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I've been using both Windows (work) and Linux (home) on the desktop for many years. I far prefer Linux (I tried many distros, settled on Arch and Mint now). Pac
by bayeslives 10y ago
I've been using both Windows (work) and Linux (home) on the desktop for many years. I far prefer Linux (I tried many distros, settled on Arch and Mint now). Package management and window management is way better in Linux. To name just a few.
To me, Windows10 is not better than Windows7. The package management is still a mess. Forced updates, no rollbacks, reboots, you name it. Permissions are also strange: why are admin rights needed to install some fonts? We still have this "Registry" with its voodoo. We still miss tools like dmesg. When thing go wrong, Windows gives some sort of simple log file, of course not in txt-form but in some proprietary format that needs it's own reader (to read some flat text, for crying out loud). The file manager ("Explorer") is still confusing. Microsoft seems hellbent in obfuscating where files are stored. Going to the terminal, the difference is even clearer. Linux offers first rate terminals; Windows look like an afterthought. Is it even possible to use a terminal full screen in Windows, nowadays? Tab completion, a decent history, pipes?
The funny thing is that Ranger, my favorite file manager, is able to give previews of files in MS formats (such as .docx) where Windows Explorer is unable to do so.... ????
Two big steps back are privacy and font rendering. It's bad enough that apps spy on me, I don't want my OS to"phone home". The font rendering is optimized for the few Windows on mobile devices users, at the expense of the bulk of the users (like me) who use it on the desktop and are now confronted with blurry fonts.
My OS must help me with my personal computer tasks. Personal means a) I want to customize the hell out of it, and b) my data is _mine_. Also, I'd like a nice readable font on my screen. Sadly, Windows10 does not meet those requirements.
- tdkl 10y ago>The package management is still a mess. If you mean for system updates I'd agree, but software package management is a shit show on Linux and it shows why less people bother writing software with & why Electron is popular there. What's more easier then clicking an .exe ?
- oldsj 10y agoAnd (although I don't think its Win10 specific) but there's chocolatey now too which is great
- computerex 10y agoWindows wasn't really designed with package management in mind. In the Unix/Linux world, there is the notion of the "unix way", and package management is central in facilitating this methodology. As a result, unix/linux world offers a software package management experience that's years ahead of what you can get with Windows (natively, Choco is pretty nice, the app selection has finally gotten non-trivial). Brew in OSX offers something pretty close.
- executesorder66 10y agoYou don't just click the .exe You first have to open a browser, then find the sotware's website. Then find the download page, then download it. Then open explorer to where the .exe was downloaded. Then double click it. Then click next a bunch of times. And if the software's dependencies are not bundled in the installer, then you have to redo this whole process again. On Linux you just open your terminal and execute a single command.
- tdkl 10y ago>On Linux you just open your terminal and execute a single command. Lmao, yes speculating that it includes that certain software package or that it's the latest version. That burden is on the developer (if there's no maintainer) which has to waste time packaging same thing for X distros. Windows developer uploads the .exe to the web and he's done.
- speeder 10y agoI don't tried Win10 on a personal computer... but they made font rendering even worse than it was on Win7? (Win7 MS "assumed" everyone would have LCD screens, and changed not only the rendering code, but the default font themselves to one that doesn't work with CRT or LCDs that don't follow common patterns in pixel shapes... and my favourite screens are CRTs, because I am yet to find a LCD that I can afford that is superior to the CRTs I own).