7 ms·

The recent pop-up ads, automatically downloading of Windows 10 by Microsoft and bricking devices by Microsoft's friends seems like a good indication of the tipp

by jimmies 10y ago

The recent pop-up ads, automatically downloading of Windows 10 by Microsoft and bricking devices by Microsoft's friends seems like a good indication of the tipping point for many people. Stallman was right, then? About 10 years ago I made the jump from Windows to GNU+Linux. It was quite annoying because at the time I was still heavily invested in web design and such, so not having photoshop was quite a loss. Nowadays I am so glad to have an OS that works for me and not artificially limits me to what it thinks I should do. As extreme as Stallman was, I came to appreciate him more and more for what he has done to protect users' freedom and privacy.

Svenskunganka 10y ago
For the Photoshop part, check out Krita (https://krita.org/en/ https://krita.org/en/). Although it isn't exactly like Photoshop, a non-power user wouldn't notice the difference between the two. And Krita is really the only program I've come across on Linux that actually has a really nice UI. I still can't move over to Linux fully, even though I want to, it's just not there for me yet. Gaming being the biggest issue, but also general user experience is mediocre at best, even on a vanilla Ubuntu installation. Kubuntu is definitely better thanks to KDE, but still problematic. I still haven't tested out Elementary OS, but most my problems stems from driver issues (especially WiFi, printers and trackpads), which I believe would be the same since it's a kernel issue.
- eropple 10y ago
  I'm not a power user, but I want my tablet to work (DisplayLink on Linux is dodgy, though I did eventually get it to work--not Krita's fault but Linux in general remains a mess with hardware at times) and I want to be able to combine filter effects and behaviors with painting--and Krita has trouble with that. It is a good-not-great program (I even gave them money for it!) but it's not a Photoshop alternative unless the subset you need is pretty restricted. (The mess that is Krita/GIMP interop makes it a non-starter, IMO.)
- executesorder66 10y ago
  Depending on what you are using it for, I generally would not recommend Krita as a photoshop replacement. Here is my mini replacement list: Use Case | windows | Linux digital art | Corel Paint | Krita image editing | photoshop | GIMP simple image editing | paint.net | pinta vector image editing | illustrator | inkscape photo editing | lightroom | darktable
- frik 10y ago
  Buy a PS4, use Wine in Linux or keep Windows 7 around. There is no single game that doesn't run on Win7, except FH3 with its WinStore shit - anyway it seems so arcady to me I wouldn't want to touch it.
  - Svenskunganka 10y ago
    One does not simply tell a PC gamer to buy a console... There's a reason I'm playing games on PC and has invested a lot of money into a fat gaming rig.
    - frik 10y ago
      I am a PC gamer as well. But Microsoft agenda with Win8/10 is so off-putting I will stay on Win7. Plus I opened myself to other consoles (Nintendo, Sony). I know it feels so wrong to play a shooter on condole with a gamepad, and I wish they would just support a mouse.
mdekkers 10y ago
bricking devices by Microsoft's friends Eh? What did I miss??
- josteink 10y ago
  Pretty much just people using the term "brick" to mean anything from a crashing process, to something fixed by a re-install. Example: "I just loaded a buggy web-page and bricked my Chrome. LOL!" You know. How the term "hacking" has come to mean just about anything these days. There are no PC-bricks, despite people trying to claim the contrary.
  - wapz 10y ago
    Well there are PC bricks, just not software bricks. I'd argue pouring coffee on your motherboard can brick it pretty easily. I think once the term became more widespread on mobile people used it for everything.
    - y4mi 10y ago
      There was also that arch Linux debacle, where users with a certain motherboard mounted the uefi partition with write permission. Some motherboards were bricked that way.
      - vetinari 10y ago
        The problem was deletion of UEFI variables, a bug in Samsung UEFI implementation that should not allow that.
- einr 10y ago
  Most likely they are referring to this incident: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/windows-7-patch-bricking-asus-pcs/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/windows-7-patch-brick...
- jimmies 10y ago
  Here. http://hackaday.com/2016/02/01/ftdi-drivers-break-fake-chips-again/ http://hackaday.com/2016/02/01/ftdi-drivers-break-fake-chips...
iliketosleep 10y ago
Microsoft's willingness to actively disrupt its users (whether it's through forced updates or artifical limitations) is indeed a tipping point for me. I always chose Windows for its convenience, and the fact that I could use it on my own terms. Clearly, this is no longer the case. As for Stallman, there's a fine line between a madman and a genius. Reality has shown us that he definitely is not a madman.
- SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago
  > As for Stallman, there's a fine line between a madman and a genius. Reality has shown us that he definitely is not a madman. I'm not so sure the two are mutually exclusive.
  - phkahler 10y ago
    Some people could see his point by thinking about it. To them he was a genius. Others thought he was a madman because his point was too hypothetical for them, but now that it's becoming a reality they can see he was a genius all along. You may say that it's because they couldn't see the future, but RMS experienced it back in the 1970's at MIT. Things have not actually changed, they've just started to influence a wider swath of the population.
- ThrowawayR2 10y ago
