11 ms·

I used to use Windows Backup with One Drive years ago but it just really pissed me off, especially with how My Documents is handled. There was that time I disc

by Podrod 1y ago

I used to use Windows Backup with One Drive years ago but it just really pissed me off, especially with how My Documents is handled. There was that time I discovered several GB of screenshots had been automatically saved to My Pictures from some setting they snuck into the printscreen screen grab tool and then that of course those were automatically uploaded to the cloud. After disabling the option it would sometimes reenable itself. And game devs throwing random shit into My Documents was also fun. Ubisoft were terrible for this, after playing a game I'd notice a bunch of cache files they dumped into My Docs being uploaded. I mean putting save games and config files inside my docs is annoying enough, random cache files is just taking the piss. Also windows backup would mess up my desktop between systems on occasion which was also very fun! I disabled most of the shit but it was still annoying on occasion. Then a year or two ago I solved the problem by just using Linux for 90% of things, Mint at first but now Fedora, and grudgingly booting back into Windows for the other 10% of my needs.

reddalo 1y ago
I agree, nowadays Linux seems like the only reliable solution. Even macOS, with the latest "liquid glass" update, feels like a toy for kids. I just wish the Affinity suite would be available for Linux too.
- Esophagus4 1y ago
  Having run Linux every day, I can say we’re in trouble if that is the reliable option :) (Agree that Liquid Glass is miserable, though.)
  - jaykru 1y ago
    I've faced many fewer hiccups on CachyOS/Arch in the past few months than on Windows. In the first month of owning this hardware, I had an unexplained BSOD that actually bricked my whole Win11 install. And this is pretty recent/funky 2-in-1 hardware, not an old ThinkPad I've cherry-picked for good Linux support. This is an important moment for free software; the big platforms are finally cinching down on users hard enough that we have a shot at convincing regular people to join us. Please don't blow it with vague complaints.
    - rufugee 1y ago
      same experience here with Omarchy. it’s been (mostly) flawless. the only reason i keep windows around at this point is fortnite.
      - andriesm 1y ago
        I use Windows 11 exclusively for games. When will we get steamOS with nvidia support!! Just want out of the box 4k hdr 120hz vrr and 5.1 surround sound over hdmi on nvidia gpu, it can boot straight into steam for all I care. Performance should not be worse than windows. Is this possible? Install and it just works out of the box; of course games will have to be compiled for this... but if this becomes a major market.... then games will support it. I would LOVE this. Would be drop in OS replacement for my dedicated windows gaming PC on LG OLED tv. ps: These things are amazing for gaming due to fast pixel response times. Great for couch co-op!
    - rwyinuse 1y ago
      Yep, I dual boot Linux Mint & Windows 11 and only bother with the latter when I need MS Teams, or some other proprietary software that tends to be more reliable on Windows. In terms of performance and user experience Mint wins easily.
      - a022311 1y ago
        I only rarely need to use Microsoft Office or Paint.NET and a Windows VM on Linux has solved the problem entirely for me. I don't know if videoconferencing would work as well, but I'd really recommend giving it a try! I've already gone without a proper Windows install for almost 2 years.
        cogman10 1y ago
        Since MS is making the office UX web based, I'd suggest people try just loading 365 in a browser like edge (It's generally flawless for MS products). Especially apps like Teams. Once you realize that the dedicated app is basically just a browser shell, using a real browser becomes somewhat of a no brainer. Edge even supports PWAs on linux which can give you the "app" experience without the app.
  - bee_rider 1y ago
    The Open Source ecosystem is a bit weird in that your system can be as reliable or not as you want, depending on what projects you follow. It really truly is a mixed bag in the sense that you can actually have a solid setup if you are happy with it being boring.
    - dapperdrake 1y ago
      Incidentally, most people seem to want their computer to be the good kind of boring. Especially non-tech people. Look at how popular Ubuntu VMs are with research chemists. And successful chemists tend to be highly technical.
      - bee_rider 1y ago
        I’m not sure what the good kind of boring is, if we could define it, it might be tautologically true that that’s the thing people want. > Look at how popular Ubuntu VMs are with research chemists. Are they? I actually have no idea. > And successful chemists tend to be highly technical. But not necessarily in any IT sense. STEM skills are very specific. Sorry, it looks like I’m just being petulant and saying “I’m not sure” about your every sentence, haha, that wasn’t my intent but it is what I ended up doing I guess.
    - the__alchemist 1y ago
      > The Open Source ecosystem is a bit weird in that your system can be as reliable or not as you want I'm going to dig into this a little. This feels like shifting responsibility onto the user when things don't go well. E.g. comparing the platonic ideal of Linux when analyzing practical options. I make lots of mistakes in all aspects of my life. I know historically, and projecting into the future that I will get into trouble with Linux, so I don't daily-drive it. Yes, there are always ways to fix things when a system gets in a bad state, but there is a time and effort cost to this. Saying it's my fault for breaking it doesn't help restore the system. e.g. "Should have used the LTS release", "Should have only installed software from the package manager", "Shouldn't have used sudo", "Shouldn't have edited a system file without knowing what you're doing". If I was doing those things, it probably seemed like the best of available options, e.g. the only way to make a certain piece of hardware or software work.
  - yehat 1y ago
    Seriously, such remarks add nothing except exposing intended bias. In other words that's called a trolling.
