9 ms·

I had been a long time Windows user, at home (W10) and work(7/Server/Datacenter). Windows had been getting just more and more intrusive like a malware since the

I had been a long time Windows user, at home (W10) and work(7/Server/Datacenter). Windows had been getting just more and more intrusive like a malware since the last couple years. I hope they do something to stop that. I have recently moved to Fedora and it is just awesome. Pretty much everything works like amazing. Its not a complete replacement if you are gaming, nvidia drivers are a bit painful to install but everything else just works. Its been stable even after an update to Fedora 24->25. I am so amazed at how far linux has come. I am so satisfied with it that i am not moving back to Windows for home usage. I hope Microsoft stops with auto-update, otherwise the alternatives are also catching up fast if you are not a gamer.

douche 10y ago
If you can get ahold of the Windows 10 LTSB (Long-term servicing branch) distribution, it's actually really nice. Windows without the store, the cruft, the forced updates, and the telemetry. Unfortunately I believe you need MSDN or an enterprise volume licensing deal to have access to it.
- SteveNuts 10y ago
  It's just so embarrassing to RDP to a windows server and see ads, news, and a store in the start menu. Why the hell anyone would want that on a server is beyond me.
  - my123 10y ago
    The Store is not included in Server SKUs. (except Essentials)
  - Fnoord 10y ago
    If you prefer the Windows 7 start menu, consider Classic Shell [1]. [1] http://classicshell.net/ http://classicshell.net/
- walterbell 10y ago
  Isn't W10 Enterprise available to individuals as a monthly subscription?
  - douche 10y ago
    I think its a victim of one of those fractal product bifurcations. I think enterprise is available in at least three different editions, depending on update cadence.
    - walterbell 10y ago
      https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/deploy/windows-10-enterprise-e3-overview https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/deploy/win... > Devices currently running Windows 10 Pro, version 1607 can get Windows 10 Enterprise Current Branch (CB) or Current Branch for Business (CBB). This benefit does not include Long Term Service Branch (LTSB)
my123 10y ago
Telemetry existed before. Was named CEIP but is the same thing.
- frik 10y ago
  But you could deactivate the "customer experience improvement program" in Win7, you can't in Win10.
KirinDave 10y ago
"Everything just works" so long as your expectations around "everything" are essentially set by a desktop computer experience designed in 2005. Linux on desktops is fine (except from a physical security standpoint), but primitive in terms of UX. And it's still dependent on Mozilla or Google for its browsing experience. And if you want a portable computer (which by the way are demonstrably more secure in the face of physical tampering) you basically relegate yourself to terrible battery life, poor display support, dicey sleep support, and the fixes for these often compromise performance. I really wish Linux users would stop softballing their desktop vendors and kernel maintainers so much. It's just not competitive!
- Aldo_MX 10y ago
  "Everything just works" should be interpreted as an asynchronous piece of code, because there are no guarantees that everything will work "today".
  - Godel_unicode 10y ago
    Desktop Linux is eventually consistent?
    - Aldo_MX 10y ago
      Depends on your drivers, I mean, the last wart I had to struggle with was some flickering with Electron apps, but reverting to an older model of hardware acceleration did the trick: http://askubuntu.com/questions/752743/ubuntu-16-04-skylake-6th-generation-screen-flickering http://askubuntu.com/questions/752743/ubuntu-16-04-skylake-6...
- mnadkvlb 10y ago
  I agree with you, that the experience a lot of times not as efficient and that its not for laptops. I had some weird problems on 2015 Macbook pro (max config.) where the linux is not able to shutdown the system, and the whole experience requires a lot of experimenting. Apart from the above points that you mentioned its definitely not getting you the out-fo-box working functionality that windows gives. But i think i am willing to suffer that much to have a system with more control and an OS which doesn't installs random apps without my permission like Windows 10 does[1]. [1] http://winaero.com/blog/fix-windows-10-installs-apps-like-candy-crush-soda-saga-automatically/ http://winaero.com/blog/fix-windows-10-installs-apps-like-ca...
eumoria 10y ago
Long time windows user: you can disable windows update in the services menu. Open run --> services.msc
- mnadkvlb 10y ago
  Thanks man. I know about this already, but the point is that end user experience for me had been getting worse than Windows7 for example (not talking about the UX here). The fact that i have to use powershell or service control center to control the stuff is just not nice. I think an end-user should not be forced to go to regedit to stop Microsoft to install crapware like candy-crush etc.
andrei_says_ 10y ago
If you do any creative work, Linux is pretty much a desert. Adobe software doesn't run on Linux, capture one doesn't either, so as a photographer I have no choice but windows (cheap hardware and malware os) or OS X (hyper expensive old generation hardware with passable os). Davinci resolve seems to have a Linux version but not enough for someone who does more than video.
- tomc1985 10y ago
  Not necessarily. I've read from several who have successfully replaced Photoshop with The GIMP. (I've done this, though I still do photo work in LR). Inkscape has come a long way, and there are multiple, competing (and very competent) Lightroom replacements for digital darkroom work. I don't know how fleshed out the DTP side of things are but as a amateur photographer and graphic designer I've been able to get away without having Adobe anything (except Lightroom) installed for the past few years at home and at work. You will have to learn a new UI though, but I find this is easier to do than it sounds because most of the open-source software doesn't try so hard to map things to their equivalent real world process. (I found that the hardest thing about Photoshop was its terminology and workflow, which was built to be familiar to film photographers and print media people)
  - andrei_says_ 10y ago
    My workflow is heavy on both Lightroom and Photoshop. Both are industry-standard tools and I have invested thousands of hours between them. I don't really see myself migrating toward a tool like GIMP, hoping that after investing many hours I'll discover a feature set will match my needs. Linkscape is good, but I don't use Illustrator that much. For DTP, Photoshop + InDesign are hard to beat and again, an industry standard. Maybe I'll run Windows in a VM but I don't really see myself going without these tools which I rely on daily.
  - Veratyr 10y ago
    > and there are multiple, competing (and very competent) Lightroom replacements for digital darkroom work The problem I have with most of the replacements is that none of them seem to put much/any effort into cataloguing and taxonomy. There's plenty of open source alternatives for the RAW exposure component of Lightroom but I don't think that's the reason people stick with it. Organising photos is hard and Lightroom is fantastic at it.

