3 ms·

It's very clear why windows usage is dwindling year after year. Windows 7 was the last good windows version. 8 was trash and 10 introduced ads and other extreme

It's very clear why windows usage is dwindling year after year. Windows 7 was the last good windows version. 8 was trash and 10 introduced ads and other extreme anti-features. The search in windows has never been worse. I'm thinking MS just doesn't care about it anymore given they have azure.

Retr0id 3y ago
I wonder what percentage of users these days deliberately make use of local files, as opposed to The Cloud. Maybe local search is considered a niche feature now (I have no idea if this is true or not, and I really hope that it isn't).
- beAbU 3y ago
  If you sign in to a onedrive/MS account on windows it'll set all the default file explorer directories to your mounted cloud drive. Newer versions of Office defaults to the cloud directory when you are trying to save a file. It's an absolute hassle to do something as simple as save a file to my hard drive. I had to set up my wife's laptop with a MS account a while back, since she got an office license she wanted to use. She's a big Sims 3 and 4 player. Sims stores it's save files by default in the "my documents" directory. Sims game save files are huge. The moment I signed in to a MS account on the laptop, the damn thing converted the whole user folder to a cloud folder, and subsequently started uploading dozens of gigabytes of Sims save files, without my consent or asking me beforehand.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - marcosdumay 3y ago
    Not excusing the overall behavior, but just FYI there's a checkbox somewhere on the onedrive first login process that changes this. At least on the Win10 version of it.
wkat4242 3y ago
> I'm thinking MS just doesn't care about it anymore given they have azure. Not just azure but Microsoft 365 They're no longer a software company, they're a services company. Windows is no longer a huge part of their revenue.
shultays 3y ago
Is OSX better?
- soundnote 3y ago
  Better in some ways, worse in others. It's less insistent on bothering you with things, but the App Store is a worse blowup than Microsoft Store, macOS's native window management is trash, the OS can't have separate natural scroll settings for the mouse and the trackpad, etc. I generally feel like Windows is a better OS with more active annoyances, while macOS is aggressively mid as the kids would say, but doesn't actively bother you as much.
- rowanG077 3y ago
  I don't know. I moved to linux after windows 8. I do have a windows 11 machine just for VR at home and it's a nightmare to use.
- nottorp 3y ago
  Was. Not sure where it's going now. It's still better than windows 10 and 11, but that's not saying much.
- alemanek 3y ago
  Yes, much better. In the last 8 years I haven’t had an update reset my settings yet. On major OS upgrades it will ask me to opt into telemetry but it defaults to my last selection which is “off”. Apple is far from perfect but I haven’t seen any dark patterns make it into MacOS yet.
- nullindividual 3y ago
  No OS is "better". Each has its own positives and negatives. Run an OS that performs the task required. It's a tool. Not a religion.
devnullbrain 3y ago
>The search in windows has never been worse All the while, Voidtools have been doing it better, for free.
edgyquant 3y ago
And during windows 7 the older people all said XP was the last good release. The actual truth is that there has never been a good windows release and even during the XP days, and before, people who used it routinely complained about Microsoft being a corrupt money grabbing corporation.
- rowanG077 3y ago
  That's just false. Windows 7 was pretty universally an improvement over XP. The device driver situation alone makes a huge difference.
  - bonton89 3y ago
    I disagree. Windows 7 (which is really just Vista SP1) isn't universally an improvement over XP. The update system (which lives on today still) is crappier than the XP one, even when it required IE to run it! 7 will gradually eat a whole hard drive once WinSxS cancer starts to grow, 10 papers over this mess by doing a behind the scenes upgrade install every year like snake sloughing off its skin. The search doesn't work (everyone blames this on 10, which made it worse but 7 sucked too) and the UI is less customizable than previous windows. Continuing a trend in Windows, UI actions take more clicks and are further buried in each Windows version and 7 was no different. Everyone loves 7 mostly because the mess of the 64-bit transition and the changed driver model had mostly been ironed out by the time 7 was released. It also actually had some new worthwhile technical features, mostly refined from Vista, that at least made a 2 steps forward 1 step back release. A feat Microsoft hasn't performed since.