    - brooke2k 1y ago
      Holding the opinion that Linux is currently the most reliable OS option is "trolling"?
      - deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
      - asimovfan 1y ago
        He's saying its not very good if thats the case. Which is not the case. I am satisfied with GNU+Linux. It doesn't work against me. It would be great if there were FOSS alternatives to the remaining proprietary software on my computers. Making it sound like linux is almost just as bad, does sound weird. Also nothing about what's actually that bad about "linux".
    - a123b456c 1y ago
      I would call it a constructive contrarian claim, quite distinct from trolling.
  - psadauskas 1y ago
    MacOS and Windows might break[1] less often than Linux, but when it does I stand less of a chance of fixing it. Linux is usually more fiddly, but if does something I don't want its usually only a few minutes to find the config file or a plugin for the Desktop Environment to alter the behavior. [1]: "Break" here meaning "behaves in a way I don't want"
- delusional 1y ago
  > feels like a toy for kids. I wish unserious complaining like this wasn't mixed with actual technical criticism of software.
  - bigyabai 1y ago
    It is very serious. I love the way Catalina and Mojave looks; dark mode or light mode, it just screams "professional" at the top of it's lungs. Big Sur is, somehow, the exact opposite. Corners are rounded off as if they could hurt someone, and margins are padded more than a cell in solitary confinement. Space is wasted everywhere. It's Fischer-Price design philosophy and I'm hardly the only one to point it out. In a side-by-side, so much screen real estate gets wasted that it's genuinely disgusting: https://www.andrewdenty.com/blog/assets/img/macos-new-ui/finder/2-finder-gallery-view-macos-catalina-big-sur-comparison.png https://www.andrewdenty.com/blog/assets/img/macos-new-ui/fin...
    - thewebguyd 1y ago
      Agree on all points. Tahoe ruined macOS for me. Not only does it waste screen real estate, but it’s not performant at all and my M4 pro is no slouch. Just feels like I’m using an iPad now. Here’s a fun exercise. Look at how huge the window borders are to achieve that insane corner radius. The cursor changes to the resize arrow at the corner before it even touches the window, the bottom arrow is a good 4-5px away from the window lol.
    - dapperdrake 1y ago
      Touch and mouse interfaces simply are different. After over a decade of pretending otherwise there are now sufficiently many counter-examples.
    - delusional 1y ago
      > Space is wasted everywhere. Sure, that's a reasonable technical criticism. Wasted screen space is, in my opinion, an issue in modern interface design trends. Good design uses space in a thoughtful manner. The designers of macOS clearly don't agree with us, but we can have a reasonable technical discussion about that. We can consult the data. We can consult the users. > It's Fischer-Price design philosophy You're mixing the two again. Fisher-Price was not consulted in the design of modern macOS interfaces, and complaining about not liking the design language cheapens all your actual points. No real discussion can be had around this taste garbage. You're rage baiting.
- astral_drama 1y ago
  Tahoe crippled my Intel 2019 MBP and cost me plenty of time and incurred a lot of frustration until I gave up and reformat the ssd. I am switching to Linux for both my desktop and laptop from here on out.
  - unlikelytomato 1y ago
    Does a premium hardware solution exist that competes with MacBook on practical battery life?
    - layer8 1y ago
      Probably not quite, though recent laptops improved. But on a desktop setup it doesn’t matter anyway.
    - astral_drama 1y ago
      I’m giving the Asus Proart P16 a try, if I was trying for maximum battery life I’d probably avoid the discrete gpu (e.g. a zenbook or similar). I am not a full time road warrior so battery life is important, but not absolutely critical. There may be some options out with better battery life, but I haven’t been focused on this metric too closely. I just don’t want to be sidetracked by overly aggressive and pushy decisions by my OS vendor anymore. I’ve been happy with the stability of my Debian/Ubuntu systems for getting work done. I have been using apple laptops for 10+ years, and I still like their build quality, but I don’t like the direction macOS (or Windows) is heading.
- sys_64738 1y ago
  Tahoe's saving grace is docker support which is superb now.
- citizenkeen 1y ago
  With Affinity (likely) switching to a subscription model, I wouldn't hold out hope they're avoiding enshitification.
  - omnimus 1y ago
    How do you know they are switching to subscriptions?
    - citizenkeen 1y ago
      I don’t, but they’ve stopped selling their software enter being bought by Canva.
- the__alchemist 1y ago
  My 2c. I agree with the parent and article: OneDrive can be a major problem with Windows. They push it on you, your personal documents can be moved to OneDrive without your permission etc. Confusing and user-hostile design. Linux has its own idiosyncrasies, which may or may not make it worth. E.g. ABI diaspora, installing things can be inconsistent and high-effort, the cycle of copy+pasting CLI commands and system file edits from old forum posts or these days LLMs to fix something, treating your PC like a multi-user system that has an admin by default, etc. My general experience is that installation and things work smoothly with the built-in or package-managed software, but gradually degrade as you start installing software and drivers.
  - Terr_ 1y ago
    > treating your PC like a multi-user system that has an admin by default, etc. I think I have the opposite orientation: In the past when family and friends needed help to install/rescue their machine (on Windows versions that supported it) I always ensured there was a separate "Manager" admin login and then made their main account "limited", albeit with UAC popups. If nothing else, it made repeat visits much easier.
- al_borland 1y ago
