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There's no real alternative for many things people care about. Windows 11 can still run Windows 98 software with minimal headache. Maybe Valve with Proton will

There's no real alternative for many things people care about. Windows 11 can still run Windows 98 software with minimal headache. Maybe Valve with Proton will get there someday. If it's not your daily driver e.g. using a MacBook for day-to-day, it's tolerable albeit annoying. Just go make a coffee while boot hangs on the "preparing windows updates" screen for 5 minutes.

advael 3y ago
I mean I think Proton's focus is on games, and it's been quite a while since I ran into any that didn't work pretty trivially. I guess I don't game enough to bother trying to get malware-like anti-cheat things to play nice with my systems but I think that's more out of my distrust outweighing my need to play the game rather than because it's a headache, but that does seem to be the last real frontier of compatibility in that space As for other things, like various hyperspecific professional software people are locked into, I've got nothing but sympathy for those folks. It's a rough situation and it's not their fault. It'll take people who care about those domains doing software projects to help open up those areas more. I will note that I know people producing content who have been going over to FOSS video editors and the like lately, and I can't say for sure whether this is the platforms getting worse or the FOSS getting better, but I think either way alternatives exert positive pressure on the ecosystem as a whole. I do think it would help a lot if professionals in many areas would be a bit more willing to at least try alternatives, as the reaction to projects aiming to give them choices tends to be derision and dismissal. Like, okay some stuff isn't there yet, but I think it would benefit you if it was, even if you personally don't use it If there's anything people should have learned from the last few decades, it's that no company will ever love or care about you, and a company that deserves your trust is rare to the point of near-extinction in this environment. And yet people actively bemoaning how these companies are shaking them down will at the same time act and speak against their own interests out of brand loyalty. Perhaps it is because so many have come to define themselves by their choices as consumers. It's hard not to see identity itself as a sort of scam in this kind of environment
red-iron-pine 3y ago
Valve and Proton is pretty dang good, tbh. No issues, even with AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077. Anti-cheat is a thing they're working on too, but ultimately it'll require kernel modules and I'm not cool with that, but more in the "not gonna play those games" sense.
- vmladenov 3y ago
  But I wasn’t talking about video games; I have a Steam Deck and I like it. I have lots of old / unmaintained Windows software for various gadgets that doesn’t have alternatives and has major blocking issues in Wine-like environments, up to and including failing to launch. For those, a Windows VM or a dedicated Windows system is much less of a headache.

advael 3y ago

I mean I think Proton's focus is on games, and it's been quite a while since I ran into any that didn't work pretty trivially. I guess I don't game enough to bother trying to get malware-like anti-cheat things to play nice with my systems but I think that's more out of my distrust outweighing my need to play the game rather than because it's a headache, but that does seem to be the last real frontier of compatibility in that space As for other things, like various hyperspecific professional software people are locked into, I've got nothing but sympathy for those folks. It's a rough situation and it's not their fault. It'll take people who care about those domains doing software projects to help open up those areas more. I will note that I know people producing content who have been going over to FOSS video editors and the like lately, and I can't say for sure whether this is the platforms getting worse or the FOSS getting better, but I think either way alternatives exert positive pressure on the ecosystem as a whole. I do think it would help a lot if professionals in many areas would be a bit more willing to at least try alternatives, as the reaction to projects aiming to give them choices tends to be derision and dismissal. Like, okay some stuff isn't there yet, but I think it would benefit you if it was, even if you personally don't use it If there's anything people should have learned from the last few decades, it's that no company will ever love or care about you, and a company that deserves your trust is rare to the point of near-extinction in this environment. And yet people actively bemoaning how these companies are shaking them down will at the same time act and speak against their own interests out of brand loyalty. Perhaps it is because so many have come to define themselves by their choices as consumers. It's hard not to see identity itself as a sort of scam in this kind of environment

red-iron-pine 3y ago

Valve and Proton is pretty dang good, tbh. No issues, even with AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077. Anti-cheat is a thing they're working on too, but ultimately it'll require kernel modules and I'm not cool with that, but more in the "not gonna play those games" sense.

vmladenov 3y ago
But I wasn’t talking about video games; I have a Steam Deck and I like it. I have lots of old / unmaintained Windows software for various gadgets that doesn’t have alternatives and has major blocking issues in Wine-like environments, up to and including failing to launch. For those, a Windows VM or a dedicated Windows system is much less of a headache.