douche 10y ago

If you can get ahold of the Windows 10 LTSB (Long-term servicing branch) distribution, it's actually really nice. Windows without the store, the cruft, the forced updates, and the telemetry. Unfortunately I believe you need MSDN or an enterprise volume licensing deal to have access to it.

SteveNuts 10y ago
It's just so embarrassing to RDP to a windows server and see ads, news, and a store in the start menu. Why the hell anyone would want that on a server is beyond me.
- my123 10y ago
  The Store is not included in Server SKUs. (except Essentials)
- Fnoord 10y ago
  If you prefer the Windows 7 start menu, consider Classic Shell [1]. [1] http://classicshell.net/ http://classicshell.net/
walterbell 10y ago
Isn't W10 Enterprise available to individuals as a monthly subscription?
- douche 10y ago
  I think its a victim of one of those fractal product bifurcations. I think enterprise is available in at least three different editions, depending on update cadence.
  - walterbell 10y ago
    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/deploy/windows-10-enterprise-e3-overview https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/deploy/win... > Devices currently running Windows 10 Pro, version 1607 can get Windows 10 Enterprise Current Branch (CB) or Current Branch for Business (CBB). This benefit does not include Long Term Service Branch (LTSB)

my123 10y ago

Telemetry existed before. Was named CEIP but is the same thing.

frik 10y ago
But you could deactivate the "customer experience improvement program" in Win7, you can't in Win10.