  Do you think it looks like a toy just because of how it looks, or because of how it works? Spotlight got a major update in macOS 26 where it can now perform actions. I can open spotlight and type "run <enter> <some terminal command or script>" and get the output right there, selecting it will put the resulting text into my current window. 16:16 up 23:27, 1 user, load averages: 1.72 1.78 1.90 There is my uptime posted in HN with only Spotlight and my hands never leaving the keyboard. Spotlight is also context aware... Say I run across some text in another language: Spiegami come funziona questo coso. I can highlight, invoke spotlight, type translate, it will recognize I want to translate the selected text, translate it inside of Spotlight, and if arrow down and press enter, it will paste the translated text over the original text, if editable, or copy it to the clipboard. There is also a built-in clipboard history. I'm not a fan of all the UI choices that have been made, but those will get ironed out over time. Meanwhile, I get some more powerful out of the box features without needing to resort to 3rd party apps.
  - TsiCClawOfLight 1y ago
    krunner had this since at least plasma 6. Well done apple for matching a built-in KDE feature, I guess.
inquirerGeneral 1y ago
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nolist_policy 1y ago
It's interesting how ChromeOS respects your choices more than Windows here. There is a setting to disable Google Drive and it just works. It won't auto-enable, no popups or nags or anything. Even Google Docs/Workspace falls back to a trimmed down offline version.
- crote 1y ago
  On the other hand, Android keeps nagging me about enabling backups in Google Photos. I'm always one accidental click of the huge "Okay!" button in an unexpected popup away from having my data being uploaded to Google.
  - a022311 1y ago
    I've solved this long ago by disabling the app. Sadly, that means I can't view videos in the gallery, but I believe it's a fair compromise. I'd recommend taking a look at open source alternatives like Lavender Photos [1] or Fossify Gallery [2] [1]: https://github.com/kaii-lb/LavenderPhotos https://github.com/kaii-lb/LavenderPhotos [2]: https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Gallery https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Gallery
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - distances 1y ago
    This was a genuinely baffling product decision. I couldn't continue using Photos due to this nagging dialog. Google has another photo gallery app called just Gallery, that's what I'm now using. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.photosgo https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...
- 9x39 1y ago
  The PMs can't start out being aggressive, though, that comes after dominating the market, right? ChromeOS and Google Drive are generally good products which are probably so as to get penetration and stickiness. Perhaps Gmail is a better example to see the incumbent acting as it wishes, enabling and disabling features without worry about the end user's POV.
numpad0 1y ago
It enables in non-consensual manners, break apps and games(because paths change and APIs work differently), clings onto your files even if you tried to save them from the OneDrive folder, and throws a tantrum and irreversibly delete your files if you dare unlink the PC and disable it. I don't know why they commit to especially the last part. To me, it feels like that is why Microsoft's Windows efforts are getting a lot of negative press lately; there must be lots of writers and media individuals who had lost data to that exact behavior who are now perpetually biased against them for that reason. Just why?
- keyringlight 1y ago
  I think it's the curse of windows being attached to a tech company, and a tech company seems to want to keep pursuing cool things™ instead of boring maintenance on a utility. Over the years lots of little extra non-essential functionality has crept into windows to where you could almost compare it with a lightweight linux distro, or that it's hard to draw the line where the OS ends, and then you're getting into territory where everyone relies upon a different subset of what's available which MS has been increasingly able to use to justify adding more 'essential' features for modern computing.
  - justsomehnguy 1y ago
    > cool things™ instead of boring maintenance on a utilit You can't re-sell a boring utility every one/two/three years. Nobody wants it - not the top management (bonuses for the revenue growth), nor the middle management (bonuses for the succesful new projects), nor the guys who implements the things (reconginition for the new projects). Or talking simpler - KPI. And there is no 'we improved the stability for 0.0000002% of clients' indicator along with 'customers are happy with the thing we sold them in 2017'. And don't forget what it was some fruit company what even wasn't in the corporate which made it fashionable to have a 'totes new and refreshing experience (along with a hefty price tag)' every year or two.
    - brianwawok 1y ago
      Stability, performance, security, all of this stuff doesn’t matter until it becomes a crisis, then it’s the most important thing in the world
aldebran 1y ago
^this is good, legit feedback for why this product/feature isn't good. It's not just "MSFT BAD!". Thanks for sharing.
- Telaneo 1y ago
  The list of mind-boggling design decisions MS has made at this point is so long at this point that I don't blame people any more for saying 'MS bad'. Just pointing at the start menu search and Everything tells you everything you need to know, and more or less sets the tone you can expect from MS decision making.
abtinf 1y ago
Config files should go elsewhere, but save files seem like the should definitely go in mydocs.
- Telaneo 1y ago
  Maybe, but not by default. But games as a rule don't give you the option to change this, so you're stuck with that one game and that one program using My Documents as a dumping ground without your consent, and now My Documents is no longer really your folder any more, at which point people make a folder on their desktop or whereever else called My Documents But For Real This Time or whatever.
- cheeseomlit 1y ago
  Nah, save files go in appdata
rootusrootus 1y ago
