5 ms·

I recently got locked out of my machine because logging in with the mandatory Microsoft account-backed primary user of my machine didn't work anymore. It said I

I recently got locked out of my machine because logging in with the mandatory Microsoft account-backed primary user of my machine didn't work anymore. It said I was offline and I had to use the "previous password" even though I didn't have a previous password for that account. Hacking around in the recovery console to add another administrator user worked, but then I couldn't reset the original user's password because it was tied to the Microsoft account and you can't change the password locally. I don't need Copilot managing my inbox through AI, nor do I need a more exciting widget experience. I just want an OS where if something like the above happens there's a way to fix it without having to reinstall. It doesn't seem like much to ask. Edit: yes, I can use Linux but I have decades of Windows muscle memory and I do a bunch of DirectX programming. I shouldn't have to switch :)

cbdevidal 5mo ago
Also years of Windows muscle memory here, especially the keyboard shortcuts. I’ve used Windows since 1997. I’ve decided I’m done. A new PC arrives in a month. It’ll be running Ubuntu. I’m done. Maybe there is a Linux language similar to DirectX you might transition to? Maybe test code in a VM? (Although that gets you right back into Win11.)
- theandrewbailey 5mo ago
  > Maybe there is a Linux language similar to DirectX you might transition to? Yes: DirectX. Just make sure that it runs in Wine or Proton. Nit: DirectX is a bunch of APIs and libraries, not a language. Same for Wine and Proton.
  - w4rh4wk5 5mo ago
    DXVK works great for DirectX 11. However, it's rather annoying to debug through this intermediate layer. I wouldn't recommend this for development.
    - kajman 5mo ago
      Sure is nice as a user. I get better frames in some games than Windows users do!
- cheschire 5mo ago
  These suggestions are like telling someone that that is being harassed to maybe wear something different. While it would, yes, likely avoid the problem happening again, it shifts the responsibility to the party that should not be at fault. Meanwhile the harasser is like “what’s wrong? I took an anti-harassment class?”
  - mort96 5mo ago
    It's more like telling someone in an abusive relationship to leave the abusive relationship.
    - cbdevidal 5mo ago
      Do both. Insist that the authorities reform the abuser AND leave the relationship. In a real life abusive relationship that would look like both calling the cops and leaving. In the case of software, demand reform and also switch OSes.
  - lelanthran 5mo ago
    > These suggestions are like telling someone that that is being harassed to maybe wear something different. Weird analogy - it's telling someone who is paying to be abused to simply stop paying... If Windows was actually free, as in download a copy and use it as you wish, then sure, maybe you might have a (very tiny) point, but it's not like that at all.
    - cheschire 5mo ago
      Many legit users have a license applied to their Microsoft account that predates the current situation. That is to say, a license carried over from windows 10 and possibly as far back as windows 7, since there was a time where Microsoft was offering free license transfers. Many people see windows 7 as being not shitty and abusive.
      - noisem4ker 5mo ago
        > there was a time where Microsoft was offering free license transfers I don't think they ever stopped. Maybe they ceased advertising it, but installing Windows 10 over 7 or 8 would silently inherit the license far past the original terms. The time-limited offer was just a FOMO-inducing marketing scam.
- wolfi1 5mo ago
  Ubuntu will also introduce AI. Why not use pure Debian? (and the distribution flame war starts)
  - cbdevidal 5mo ago
    I have no problem using Debian (I’m actually a Linux sysadmin by profession) so I have no problems later switching distros. But as of today, I’m happy with Ubuntu on my road laptop and I would no doubt be happy switching the home PC, too. (Actually the road lap is Lubuntu and it currently has zero visible AI influence.)
    - wolfi1 5mo ago
      they want to start with 26.10, will be interesting if they include it with a long term release
- renegade-otter 5mo ago
  Same. I used to develop Windows apps with Borland C++ once, that's how old I am. Last year, I finally installed a second Linux Mint boot - for Windows games! The level of disregard for quality from MS is just obnoxious. We are really crossing some kind of line here, I think, where taking the pain of migrating once seems easier than dealing with all this nonsense. (I had to clean install Windows after that infamous update with system check infinite loop at boot time).
