3 ms·

Thank you for saying something I've been saying for awhile: Linux definitely has jank, but I'm not convinced it's more janky than Windows. I think people are s

by tombert 6mo ago

Thank you for saying something I've been saying for awhile: Linux definitely has jank, but I'm not convinced it's more janky than Windows. I think people are so used to Windows' awfulness that they kind of forget about how much bullshit is associated with it. Linux has bullshit too, though it's getting better, but when people talk about Linux jank they're always smuggling in an implication of Windows having less jank, which I don't concede at all.

barney54 6mo ago
I don’t think it’s a question that Linux has more jank. I recently installed a fedora spin on a laptop that came with regular Fedora installed originally and the WiFi didn’t work. That’s some janky stuff right there.
- dismalaf 6mo ago
  > fedora spin Installing the equivalent of OS "slop" isn't Linux's fault... For better or worse the choice that is afforded by OSS licenses means that many of those choices will be bad.
- sph 6mo ago
  Meanwhile I haven’t had a wireless issue on Linux since 2010 or so.
- tombert 6mo ago
  I've had wifi drivers not work with fresh installs of Windows as well, so that's hardly a unique Linux thing. I've also had to reboot Windows into special modes because apparently a driver from a Broadcom WiFi card was "unsigned", so I had to disable the check for that. I've also had registry corruptions, and I've had unprompted updates brick my hard drive because Windows Update is a terrible piece of software, because as far as I can tell the Windows "repair tools" have never worked for any human in history, and neither has System Restore. I've had updates in Linux break things but never so thoroughly as the time my mom got an automatic update where she literally could not boot in at all (because I think that the automatic update to Windows 11 that she did not want or ask for screwed up the boot keys).
  - laughing_man 6mo ago
    I haven't had a Widows driver not work in decades. On the other hand, Linux doesn't try to copy my home directory to RedHat's cloud, or force some AI assistant that I don't want onto me.
  - yangm97 6mo ago
    As much as I am a nixOS user myself, I think regular users should be directed to use atomic, immutable distros (as is the case with most of the distros growing in popularity) because of the robust update system along with the ease of rollback should something go wrong. Regular distros (really comes down to the package manager of choice) are much more brittle, perhaps even worse than Windows Update.
Neikius 6mo ago
After I replaced my last windows install a few years ago... Checking windows 11 on a friend's PC a few weeks ago was a nightmare. I considered myself a power user back in the day and I really struggled. So now I do have perspective from the other end and it fits the picture - windows is also jank it is just familiar jank for most people. There is another point too. The trend with Linux is up and improving slowly over decades. And for windows it seems to be the reverse and faster.
vablings 6mo ago
Ah the time old classic. Go into the registry and change these 3 keys that seeming have zero relation to the problem at hand and restart your machine TWICE then its fixed. Out of the box most popular distros require less tweaking and hammering into shape than a windows 11 install and that is a very important "feature"

by tombert 6mo ago

barney54 6mo ago

I don’t think it’s a question that Linux has more jank. I recently installed a fedora spin on a laptop that came with regular Fedora installed originally and the WiFi didn’t work. That’s some janky stuff right there.

dismalaf 6mo ago
> fedora spin Installing the equivalent of OS "slop" isn't Linux's fault... For better or worse the choice that is afforded by OSS licenses means that many of those choices will be bad.
sph 6mo ago
Meanwhile I haven’t had a wireless issue on Linux since 2010 or so.
tombert 6mo ago
I've had wifi drivers not work with fresh installs of Windows as well, so that's hardly a unique Linux thing. I've also had to reboot Windows into special modes because apparently a driver from a Broadcom WiFi card was "unsigned", so I had to disable the check for that. I've also had registry corruptions, and I've had unprompted updates brick my hard drive because Windows Update is a terrible piece of software, because as far as I can tell the Windows "repair tools" have never worked for any human in history, and neither has System Restore. I've had updates in Linux break things but never so thoroughly as the time my mom got an automatic update where she literally could not boot in at all (because I think that the automatic update to Windows 11 that she did not want or ask for screwed up the boot keys).
- laughing_man 6mo ago
  I haven't had a Widows driver not work in decades. On the other hand, Linux doesn't try to copy my home directory to RedHat's cloud, or force some AI assistant that I don't want onto me.
- yangm97 6mo ago
  As much as I am a nixOS user myself, I think regular users should be directed to use atomic, immutable distros (as is the case with most of the distros growing in popularity) because of the robust update system along with the ease of rollback should something go wrong. Regular distros (really comes down to the package manager of choice) are much more brittle, perhaps even worse than Windows Update.

Neikius 6mo ago

After I replaced my last windows install a few years ago... Checking windows 11 on a friend's PC a few weeks ago was a nightmare. I considered myself a power user back in the day and I really struggled. So now I do have perspective from the other end and it fits the picture - windows is also jank it is just familiar jank for most people. There is another point too. The trend with Linux is up and improving slowly over decades. And for windows it seems to be the reverse and faster.

vablings 6mo ago

Ah the time old classic. Go into the registry and change these 3 keys that seeming have zero relation to the problem at hand and restart your machine TWICE then its fixed. Out of the box most popular distros require less tweaking and hammering into shape than a windows 11 install and that is a very important "feature"