FWIW, the broken update was fixed by reinstalling Windows, which was done by the time I finished cooking dinner with literally everything left in place. I don’t really understand the hate on Windows.
Microsoft is a multi-billion dollar international mega-corp, and their software is meant for enterprise use as a tool to get a job done–a means to an end. All of its other uses are distantly secondary to that.
In that context, the tool becoming progressively less reliable, fast, and predictable makes it ever less fit for purpose. Sure, you used that time for something else productive, but when you need your computer for something important right now, it failing to work because its maker broke it when you weren’t looking is a lot to take. Dollars and jobs can be lost because of Microsoft’s cavalier attitude toward quality.
Contrast that with Linux, a free program made by volunteers in their spare time. Its own updates can cause problems like Windows, but they are ever less common, while the opposite is true for Windows. Furthermore, if I have important upcoming use for my PC, I can delay or ignore updates as long as I want, even forever. The owner gets to control the computer’s use, because they’re the owner, a fact Microsoft does not respect at all, and seems to be taking measures to change.
People do not like to be told what to do, nor when or how to do it. People that know how computers work and use them heavily understand how to maintain their computer, and those people are heavily represented here. They are getting their skilled PC management replaced by forced, shoddy, automation of that task and it causes them unnecessary problems, often at inopportune times.
That’s why Windows gets hate here–Microsoft keeps kicking them in the balls and they hate that.
I’ve read and understood those concerns, hence my comments pointing out the contrast in my experience. In my case, Ubuntu was unable to accomplish what I needed it for and I returned to using Windows. I know this is a controversial position, because nobody wants to be supportive of a for-profit corporation, including me.
However, I try to separate criticisms of the corporation from my day to day needs and I feel misled by the community to go down a route to try switching to something that, in my very sincere opinion, was objectively a bad choice. I understand that many may disagree with me, and perhaps my specific choices were not the right ones, but I’d have wanted to hear some discourse and balance in opinions before I had wasted my time.
I honestly cannot relate to any of the points you’ve raised with Windows. Perhaps my experience here in Europe is somehow different? In any case, I hope somebody finds this comment to be more constructive input than an upteenth comment parroting that Windows is bad and everybody should just switch to Linux.
Windows progressively worsening and Microsoft’s dubious practices are entirely independent issues from whatever is going on with Linux, though.
People interested in and well-suited for Linux use may take that route, given the situation, but even users with no inclination toward or intention to switch to Linux can and do still have legitimate grievances with the company and its software direction.
Almost everyone has to interact with Windows and Microsoft at some level throughout their lives whether they like it or not, so it is natural and constructive for them to make their opinions known. Microsoft may not respond to these criticisms in a sane or useful manner, but that is their failing, not a failing of the criticisms themselves.
I find it helpful to consider the substance of the complaint and evaluate it on its own merits, as it sounds you may have already been doing. For example, someone that is solely spouting negativity with no concrete examples of what they dislike about this company and its products is not constructive nor contributing to the conversation, but if someone states specific grievance with a software or company behavior is contributing, whether or not Microsoft takes the contribution.
If you, personally, have not encountered any problems with Windows or Microsoft that give you any pause or problems in your life, go nuts and use Windows, but knowing that alternatives exist is empowering. At the rate of decline in the quality of the Windows OS, it is not impossible that Linux could become superior in every meaningful metric without even improving. However, it is also conceivable that a user’s needs are such that those quality declines have not impacted you specifically.
I had a Windows 7 machine for like a decade without a single crash or BSD, and now, a decade later, I have multiple brand new PCs with Windows 11 installs that came on them that have lockups, crashes, and other buggy behaviors right out of the box. It is not unusable, but its stability is more reminiscent of the Windows of the 90s than an improvement on the Windows of 2010. Again, if that’s not your experience, count yourself among the lucky ones and continue to use Windows and be lucky.
I think the rabid evangelism for Linux around here may have convinced you to try it because of their fervor, rather than their reasoning. I hope you continue to have luck with Windows, but if not, feel free to switch any time! The angry nerds don’t have to impact your decision one way or the other.
