Windows 11

[Kent88]

Can you imagine a new Linux user finding out they have to "mount" a drive in order to use it?

Wtf? If you didn't conclude this with a screenshot of your desktop, I'd be asking if you were still using 12.10. I haven't had issues with Linux auto-mounting a drive in years.

There's almost no operation I can do in Linux that doesn't end up with me editing yaml files, ...

I don't think I have ever had to edit a yaml file in my life. If I did it was for something no non-technical user would probably feel the need to do. Our experiences seem to be really different.

using the terminal, and googling for help. The average Windows user (non technical) will NEVER open CMD.

I know of a few Linux users who never use the command line.

And now, I can't even go on about the price tag, because you can literally use Windows 10/11 for free.

That's news to me.

 

[Snuffy]

Mate or Cinnamon? (I think that's the name of their other window manager?)

I switched to Mate to undo some Gnome 3 insanity and never looked back. But Ubuntu has a Mate distro, now, and I frequently need newer kernels than I could get on Mint. (Mostly for drivers.)

If you use Mint Mate, you might try Ubuntu Mate.

(For the Windows folks, Mate is like someone forked the WinXP desktop manager and you can run Win11 with a WinXP graphical environment.)

Cinnamon is what I'm familiar with. Never used Mate, but I remember Ubuntu as having a Mac-like desktop.

 

[Kent88]

I find it fascinating that MATE has survived so long thrived (for over ten years??!). When it came out I didn't bother because I disliked Gnome and I thought it would be transition software while the new Gnome received feedback and worked out bugs. I still prefer KDE, but enough people apparently like MATE that it has stuck around.

Goes to show that I'm kind of an idiot.

 

[mashdar]

I find it fascinating that MATE has survived so long thrived (for over ten years??!). When it came out I didn't bother because I disliked Gnome and I thought it would be transition software while the new Gnome received feedback and worked out bugs. I still prefer KDE, but enough people apparently like MATE that it has stuck around.

Goes to show that I'm kind of an idiot.

I think a lot of people like a no frills gnome 2. It literally just shows my GUIs and leaves me alone. I used KDE for ages, but during the tablet UI wars, I fled to Mate's warm embrace.

 

[Kent88]

I wish there were some solid Linux tablet distros and some quality hardware that wasn't a PITA to install it on.

 

[mashdar]

I wish there were some solid Linux tablet distros and some quality hardware that wasn't a PITA to install it on.

I'm still waiting for surface pro keyboard support ; )

 

[passedpawn]

I might be straying a bit OT, but where else to lay this. I'm sure some of you salty dogs know of Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. She coined the term "debugging" after finding a dead moth in one of the first computers the navy built in the 40's. Here's a speech from her that was recently found and transcoded from some odd tape recording in '82.

 

[Jonakr]

zero chance I'll mess with linux. it's easy to point out flaws or corporate fearmongering of Windows/MS, but what it gets right is pretty amazing. Plus, I run a LOT of different software that often needs to communicate with external hardware and I don't have time to feck around with every one of them.

I've professionally used BSD, Linux, WinBlows, Mac and etc. since '92, but I've been using computers since '81. Some are ok for home use, but Microsoft keeps doing stuff to piss me off.

 

[passedpawn]

I've professionally used BSD, Linux, WinBlows, Mac and etc. since '92, but I've been using computers since '81. Some are ok for home use, but Microsoft keeps doing stuff to piss me off.

There are 1.4 billion active Windows devices out there. They can't all be pissed off. So, maybe it's a "you thing"?

 

[Kent88]

It could also be a case of the "what random tweaks can be made to the system and our support to save/make us money while not upsetting the bulk of our customers enough to leave" cycle.

 

[sibelman]

maybe it's a "you thing"?

No, MS has annoyed many, including those who use its products and spend many thousands of taxpayer dollars on MS licenses (i.e. me).

 

[day_trippr]

Having worked at Digital Equipment Corporation (aka DEC) through its heydays (bigger than IBM in the late '80s) Doctor Hopper was omnipresent almost to the level of Ken Olsen himself. They both made it a habit of attending patent award dinners which made those events extra special (I had almost a dozen before the Compaq/HP roof fell in)...

Cheers!