  Ah, yes, how absolutely shocking that Microsoft should choose not to support a processor that didn't even exist at the time that version of Windows was released. Why, everyone knows, especially on HN, that updating and retesting software costs nothing at all and so that's why we all eagerly go back and retrofit all versions of software we've ever released, no matter how old, to support the latest hardware just as soon as it's released. This outrageous behavior is right up there with Ford not retrofitting anti-lock brakes on the Model T and VHS VCRs not providing a HDMI output. /s (I'm sorry for the early morning jocularity but I just can't take this topic seriously.)
  - 0x4a42 10y ago
josteink 10y ago
> automatically downloading of Windows 10 by Microsoft and bricking devices Downvote for falsely claiming PCs can be bricked[1], even more so by simply using Window-update, which at worst might require a reinstall if the install is botched. [1] The definition of a brick is that something is now completely non-functional, beyond repair and thus "as useful as a brick". Something which can be recovered is by definition never a brick.
- sametmax 10y ago
  You are technically correct, but it's not the best kind of correct despite the meme. For any average user, it's a brick, which is what matters : they can't use it, lost all data, don't understand why, and will have to use SAV to have a working computer again.
- joosters 10y ago
  You are splitting hairs. My dad's PC was as useful as a brick to him after it downloaded Windows 7 and then wouldn't boot. If you think 'reinstall' is an acceptable or realistic solution for average users, you are badly mistaken.
  - cptskippy 10y ago
    You act as if this is something unique to Microsoft. Ubuntu distro upgrades were so bad (don't know if they still are) that you were better off reformatting and reinstalling. If the upgrade didn't flat out brick the device, it was almost certain to screw up drivers and setting beyond repair of even more power users. Apple had it's fair share of El Capitan and Sierra upgrade brickings and those require you to take your Mac to a Store. The only difference is that Windows is 90% of the market so problems from them generate way more noise than any other OS.
    - reacweb 10y ago
      I do ubuntu dist-upgrade since 2009. I have done 2 full reinstall. Once to try linux-mint. And another one a little latter when I bought a new ssd drive (switched to ubuntu gnome). The main upgrade issue was with systemd in 16.04: it found a dependency loop between net access and my nas drive and decided to cancel net access.
TheRealDunkirk 10y ago
It's not just Microsoft making a mess out of Windows. Third-party vendors are conspiring to ruin the PC platform. As often comes up in these discussions, I only use my PC for gaming. I've upgraded to 10, and downgraded back to 7 again, twice, just to make sure it really was that bad. (I downgraded both of my boys' PC's as well, just recently, because of strange problems they were always having.) Last time I updated my nVidia video drivers, I found I had to create an account with nVidia to get into the configuration options of the driver on my machine. So, let me get this straight: I need to create an account... and log in... just to set the graphics options... on my own computer? Screw that! I downgraded to a driver that was over a year old, just to get away from all of nVidia's "improvements," like this "ShadowPlay" which was causing performance problems on my machine. The driver for my execrable Razer Chroma keyboard was like this as well, but the build quality of that thing was so bad, I threw it out, and uninstalled the driver. Microsoft has shifted into a whole new gear with Windows 10, and made it clear, despite user feedback, that they intend to stay the course, and continue the data collection, and advertising, and everything else that gets discussed on HN. I think this has sent a clear signal to the aftermarket vendors that they're free to do the same things, and we'll see more and more of it. It looks like there are about 3 years of patches left for Windows 7. After that, there's Linux, Mac, Playstation, iDevices, and, now, the Switch for gaming. (Sadly, my boys already have an Xbox and an Xbox One.) There are plenty of other options to waste my time. I won't be upgrading to 10, and, thus, after 25 years building serious gaming rigs, I'm done buying any more PC kit. I just can't take all the hassle involved any more.
- ionised 10y ago
  > Last time I updated my nVidia video drivers, I found I had to create an account with nVidia to get into the configuration options of the driver on my machine. I see a lot of people with this confusion between the NVIDIA Control Panel and GeForce Experience. You do not need to create an account of any kind to use the NVIDIA Driver Control Panel. You never did and hopefully you never will. GeForce Experience on the other hand you do need an account now, but it's also completely unnecessary (and buggy) software. You don't need it at all unless for some reason you want Shadowplay (recording) or can't be bothered to set game graphics settings yourself and want GFE to 'optimise' the experience for you.
reacweb 10y ago
I had a dual boot since years, but I really switched to ubuntu only in 2009 (thanks to vista64 not supporting my scanner and printer). It is the main home computer that is also used by my wife. In order to make the switch as smooth as possible, we were already using openoffice and chrome on windows years before. On ubuntu, I have checked that photoshop was working correctly with wine. Sometimes, after an update, I had to configure the desktop to not highjack the alt key. This is the single issue I had with photoshop on linux (I am using an old release of photoshop). I still did not achieve to migrate to gimp (steep learning curve).

