[alisonatwork]

Nope, I don't see the point now that we have SSDs and fast boot. Browsers, IDEs, even stuff like Notepad remembers where it was after a reboot so it's not like you'll lose any in-progress work you couldn't be bothered saving.

[ranger_danger]

I disagree. There are still tons of apps that don't "save state" exactly where they left off, including browsers. I absolutely dread restarting every time I am forced to do it for kernel updates, because that means I have to re-open all the same programs and navigate back to where I was again. And I don't like saving any browser history so that means re-logging into a handful of sites, doing the 2FA dance etc etc., it's really a big hassle.

[alisonatwork]

If you have chosen not to save your browser history then obviously the history will not persist - the feature you opted not to use has been disabled as designed. If you set your browser up to have persistent history (the default for all mainstream browsers) and ensure the option to restore tabs on browser restart is enabled (I think also the default nowadays due to rise of mobile) it really does just work. Worst case after an epic crash that even the browser itself doesn't recognize Ctrl-Shift-T will get you back, even if you had dozens of open tabs in multiple windows, even after a reboot.

For other stuff, if you always have the same set of programs open and always put them in the same place, your window manager should restore that for you after a reboot on UNIX. It's been two decades since I used X frequently but even back then window managers could pin apps to fixed screen positions. On Windows default positioning has often been a bit less predictable, but there are custom window managers there too if you really want it. In any case the default window manager has plenty of keyboard shortcuts to very quickly open and arrange apps how you want them.

My work laptop boots to logon before I even get the charger, mouse and monitor plugged in, and after typing my password I'm back with my browser and IDE running, VPN connected, WSL up etc in less than a minute, usually while still mid smalltalk/greetings with my colleagues.

With the move to cloud-saved everything and the expectation of users that all their data should always be synced across all their devices, you need to go out of your way to find and/or configure apps to not automatically persist settings and state these days. For some apps I make that decision deliberately because I don't trust the middle man (e.g. bookmarks and tab sync) but that's a personal choice I make to forgo convenience for privacy. If the FreeBSD (or Linux) desktop experience is not doing this kind of stuff out of the box, then I think that's one of the first things it could do to meet the expectations of people coming from Windows/Android.

From my perspective suspend/restore is perhaps fine if your laptop never leaves the office, but I usually find myself more annoyed than delighted when it kicks in by accident. Your battery life starts to hinge on literally the efficacy of your laptop's physical hinge, which if you bash your computer around a lot during commute is less dependable than an on/off switch. And nothing worse than having your back suddenly get hot because your laptop decided to wake up while you're cycling in multi-lane traffic, especially if your morning schedule has you in meetings instead of charging at your desk.

[ranger_danger]

In general I disagree with what you're saying, there are still tons of programs that don't have any cloud syncing, plus not everyone wants to use that. There's also many WM/DEs that do not re-open running programs or keep window positions, including basically all the ones I use. Plus I also run many programs as different users, for privacy/isolation purposes, which no DE can handle in that case.

I also have historically (and still) had major issues with suspend/resume when a discrete GPU is involved or some other hardware device that linux can't resume properly, I always end up having to just reboot anyways which defeats the purpose.