- noosphr 5mo ago
  >It’ll be running Ubuntu. I’m done. https://status.canonical.com/ https://status.canonical.com/ You're in for a bad time. It's been three days and they still can't get updates to work. Get Debian if you must. Use something sane like Guix and OpenBSD if you can.
  - cbdevidal 5mo ago
    I have no problem using Debian (I’m actually a Linux sysadmin by profession) so I have no problems later switching distros. But as of today, I’m happy with Ubuntu on my road laptop and I would no doubt be happy switching the home PC, too. (Actually the road lap is Lubuntu and it currently has zero visible AI influence.)
  - chihuahua 5mo ago
    I've been watching Linux from a safe distance for 25+ years. The one thing that remains constant over the decades is that whenever someone says "You're having this problem? Well what did you expect, you're using X distro. Obviously you should use Y distro, then all your problems will be solved" and then another person comes along and says "No, you idiot, Y distro is completely broken, any sane person would use Z distro!" And if you play that game long enough, you eventually complete the circle.
    - pndy 5mo ago
      Haven't seen this specific "you're using wrong distro" so far. I'm more often bumping on a general rude attitude of people answering. As if asking questions, looking for solutions is not what all these distro forums were made for.
    - Orygin 5mo ago
      It's always the exact same distro, and it has been for 10+ years. Nobody is recommending it anymore but users still come with issues due to that. There are different distros for different taste/needs, but Ubuntu always has been the worst choice of all.
      - 5mo ago
irishcoffee 5mo ago
The day I can’t make a local-only account on windows (for personal use, work is a different matter unfortunately) is the day I stop using windows. It’s irritating enough that new linux installs want me to add accounts. I can skip it, which is nice, but just don’t show the screen. If you’re installing linux you either know what you’re doing or you don’t: if you do you know it’s possible and don’t need it jammed in your face, and if you don’t you’re probably not quite tall enough to understand it isn’t needed and you probably don’t want it anyways.
- dmd 5mo ago
  What are you suggesting here? Everyone who runs linux should log in and run everything as root all the time?
  - irishcoffee 5mo ago
    No, I guess I didn’t explain it, though I thought I had. Don’t ask me to turn on location settings, don’t ask me to connect my email/online accounts, during a gui install. I can turn those on myself if I want to. Someone else up-thread pointed out that this probably exists to help windows uses transition over to a Linux install in a way that feels more familiar, and that makes sense. I don’t like it, but I can accept that. I’ll still grumble when I see that screen though.
    - dmd 5mo ago
      Oh. I thought you were talking about making a user account. I've never seen anything like that on any linux install I've ever done. But then I've been pretty much Debian-only since I started using Linux over 30 years ago.
      - irishcoffee 5mo ago
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW7Z892bsG4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW7Z892bsG4 At about 1:15.
    - 5mo ago
k4rnaj1k 5mo ago
There are ways of changing a lot of the shortcuts on Linux to be the same. And a lot of the default KDE shortcuts are similar to windows' ones iirc.
- MiddleEndian 5mo ago
  Yeah I've found modern KDE's shortcuts are not only similar to the best parts of Windows, but also slightly better (Win arrow keys reposition without doing minimize/maximize, only win pgdn/pgup minimize/maximize) so I can move shit around more fearlessly.
Schiendelman 5mo ago
Hello fellow DirectX programmer! I gave up and got a Mac. I made myself get used to the defaults. I can't go back. I tried putting together a gaming pc a couple years ago and Windows annoyed me too much. It's better here! And yeah - I gave up on DirectX programming to do it. I do like Metal...
ezoe 5mo ago
As Windows more and more difficult to use at very basic, after passing certain threshold, just developing on Linux is more practical. Even for DirectX.
lelanthran 5mo ago
> Edit: yes, I can use Linux but I have decades of Windows muscle memory and I do a bunch of DirectX programming. I shouldn't have to switch :) Understood. However, your choices are: 1. Keep complaining while paying $$$ for the privilege of complaining. 2. Switch to something else. My tolerance level is much lower than yours (I switched my daily driver around 1998), obviously...