I've been a Mac & Linux user since about 2007 or so, and I had no idea what Windows had become. Then a couple weeks ago I caved and built my son a Windows gaming PC. Egads, Windows is annoying! Even more so than I remember! I'm amazed that people actually put up with it for their daily driver. Right on schedule, my son came to me yesterday evening and asked what he should do about the backup warning. It didn't give any option other than enabling backup or telling it to remind later. WTF. Not to say that MacOS isn't occasionally very annoying as well. It is. But as a tool it's also much more useful than vanilla Windows, which helps a little.
- zwnow 1y ago
  People dont care about their operating system. Most Mac users never learn Mac and most Windows users never learn windows. They use their computers for emails, some presentations and occasional gaming. They dont want to learn different kinds of software. Which is fine. For most people its just a power tool they never read the manual for. They dont even know what other tools there are so they dont know that life could be better, by not using windows.
  - toast0 1y ago
    > Most Mac users never learn Mac and most Windows users never learn windows. Why bother when annual releases will change everything? > For most people its just a power tool they never read the manual for. What manual?
    - zwnow 1y ago
      You should read the manual to how metaphors work
  - vee-kay 1y ago
    I just wish MacOS would allow me to have the Minimize, Maximize/Restore,Close buttons on top-right corner (default in Windows), rather than top-left (which is counter-intuitive for right-handed users, using the mouse). Even Linux allows such basic customization. If Apple allowed this type of user-friendly customisation on MacOS, I suspect a lot of Windows users will migrate to Mac.
zaptheimpaler 1y ago
> And game devs throwing random shit into My Documents was also fun. I hate this problem with all OSes. We have folders that started out being places for users to put things like Pictures, Documents & home, but over time they get filled with crap from software and it's difficult to find your own files. We should have had a "program-files" subfolder or something by default in all these places to separate things that applications put there vs. things that you put there.
- bigstrat2003 1y ago
  We do! On Windows, it's (user profile)\AppData. And to be fair, most software does use that. But there are always bad citizens that don't care and clutter up the user's documents folder.
  - zaptheimpaler 1y ago
    That's nice, I think Linux/XDG has some standards around this too, but they too are not enforced - and many people have no idea these standards even exist unless the OS warns or enforces these things. I think there might also be some gap between "these files are only internally needed by this software" vs. "these files are created by this software, but may be good to show them to the user". It's nice the OSes are making efforts to do that though!
  - jowea 1y ago
    Speaking for myself, but I would my game saves and config in the cloud if I were using OneDrive. That is however a separate issue from whether those files should be in the hidden appdata or in the visible my documents.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
codingrightnow 1y ago
I just bought my first windows 11 computer. Why are my personal folders like pictures and documents under a OneDrive folder? This is insane. Going to see how Ubuntu runs on it and hopefully never look back.
- vee-kay 1y ago
  In Win10/Win11, you can move your user folders to another partition or folder path. Right-click on them in Explorer, go to Properties, click on Location tab, and type/select the new path for them, click Move... then that folder and its contents will be moved to new locate. I've movier following to D: partition as root-level folders: Contacts, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved Games, Searches, Videos.
  - GJim 1y ago
    > you can move your user folders to another partition or folder path The fact that the default is to auto-magically upload your personal data on to somebody else's box (sorry "the cloud") is fucking insane. Such things should be opt-in, not opt-out; and certainly not nag-ware.
  - Xss3 1y ago
    Prepare to have software and games break or not run at all if you do this. Too many devs rely on the users folder being in default place. Too few use %USERS%. The proper way to do it without breaking everything is via a symbolic link or junction.
qwerty456127 1y ago
> especially with how My Documents is handled I stopped using these long ago because every other app you install puts something there so it becomes a landfill automatically. Just create an additional partition and put all your non-OS files there. This is a classic idea people have been using since the DOS days, still working great.
saturnite 1y ago
Then Microsoft can do the exact opposite sometimes. The drive cleanup option used alright, but then I noticed that it now wants to clear the Downloads library. I don't know about everyone else, but I put more than temporary files there.
raxxorraxor 1y ago
This is the reason I don't want to use a Microsoft account within my operating system. Microsoft never asks and I cannot have my data synced to a (very slow) cloud randomly. No time to check every Windows update if I got surprise features like that. In my opinion Microsoft has lost it completely when it comes to user demand and their main OS. But if you don't have an account, MS cannot just sync the data anywhere... at least yet...
m463 1y ago
I played around with VMS and GOG and had a lot of fun doing it. (not for everyone: gog has few AAA games, games are generally single-player offline games) two independent VMs, never run at same time: 1) linux vm that runs lgogdownloader https://github.com/Sude-/lgogdownloader https://github.com/Sude-/lgogdownloader downloads all gog installers to a shared hd device 2) windows 11 vm (installed from windows 11 pro retail usb stick) * vm has no network interface * turned off all annoyances. "windows defender out-of-date" hardest to turn off installed games from shared hd device from #1 play all games offline, no microsoft data collection, no "unity collects data", no worries. for updates, boot linux vm, update repo on shared hd for games, boot win 11 vm

