48 ms·

I wonder how much of the hate Windows gets is simply because Windows has nothing to do with Unix's bloodlines and heritage. Aside from cursory accomodations li

I wonder how much of the hate Windows gets is simply because Windows has nothing to do with Unix's bloodlines and heritage. Aside from cursory accomodations like the Microsoft POSIX Subsystem (what we would in theory call Windows Subsystem for POSIX if it existed today), that is.

laurencerowe 3y ago
Windows NT and all subsequent Windows versions trace their heritage to VMS. Had it not been so monolithic, almost excluding all other OS’s I think we would celebrate Windows too. Unix ultimately won mindshare because it was relatively open. Any technical advantage mattered far less at he end of the day.
flohofwoe 3y ago
The Windows kernel is excellent, the problem is everything that's built on top of it (of course the same could be said about Linux).
TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
Windows gets hate because as a desktop OS it's an unreliable user-hostile experience with obvious security vulnerabilities. Unix gets hate because as a command line OS it's an unreliable user-hostile experience with obvious security vulnerabilities. They're both examples of worse-is-better, and (mostly) ignore the history of mainframe operating systems with more sophisticated security and reliability and - sometimes - a friendlier shell/UI.
loudmax 3y ago
Windows gets hate because it's a de facto monopoly on enterprise computing. Most medium sized business or organizations don't really have much choice but to go with the industry standard. It's natural to feel resentment against an oppressive monopoly. Posix compatibility has nothing to do with it.
yndoendo 3y ago
My disdain for Windows has nothing to do with that. It comes from trying multiple operating systems. From a development and usability I do not find Windows to be good. From personal usage, IT management and consulting, Internet hosting, and development in full stack, desktop, service, and embedded applications. Open file locking built in to the OS is not a good feature. Sysadmin days of having to wait and delete an empty folder because Windows Explorer keeps the thumbs.db locked with no other files in the directories. Where UNIX environments let me delete an open file, replace it, or rename it. Nothing like downloading a PDF, having to rename, because it's file name is a GUID. Renaming it based on the PDFs title, in Windows, requires using notepad to type the new file name, close the PDF, and then rename. UNIX removes the need for notepad or a text editor to do this, just rename it while viewing it. Means to run a service and also have that service run a GUI application as the currently sign in user is simple in Unix where Windows requires a bunch of API hoops to perform. Recommend reviewing Ultra VNC source code it this needs to be done. Winforms and WPF touch event design is broken. Had to circumvent the API for standard message pump parsing to work around faulty drivers and WPF latching on to UI elements while the fingers have left the screen. Having hit edge cases where Windows backwards capability breaks with new features. Had to hack a virtual keyboard means to work around. SetForegroudnWindow() brakes with UWP and while operating Windows in tablet mode, needed since main applications run a touch screen without any other physical inputs. This would be BringToFront() in Winforms too. This edge case is not listed in Windows documentation too. Irony is that Windows 10 in tablet mode has the best All Applications display by utilizing the whole screen versus standard desktop mode with single column infinite scrolling. The registry just a bad design. No way to recover a corrupt hive unless there is a backup. Where UNIX configuration files are easy to re-construct if they get corrupt. Never had a UNIX system that could not be revived where Windows must be re-installed. All of this grew out of continual use with using DOS to Win 3.1 to Win 10 and recently trial of the terrible Win 11 regressions. Cannot event place the taskbar at the top of the screen like Windows 95 to Windows 10. You have to pay me to use Microsoft Windows.

laurencerowe 3y ago

Windows NT and all subsequent Windows versions trace their heritage to VMS. Had it not been so monolithic, almost excluding all other OS’s I think we would celebrate Windows too. Unix ultimately won mindshare because it was relatively open. Any technical advantage mattered far less at he end of the day.

flohofwoe 3y ago

The Windows kernel is excellent, the problem is everything that's built on top of it (of course the same could be said about Linux).

TheOtherHobbes 3y ago

Windows gets hate because as a desktop OS it's an unreliable user-hostile experience with obvious security vulnerabilities. Unix gets hate because as a command line OS it's an unreliable user-hostile experience with obvious security vulnerabilities. They're both examples of worse-is-better, and (mostly) ignore the history of mainframe operating systems with more sophisticated security and reliability and - sometimes - a friendlier shell/UI.

loudmax 3y ago

Windows gets hate because it's a de facto monopoly on enterprise computing. Most medium sized business or organizations don't really have much choice but to go with the industry standard. It's natural to feel resentment against an oppressive monopoly. Posix compatibility has nothing to do with it.

yndoendo 3y ago

My disdain for Windows has nothing to do with that. It comes from trying multiple operating systems. From a development and usability I do not find Windows to be good. From personal usage, IT management and consulting, Internet hosting, and development in full stack, desktop, service, and embedded applications. Open file locking built in to the OS is not a good feature. Sysadmin days of having to wait and delete an empty folder because Windows Explorer keeps the thumbs.db locked with no other files in the directories. Where UNIX environments let me delete an open file, replace it, or rename it. Nothing like downloading a PDF, having to rename, because it's file name is a GUID. Renaming it based on the PDFs title, in Windows, requires using notepad to type the new file name, close the PDF, and then rename. UNIX removes the need for notepad or a text editor to do this, just rename it while viewing it. Means to run a service and also have that service run a GUI application as the currently sign in user is simple in Unix where Windows requires a bunch of API hoops to perform. Recommend reviewing Ultra VNC source code it this needs to be done. Winforms and WPF touch event design is broken. Had to circumvent the API for standard message pump parsing to work around faulty drivers and WPF latching on to UI elements while the fingers have left the screen. Having hit edge cases where Windows backwards capability breaks with new features. Had to hack a virtual keyboard means to work around. SetForegroudnWindow() brakes with UWP and while operating Windows in tablet mode, needed since main applications run a touch screen without any other physical inputs. This would be BringToFront() in Winforms too. This edge case is not listed in Windows documentation too. Irony is that Windows 10 in tablet mode has the best All Applications display by utilizing the whole screen versus standard desktop mode with single column infinite scrolling. The registry just a bad design. No way to recover a corrupt hive unless there is a backup. Where UNIX configuration files are easy to re-construct if they get corrupt. Never had a UNIX system that could not be revived where Windows must be re-installed. All of this grew out of continual use with using DOS to Win 3.1 to Win 10 and recently trial of the terrible Win 11 regressions. Cannot event place the taskbar at the top of the screen like Windows 95 to Windows 10. You have to pay me to use Microsoft Windows.