- orphea 5mo ago
  paying $$$ There arrr the ways (depending on one's moral compass)
  - forsalebypwner 5mo ago
    `irm https://get.activated.win https://get.activated.win | iex` lives in my head rent-free
alaudet 5mo ago
Have you considered Linux on bare metal and a Windows VM for your coding? Two monitor setup and you can have Windows on one side when working then all your other daily stuff is in Linux. Shared drives and clipboards make things pretty easy. Also just debloat the Windows install, why are you suffering with Co-Pilot? I have a VM running on Proxmox and I rdp to it from Linux when needed, but daily use, no way and honestly there really is no reason to put all your eggs in the Windows basket in this day and age.
heresie-dabord 5mo ago
> I can use Linux but I have decades of Windows muscle memory and I do a bunch of DirectX programming. I see a likely inversion of motives here: you earn your living coding or otherwise are deeply vested in Windows, so you are committed for survival to Windows and to fixing the absurd account problem that MSFT has inflicted on you. The expression "muscle memory" here just means the cognitive load of working with a technology. MSFT has added a hard-blocking piece of stupidity to your cognitive load. I am sure this is not the first time! Registry problems, update problems, and now for pity's sake account problems. As a long-time user of both Linux and Windows, I'd say my OS cognitive load with Linux is almost entirely related to efficient actions, whereas with Windows I have a quiver of stupid arrows to shoot at all the problems that MSFT inflicts. When people advise you to switch to Linux if you can, they are giving solid advice.
- noosphr 5mo ago
  My Ubuntu servers have been in an undefined state since canonical botched a regular upgrade to 26.04 LTS due to the ongoing DDOS. Their status page says everything works. A simple ping tells me nothing works. Let's not pretend Microsoft has a monopoly on idiocy in the software world. All major Linux distros are hell bent on repeating the mistakes of Windows. Especially since the people in control of the stack (minus the kernel) are the rejects who couldn't make it in Microsoft and Apple in the 90s and 00s but really wanted to. Meanwhile my small happy place with OpenBSD and Guix just works.
  - codedokode 5mo ago
    Linux has lot of bugs and issues, but they are not caused by intention to make users' life worse.
    - noosphr 5mo ago
      They are caused by moral busy bodies who think they know better. To quote CS Lewis: >Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
sigseg1v 5mo ago
I used Windows since my first PC on 3.1. But recently it just became too much. Switched over to Mint for just over a year now and loving it. No issues at all for development or gaming. The machine just works. No lag at the lock screen, typing in your password and hitting enter has the desktop loaded instantly. It just works the way you expect and with the performance you expect. I used to defend Windows but I cannot say the same about it anymore.
trashface 5mo ago
FWIW I've done some d3d9 and d3d11 tinkering and my stuff looks like it works pretty good under proton.
will4274 5mo ago
> I recently got locked out of my machine because logging in with the mandatory Microsoft account-backed primary user of my machine didn't work anymore. It said I was offline and I had to use the "previous password" even though I didn't have a previous password for that account Not sure what's so confusing here... When Windows is online, it checks your password against the cloud and updates the local store. When Windows is offline, it checks your password against a local store. By previous password, Windows just means the password you used on the last successful login for the user on that machine.
- sagacity 5mo ago
  Clearly if that was the actual issue I would've been able to get it working :) The thing is, I was online, I had a working internet connection (and confirmed this by doing the 'utilman' hang to get a command prompt and getting a working ping command). It was just that Windows corrupted some kind of internal Microsoft Account connection and was locking me out.
xxs 5mo ago
there are (will be) lots of calls on the muscle memory slacking off. I can't think of anything that is not reproducible on Mint. I have tons of Windows experience (starting off by manually installing windows w/o installation floppies and manually editing win/system.ini, through win32 to current day nonsense), yet I find the command line interface of linux a lot more powerful. I am not aware of the exact use of directX, it should be possible to run Windows through virtualization just for this task. (unless wine is sufficient)
