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At this point I would pay handsomely for an alternative to windows that isn't linux or macos. I need windows sans microsoft. Not a command line with partial g

At this point I would pay handsomely for an alternative to windows that isn't linux or macos. I need windows sans microsoft. Not a command line with partial graphical wrappers and not an OS exclusive to an overpriced line of propriety computers. Windows but open source. Please. Note:I have been on ubuntu for the past year, and hate it. Just like I hated whatever other distros the last 3 times I tried to switch in my life.

josephcsible 3y ago
What about ReactOS?
- timw4mail 3y ago
  ReactOS barely works...and last I knew it was at XP-level support for applications.
  - jeditobe 3y ago
    which version of ReactOS have you tried?
treyd 3y ago
What do you expect this would look like? That's a billion dollar project if you consider the scale of the people involved in making it happen. And it would likely be better of spent on improving Linux desktop UX, which many nontechnical people already don't have serious objections to.
- Workaccount2 3y ago
  The core problem with linux is that it is built and maintained by people who love linux. It has lead to an OS that is great for grandmas and great for the linux tech nerd grandson who set it up for her. But its an exercise in masochistic self flagellation to be a tech nerd with no interest in linux (learning OS structure and CLI syntax) to use it on a daily basis. Linux is extremely powerful via the command line. But I have no interest in learning/memorizing commands.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    > Linux is extremely powerful via the command line. But I have no interest in learning/memorizing commands. It's entirely possible to install and use Linux without touching the command line, just like with Windows. The days where command-line skills were required passed a long while back.
    - Workaccount2 3y ago
      Hence why I added the line "great for grandmas".
  - treyd 3y ago
    > But I have no interest in learning/memorizing commands. Of course they're UX issues that could be improved, especially with Canonical trying to push Snap on people, but I'm more inclined to believe many peoples' exasperation with the Linux desktop experience is really due to long-standing familiarity with Windows. The things you "have to learn" as an enthusiast coming from the Windows ecosystem are things that by its conventions are done through graphical interfaces. Which doesn't make them easier, you've just already memorized them.
    - Workaccount2 3y ago
      Yes, correct, exactly. So I need someone to make an OS with the longstanding windows user in mind. Using a GUI absolutely is easier. I need drop down lists and check boxes. Mouse hover tips and visual menus. Not some cryptographic string of command line arguments that I am futilely copy+pasting from some random web page.
      - treyd 3y ago
        It's easier to you because you're already familiar with it. But as someone that hasn't regularly used Windows in many years, I find performing administrative tasks and any kind of troubleshooting via Windows's opaque graphical interfaces to be a very manual and nail-pulling experience. Additionally, graphical interfaces have a lot of downsides, as Microsoft themselves has discovered as evidenced by how over the past couple years they've been promoting PowerShell as a way to automate administrative tasks on Windows themselves and allow powerusers to pass around PowerShell invocations for quick fixes in the same way users of every other OS have for decades.
JohnFen 3y ago
> I have been on ubuntu for the past year, and hate it. Just FYI, I use Linux exclusively on my own machines and I hate Ubuntu as well.
MiguelHudnandez 3y ago
I suppose you want ReactOS https://reactos.org/ https://reactos.org/
wvenable 3y ago
If Microsoft sold a Windows No-Bullsh*t Edition it would sell like hotcakes. The core OS is as solid as ever (it literally just gets better every year) but then they layer on all the "new" stuff and it's confusing, ugly, and buggy. I'm not totally against change but there's a lot of change in Windows that just doesn't many sense.
Falmarri 3y ago
Try a distro with KDE, especially a rolling release distro like opensuse tumbleweed. KDE will feel a lot more like "good" windows.

josephcsible 3y ago

What about ReactOS?

timw4mail 3y ago
ReactOS barely works...and last I knew it was at XP-level support for applications.
- jeditobe 3y ago
  which version of ReactOS have you tried?

treyd 3y ago

What do you expect this would look like? That's a billion dollar project if you consider the scale of the people involved in making it happen. And it would likely be better of spent on improving Linux desktop UX, which many nontechnical people already don't have serious objections to.

Workaccount2 3y ago
The core problem with linux is that it is built and maintained by people who love linux. It has lead to an OS that is great for grandmas and great for the linux tech nerd grandson who set it up for her. But its an exercise in masochistic self flagellation to be a tech nerd with no interest in linux (learning OS structure and CLI syntax) to use it on a daily basis. Linux is extremely powerful via the command line. But I have no interest in learning/memorizing commands.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > Linux is extremely powerful via the command line. But I have no interest in learning/memorizing commands. It's entirely possible to install and use Linux without touching the command line, just like with Windows. The days where command-line skills were required passed a long while back.
  - Workaccount2 3y ago
    Hence why I added the line "great for grandmas".
- treyd 3y ago
  > But I have no interest in learning/memorizing commands. Of course they're UX issues that could be improved, especially with Canonical trying to push Snap on people, but I'm more inclined to believe many peoples' exasperation with the Linux desktop experience is really due to long-standing familiarity with Windows. The things you "have to learn" as an enthusiast coming from the Windows ecosystem are things that by its conventions are done through graphical interfaces. Which doesn't make them easier, you've just already memorized them.
  - Workaccount2 3y ago
    Yes, correct, exactly. So I need someone to make an OS with the longstanding windows user in mind. Using a GUI absolutely is easier. I need drop down lists and check boxes. Mouse hover tips and visual menus. Not some cryptographic string of command line arguments that I am futilely copy+pasting from some random web page.
    - treyd 3y ago
      It's easier to you because you're already familiar with it. But as someone that hasn't regularly used Windows in many years, I find performing administrative tasks and any kind of troubleshooting via Windows's opaque graphical interfaces to be a very manual and nail-pulling experience. Additionally, graphical interfaces have a lot of downsides, as Microsoft themselves has discovered as evidenced by how over the past couple years they've been promoting PowerShell as a way to automate administrative tasks on Windows themselves and allow powerusers to pass around PowerShell invocations for quick fixes in the same way users of every other OS have for decades.

JohnFen 3y ago

> I have been on ubuntu for the past year, and hate it. Just FYI, I use Linux exclusively on my own machines and I hate Ubuntu as well.

MiguelHudnandez 3y ago

I suppose you want ReactOS https://reactos.org/ https://reactos.org/

wvenable 3y ago

If Microsoft sold a Windows No-Bullsh*t Edition it would sell like hotcakes. The core OS is as solid as ever (it literally just gets better every year) but then they layer on all the "new" stuff and it's confusing, ugly, and buggy. I'm not totally against change but there's a lot of change in Windows that just doesn't many sense.

Falmarri 3y ago

Try a distro with KDE, especially a rolling release distro like opensuse tumbleweed. KDE will feel a lot more like "good" windows.