by Podrod 1y ago

reddalo 1y ago

I agree, nowadays Linux seems like the only reliable solution. Even macOS, with the latest "liquid glass" update, feels like a toy for kids. I just wish the Affinity suite would be available for Linux too.

Esophagus4 1y ago
Having run Linux every day, I can say we’re in trouble if that is the reliable option :) (Agree that Liquid Glass is miserable, though.)
- jaykru 1y ago
  I've faced many fewer hiccups on CachyOS/Arch in the past few months than on Windows. In the first month of owning this hardware, I had an unexplained BSOD that actually bricked my whole Win11 install. And this is pretty recent/funky 2-in-1 hardware, not an old ThinkPad I've cherry-picked for good Linux support. This is an important moment for free software; the big platforms are finally cinching down on users hard enough that we have a shot at convincing regular people to join us. Please don't blow it with vague complaints.
  - rufugee 1y ago
    same experience here with Omarchy. it’s been (mostly) flawless. the only reason i keep windows around at this point is fortnite.
    - andriesm 1y ago
      I use Windows 11 exclusively for games. When will we get steamOS with nvidia support!! Just want out of the box 4k hdr 120hz vrr and 5.1 surround sound over hdmi on nvidia gpu, it can boot straight into steam for all I care. Performance should not be worse than windows. Is this possible? Install and it just works out of the box; of course games will have to be compiled for this... but if this becomes a major market.... then games will support it. I would LOVE this. Would be drop in OS replacement for my dedicated windows gaming PC on LG OLED tv. ps: These things are amazing for gaming due to fast pixel response times. Great for couch co-op!
  - rwyinuse 1y ago
    Yep, I dual boot Linux Mint & Windows 11 and only bother with the latter when I need MS Teams, or some other proprietary software that tends to be more reliable on Windows. In terms of performance and user experience Mint wins easily.
    - a022311 1y ago
      I only rarely need to use Microsoft Office or Paint.NET and a Windows VM on Linux has solved the problem entirely for me. I don't know if videoconferencing would work as well, but I'd really recommend giving it a try! I've already gone without a proper Windows install for almost 2 years.
      - cogman10 1y ago
        Since MS is making the office UX web based, I'd suggest people try just loading 365 in a browser like edge (It's generally flawless for MS products). Especially apps like Teams. Once you realize that the dedicated app is basically just a browser shell, using a real browser becomes somewhat of a no brainer. Edge even supports PWAs on linux which can give you the "app" experience without the app.
- bee_rider 1y ago
  The Open Source ecosystem is a bit weird in that your system can be as reliable or not as you want, depending on what projects you follow. It really truly is a mixed bag in the sense that you can actually have a solid setup if you are happy with it being boring.
  - dapperdrake 1y ago
    Incidentally, most people seem to want their computer to be the good kind of boring. Especially non-tech people. Look at how popular Ubuntu VMs are with research chemists. And successful chemists tend to be highly technical.
    - bee_rider 1y ago
      I’m not sure what the good kind of boring is, if we could define it, it might be tautologically true that that’s the thing people want. > Look at how popular Ubuntu VMs are with research chemists. Are they? I actually have no idea. > And successful chemists tend to be highly technical. But not necessarily in any IT sense. STEM skills are very specific. Sorry, it looks like I’m just being petulant and saying “I’m not sure” about your every sentence, haha, that wasn’t my intent but it is what I ended up doing I guess.
  - the__alchemist 1y ago
    > The Open Source ecosystem is a bit weird in that your system can be as reliable or not as you want I'm going to dig into this a little. This feels like shifting responsibility onto the user when things don't go well. E.g. comparing the platonic ideal of Linux when analyzing practical options. I make lots of mistakes in all aspects of my life. I know historically, and projecting into the future that I will get into trouble with Linux, so I don't daily-drive it. Yes, there are always ways to fix things when a system gets in a bad state, but there is a time and effort cost to this. Saying it's my fault for breaking it doesn't help restore the system. e.g. "Should have used the LTS release", "Should have only installed software from the package manager", "Shouldn't have used sudo", "Shouldn't have edited a system file without knowing what you're doing". If I was doing those things, it probably seemed like the best of available options, e.g. the only way to make a certain piece of hardware or software work.
- yehat 1y ago
  Seriously, such remarks add nothing except exposing intended bias. In other words that's called a trolling.
  - brooke2k 1y ago
    Holding the opinion that Linux is currently the most reliable OS option is "trolling"?
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - asimovfan 1y ago
      He's saying its not very good if thats the case. Which is not the case. I am satisfied with GNU+Linux. It doesn't work against me. It would be great if there were FOSS alternatives to the remaining proprietary software on my computers. Making it sound like linux is almost just as bad, does sound weird. Also nothing about what's actually that bad about "linux".
  - a123b456c 1y ago
    I would call it a constructive contrarian claim, quite distinct from trolling.
- psadauskas 1y ago
  MacOS and Windows might break[1] less often than Linux, but when it does I stand less of a chance of fixing it. Linux is usually more fiddly, but if does something I don't want its usually only a few minutes to find the config file or a plugin for the Desktop Environment to alter the behavior. [1]: "Break" here meaning "behaves in a way I don't want"
delusional 1y ago
> feels like a toy for kids. I wish unserious complaining like this wasn't mixed with actual technical criticism of software.