shevy-java 5mo ago
> Edit: yes, I can use Linux but I have decades of Windows muscle memory and I do a bunch of DirectX programming. I shouldn't have to switch :) The computer on my left uses Windows (Win10) so I still use Microsoft-related software. I switched to Linux in late 2004 or so. Linux kind of spoiled me here; every time I transfer files on Windows and notice how slow it is, I wonder what the heck Microslop is doing here. Why does it waste my time and my computer's resources so much? That's one example of so many more. It would be kind of great to be able to abandon Windows completely. For that Linux has to improve a lot, so that Average Joe also is able to use it just fine.
inquirerGeneral 5mo ago
[dead]
ppknsp 5mo ago
you just can't keep supporting that adware with operating system functionality and keep hoping they'll make it more convenient for you
fuckinpuppers 5mo ago
Same, I had to use some hack to trigger sticky keys on the login screen to launch cmd.exe, then I could run the few elevated commands I needed to get back in. At least notepad has rich text, AI, tabs! /s
8note 5mo ago
on a similar vein, it deleted all my mfa tokens without telling me, as part of an update that also disabled the built-in finger reader as a token source. woulda been nice to know before hand that it was going to do that, so i could make sure those other accounts werent so reliant on that finger reader working
frogperson 5mo ago
Doctor, it hurts when i put this screwdriver in my eye, please help!!
Scroll_Swe 5mo ago
I run Windows 11 on my gaming PC powerful desktop and a good work laptop. No issues. No idea what you guys are doing. I can also now run and install over cmd powershlle with choco, scoop and winget. Get Firefox, VLC, MPV and all that. Get Powertoys. Run Christitustech utlity for tweaks. So even less usage for Linux imo.
- stodor89 5mo ago
  > No idea what you guys are doing. A friend of mine has been running the same Arch install since 2009. Does this mean Linux is problem-free and people who struggle with it are doing something wrong? No, it doesn't. Same with Windows.
ray023 5mo ago
M$ account is not strictly "mandatory" as you claim. There are ways to work around this. I NEVER in my life had an M$ account, I have a GitHub Account, but that is still separate AFAIK. Rufus can mod the ISO for it, and there is another way around it during install. They just want you to use one so they can spy in you better. It's on you to have an OS account to an online service in the first place. Then entire concept is utterly retarded, I do not care who it is M$ or some of the best champions of Open Source and ethical Linux distro, I will not use any fucking account of them to log into my LOCAL PRIVATE OS, it makes ZERO sense and its pathetic how that managed to lure so many morons onto doing this. I remember first seeing this during a Win install and instantly looked for a way around it, I think they even have removed a workaround to make it even harder for people to work around this BS.
jms703 5mo ago
This exact problem was the last straw for me and pushed me to Linux on my desktop. Haven't looked back.
pseudohadamard 5mo ago
That's one thing that struck me in TFA, almost everything mentioned was stuff I never asked for and never wanted: CoPilot in my inbox, some Insider Program bumf, widgets and feeds, the sole thing in there that means anything is that updates are slightly less annoying. So TFA is really "we've spent the last two months monkeying with the crap that no-one asked for or wants, and Update is mildly less annoying". That's not really much of an announcement.
fuzzfactor 5mo ago
Well for decades Windows was adequate-to-excellent for small business and individual consumer use in major ways that Windows 11 is recently continuing to disrespect more and more, as it migrates away from how worthwhile Windows formerly used to be. All this fluff about the insider program seems to be very ignorantly missing the point. What's needed more than ever is No BS instead of more BS. Namely get Microsoft Accounts back out of the picture unless opted in. Along with curtailing Bitlocker, One Drive, Copilot, and things like that. Now to make it really good again, there needs to be no further disk activity after Windows has booted, other than user-initiated saving & loading. Plus of course no network traffic other than user-directed bandwidth usage. Along those lines I think it goes without saying that as soon as Microsoft has any legitimate commitment to open-source efforts, we'll know by the way they document & release everything they know about NTFS.

