And in this post, the problem turned out to be a not-problem, just a weird thing. I have issues with Microsoft and their practices,
but I also have issues with Google who I'm rather tied at the hip to. And Adobe who I'm rather tied at the hip to. But they all make tools and/or services which are useful to me and I'm not (yet - this could change) so ideologically opposed to them to seek out alternatives.
That's totally fair we only have so much bandwidth in our lives for dealing with things. I don't think modern linux takes much bandwidth but it does take SOME because it doesn't come pre-installed like windows does. So one way or another it takes SOME effort. Not everyone's got time for that
I know the common appearance is that 'linux = a ton of work' but if you use something like Ubuntu/Debian/Mint, its basically set-and-forget. There's a reason that RHEL/Debian are some of the most used systems for big companies, they require so little computer touching. Worth a look!
Yet I had to find, download and install a driver for my docking station that only worked for Ubuntu, but that same dock works out of the box on my work Windows laptop and my Chromebook. Linux is often easy to install with the right hardware, but troubleshooting it is a special level of hell.
yeah some hardware can be an big issue (ahem, nvidia). kinda strange it worked on Chrome OS (which is, you know, linux) but not on ubuntu tho. but for supported hardware the experience is flawless. if you want to use a playstation 3/4/5 joystick it is just plug and play/pair and play.
if you had to do all the crazy work you have to do on windows to get it working people would point it as a power user thing. but if I complain about it my friends just say "hey, its easy, just install this and that and enable the software to start on boot"
DisplayLink support is built into ChromeOS but it seems the only Linux drivers are proprietary, and not included with distro repositories. Haha yeah well I remember when getting hardware working on Windows was not much easier. We have it so much better nowadays.
many linux users have a hard time recognizing the exceptional level of fluency they have as exceptional.
I enjoy figuring out how to do techy computer stuff. As a result, one of my hobbies is figuring out how to self host services and use open source alternatives for things,... I recognize that most people don't enjoy that, so I don't try to get them to join me in my time wasting.
ten million brownie points to you
It was a hard earned lesson that came from the iPhone/Android wars of the late 2000s. YOU can be enthusiastic about a thing. You can't force someone else to be enthusiastic about the same thing no matter how logical your argument is or how often you yell it at people.
I'm comfortable enough with Linux, but find it hard to recommend it to others unless they're able to troubleshoot and fix things. Immutable distros are interesting but aren't perfect. Honestly, I've found the simplicity of Chromebooks to be a really enjoyable experience.
I mean, let's not lose sight that you make 40 minute long videos about how to properly use a dishwasher...............and that legitimately helped people including myself 🤣
Not all hardware is both Windows and Mac compatible. Apogee audio products for example are only officially supported by Mac. Creative sound cards only officially work with windows PCs. Expecting linux to have 100% parity is unreasonable when it's not expected of mac/windows.