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by xerox13ster 941 days ago
This was DOS back in the day, no?

TBH I wouldn't overly mind a version of Windows that really was just a terminal on top of the kernel, with the option to use the Windows shell or whatever other shell I want or build one if that's what I desired. Much like that most proselytized of Linux distros. It would still be Windows, but I would feel in control of it to some degree.

But it would have to be something other than PowerShell, and I think that's a nonstarter for Microsoft.
6 comments
userbinator 941 days ago
TBH I wouldn't overly mind a version of Windows that really was just a terminal on top of the kernel, with the option to use the Windows shell or whatever other shell I want or build one if that's what I desired.

WinPE is literally that. A highly stripped-down version of Windows that boots to cmd.exe as a shell.

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tw04 941 days ago
They have that, it’s Windows server core.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administrat...

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wongarsu 940 days ago
The Windows kernel is genuinely great. I wouldn't mind if somebody managed to make a better shell that runs on top the commercial Windows kernel.
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layer8 940 days ago
You can configure Windows to boot into a custom shell: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell
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pjmlp 941 days ago
Windows Server Core.
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charcircuit 940 days ago
A terminal does not make something expert mode. It just means that the software has an outdated user interface.
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BillyTheMage 940 days ago
Command lines aren't outdated. They're still far more efficient than GUI for a wide range of tasks.
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charcircuit 940 days ago
Nope. Even in some absolute worst case scenario that you could come up with you can build a command line into the GUI for an application.
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BillyTheMage 940 days ago
Why would I want to use a shitty command line some developer who likes GUIs made when I could use the terminal which can be set up to my liking and my entire environment can be consistent?

That's the whole problem with GUIs in general. You're relying on the developer to expose every little thing to you as buttons and widgets. How many times have you been sitting there stuck because there just wasn't a button for the thing you wanted to do?

Also, you can't chain programs together with a GUI like you can with CLI. And your suggestion of using program-specific command lines ruins this as well.

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