cbdevidal 5mo ago

Also years of Windows muscle memory here, especially the keyboard shortcuts. I’ve used Windows since 1997. I’ve decided I’m done. A new PC arrives in a month. It’ll be running Ubuntu. I’m done. Maybe there is a Linux language similar to DirectX you might transition to? Maybe test code in a VM? (Although that gets you right back into Win11.)

theandrewbailey 5mo ago
> Maybe there is a Linux language similar to DirectX you might transition to? Yes: DirectX. Just make sure that it runs in Wine or Proton. Nit: DirectX is a bunch of APIs and libraries, not a language. Same for Wine and Proton.
- w4rh4wk5 5mo ago
  DXVK works great for DirectX 11. However, it's rather annoying to debug through this intermediate layer. I wouldn't recommend this for development.
  - kajman 5mo ago
    Sure is nice as a user. I get better frames in some games than Windows users do!
cheschire 5mo ago
These suggestions are like telling someone that that is being harassed to maybe wear something different. While it would, yes, likely avoid the problem happening again, it shifts the responsibility to the party that should not be at fault. Meanwhile the harasser is like “what’s wrong? I took an anti-harassment class?”
- mort96 5mo ago
  It's more like telling someone in an abusive relationship to leave the abusive relationship.
  - cbdevidal 5mo ago
    Do both. Insist that the authorities reform the abuser AND leave the relationship. In a real life abusive relationship that would look like both calling the cops and leaving. In the case of software, demand reform and also switch OSes.
- lelanthran 5mo ago
  > These suggestions are like telling someone that that is being harassed to maybe wear something different. Weird analogy - it's telling someone who is paying to be abused to simply stop paying... If Windows was actually free, as in download a copy and use it as you wish, then sure, maybe you might have a (very tiny) point, but it's not like that at all.
  - cheschire 5mo ago
    Many legit users have a license applied to their Microsoft account that predates the current situation. That is to say, a license carried over from windows 10 and possibly as far back as windows 7, since there was a time where Microsoft was offering free license transfers. Many people see windows 7 as being not shitty and abusive.
    - noisem4ker 5mo ago
      > there was a time where Microsoft was offering free license transfers I don't think they ever stopped. Maybe they ceased advertising it, but installing Windows 10 over 7 or 8 would silently inherit the license far past the original terms. The time-limited offer was just a FOMO-inducing marketing scam.
wolfi1 5mo ago
Ubuntu will also introduce AI. Why not use pure Debian? (and the distribution flame war starts)
- cbdevidal 5mo ago
  I have no problem using Debian (I’m actually a Linux sysadmin by profession) so I have no problems later switching distros. But as of today, I’m happy with Ubuntu on my road laptop and I would no doubt be happy switching the home PC, too. (Actually the road lap is Lubuntu and it currently has zero visible AI influence.)
  - wolfi1 5mo ago
    they want to start with 26.10, will be interesting if they include it with a long term release
renegade-otter 5mo ago
Same. I used to develop Windows apps with Borland C++ once, that's how old I am. Last year, I finally installed a second Linux Mint boot - for Windows games! The level of disregard for quality from MS is just obnoxious. We are really crossing some kind of line here, I think, where taking the pain of migrating once seems easier than dealing with all this nonsense. (I had to clean install Windows after that infamous update with system check infinite loop at boot time).
noosphr 5mo ago
>It’ll be running Ubuntu. I’m done. https://status.canonical.com/ https://status.canonical.com/ You're in for a bad time. It's been three days and they still can't get updates to work. Get Debian if you must. Use something sane like Guix and OpenBSD if you can.
- cbdevidal 5mo ago
  I have no problem using Debian (I’m actually a Linux sysadmin by profession) so I have no problems later switching distros. But as of today, I’m happy with Ubuntu on my road laptop and I would no doubt be happy switching the home PC, too. (Actually the road lap is Lubuntu and it currently has zero visible AI influence.)
- chihuahua 5mo ago
  I've been watching Linux from a safe distance for 25+ years. The one thing that remains constant over the decades is that whenever someone says "You're having this problem? Well what did you expect, you're using X distro. Obviously you should use Y distro, then all your problems will be solved" and then another person comes along and says "No, you idiot, Y distro is completely broken, any sane person would use Z distro!" And if you play that game long enough, you eventually complete the circle.
  - pndy 5mo ago
    Haven't seen this specific "you're using wrong distro" so far. I'm more often bumping on a general rude attitude of people answering. As if asking questions, looking for solutions is not what all these distro forums were made for.
  - Orygin 5mo ago
    It's always the exact same distro, and it has been for 10+ years. Nobody is recommending it anymore but users still come with issues due to that. There are different distros for different taste/needs, but Ubuntu always has been the worst choice of all.
    - 5mo ago