KirinDave 10y ago

"Everything just works" so long as your expectations around "everything" are essentially set by a desktop computer experience designed in 2005. Linux on desktops is fine (except from a physical security standpoint), but primitive in terms of UX. And it's still dependent on Mozilla or Google for its browsing experience. And if you want a portable computer (which by the way are demonstrably more secure in the face of physical tampering) you basically relegate yourself to terrible battery life, poor display support, dicey sleep support, and the fixes for these often compromise performance. I really wish Linux users would stop softballing their desktop vendors and kernel maintainers so much. It's just not competitive!

Aldo_MX 10y ago
"Everything just works" should be interpreted as an asynchronous piece of code, because there are no guarantees that everything will work "today".
- Godel_unicode 10y ago
  Desktop Linux is eventually consistent?
  - Aldo_MX 10y ago
    Depends on your drivers, I mean, the last wart I had to struggle with was some flickering with Electron apps, but reverting to an older model of hardware acceleration did the trick: http://askubuntu.com/questions/752743/ubuntu-16-04-skylake-6th-generation-screen-flickering http://askubuntu.com/questions/752743/ubuntu-16-04-skylake-6...
mnadkvlb 10y ago
I agree with you, that the experience a lot of times not as efficient and that its not for laptops. I had some weird problems on 2015 Macbook pro (max config.) where the linux is not able to shutdown the system, and the whole experience requires a lot of experimenting. Apart from the above points that you mentioned its definitely not getting you the out-fo-box working functionality that windows gives. But i think i am willing to suffer that much to have a system with more control and an OS which doesn't installs random apps without my permission like Windows 10 does[1]. [1] http://winaero.com/blog/fix-windows-10-installs-apps-like-candy-crush-soda-saga-automatically/ http://winaero.com/blog/fix-windows-10-installs-apps-like-ca...

eumoria 10y ago

Long time windows user: you can disable windows update in the services menu. Open run --> services.msc

mnadkvlb 10y ago
Thanks man. I know about this already, but the point is that end user experience for me had been getting worse than Windows7 for example (not talking about the UX here). The fact that i have to use powershell or service control center to control the stuff is just not nice. I think an end-user should not be forced to go to regedit to stop Microsoft to install crapware like candy-crush etc.

andrei_says_ 10y ago

If you do any creative work, Linux is pretty much a desert. Adobe software doesn't run on Linux, capture one doesn't either, so as a photographer I have no choice but windows (cheap hardware and malware os) or OS X (hyper expensive old generation hardware with passable os). Davinci resolve seems to have a Linux version but not enough for someone who does more than video.

tomc1985 10y ago
Not necessarily. I've read from several who have successfully replaced Photoshop with The GIMP. (I've done this, though I still do photo work in LR). Inkscape has come a long way, and there are multiple, competing (and very competent) Lightroom replacements for digital darkroom work. I don't know how fleshed out the DTP side of things are but as a amateur photographer and graphic designer I've been able to get away without having Adobe anything (except Lightroom) installed for the past few years at home and at work. You will have to learn a new UI though, but I find this is easier to do than it sounds because most of the open-source software doesn't try so hard to map things to their equivalent real world process. (I found that the hardest thing about Photoshop was its terminology and workflow, which was built to be familiar to film photographers and print media people)
- andrei_says_ 10y ago
  My workflow is heavy on both Lightroom and Photoshop. Both are industry-standard tools and I have invested thousands of hours between them. I don't really see myself migrating toward a tool like GIMP, hoping that after investing many hours I'll discover a feature set will match my needs. Linkscape is good, but I don't use Illustrator that much. For DTP, Photoshop + InDesign are hard to beat and again, an industry standard. Maybe I'll run Windows in a VM but I don't really see myself going without these tools which I rely on daily.
- Veratyr 10y ago
  > and there are multiple, competing (and very competent) Lightroom replacements for digital darkroom work The problem I have with most of the replacements is that none of them seem to put much/any effort into cataloguing and taxonomy. There's plenty of open source alternatives for the RAW exposure component of Lightroom but I don't think that's the reason people stick with it. Organising photos is hard and Lightroom is fantastic at it.