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by tw04032023 1179 days ago
I'll bite. What are our options?

Linux desktop environments are the worst out there and I for one am eternally grateful I don't have to deal with this stuff every day. Between X11/Wayland debacle, conscious effort to prevent anything resembling backward compatibility AND proper software distribution on the platform and a myriad of minor infuriating issues in each major desktop environment I cannot fathom why people are even bothered to complain about stuff like ads.

And don't even get me started on non-user-facing issues. At this point I know enough about the innards of Linux I can barely tolerate it on my servers, and I swear I switch to BSD next time something like fsyncgate comes up. Although there are environments where I cannot opt out from Linux, sadly, so I guess I'll clench my teeth and try and bear with it.

Apple takes the sweet spot of unbearability between user-hostile Linux and consumer-hostile Windows. I mean, I used to run with Mac for several years, but I didn't buy into the "ecosystem" - and most of my user experience was to learn how to do basic stuff _differently_ for apparently no reason, user-hostile enough. Then consumer-hostility comes up - who in their right mind could even conceive notarization?

macOS is stable though, I'll give it that. But then I still don't trust Apple to do hardware besides iPhones.

If you want a stable, fast desktop on hardware of your choice where everything just works (tm) get Windows. Just uninstall what you don't need, install what you need, configure DNS or get a Pi-hole or something to get rid of ads, complain on feedback channels and call it a day.

While Windows is getting more and more consumer-hostile by the day we still don't have a viable alternative and it doesn't seem we will get one in my lifetime.

1 comments

This is not my experience either personally, or with my 70yo father in law, or employees all running Linux distros. The experience is excellent apart from battery life. My son who games on Windows hates its constant random 100% CPU usage and compulsory reboots.
Last time I checked (stock Ubuntu circa 2018) I couldn't even select files in the file manager with mouse selection rectangle if the view mode was set to table-like, like "Details" in Windows Explorer. This was my last straw, actually. I mean, how hard could this be to implement? How could they ship it without something basic like that?

I am not sure about CPU usage, but I haven't experienced compulsory reboots on any of my two Windows PCs, both running Windows 10 Pro. I know reboots happen in the background from time to time because sometimes one of these wakes to a "blank slate" state, but hey, I can live with this.