irishcoffee 5mo ago

The day I can’t make a local-only account on windows (for personal use, work is a different matter unfortunately) is the day I stop using windows. It’s irritating enough that new linux installs want me to add accounts. I can skip it, which is nice, but just don’t show the screen. If you’re installing linux you either know what you’re doing or you don’t: if you do you know it’s possible and don’t need it jammed in your face, and if you don’t you’re probably not quite tall enough to understand it isn’t needed and you probably don’t want it anyways.

dmd 5mo ago
What are you suggesting here? Everyone who runs linux should log in and run everything as root all the time?
- irishcoffee 5mo ago
  No, I guess I didn’t explain it, though I thought I had. Don’t ask me to turn on location settings, don’t ask me to connect my email/online accounts, during a gui install. I can turn those on myself if I want to. Someone else up-thread pointed out that this probably exists to help windows uses transition over to a Linux install in a way that feels more familiar, and that makes sense. I don’t like it, but I can accept that. I’ll still grumble when I see that screen though.
  - dmd 5mo ago
    Oh. I thought you were talking about making a user account. I've never seen anything like that on any linux install I've ever done. But then I've been pretty much Debian-only since I started using Linux over 30 years ago.
    - irishcoffee 5mo ago
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW7Z892bsG4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW7Z892bsG4 At about 1:15.
  - 5mo ago

k4rnaj1k 5mo ago

There are ways of changing a lot of the shortcuts on Linux to be the same. And a lot of the default KDE shortcuts are similar to windows' ones iirc.

MiddleEndian 5mo ago
Yeah I've found modern KDE's shortcuts are not only similar to the best parts of Windows, but also slightly better (Win arrow keys reposition without doing minimize/maximize, only win pgdn/pgup minimize/maximize) so I can move shit around more fearlessly.

Schiendelman 5mo ago

Hello fellow DirectX programmer! I gave up and got a Mac. I made myself get used to the defaults. I can't go back. I tried putting together a gaming pc a couple years ago and Windows annoyed me too much. It's better here! And yeah - I gave up on DirectX programming to do it. I do like Metal...

ezoe 5mo ago

As Windows more and more difficult to use at very basic, after passing certain threshold, just developing on Linux is more practical. Even for DirectX.

lelanthran 5mo ago

> Edit: yes, I can use Linux but I have decades of Windows muscle memory and I do a bunch of DirectX programming. I shouldn't have to switch :) Understood. However, your choices are: 1. Keep complaining while paying $$$ for the privilege of complaining. 2. Switch to something else. My tolerance level is much lower than yours (I switched my daily driver around 1998), obviously...