FWIW, the broken update was fixed by reinstalling Windows, which was done by the time I finished cooking dinner with literally everything left in place. I don’t really understand the hate on Windows.
Are you reading the hate on Windows?
Microsoft is a multi-billion dollar international mega-corp, and their software is meant for enterprise use as a tool to get a job done–a means to an end. All of its other uses are distantly secondary to that.
In that context, the tool becoming progressively less reliable, fast, and predictable makes it ever less fit for purpose. Sure, you used that time for something else productive, but when you need your computer for something important right now, it failing to work because its maker broke it when you weren’t looking is a lot to take. Dollars and jobs can be lost because of Microsoft’s cavalier attitude toward quality.
Contrast that with Linux, a free program made by volunteers in their spare time. Its own updates can cause problems like Windows, but they are ever less common, while the opposite is true for Windows. Furthermore, if I have important upcoming use for my PC, I can delay or ignore updates as long as I want, even forever. The owner gets to control the computer’s use, because they’re the owner, a fact Microsoft does not respect at all, and seems to be taking measures to change.
People do not like to be told what to do, nor when or how to do it. People that know how computers work and use them heavily understand how to maintain their computer, and those people are heavily represented here. They are getting their skilled PC management replaced by forced, shoddy, automation of that task and it causes them unnecessary problems, often at inopportune times.
That’s why Windows gets hate here–Microsoft keeps kicking them in the balls and they hate that.
I’ve read and understood those concerns, hence my comments pointing out the contrast in my experience. In my case, Ubuntu was unable to accomplish what I needed it for and I returned to using Windows. I know this is a controversial position, because nobody wants to be supportive of a for-profit corporation, including me.
However, I try to separate criticisms of the corporation from my day to day needs and I feel misled by the community to go down a route to try switching to something that, in my very sincere opinion, was objectively a bad choice. I understand that many may disagree with me, and perhaps my specific choices were not the right ones, but I’d have wanted to hear some discourse and balance in opinions before I had wasted my time.
I honestly cannot relate to any of the points you’ve raised with Windows. Perhaps my experience here in Europe is somehow different? In any case, I hope somebody finds this comment to be more constructive input than an upteenth comment parroting that Windows is bad and everybody should just switch to Linux.
Windows progressively worsening and Microsoft’s dubious practices are entirely independent issues from whatever is going on with Linux, though.
People interested in and well-suited for Linux use may take that route, given the situation, but even users with no inclination toward or intention to switch to Linux can and do still have legitimate grievances with the company and its software direction.
Almost everyone has to interact with Windows and Microsoft at some level throughout their lives whether they like it or not, so it is natural and constructive for them to make their opinions known. Microsoft may not respond to these criticisms in a sane or useful manner, but that is their failing, not a failing of the criticisms themselves.
I find it helpful to consider the substance of the complaint and evaluate it on its own merits, as it sounds you may have already been doing. For example, someone that is solely spouting negativity with no concrete examples of what they dislike about this company and its products is not constructive nor contributing to the conversation, but if someone states specific grievance with a software or company behavior is contributing, whether or not Microsoft takes the contribution.
If you, personally, have not encountered any problems with Windows or Microsoft that give you any pause or problems in your life, go nuts and use Windows, but knowing that alternatives exist is empowering. At the rate of decline in the quality of the Windows OS, it is not impossible that Linux could become superior in every meaningful metric without even improving. However, it is also conceivable that a user’s needs are such that those quality declines have not impacted you specifically.
I had a Windows 7 machine for like a decade without a single crash or BSD, and now, a decade later, I have multiple brand new PCs with Windows 11 installs that came on them that have lockups, crashes, and other buggy behaviors right out of the box. It is not unusable, but its stability is more reminiscent of the Windows of the 90s than an improvement on the Windows of 2010. Again, if that’s not your experience, count yourself among the lucky ones and continue to use Windows and be lucky.
I think the rabid evangelism for Linux around here may have convinced you to try it because of their fervor, rather than their reasoning. I hope you continue to have luck with Windows, but if not, feel free to switch any time! The angry nerds don’t have to impact your decision one way or the other.