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The compulsory fakebar forced me to get my first Windows machine for many years. I do in all honesty find Windows fairly nasty compared to macOS, but having a w

The compulsory fakebar forced me to get my first Windows machine for many years. I do in all honesty find Windows fairly nasty compared to macOS, but having a whole row of useful keys replaced with an effete Englishman's private whimsy was a bridge too far for me. For all the advances in hardware and software, there is no longer a single good (by my lights) laptop option available on the market.

BigJono 8y ago
I just chucked Ubuntu on a Dell, it's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.
- crispinb 8y ago
  Was my preferred option, but I had too many niggling difficulties (driver problems, hdpi not working on essential apps, etc). Most (not all) are fixable with research, but I don't have time right now. TBH if I did I'd rather spend that time running or sailing or playing music, not setting up an OS.
m_mueller 8y ago
in the same boat as you. oh if only WSL was 5 years more developed and windows config wasn‘t such a mess. I will say though that it has its upsides, such as more reliable plug&play, the task manager and gaming. That‘s about all it has over MacOS though...
- crispinb 8y ago
  Mirrors my experience. I'm a bit surprised that after years of the cygwin experience, Microsoft hasn't come up with a more elegant solution to incompatible filepaths issues. Having said that, it's good WSL works as well as it does. I'm also a bit surprised at the lack of good Windows software in some spheres - eg. there isn't a really good mail client (the built-in UWP one is a feeble toy). I slightly shamefully gave up and started forwarding my domain email to a gmail account.
  - m_mueller 8y ago
    ha. did exactly the same thing. just gave up on mail clients and use webmail now. that being said MacOS Mail has also seen much better (more stable) days and I was already close on giving up on that too. But I‘m surprised everyone lives with this mess too. Same as the tower of babel that is the IM landscape now I guess. Over the last 5 years I‘ve come to accept that the golden age of PC software is over, and I‘d date its peak to around MacOS 10.6.

BigJono 8y ago

I just chucked Ubuntu on a Dell, it's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

crispinb 8y ago
Was my preferred option, but I had too many niggling difficulties (driver problems, hdpi not working on essential apps, etc). Most (not all) are fixable with research, but I don't have time right now. TBH if I did I'd rather spend that time running or sailing or playing music, not setting up an OS.

m_mueller 8y ago

in the same boat as you. oh if only WSL was 5 years more developed and windows config wasn‘t such a mess. I will say though that it has its upsides, such as more reliable plug&play, the task manager and gaming. That‘s about all it has over MacOS though...

crispinb 8y ago
Mirrors my experience. I'm a bit surprised that after years of the cygwin experience, Microsoft hasn't come up with a more elegant solution to incompatible filepaths issues. Having said that, it's good WSL works as well as it does. I'm also a bit surprised at the lack of good Windows software in some spheres - eg. there isn't a really good mail client (the built-in UWP one is a feeble toy). I slightly shamefully gave up and started forwarding my domain email to a gmail account.
- m_mueller 8y ago
  ha. did exactly the same thing. just gave up on mail clients and use webmail now. that being said MacOS Mail has also seen much better (more stable) days and I was already close on giving up on that too. But I‘m surprised everyone lives with this mess too. Same as the tower of babel that is the IM landscape now I guess. Over the last 5 years I‘ve come to accept that the golden age of PC software is over, and I‘d date its peak to around MacOS 10.6.