orphea 5mo ago
paying $$$ There arrr the ways (depending on one's moral compass)
- forsalebypwner 5mo ago
  `irm https://get.activated.win https://get.activated.win | iex` lives in my head rent-free

alaudet 5mo ago

Have you considered Linux on bare metal and a Windows VM for your coding? Two monitor setup and you can have Windows on one side when working then all your other daily stuff is in Linux. Shared drives and clipboards make things pretty easy. Also just debloat the Windows install, why are you suffering with Co-Pilot? I have a VM running on Proxmox and I rdp to it from Linux when needed, but daily use, no way and honestly there really is no reason to put all your eggs in the Windows basket in this day and age.

heresie-dabord 5mo ago

> I can use Linux but I have decades of Windows muscle memory and I do a bunch of DirectX programming. I see a likely inversion of motives here: you earn your living coding or otherwise are deeply vested in Windows, so you are committed for survival to Windows and to fixing the absurd account problem that MSFT has inflicted on you. The expression "muscle memory" here just means the cognitive load of working with a technology. MSFT has added a hard-blocking piece of stupidity to your cognitive load. I am sure this is not the first time! Registry problems, update problems, and now for pity's sake account problems. As a long-time user of both Linux and Windows, I'd say my OS cognitive load with Linux is almost entirely related to efficient actions, whereas with Windows I have a quiver of stupid arrows to shoot at all the problems that MSFT inflicts. When people advise you to switch to Linux if you can, they are giving solid advice.

noosphr 5mo ago
My Ubuntu servers have been in an undefined state since canonical botched a regular upgrade to 26.04 LTS due to the ongoing DDOS. Their status page says everything works. A simple ping tells me nothing works. Let's not pretend Microsoft has a monopoly on idiocy in the software world. All major Linux distros are hell bent on repeating the mistakes of Windows. Especially since the people in control of the stack (minus the kernel) are the rejects who couldn't make it in Microsoft and Apple in the 90s and 00s but really wanted to. Meanwhile my small happy place with OpenBSD and Guix just works.
- codedokode 5mo ago
  Linux has lot of bugs and issues, but they are not caused by intention to make users' life worse.
  - noosphr 5mo ago
    They are caused by moral busy bodies who think they know better. To quote CS Lewis: >Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

sigseg1v 5mo ago

I used Windows since my first PC on 3.1. But recently it just became too much. Switched over to Mint for just over a year now and loving it. No issues at all for development or gaming. The machine just works. No lag at the lock screen, typing in your password and hitting enter has the desktop loaded instantly. It just works the way you expect and with the performance you expect. I used to defend Windows but I cannot say the same about it anymore.

trashface 5mo ago

FWIW I've done some d3d9 and d3d11 tinkering and my stuff looks like it works pretty good under proton.

will4274 5mo ago

> I recently got locked out of my machine because logging in with the mandatory Microsoft account-backed primary user of my machine didn't work anymore. It said I was offline and I had to use the "previous password" even though I didn't have a previous password for that account Not sure what's so confusing here... When Windows is online, it checks your password against the cloud and updates the local store. When Windows is offline, it checks your password against a local store. By previous password, Windows just means the password you used on the last successful login for the user on that machine.

sagacity 5mo ago
Clearly if that was the actual issue I would've been able to get it working :) The thing is, I was online, I had a working internet connection (and confirmed this by doing the 'utilman' hang to get a command prompt and getting a working ping command). It was just that Windows corrupted some kind of internal Microsoft Account connection and was locking me out.

