I agreed with the guy you answered, then I read your comment and I must admit that you’re right.
I need to use windows at work and hate it every couple minutes, but it’s simply true that I have to tinker around a lot with my Linux machines. I have to tinker more with my windows machine, but that’s because I really dislike the windows way and want to do things like I do on my Linux systems.
I am still committed to the idea that Gnu/Linux is a vastly superior system compared to windows, especially so for devs, but it isn’t always easy.
The viewpoint of just “using” a PC is something I’ve mostly lost as it seems.
Is windows really “easier” for non technical people? Or are they just used to it and switching would be too much effort?
BTW: As a dev that needs to use windows at work, 11 was a big upgrade for me. Feels more polished and has a better user experience for me. I think to myself “I hate w*ndows” slightly less every day.
Is windows really “easier” for non technical people? Or are they just used to it and switching would be too much effort?
Yes but it’s not the OS itself, it’s the software that runs on it. If you’re just browsing the internet then it doesn’t matter but if you’re not techy and you want to play a game with some friends, the chance that you’ll have to troubleshoot is slim compared to Linux.
We browsing is a bad example. We browsing just works on every OS. Games have gotten better of course, but it’s still not at the real it just works level.
How? If you just install windows software and follow the installer, it just works no? I’ve never ran into issues using software written for windows. There might be issues with the software itself, but I’ve never had issues with the installation procedure.
It’s about what software you install. Big commercial projects are ok, and anything that offers an MSI installer works too. But it gets really weird once you want to install something that does not offer a dedicated installer.
Instead of every program needing their own installer, there should be a central installer that can install most software.
On my Linux machines, installing things is a matter of a single command. The program downloads, installs, integrates the software of my choosing without me having to search the web for some installer (that could also be malware). If the thing I want only offers an executable, that works too, as I just put it in /use/local/bin.
Another thing is usage in the terminal. On windows, pretty much every program has its own folder. That sucks, because the terminal gets a list of executables depending on the PATH variable. That means I end up manually adding A LOT of folders to the PATH.
I agreed with the guy you answered, then I read your comment and I must admit that you’re right.
I need to use windows at work and hate it every couple minutes, but it’s simply true that I have to tinker around a lot with my Linux machines. I have to tinker more with my windows machine, but that’s because I really dislike the windows way and want to do things like I do on my Linux systems.
I am still committed to the idea that Gnu/Linux is a vastly superior system compared to windows, especially so for devs, but it isn’t always easy.
The viewpoint of just “using” a PC is something I’ve mostly lost as it seems.
Is windows really “easier” for non technical people? Or are they just used to it and switching would be too much effort?
BTW: As a dev that needs to use windows at work, 11 was a big upgrade for me. Feels more polished and has a better user experience for me. I think to myself “I hate w*ndows” slightly less every day.
Yes but it’s not the OS itself, it’s the software that runs on it. If you’re just browsing the internet then it doesn’t matter but if you’re not techy and you want to play a game with some friends, the chance that you’ll have to troubleshoot is slim compared to Linux.
We browsing is a bad example. We browsing just works on every OS. Games have gotten better of course, but it’s still not at the real it just works level.
Windows just works tbh. If you don’t want to do anything out of the ordinary, it does exactly what it says on the box.
For me, the windows shenanigans start at installing new things.
How? If you just install windows software and follow the installer, it just works no? I’ve never ran into issues using software written for windows. There might be issues with the software itself, but I’ve never had issues with the installation procedure.
It’s about what software you install. Big commercial projects are ok, and anything that offers an MSI installer works too. But it gets really weird once you want to install something that does not offer a dedicated installer.
Instead of every program needing their own installer, there should be a central installer that can install most software.
On my Linux machines, installing things is a matter of a single command. The program downloads, installs, integrates the software of my choosing without me having to search the web for some installer (that could also be malware). If the thing I want only offers an executable, that works too, as I just put it in
/use/local/bin.Another thing is usage in the terminal. On windows, pretty much every program has its own folder. That sucks, because the terminal gets a list of executables depending on the
PATHvariable. That means I end up manually adding A LOT of folders to the PATH.