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Honest question - what do you like about Windows? I used windows from 3.1, NT, 95, 2000 until XP, at which point I switched to Linux for my main OS. Obviously

Honest question - what do you like about Windows? I used windows from 3.1, NT, 95, 2000 until XP, at which point I switched to Linux for my main OS. Obviously I used all the later versions of Windows too for work, but each version seemed worse and less usable (7 was ok I guess).

nstart 4y ago
I dont know how to explain it. I’ve used all major OS’s including a couple of flavors of Linux. I just love windows. 11 is pretty awesome for me where I use it on my surface pro 8 and it’s just really nice especially with touch. Touch is definitely a huge part of my workflow too to the point that when I sit at my desktop I sometimes try to touch the screen. There are so many tiny quality of life things like being able to use auto hot key to macro my way around daily stuff or how the file explorer works in a way that feels more intuitive. The little thing of being able to win+shift+s and snip a part of the screen where it loads into the clipboard immediately and does not save to a file by default. I heart power toys so much especially fancy zones which I use extensively. I also do like customizing my start menu. I find building my native home brew apps for the OS to be more pleasant. I find the windows terminal to be a fabulous experience I couldn’t live without now. Wsl is a blessing where I have multiple OS’s which I need and they don’t bog the system down. All my games work fine. I just… I really love the OS and what it lets me do. Other OS’s could probably do similar things (auto hot key is your final boss though) but I guess windows just clicks for me really really well. Literally, the only things I’d change about it right now are the whole adware/spyware bit and making the file path work like it does in Unix based systems. Backslashes! Urgh.
- MattPalmer1086 4y ago
  Interesting, thanks. Many of those things I'd make the same argument for Linux, I think a lot is simply what you are used to. I don't use touch in my main OS, but maybe I should consider it! Wsl does look really useful too (although the one time I tried to use it failed because it didn't support shared memory yet). EDIT: Backslashes argghhh! Agree strongly here. Would be nice to get away from drive letters too and have a unified file system.
- TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
  I would quibble about the fact that the screenshot functionality was stolen from macOS, but the thing that really kills me is your comment about File Explorer. My impression, after decades of Windows and now a decade of macOS, is that you just don't have to spend as much time with Finder in macOS as you do with Explorer on Windows. There's something about working on a Mac that simply alleviates a lot of the work of fiddling with files like you have to do in Windows. Maybe it's because I don't deal with Office docs much any more. I don't know. Anyone else feel this difference?
  - conradfr 4y ago
    Not OP but I hate Finder. I just want to see my folders and access them, let me do that ffs, why does that left panel hate me?
    - TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
      I guess this is what makes the world go 'round, because I say the same thing about the left panel on Windows. From versions 7 through 10, that thing was a freaking nightmare. They seem to have cleaned it up a lot, but there's still a dedicated folder for "3D Models." Seriously?
    - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
      Yeah, it's frustrating that I can't easily just access the root directory. I feel that MacOS tries very hard to hide the fact that it's Unix under the hood and tries to hide all the Unix directories.
      - mostlysimilar 4y ago
        Huh? The "Macintosh HD" folder in Finder is /. Just drag it into your sidebar. As for hidden files, cmd + shift + . to show them.
        Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
        > Huh? The "Macintosh HD" folder in Finder is /. Just drag it into your sidebar. I somehow did not know this. I just saw Applications, Library, System, and Users and figured it was something else. > As for hidden files, cmd + shift + . to show them. Ah, that would be why I didn't realize "Macintosh HD" was /. But how was I supposed to know this? I just went through all the menus and I didn't see any options regarding hidden files and no references to the cmd+shift+. keyboard shortcut.
Dalewyn 4y ago
For all its faults, Windows is the only operating system that manages to balance practicality, versatility, customizability, and reliability all in one single operating system. Linux? The fucking thing breaks down if you so much as look at it wrong. No reliability, zilch, nada, /dev/null. I don't trust Linux with anything mission critical, unless I'm paying someone monies to make sure my time isn't wasted (eg: Red Hat, Synology, Steam Deck). MacOS? Sure, it's practical and kind of reliable, but that's about it. It's not versatile nor customizable. You need to subscribe to the One Apple Way(tm), going off the Way(tm) is a miserable experience. You also really need to fully immerse yourself in the Apple ecosystem to fully use MacOS. iOS? Android? They are strictly consumption operating systems. They are practical and reliable for consuming content, but that's all they are good (and intended) for. BSD? No. So Windows is the only operating system that I can use to do everything I want to do on a computer, in the ways I want to do them, with the software I want, trusting my time will not be wasted on trivially stupid nonsense.
- MattPalmer1086 4y ago
  It's funny but I would make the same argument in reverse. All my windows boxes in my house have suffered BSODs periodically, get stuck in update cycles, and need complete reinstallation around once every year or two to remain stable. Error messages are cryptic and unhelpful. Logs are lacking. My linux boxes almost never lock up, errors are resolvable and logs are better. The issues I've had were trivial to fix. Obviously I use hardware on which Linux is known to run well. I have run the same OS and updated it in place for years without any problems.
- bdavbdav 4y ago
  I'm surprised at that on the reliability front - things are a fuss to get going, but if you're on a LTS version of whatever-distro, its usually pretty rock-solid (hence why its powering everything you look at...)
  - MattPalmer1086 4y ago
    I'm surprised that it is a fuss to get going! Installing Linux with a full basic suite of applications takes around half an hour. Same thing on Windows takes about half a day for me, and involves hunting for drivers and so on... Maybe much is simply what you are used to.