xxs 5mo ago

there are (will be) lots of calls on the muscle memory slacking off. I can't think of anything that is not reproducible on Mint. I have tons of Windows experience (starting off by manually installing windows w/o installation floppies and manually editing win/system.ini, through win32 to current day nonsense), yet I find the command line interface of linux a lot more powerful. I am not aware of the exact use of directX, it should be possible to run Windows through virtualization just for this task. (unless wine is sufficient)

shevy-java 5mo ago

> Edit: yes, I can use Linux but I have decades of Windows muscle memory and I do a bunch of DirectX programming. I shouldn't have to switch :) The computer on my left uses Windows (Win10) so I still use Microsoft-related software. I switched to Linux in late 2004 or so. Linux kind of spoiled me here; every time I transfer files on Windows and notice how slow it is, I wonder what the heck Microslop is doing here. Why does it waste my time and my computer's resources so much? That's one example of so many more. It would be kind of great to be able to abandon Windows completely. For that Linux has to improve a lot, so that Average Joe also is able to use it just fine.

inquirerGeneral 5mo ago

[dead]

ppknsp 5mo ago

you just can't keep supporting that adware with operating system functionality and keep hoping they'll make it more convenient for you

fuckinpuppers 5mo ago

Same, I had to use some hack to trigger sticky keys on the login screen to launch cmd.exe, then I could run the few elevated commands I needed to get back in. At least notepad has rich text, AI, tabs! /s

8note 5mo ago

on a similar vein, it deleted all my mfa tokens without telling me, as part of an update that also disabled the built-in finger reader as a token source. woulda been nice to know before hand that it was going to do that, so i could make sure those other accounts werent so reliant on that finger reader working

frogperson 5mo ago

Doctor, it hurts when i put this screwdriver in my eye, please help!!

Scroll_Swe 5mo ago

I run Windows 11 on my gaming PC powerful desktop and a good work laptop. No issues. No idea what you guys are doing. I can also now run and install over cmd powershlle with choco, scoop and winget. Get Firefox, VLC, MPV and all that. Get Powertoys. Run Christitustech utlity for tweaks. So even less usage for Linux imo.

stodor89 5mo ago
> No idea what you guys are doing. A friend of mine has been running the same Arch install since 2009. Does this mean Linux is problem-free and people who struggle with it are doing something wrong? No, it doesn't. Same with Windows.

ray023 5mo ago

M$ account is not strictly "mandatory" as you claim. There are ways to work around this. I NEVER in my life had an M$ account, I have a GitHub Account, but that is still separate AFAIK. Rufus can mod the ISO for it, and there is another way around it during install. They just want you to use one so they can spy in you better. It's on you to have an OS account to an online service in the first place. Then entire concept is utterly retarded, I do not care who it is M$ or some of the best champions of Open Source and ethical Linux distro, I will not use any fucking account of them to log into my LOCAL PRIVATE OS, it makes ZERO sense and its pathetic how that managed to lure so many morons onto doing this. I remember first seeing this during a Win install and instantly looked for a way around it, I think they even have removed a workaround to make it even harder for people to work around this BS.

jms703 5mo ago

This exact problem was the last straw for me and pushed me to Linux on my desktop. Haven't looked back.

pseudohadamard 5mo ago

That's one thing that struck me in TFA, almost everything mentioned was stuff I never asked for and never wanted: CoPilot in my inbox, some Insider Program bumf, widgets and feeds, the sole thing in there that means anything is that updates are slightly less annoying. So TFA is really "we've spent the last two months monkeying with the crap that no-one asked for or wants, and Update is mildly less annoying". That's not really much of an announcement.

fuzzfactor 5mo ago

Well for decades Windows was adequate-to-excellent for small business and individual consumer use in major ways that Windows 11 is recently continuing to disrespect more and more, as it migrates away from how worthwhile Windows formerly used to be. All this fluff about the insider program seems to be very ignorantly missing the point. What's needed more than ever is No BS instead of more BS. Namely get Microsoft Accounts back out of the picture unless opted in. Along with curtailing Bitlocker, One Drive, Copilot, and things like that. Now to make it really good again, there needs to be no further disk activity after Windows has booted, other than user-initiated saving & loading. Plus of course no network traffic other than user-directed bandwidth usage. Along those lines I think it goes without saying that as soon as Microsoft has any legitimate commitment to open-source efforts, we'll know by the way they document & release everything they know about NTFS.