If anything will finally result in the “year of the Linux desktop,” it’s shit like this. No one wants their operating system actively working to make it harder and more annoying to use their choice of applications.
The OS isn’t the reason anyone uses a computer, it’s the applications it can run.
(my personal experience)
A couple of months ago, I bought a new laptop that came with Windows 11. I turned off the safe boot stuff, plugged in a Linux USB drive, wiped out Windows, and went to it.
The next 6 weeks or so, i spent about 75% of my time reading articles that included things like, “In order to get this non-Microsoft program/service/etc. to mostly work (‘will still randomly crash, we don’t know why’), you have to get Linux to pretend to be Windows, here is a lengthy process, different than how you made Linux pretend to be Windows for that other program.” The other 25% of the time, I was reading articles about why I chose the “wrong” Linux flavor, and that was the cause of the rest of my problems. “We know you have this wide choice of Linux options, but if you don’t pick this one variety of Linux (that has a fair amount of controversy), no one wants to support you, sorry.” (this just sounds like Windows, with extra steps)
Some of these things to me were basic, like, running Windows I have a good amount of control over the CPU speed, which indirectly helps me manage how much noise the fan makes. The Linux options were “Do you want the worst CPU speed or best? That is all we can do.” Or, i wanted to connect to a hosted file sync service, which it could only do through it’s own graphical file manager, that not all installed applications supported, and that WAS NOT SUPPORTED ON THE COMMAND LINE. An app, built natively for Linux, didn’t support the command line. (meaning, i couldn’t open the command line and see the mounted remote source in the folder structure and correct file names, it was mounted there, but all the file names were IDs in one giant folder) My brain broke a little that day as someone that has dabbled with Linux for Server for 3 decades.
I feel like anyone that has tight enough app expectations where Linux/Windows doesn’t really matter, is probably someone who would be well served by a Tablet and could stay entirely out of the whole conversation. I really wanted Linux as my primary OS, and I worked hard at it, but I have a family and 1-2 jobs, and just couldn’t spend any more time fighting the OS to run basic apps/have basic control. Went back to Windows, installed WSL and a Linux on VM, and spend less time fighting to get non-MS things to work.
edit: For the people down voting, I would love to hear how my personal experience was wrong. I had what I considered basic needs that were not being met, and so I altered what I was doing until I could gain enough information to try again, rather than staring at an expensive doorstop. :)
You are mostly right. Its tricky to get into Linux.
- Linux is not for running windows programs. Linux alternative of such programs suffice my need. although some can be installed using wine but its highly likely you will likely run into bug. Some apps such as adobe suite, office 365, etc won’t work at all.
- Those distro recommendation websites are garbage, don’t trust any of them. There are “basically” three main flavours
- Arch
- Debian/Ubuntu
- Redhat
Everything else is just based on them. Like pop os, Mint, Zorin are basically same under the hood. You can make any distro do whatever you want.
I like how you put Ubuntu there. It’s based on Debian.
I just have been out for too long. I don’t recall arch being a major flavor. I thought it was slack?
For Steam/games, i was trying to run “windows” stuff, as the games were not native. For other things, like sound (never worked right), Blender (took me a few days to learn i had to run Blender through an app that forces GPU), or the file sync, they were supposed to be native. But I was doing a lot of fighting. I wasn’t reading distro recommendation sites, I was trying to troubleshoot issues. “Here is how you fix this issue on Ubuntu, no instructions for any other flavor).” (but I installed a derivative of Arch because I was interested in the rolling release instead of fixed releases, and turns out there was significantly less troubleshooting material)
I might go back again, maybe with a dual boot scenario, and try again without
I’ve never got Wine to work. Gave up with Windows programmes as there’s nothing I need there. Other people have different uses though.
Looks like my distro hopping days are over now though and settled with EndeavourOS. I’m well aware it’s Arch with a fancy hat on but it suits me. For now 😉
My experience was 100% different. I bought a new laptop, plugged in my Linux USB drive, wiped Windows, installed Linux, and did exactly none of the things you went through.
And that’s largely down to two things:
- The fact that I bought a laptop specifically known to have excellent Linux support.
- The fact that I’m a software developer.
So everything I want to do on a computer tends to work better in Linux than in Windows, rather than the other way around. My compile times are faster, my IDEs are more stable, and my OS just… gets out of the way, which is exactly what it should do.
Mind if I ask what programs and services you were trying and failing to run on Linux? You’ve got me curious, because our experiences are so different.
- When I decided to get a new laptop, I failed to look for reviews of Linux driver compatibility while making my selection. That one is on me. I’ve run Linux on servers for so long, where I need network only and no graphics, sound, or even input usually (just remote in), that I forgot about the driver limitations.
- I’m also a developer. :)
Sound never worked right, occasional app worked, but not most things. CPU control was touchy, and this new laptop on full performance drowns out the TV on high volume, so I need fine control to manage the noise in order to stay where the family is and still use my system. :)
Blender was a problem until I learned you have to use “prime-run” (or something like that) to force the dedicated GPU, then that started working. Was trying to determine a system to make 3D environments (like Unity, Unreal, etc.), but didn’t find anything great, and then found out that that a secondary interest of VR/VR development is poorly (or not at all) supported on Linux (something about the window manager not managing display access correctly). File syncing with services like Dropbox and Google Drive were problematic.