- bigyabai 1y ago
  It is very serious. I love the way Catalina and Mojave looks; dark mode or light mode, it just screams "professional" at the top of it's lungs. Big Sur is, somehow, the exact opposite. Corners are rounded off as if they could hurt someone, and margins are padded more than a cell in solitary confinement. Space is wasted everywhere. It's Fischer-Price design philosophy and I'm hardly the only one to point it out. In a side-by-side, so much screen real estate gets wasted that it's genuinely disgusting: https://www.andrewdenty.com/blog/assets/img/macos-new-ui/finder/2-finder-gallery-view-macos-catalina-big-sur-comparison.png https://www.andrewdenty.com/blog/assets/img/macos-new-ui/fin...
  - thewebguyd 1y ago
    Agree on all points. Tahoe ruined macOS for me. Not only does it waste screen real estate, but it’s not performant at all and my M4 pro is no slouch. Just feels like I’m using an iPad now. Here’s a fun exercise. Look at how huge the window borders are to achieve that insane corner radius. The cursor changes to the resize arrow at the corner before it even touches the window, the bottom arrow is a good 4-5px away from the window lol.
  - dapperdrake 1y ago
    Touch and mouse interfaces simply are different. After over a decade of pretending otherwise there are now sufficiently many counter-examples.
  - delusional 1y ago
    > Space is wasted everywhere. Sure, that's a reasonable technical criticism. Wasted screen space is, in my opinion, an issue in modern interface design trends. Good design uses space in a thoughtful manner. The designers of macOS clearly don't agree with us, but we can have a reasonable technical discussion about that. We can consult the data. We can consult the users. > It's Fischer-Price design philosophy You're mixing the two again. Fisher-Price was not consulted in the design of modern macOS interfaces, and complaining about not liking the design language cheapens all your actual points. No real discussion can be had around this taste garbage. You're rage baiting.
astral_drama 1y ago
Tahoe crippled my Intel 2019 MBP and cost me plenty of time and incurred a lot of frustration until I gave up and reformat the ssd. I am switching to Linux for both my desktop and laptop from here on out.
- unlikelytomato 1y ago
  Does a premium hardware solution exist that competes with MacBook on practical battery life?
  - layer8 1y ago
    Probably not quite, though recent laptops improved. But on a desktop setup it doesn’t matter anyway.
  - astral_drama 1y ago
    I’m giving the Asus Proart P16 a try, if I was trying for maximum battery life I’d probably avoid the discrete gpu (e.g. a zenbook or similar). I am not a full time road warrior so battery life is important, but not absolutely critical. There may be some options out with better battery life, but I haven’t been focused on this metric too closely. I just don’t want to be sidetracked by overly aggressive and pushy decisions by my OS vendor anymore. I’ve been happy with the stability of my Debian/Ubuntu systems for getting work done. I have been using apple laptops for 10+ years, and I still like their build quality, but I don’t like the direction macOS (or Windows) is heading.
sys_64738 1y ago
Tahoe's saving grace is docker support which is superb now.
citizenkeen 1y ago
With Affinity (likely) switching to a subscription model, I wouldn't hold out hope they're avoiding enshitification.
- omnimus 1y ago
  How do you know they are switching to subscriptions?
  - citizenkeen 1y ago
    I don’t, but they’ve stopped selling their software enter being bought by Canva.
the__alchemist 1y ago
My 2c. I agree with the parent and article: OneDrive can be a major problem with Windows. They push it on you, your personal documents can be moved to OneDrive without your permission etc. Confusing and user-hostile design. Linux has its own idiosyncrasies, which may or may not make it worth. E.g. ABI diaspora, installing things can be inconsistent and high-effort, the cycle of copy+pasting CLI commands and system file edits from old forum posts or these days LLMs to fix something, treating your PC like a multi-user system that has an admin by default, etc. My general experience is that installation and things work smoothly with the built-in or package-managed software, but gradually degrade as you start installing software and drivers.
- Terr_ 1y ago
  > treating your PC like a multi-user system that has an admin by default, etc. I think I have the opposite orientation: In the past when family and friends needed help to install/rescue their machine (on Windows versions that supported it) I always ensured there was a separate "Manager" admin login and then made their main account "limited", albeit with UAC popups. If nothing else, it made repeat visits much easier.
al_borland 1y ago
Do you think it looks like a toy just because of how it looks, or because of how it works? Spotlight got a major update in macOS 26 where it can now perform actions. I can open spotlight and type "run <enter> <some terminal command or script>" and get the output right there, selecting it will put the resulting text into my current window. 16:16 up 23:27, 1 user, load averages: 1.72 1.78 1.90 There is my uptime posted in HN with only Spotlight and my hands never leaving the keyboard. Spotlight is also context aware... Say I run across some text in another language: Spiegami come funziona questo coso. I can highlight, invoke spotlight, type translate, it will recognize I want to translate the selected text, translate it inside of Spotlight, and if arrow down and press enter, it will paste the translated text over the original text, if editable, or copy it to the clipboard. There is also a built-in clipboard history. I'm not a fan of all the UI choices that have been made, but those will get ironed out over time. Meanwhile, I get some more powerful out of the box features without needing to resort to 3rd party apps.
- TsiCClawOfLight 1y ago
  krunner had this since at least plasma 6. Well done apple for matching a built-in KDE feature, I guess.