 

[Jonakr]

There are 1.4 billion active Windows devices out there. They can't all be pissed off. So, maybe it's a "you thing"?

Possibly. It's also possible that I'm still correct, but most people don't care about their asshatery. I don't want targeted advertising, I want my computer to reset when I turn it off, and I don't need access to the internet to use my computer.

 

[mac_1103]

It's also possible that I'm still correct, but most people don't care about their asshatery.

Another possibility is that most people don't even consider it asshatery in the first place. After all, most windows users are nothing at all like most people posting in this thread. Just could be that they actually like the things that you hate. "I don't have to worry about backing up my stuff? Great!"

 

[Jonakr]

Another possibility is that most people don't even consider it asshatery in the first place. After all, most windows users are nothing at all like most people posting in this thread. Just could be that they actually like the things that you hate. "I don't have to worry about backing up my stuff? Great!"

All good possibilities.

 

[passedpawn]

Possibly. It's also possible that I'm still correct, but most people don't care about their asshatery. I don't want targeted advertising, I want my computer to reset when I turn it off, and I don't need access to the internet to use my computer.

That's it. I don't want one drive, co pilot, or any microsoft acct. But I wouldn't ever say I'm pissed off about it LOL.

 

[whoaru99]

Another possibility is that most people don't even consider it asshatery in the first place. After all, most windows users are nothing at all like most people posting in this thread. Just could be that they actually like the things that you hate. "I don't have to worry about backing up my stuff? Great!"

Thanks. You saved me a lot of typing out some diatribe about it being a "1%er" thing.

 

[mac_1103]

You saved me a lot of typing out some diatribe about it being a "1%er" thing.

Please don't let me stop you.

 

[estricklin]

Another possibility is that most people don't even consider it asshatery in the first place. After all, most windows users are nothing at all like most people posting in this thread. Just could be that they actually like the things that you hate. "I don't have to worry about backing up my stuff? Great!"

I do agree with your comments, most people simply act as sheep when it comes to computers or technology in general it seems.

It's worth noting that the majority of Windows users are not people at home surfing the web like they used to be. It's people working in an office, using Windows 10/11 Enterprise, that's evident by the fact that Microsoft is willing to GIVE away their OS to personal consumers. There's no money in that market for them anymore, not to mention the ease of which Windows can be "hacktivated". In a corporate environment you can't get away with dodging license fees, Microsoft does audits.

Windows Enterprise is not the same experience as the consumer licensing. I'm not personally familiar with Windows 11 Enterprise, having not used it yet, but I imagine the ads are probably dialed back significantly, or missing completely. Even if they are there, most IT departments would probably choose to blanket disable those features. One Drive, same thing, it's IT's choice.

I'm certainly NOT going to use those features on my own PC though! Disabling those obnoxious ads was my first order of business when I installed Windows 11 for the first time.

 

[whoaru99]

Please don't let me stop you.

Stop me? LOL. Simply thanking you for saving me the effort.

 

[mac_1103]

Simply thanking you for saving me the effort.

OK, you're welcome. But we all enjoy a good rant now and then. Or maybe more than now and then. Or maybe anytime for any reason...

 

[doug293cz]

OK, you're welcome. But we all enjoy a good rant now and then. Or maybe more than now and then. Or maybe anytime for any reason...

Yes! Just ask my wife.

Brew on

 

[balrog]

we all enjoy a good rant now and then

I believe this is why the internet was invented.

 

[mac_1103]

I believe this is why the internet was invented.

No, the internet was invented to waste time. Ranting is only a subset of that.

 

[passedpawn]

I do agree with your comments, most people simply act as sheep when it comes to computers or technology in general it seems.

It's worth noting that the majority of Windows users are not people at home surfing the web like they used to be. It's people working in an office, using Windows 10/11 Enterprise, that's evident by the fact that Microsoft is willing to GIVE away their OS to personal consumers. There's no money in that market for them anymore, not to mention the ease of which Windows can be "hacktivated". In a corporate environment you can't get away with dodging license fees, Microsoft does audits.

Windows Enterprise is not the same experience as the consumer licensing. I'm not personally familiar with Windows 11 Enterprise, having not used it yet, but I imagine the ads are probably dialed back significantly, or missing completely. Even if they are there, most IT departments would probably choose to blanket disable those features. One Drive, same thing, it's IT's choice.