Then of course is gaming. I have a small handful of games I enjoy, and after a couple weeks I finally found a Steam setting using an older Proton version that worked well enough (but a lower overall performance compared to native Windows), with only occasional crashes for no reason.
Driver/System support can also be a bit spotty. I had problems with a Live Linux instance blow up the speakers on my old laptop, and the line-out left channel on my current desktop, because the default volume was maxed out, and that was way too loud for them to handle.
It’s a bit better now, since a lot of distros come with a relatively simple graphical installer and defaults that cover most use cases, but even as a relatively technical person, it was a massive pain sometimes.
We do get some Linux systems, like Chrome OS, or Steam OS, but I doubt that it will go mainstream as a fully functional desktop. Not only is it not monolithic, where you have the Lemmy problem of there being a hundred different distros, but there’s an expectation of someone being technical to both install and use it. Never mind that each distro has its own package manager and package versions.
Just look at LTT’s Linus Sebastian’s attempts at using Linux. He’s more used to Windows, so inevitably ends up breaking things because he has no idea what he’s doing, being in the gap of having a little technical knowledge, but not that much at all.
but even as a relatively technical person, it was a massive pain sometimes.
I’m glad to hear this… I’ve been writing code and using Linux on servers since Red Hat (pre-fedora) had “Redneck” as a language option… But so often I get told, “Oh, you must be a technical newbie, because real techies can handle recompiling the kernel in order to get everything to work…” ( rolling eyes ) There is a world of difference between a headless server, and wanting to use an OS for your primary direct interaction. :)
Vanilla OS 2.0 sounds like it could be for you. That distro can install everything. I mean everything. Ubuntu stuff, Fedora stuff, Arch stuff and whatever else!
This result is predictable for a lot of different things that started as products and seem to be ending up as services.
Microsoft wants Windows to be a subscription service with the associated perks to the company (namely, targeted ads, and also extreme control over anything the system does, including this ad scheme), and so an increased number of people seek a more traditional OS.
The movie industry pushes streaming down everyone’s throat as a highly fragmented market where media ownership no longer exists; thus an increased number of people start to return to physical media.
Car companies push to paywall features of their cars behind subscription services. An increased number of people seek used cars which have no such paywalls.
The patterns are clear, in my view, but the C-suite is always driven by a naïve lust for ever-increasing profit.
The OS isn’t the reason anyone uses a computer, it’s the applications it can run.
When given two doors to choose from, desktop computing and mobile computing, most people aren’t going to explore desktop alternatives to Windows. They’re largely going to stick to mobile, with all the learned helplessness that entails.
Give it a break, Linux will never takeover. Most end-users can’t figure it out and corporations don’t want the hassle.
Microsoft : “Set Bing as your search engine now!”
Google : “It looks like malicious software tried to change your settings. Change it back.”
Microsoft : “Wait, don’t change it back!”
Really putting the “dialog” in “dialog box”. What the hell.
Where possible I always use local accounts on Windows, none of this signed in to MS bullshit.
Chances are MS is still tracking you via TPM and/or hw/peripherals.
I can’t not register Windows 11, because despite everything I try to erase my hardware footprint, it still ties it to my digital license.
This goes as far as upgrading every single piece of hardware on my PC, and using an entirely different ISP.
And no. I don’t use any Microsoft services on Win 11. I don’t use Internet in any capacity when installing. Nor do I use any cd keys for Windows.
Everything the installer asks me, I answer “No.” to.
This should honestly be a huge privacy concern but alas.
Win 11 license is tied to your motherboard. Switching anything besides that won’t change anything. Did you do a fresh install without Internet when you swapped your mobo? Besides that: you could go with Win 10 (preferably LTSC). Your only other option is to ditch Win for an OS that verifiably respects your privacy.
I upgraded everything except one NVMe.
Also read what I actually wrote. Full offline installs always.
And linux would be an option except Nvidia.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
As users have pointed out this week, while using Google’s desktop browser on Windows 10 or 11, a dialog box suddenly and irritatingly appears to the side of the screen urging folks to make Microsoft’s Bing the default search engine in Chrome.
Not only that, netizens are told they can use Chrome to interact with Bing’s OpenAI GPT-4-powered chat bot, allowing them to ask questions and get answers using natural language.
Microsoft confirmed this is the real deal in a statement to Windows Latest and others, saying: “This is a one-time notification giving people the choice to set Bing as their default search engine on Chrome.”
That last part is amusing because what with a renewed focus by watchdogs on fair competition in the technology world – eg, Apple being forced in Europe to display a browser choice screen, boosting downloads of Safari rivals Firefox, Brave, and Vivaldi – and AI hype barely moving the needle for Bing in a Google-dominated market, we get to see Microsoft’s contribution to the debate.
Around this time last year, the Windows titan was begging netizens not to ditch its Edge browser on Google’s own Chrome download page.
Redmond also pushed Bing in Windows 11 via pop-ups, and recently had Edge automatically and unexpectedly import Chrome tabs for at least some people.
The original article contains 681 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
At work we can only use Edge. But we search using Google. Which you had to fight Microsoft to do. “Do you really want to change your default search engine?” Yes, I’m required to use it and Bing is annoying. But while searching on Google using Edge it is annoying the corner pop up asking me if I want to switch to Chrome. I can’t, stop asking! I want to switch to Firefox but I want all of them to shut up about “switching”, “downloading”, or “trying”.