nstart 4y ago

I dont know how to explain it. I’ve used all major OS’s including a couple of flavors of Linux. I just love windows. 11 is pretty awesome for me where I use it on my surface pro 8 and it’s just really nice especially with touch. Touch is definitely a huge part of my workflow too to the point that when I sit at my desktop I sometimes try to touch the screen. There are so many tiny quality of life things like being able to use auto hot key to macro my way around daily stuff or how the file explorer works in a way that feels more intuitive. The little thing of being able to win+shift+s and snip a part of the screen where it loads into the clipboard immediately and does not save to a file by default. I heart power toys so much especially fancy zones which I use extensively. I also do like customizing my start menu. I find building my native home brew apps for the OS to be more pleasant. I find the windows terminal to be a fabulous experience I couldn’t live without now. Wsl is a blessing where I have multiple OS’s which I need and they don’t bog the system down. All my games work fine. I just… I really love the OS and what it lets me do. Other OS’s could probably do similar things (auto hot key is your final boss though) but I guess windows just clicks for me really really well. Literally, the only things I’d change about it right now are the whole adware/spyware bit and making the file path work like it does in Unix based systems. Backslashes! Urgh.

MattPalmer1086 4y ago
Interesting, thanks. Many of those things I'd make the same argument for Linux, I think a lot is simply what you are used to. I don't use touch in my main OS, but maybe I should consider it! Wsl does look really useful too (although the one time I tried to use it failed because it didn't support shared memory yet). EDIT: Backslashes argghhh! Agree strongly here. Would be nice to get away from drive letters too and have a unified file system.
TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
I would quibble about the fact that the screenshot functionality was stolen from macOS, but the thing that really kills me is your comment about File Explorer. My impression, after decades of Windows and now a decade of macOS, is that you just don't have to spend as much time with Finder in macOS as you do with Explorer on Windows. There's something about working on a Mac that simply alleviates a lot of the work of fiddling with files like you have to do in Windows. Maybe it's because I don't deal with Office docs much any more. I don't know. Anyone else feel this difference?
- conradfr 4y ago
  Not OP but I hate Finder. I just want to see my folders and access them, let me do that ffs, why does that left panel hate me?
  - TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
    I guess this is what makes the world go 'round, because I say the same thing about the left panel on Windows. From versions 7 through 10, that thing was a freaking nightmare. They seem to have cleaned it up a lot, but there's still a dedicated folder for "3D Models." Seriously?
  - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
    Yeah, it's frustrating that I can't easily just access the root directory. I feel that MacOS tries very hard to hide the fact that it's Unix under the hood and tries to hide all the Unix directories.
    - mostlysimilar 4y ago
      Huh? The "Macintosh HD" folder in Finder is /. Just drag it into your sidebar. As for hidden files, cmd + shift + . to show them.
      - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
        > Huh? The "Macintosh HD" folder in Finder is /. Just drag it into your sidebar. I somehow did not know this. I just saw Applications, Library, System, and Users and figured it was something else. > As for hidden files, cmd + shift + . to show them. Ah, that would be why I didn't realize "Macintosh HD" was /. But how was I supposed to know this? I just went through all the menus and I didn't see any options regarding hidden files and no references to the cmd+shift+. keyboard shortcut.

Dalewyn 4y ago

For all its faults, Windows is the only operating system that manages to balance practicality, versatility, customizability, and reliability all in one single operating system. Linux? The fucking thing breaks down if you so much as look at it wrong. No reliability, zilch, nada, /dev/null. I don't trust Linux with anything mission critical, unless I'm paying someone monies to make sure my time isn't wasted (eg: Red Hat, Synology, Steam Deck). MacOS? Sure, it's practical and kind of reliable, but that's about it. It's not versatile nor customizable. You need to subscribe to the One Apple Way(tm), going off the Way(tm) is a miserable experience. You also really need to fully immerse yourself in the Apple ecosystem to fully use MacOS. iOS? Android? They are strictly consumption operating systems. They are practical and reliable for consuming content, but that's all they are good (and intended) for. BSD? No. So Windows is the only operating system that I can use to do everything I want to do on a computer, in the ways I want to do them, with the software I want, trusting my time will not be wasted on trivially stupid nonsense.

MattPalmer1086 4y ago
It's funny but I would make the same argument in reverse. All my windows boxes in my house have suffered BSODs periodically, get stuck in update cycles, and need complete reinstallation around once every year or two to remain stable. Error messages are cryptic and unhelpful. Logs are lacking. My linux boxes almost never lock up, errors are resolvable and logs are better. The issues I've had were trivial to fix. Obviously I use hardware on which Linux is known to run well. I have run the same OS and updated it in place for years without any problems.
bdavbdav 4y ago
I'm surprised at that on the reliability front - things are a fuss to get going, but if you're on a LTS version of whatever-distro, its usually pretty rock-solid (hence why its powering everything you look at...)
- MattPalmer1086 4y ago
  I'm surprised that it is a fuss to get going! Installing Linux with a full basic suite of applications takes around half an hour. Same thing on Windows takes about half a day for me, and involves hunting for drivers and so on... Maybe much is simply what you are used to.