inquirerGeneral 1y ago

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nolist_policy 1y ago

It's interesting how ChromeOS respects your choices more than Windows here. There is a setting to disable Google Drive and it just works. It won't auto-enable, no popups or nags or anything. Even Google Docs/Workspace falls back to a trimmed down offline version.

crote 1y ago
On the other hand, Android keeps nagging me about enabling backups in Google Photos. I'm always one accidental click of the huge "Okay!" button in an unexpected popup away from having my data being uploaded to Google.
- a022311 1y ago
  I've solved this long ago by disabling the app. Sadly, that means I can't view videos in the gallery, but I believe it's a fair compromise. I'd recommend taking a look at open source alternatives like Lavender Photos [1] or Fossify Gallery [2] [1]: https://github.com/kaii-lb/LavenderPhotos https://github.com/kaii-lb/LavenderPhotos [2]: https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Gallery https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Gallery
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- distances 1y ago
  This was a genuinely baffling product decision. I couldn't continue using Photos due to this nagging dialog. Google has another photo gallery app called just Gallery, that's what I'm now using. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.photosgo https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...
9x39 1y ago
The PMs can't start out being aggressive, though, that comes after dominating the market, right? ChromeOS and Google Drive are generally good products which are probably so as to get penetration and stickiness. Perhaps Gmail is a better example to see the incumbent acting as it wishes, enabling and disabling features without worry about the end user's POV.

numpad0 1y ago

It enables in non-consensual manners, break apps and games(because paths change and APIs work differently), clings onto your files even if you tried to save them from the OneDrive folder, and throws a tantrum and irreversibly delete your files if you dare unlink the PC and disable it. I don't know why they commit to especially the last part. To me, it feels like that is why Microsoft's Windows efforts are getting a lot of negative press lately; there must be lots of writers and media individuals who had lost data to that exact behavior who are now perpetually biased against them for that reason. Just why?

keyringlight 1y ago
I think it's the curse of windows being attached to a tech company, and a tech company seems to want to keep pursuing cool things™ instead of boring maintenance on a utility. Over the years lots of little extra non-essential functionality has crept into windows to where you could almost compare it with a lightweight linux distro, or that it's hard to draw the line where the OS ends, and then you're getting into territory where everyone relies upon a different subset of what's available which MS has been increasingly able to use to justify adding more 'essential' features for modern computing.
- justsomehnguy 1y ago
  > cool things™ instead of boring maintenance on a utilit You can't re-sell a boring utility every one/two/three years. Nobody wants it - not the top management (bonuses for the revenue growth), nor the middle management (bonuses for the succesful new projects), nor the guys who implements the things (reconginition for the new projects). Or talking simpler - KPI. And there is no 'we improved the stability for 0.0000002% of clients' indicator along with 'customers are happy with the thing we sold them in 2017'. And don't forget what it was some fruit company what even wasn't in the corporate which made it fashionable to have a 'totes new and refreshing experience (along with a hefty price tag)' every year or two.
  - brianwawok 1y ago
    Stability, performance, security, all of this stuff doesn’t matter until it becomes a crisis, then it’s the most important thing in the world

aldebran 1y ago

^this is good, legit feedback for why this product/feature isn't good. It's not just "MSFT BAD!". Thanks for sharing.

Telaneo 1y ago
The list of mind-boggling design decisions MS has made at this point is so long at this point that I don't blame people any more for saying 'MS bad'. Just pointing at the start menu search and Everything tells you everything you need to know, and more or less sets the tone you can expect from MS decision making.

abtinf 1y ago

Config files should go elsewhere, but save files seem like the should definitely go in mydocs.