Retr0id 3y ago

I wonder what percentage of users these days deliberately make use of local files, as opposed to The Cloud. Maybe local search is considered a niche feature now (I have no idea if this is true or not, and I really hope that it isn't).

beAbU 3y ago
If you sign in to a onedrive/MS account on windows it'll set all the default file explorer directories to your mounted cloud drive. Newer versions of Office defaults to the cloud directory when you are trying to save a file. It's an absolute hassle to do something as simple as save a file to my hard drive. I had to set up my wife's laptop with a MS account a while back, since she got an office license she wanted to use. She's a big Sims 3 and 4 player. Sims stores it's save files by default in the "my documents" directory. Sims game save files are huge. The moment I signed in to a MS account on the laptop, the damn thing converted the whole user folder to a cloud folder, and subsequently started uploading dozens of gigabytes of Sims save files, without my consent or asking me beforehand.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  Not excusing the overall behavior, but just FYI there's a checkbox somewhere on the onedrive first login process that changes this. At least on the Win10 version of it.

wkat4242 3y ago

> I'm thinking MS just doesn't care about it anymore given they have azure. Not just azure but Microsoft 365 They're no longer a software company, they're a services company. Windows is no longer a huge part of their revenue.

shultays 3y ago

Is OSX better?

soundnote 3y ago
Better in some ways, worse in others. It's less insistent on bothering you with things, but the App Store is a worse blowup than Microsoft Store, macOS's native window management is trash, the OS can't have separate natural scroll settings for the mouse and the trackpad, etc. I generally feel like Windows is a better OS with more active annoyances, while macOS is aggressively mid as the kids would say, but doesn't actively bother you as much.
rowanG077 3y ago
I don't know. I moved to linux after windows 8. I do have a windows 11 machine just for VR at home and it's a nightmare to use.
nottorp 3y ago
Was. Not sure where it's going now. It's still better than windows 10 and 11, but that's not saying much.
alemanek 3y ago
Yes, much better. In the last 8 years I haven’t had an update reset my settings yet. On major OS upgrades it will ask me to opt into telemetry but it defaults to my last selection which is “off”. Apple is far from perfect but I haven’t seen any dark patterns make it into MacOS yet.
nullindividual 3y ago
No OS is "better". Each has its own positives and negatives. Run an OS that performs the task required. It's a tool. Not a religion.

devnullbrain 3y ago

>The search in windows has never been worse All the while, Voidtools have been doing it better, for free.

edgyquant 3y ago

And during windows 7 the older people all said XP was the last good release. The actual truth is that there has never been a good windows release and even during the XP days, and before, people who used it routinely complained about Microsoft being a corrupt money grabbing corporation.

rowanG077 3y ago
That's just false. Windows 7 was pretty universally an improvement over XP. The device driver situation alone makes a huge difference.
- bonton89 3y ago
  I disagree. Windows 7 (which is really just Vista SP1) isn't universally an improvement over XP. The update system (which lives on today still) is crappier than the XP one, even when it required IE to run it! 7 will gradually eat a whole hard drive once WinSxS cancer starts to grow, 10 papers over this mess by doing a behind the scenes upgrade install every year like snake sloughing off its skin. The search doesn't work (everyone blames this on 10, which made it worse but 7 sucked too) and the UI is less customizable than previous windows. Continuing a trend in Windows, UI actions take more clicks and are further buried in each Windows version and 7 was no different. Everyone loves 7 mostly because the mess of the 64-bit transition and the changed driver model had mostly been ironed out by the time 7 was released. It also actually had some new worthwhile technical features, mostly refined from Vista, that at least made a 2 steps forward 1 step back release. A feat Microsoft hasn't performed since.