I'm certainly NOT going to use those features on my own PC though! Disabling those obnoxious ads was my first order of business when I installed Windows 11 for the first time.

Hmm, I don't even remember seeing any sort of ad on my PC. Maybe I disabled that so quick I didn't notice.

And One Drive is one of the easiest uninstalls you'll ever do. Not a single question or anything, just boom gone. Though, I do know technical people that use it and like it.

 

[sibelman]

No, the internet was invented to waste time. Ranting is only a subset of that.

I thought it was for porn.

 

[tracer bullet]

I thought it was for porn.

Probably was. Isn't roughly every internet invention tied to it? Why not the internet itself?

 

[sibelman]

Probably was. Isn't roughly every internet invention tied to it? Why not the internet itself?

In the early days of the public internet, I remember reading that porn constituted over 50% of the traffic. Today? Dunno.

 

[whoaru99]

OK, you're welcome. But we all enjoy a good rant now and then. Or maybe more than now and then. Or maybe anytime for any reason...

I used to think a good rant was helpful/healthy in some way by getting "it" off your chest. Pretty sure that's not actually true. LOL.

 

[passedpawn]

In the early days of the public internet, I remember reading that porn constituted over 50% of the traffic. Today? Dunno.

Maybe. I remember when the whole physics dept where I was a member (not at a school, but a nuclear-type DOE facility) waited all day for a usenet image to download. It was uuencoded which was a 7-bit format, and (IIRC) we had to sew a bunch of downloads together to form one image. Ultimately, success. In those days, you could almost count the bits as they streamed in.

 

[sibelman]

uuencoded

IIRC, for me the uuencoded files were all from BBSs, not yet the actual internet. Now, we "text" images (and even videos, I suppose).

 

[passedpawn]

IIRC, for me the uuencoded files were all from BBSs, not yet the actual internet. Now, we "text" images (and even videos, I suppose).

Maybe. Those memories are quite blurry now. But I do think the alt.binaries on usenet were uuencode.

 

[day_trippr]

That sounds right, but it has been awhile since I was firing up Agent on the regular

Cheers!

 

[estricklin]

Hmm, I don't even remember seeing any sort of ad on my PC. Maybe I disabled that so quick I didn't notice.

And One Drive is one of the easiest uninstalls you'll ever do. Not a single question or anything, just boom gone. Though, I do know technical people that use it and like it.

I installed Windows 11 on my youngest daughter's new PC earlier this week, and I remoted in tonight to set things up, ya know not wanting to brave the cheeto keyboard and lipstick smeared desk. I don't see any ads in the start menu, but there's plenty of stuff here I wouldn't want to see.

This is my first time installing Windows 11 using the "Rufus" method, and this is definitely how I'll be doing it from now on. All the hardware bypass in the registry was already done in the ISO, along with answering no to the privacy invasion radio buttons, AND an offline account was automatically created for me. I could have swore I seen ads in the start menu on my laptop at work, but I'm not seeing them here. Maybe Rufus took care of that for me.

Other cool thing, I bought a Ryzen 4500, 16 gb of RAM, 512 NVME and a decent Asus mobo from Newegg, $228 at my front door. We already had the case, psu and gpu. I can't believe parts are so damn cheap these days. She's very happy to be Robloxin it up again.

 

[Kent88]

What's she doing with OBS Studio?

 

[estricklin]

What's she doing with OBS Studio?

Haha, I'd be more worried about Rockstar Games though. I remoted in to her PC, I just didn't bother to crop or edit the screenshot.

 

[Kent88]

Kinda neat she has the Arduino IDE.

 

[day_trippr]

Doesn't everyone?

 

[passedpawn]

Doesn't everyone? downloaded the IDE today. Heck is a sketch lol?

no. tho, I just downloaded today. bit of a coincidence. new client asked me to redesign a board they have that had an arm M0 processor on it, and they have some odd psuedo-code they've been running on it. based on an arduino.

 

[day_trippr]

I was mostly kidding - but while it's called "Arduino IDE", there's an imperial crap ton of non Atmel silicon supported by that program, and particularly with Expressif stuff showing up all over in both raw and fancy-packaged forms there's good reason for a lot of folks to have it installed...

Cheers!