Telaneo 1y ago
Maybe, but not by default. But games as a rule don't give you the option to change this, so you're stuck with that one game and that one program using My Documents as a dumping ground without your consent, and now My Documents is no longer really your folder any more, at which point people make a folder on their desktop or whereever else called My Documents But For Real This Time or whatever.
cheeseomlit 1y ago
Nah, save files go in appdata

rootusrootus 1y ago

I've been a Mac & Linux user since about 2007 or so, and I had no idea what Windows had become. Then a couple weeks ago I caved and built my son a Windows gaming PC. Egads, Windows is annoying! Even more so than I remember! I'm amazed that people actually put up with it for their daily driver. Right on schedule, my son came to me yesterday evening and asked what he should do about the backup warning. It didn't give any option other than enabling backup or telling it to remind later. WTF. Not to say that MacOS isn't occasionally very annoying as well. It is. But as a tool it's also much more useful than vanilla Windows, which helps a little.

zwnow 1y ago
People dont care about their operating system. Most Mac users never learn Mac and most Windows users never learn windows. They use their computers for emails, some presentations and occasional gaming. They dont want to learn different kinds of software. Which is fine. For most people its just a power tool they never read the manual for. They dont even know what other tools there are so they dont know that life could be better, by not using windows.
- toast0 1y ago
  > Most Mac users never learn Mac and most Windows users never learn windows. Why bother when annual releases will change everything? > For most people its just a power tool they never read the manual for. What manual?
  - zwnow 1y ago
    You should read the manual to how metaphors work
- vee-kay 1y ago
  I just wish MacOS would allow me to have the Minimize, Maximize/Restore,Close buttons on top-right corner (default in Windows), rather than top-left (which is counter-intuitive for right-handed users, using the mouse). Even Linux allows such basic customization. If Apple allowed this type of user-friendly customisation on MacOS, I suspect a lot of Windows users will migrate to Mac.

zaptheimpaler 1y ago

> And game devs throwing random shit into My Documents was also fun. I hate this problem with all OSes. We have folders that started out being places for users to put things like Pictures, Documents & home, but over time they get filled with crap from software and it's difficult to find your own files. We should have had a "program-files" subfolder or something by default in all these places to separate things that applications put there vs. things that you put there.

bigstrat2003 1y ago
We do! On Windows, it's (user profile)\AppData. And to be fair, most software does use that. But there are always bad citizens that don't care and clutter up the user's documents folder.
- zaptheimpaler 1y ago
  That's nice, I think Linux/XDG has some standards around this too, but they too are not enforced - and many people have no idea these standards even exist unless the OS warns or enforces these things. I think there might also be some gap between "these files are only internally needed by this software" vs. "these files are created by this software, but may be good to show them to the user". It's nice the OSes are making efforts to do that though!
- jowea 1y ago
  Speaking for myself, but I would my game saves and config in the cloud if I were using OneDrive. That is however a separate issue from whether those files should be in the hidden appdata or in the visible my documents.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

codingrightnow 1y ago

I just bought my first windows 11 computer. Why are my personal folders like pictures and documents under a OneDrive folder? This is insane. Going to see how Ubuntu runs on it and hopefully never look back.

vee-kay 1y ago
In Win10/Win11, you can move your user folders to another partition or folder path. Right-click on them in Explorer, go to Properties, click on Location tab, and type/select the new path for them, click Move... then that folder and its contents will be moved to new locate. I've movier following to D: partition as root-level folders: Contacts, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved Games, Searches, Videos.
- GJim 1y ago
  > you can move your user folders to another partition or folder path The fact that the default is to auto-magically upload your personal data on to somebody else's box (sorry "the cloud") is fucking insane. Such things should be opt-in, not opt-out; and certainly not nag-ware.
- Xss3 1y ago
  Prepare to have software and games break or not run at all if you do this. Too many devs rely on the users folder being in default place. Too few use %USERS%. The proper way to do it without breaking everything is via a symbolic link or junction.

qwerty456127 1y ago

> especially with how My Documents is handled I stopped using these long ago because every other app you install puts something there so it becomes a landfill automatically. Just create an additional partition and put all your non-OS files there. This is a classic idea people have been using since the DOS days, still working great.

saturnite 1y ago

Then Microsoft can do the exact opposite sometimes. The drive cleanup option used alright, but then I noticed that it now wants to clear the Downloads library. I don't know about everyone else, but I put more than temporary files there.

raxxorraxor 1y ago

This is the reason I don't want to use a Microsoft account within my operating system. Microsoft never asks and I cannot have my data synced to a (very slow) cloud randomly. No time to check every Windows update if I got surprise features like that. In my opinion Microsoft has lost it completely when it comes to user demand and their main OS. But if you don't have an account, MS cannot just sync the data anywhere... at least yet...

m463 1y ago

I played around with VMS and GOG and had a lot of fun doing it. (not for everyone: gog has few AAA games, games are generally single-player offline games) two independent VMs, never run at same time: 1) linux vm that runs lgogdownloader https://github.com/Sude-/lgogdownloader https://github.com/Sude-/lgogdownloader downloads all gog installers to a shared hd device 2) windows 11 vm (installed from windows 11 pro retail usb stick) * vm has no network interface * turned off all annoyances. "windows defender out-of-date" hardest to turn off installed games from shared hd device from #1 play all games offline, no microsoft data collection, no "unity collects data", no worries. for updates, boot linux vm, update repo on shared hd for games, boot win 11 vm