by jimmies 10y ago

Svenskunganka 10y ago

For the Photoshop part, check out Krita (https://krita.org/en/ https://krita.org/en/). Although it isn't exactly like Photoshop, a non-power user wouldn't notice the difference between the two. And Krita is really the only program I've come across on Linux that actually has a really nice UI. I still can't move over to Linux fully, even though I want to, it's just not there for me yet. Gaming being the biggest issue, but also general user experience is mediocre at best, even on a vanilla Ubuntu installation. Kubuntu is definitely better thanks to KDE, but still problematic. I still haven't tested out Elementary OS, but most my problems stems from driver issues (especially WiFi, printers and trackpads), which I believe would be the same since it's a kernel issue.

eropple 10y ago
I'm not a power user, but I want my tablet to work (DisplayLink on Linux is dodgy, though I did eventually get it to work--not Krita's fault but Linux in general remains a mess with hardware at times) and I want to be able to combine filter effects and behaviors with painting--and Krita has trouble with that. It is a good-not-great program (I even gave them money for it!) but it's not a Photoshop alternative unless the subset you need is pretty restricted. (The mess that is Krita/GIMP interop makes it a non-starter, IMO.)
executesorder66 10y ago
Depending on what you are using it for, I generally would not recommend Krita as a photoshop replacement. Here is my mini replacement list: Use Case | windows | Linux digital art | Corel Paint | Krita image editing | photoshop | GIMP simple image editing | paint.net | pinta vector image editing | illustrator | inkscape photo editing | lightroom | darktable
frik 10y ago
Buy a PS4, use Wine in Linux or keep Windows 7 around. There is no single game that doesn't run on Win7, except FH3 with its WinStore shit - anyway it seems so arcady to me I wouldn't want to touch it.
- Svenskunganka 10y ago
  One does not simply tell a PC gamer to buy a console... There's a reason I'm playing games on PC and has invested a lot of money into a fat gaming rig.
  - frik 10y ago
    I am a PC gamer as well. But Microsoft agenda with Win8/10 is so off-putting I will stay on Win7. Plus I opened myself to other consoles (Nintendo, Sony). I know it feels so wrong to play a shooter on condole with a gamepad, and I wish they would just support a mouse.

mdekkers 10y ago

bricking devices by Microsoft's friends Eh? What did I miss??

josteink 10y ago
Pretty much just people using the term "brick" to mean anything from a crashing process, to something fixed by a re-install. Example: "I just loaded a buggy web-page and bricked my Chrome. LOL!" You know. How the term "hacking" has come to mean just about anything these days. There are no PC-bricks, despite people trying to claim the contrary.
- wapz 10y ago
  Well there are PC bricks, just not software bricks. I'd argue pouring coffee on your motherboard can brick it pretty easily. I think once the term became more widespread on mobile people used it for everything.
  - y4mi 10y ago
    There was also that arch Linux debacle, where users with a certain motherboard mounted the uefi partition with write permission. Some motherboards were bricked that way.
    - vetinari 10y ago
      The problem was deletion of UEFI variables, a bug in Samsung UEFI implementation that should not allow that.
einr 10y ago
Most likely they are referring to this incident: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/windows-7-patch-bricking-asus-pcs/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/windows-7-patch-brick...
jimmies 10y ago
Here. http://hackaday.com/2016/02/01/ftdi-drivers-break-fake-chips-again/ http://hackaday.com/2016/02/01/ftdi-drivers-break-fake-chips...

iliketosleep 10y ago

Microsoft's willingness to actively disrupt its users (whether it's through forced updates or artifical limitations) is indeed a tipping point for me. I always chose Windows for its convenience, and the fact that I could use it on my own terms. Clearly, this is no longer the case. As for Stallman, there's a fine line between a madman and a genius. Reality has shown us that he definitely is not a madman.

SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago
> As for Stallman, there's a fine line between a madman and a genius. Reality has shown us that he definitely is not a madman. I'm not so sure the two are mutually exclusive.
- phkahler 10y ago
  Some people could see his point by thinking about it. To them he was a genius. Others thought he was a madman because his point was too hypothetical for them, but now that it's becoming a reality they can see he was a genius all along. You may say that it's because they couldn't see the future, but RMS experienced it back in the 1970's at MIT. Things have not actually changed, they've just started to influence a wider swath of the population.
ThrowawayR2 10y ago
Ah, yes, how absolutely shocking that Microsoft should choose not to support a processor that didn't even exist at the time that version of Windows was released. Why, everyone knows, especially on HN, that updating and retesting software costs nothing at all and so that's why we all eagerly go back and retrofit all versions of software we've ever released, no matter how old, to support the latest hardware just as soon as it's released. This outrageous behavior is right up there with Ford not retrofitting anti-lock brakes on the Model T and VHS VCRs not providing a HDMI output. /s (I'm sorry for the early morning jocularity but I just can't take this topic seriously.)
- 0x4a42 10y ago

josteink 10y ago

> automatically downloading of Windows 10 by Microsoft and bricking devices Downvote for falsely claiming PCs can be bricked[1], even more so by simply using Window-update, which at worst might require a reinstall if the install is botched. [1] The definition of a brick is that something is now completely non-functional, beyond repair and thus "as useful as a brick". Something which can be recovered is by definition never a brick.

sametmax 10y ago
You are technically correct, but it's not the best kind of correct despite the meme. For any average user, it's a brick, which is what matters : they can't use it, lost all data, don't understand why, and will have to use SAV to have a working computer again.
joosters 10y ago
You are splitting hairs. My dad's PC was as useful as a brick to him after it downloaded Windows 7 and then wouldn't boot. If you think 'reinstall' is an acceptable or realistic solution for average users, you are badly mistaken.
- cptskippy 10y ago
  You act as if this is something unique to Microsoft. Ubuntu distro upgrades were so bad (don't know if they still are) that you were better off reformatting and reinstalling. If the upgrade didn't flat out brick the device, it was almost certain to screw up drivers and setting beyond repair of even more power users. Apple had it's fair share of El Capitan and Sierra upgrade brickings and those require you to take your Mac to a Store. The only difference is that Windows is 90% of the market so problems from them generate way more noise than any other OS.
  - reacweb 10y ago
    I do ubuntu dist-upgrade since 2009. I have done 2 full reinstall. Once to try linux-mint. And another one a little latter when I bought a new ssd drive (switched to ubuntu gnome). The main upgrade issue was with systemd in 16.04: it found a dependency loop between net access and my nas drive and decided to cancel net access.

TheRealDunkirk 10y ago

It's not just Microsoft making a mess out of Windows. Third-party vendors are conspiring to ruin the PC platform. As often comes up in these discussions, I only use my PC for gaming. I've upgraded to 10, and downgraded back to 7 again, twice, just to make sure it really was that bad. (I downgraded both of my boys' PC's as well, just recently, because of strange problems they were always having.) Last time I updated my nVidia video drivers, I found I had to create an account with nVidia to get into the configuration options of the driver on my machine. So, let me get this straight: I need to create an account... and log in... just to set the graphics options... on my own computer? Screw that! I downgraded to a driver that was over a year old, just to get away from all of nVidia's "improvements," like this "ShadowPlay" which was causing performance problems on my machine. The driver for my execrable Razer Chroma keyboard was like this as well, but the build quality of that thing was so bad, I threw it out, and uninstalled the driver. Microsoft has shifted into a whole new gear with Windows 10, and made it clear, despite user feedback, that they intend to stay the course, and continue the data collection, and advertising, and everything else that gets discussed on HN. I think this has sent a clear signal to the aftermarket vendors that they're free to do the same things, and we'll see more and more of it. It looks like there are about 3 years of patches left for Windows 7. After that, there's Linux, Mac, Playstation, iDevices, and, now, the Switch for gaming. (Sadly, my boys already have an Xbox and an Xbox One.) There are plenty of other options to waste my time. I won't be upgrading to 10, and, thus, after 25 years building serious gaming rigs, I'm done buying any more PC kit. I just can't take all the hassle involved any more.

ionised 10y ago
> Last time I updated my nVidia video drivers, I found I had to create an account with nVidia to get into the configuration options of the driver on my machine. I see a lot of people with this confusion between the NVIDIA Control Panel and GeForce Experience. You do not need to create an account of any kind to use the NVIDIA Driver Control Panel. You never did and hopefully you never will. GeForce Experience on the other hand you do need an account now, but it's also completely unnecessary (and buggy) software. You don't need it at all unless for some reason you want Shadowplay (recording) or can't be bothered to set game graphics settings yourself and want GFE to 'optimise' the experience for you.

reacweb 10y ago

I had a dual boot since years, but I really switched to ubuntu only in 2009 (thanks to vista64 not supporting my scanner and printer). It is the main home computer that is also used by my wife. In order to make the switch as smooth as possible, we were already using openoffice and chrome on windows years before. On ubuntu, I have checked that photoshop was working correctly with wine. Sometimes, after an update, I had to configure the desktop to not highjack the alt key. This is the single issue I had with photoshop on linux (I am using an old release of photoshop). I still did not achieve to migrate to gimp (steep learning curve).