So basically ever since I first tried Windows 7 I held it as the āGold standardā for desktop OSās. Half my tweaks to Windows 10 were trying to get it as close to Win7 as I possibly could.
When I finally start experimenting with Linux early this year KDE quickly got me to reconsider my āGold standardā and finally switch my main machine fully to Linux.
No regrets and certainly aināt switching back even if Microsoft gave me updated Windows 7 with every extra feature I wanted back then.
I hate to say this, because I know how cringe it is, butā¦ Windows 7 actually removed a lot of features that made Windows fun. And yeah, Iām talking about ricing and Iām unironically saying ricing is valid.
The mid 2000s was an awesome time to be in the ricing community - between litestep, blackbox, foobar2k, rainlendar/rainmeter etc, you could actually make your experience look however you wanted.
And, litestep in particular, for me, was a gateway drug to openbox and therefore Linux - when you finally hit The Windows Wall, where, to go any further, you had to step into Linux, Ubuntu was there, and then Mint, and thenā¦idr what.
I still have my 2007 Ubuntu installation cd that they mailed to me for free. Sure, you could just make your own installation cd rom, but, if you couldnāt, they would happily mail you one - or, as in my case, you felt motivated to evangelize, theyād send you a bunch that you could give out to people. I gave mine to friends and left some others at the local anarchist bookstore (I donāt remember the name of it but this was Washington DC just north of Chinatown).
Windows 7 was a big step backwards. You could still do a lot of ricing, but less - and it was very clear from the direction that Windows 7 went, that whatever came next would be worse.
Fwiw rice is a backronym, it originally comes from just ārice burnersā which were the kind of cars & motorcycles that got ācosmetically enhancedā
Idk if I would say itās looks > usability, and itās certainly not gaudyā¦ There are theming styles that are much more unusable and gaudy than the āricedā look.
Itās an aesthetic that idealizes a kind of barebones utility, and while it often will lean towards the look over the usability, the look itself is like a ābeautiful utilitarianā - minimalistic, uncluttered, etc.
Oh shit, I remember LiteStep and spending hours and hours to just fiddle with how my desktop looked. I personally felt Windows 2000 was the pinnacle of MS OSs (except so many games etc. wouldnāt run because rightly the OS reported it was Windows NT and a lot of games shat themselves at that)
Haha, I remember buying Mandrake Linux CDsā¦ Iām a FreeBSD user these days (for the past 20-odd years) but still run KDE. Plus theyāre still trying to remain fairly *nix agnostic which is nice.
Iāve been a Linux user for a decade and a half now, but still use Windows on my corporate laptops. Honestly, itās baffling how Microsoft seem to consistently manage to miss the mark with the UI design. Thereās lots to be said about the underlying internals of Windows vs Linux, performance, kernel design etc., but even at the shallow, end user, āis this thing pleasant to useā stakes, they just never manage to get it right.
Windows 7 wasā¦fine. It was largely inoffensive from a shell point of view, although things about how config and settings were handled were still pretty screwy. But Windows 8 was an absolutely insane approach to UI design, Windows 10 spent an awful lot of energy just trying to de-awful it without throwing the whole thing out, and Windows 11 is missing basic UI features that even Windows 7 had.
When you look at their main commercial competition (Mac and Chromebook) or the big names in Linux (GNOME, KDE, plenty of others besides), they stand out as a company that simply canāt get it right, despite having more resources to throw at it than the rest of them put together.
It seems like a big companyās problem. They have a well-paid design\marketing department that can do whatever they want to create the best-selling interface for the new version of Windows, but before itās released, no one tested it yet for anything but bugs, and whoād argue with a flock of top designers anyway? Add here the board of directors who are here to sell them ideas and who wonāt use it either ā Iām sure they applauded to the idea of unifying mobile and desktop experience with WinPhone&Win8, but especially Tablet-Laptop transformers they saw as the future. It sounds great on the paper, right? At that time it couldāve even sounded obvious for their business. And so it happened like it did.
Linux counters it by constant feedback and competition between easily switchable DEs, users being prepared even to jump distros; Apple has a fetish for style and experience (thatās a half of their pricetag), they build their business model about looking and feel nice, so youād build an ecosystem of their products, you canāt even see error windows here and their garden is gated af; and ChromeOS\Android arenāt shy of looking what others do (like iPhoneās design findings) and conservatively taking what works, also having tons of vendor-created restyles\forks on their own platform as a testing ground for new ideas to make them then a standard. MS lack all of it, and their creative process is guided by external interests and ideals, itās just an afterthought. And as they have their stable market share, they probably wonāt even care. It took whole internetās screams to return their traditional start menu in win8.1, then w10.
Thatād probably stay the same until their new CEO would happen to be an art college graduate - like the current one pushed for accessebility and building special controllers because she has a child with a disability. A top-down signal. I wonāt bet on it anytime soon.
What drives me crazy is how they canāt update all their configuration interface to the same standard, if you go deep enough you still fine things that are unchanged since Windows 98
To me itās absurd how Microsoft gets beaten by a free desktop environment when windows is like their main product. They have billions of dollars. How do they manage to not do better?
The fact that Windows 11 has removed the ability to move the taskbar and has no intention of adding it back is just baffling to me. Itās a small thing but so jarring every time I try to use it that Iāve barely used my desktop in the last few months.
The 545 drivers are very buggy, at least for me. I downgraded to 535,hopefully we get an usable 545 soon. Also, if you feel like it you can report the issue in the nvidia forums, it might get some visibility there.
The new kernel driver 545 is constantly throwing error on cold boot. It will reach a workable desktop though.
If I reboot after the cold boot, the driver loads normally without error.
This is the first time I see information at startup about the nVidia driver loading.
Edit: Iāll just buy a AMD card next time and be done with this crap.
Also on a side note, I canāt even logon to a Wayland session, like ever. The desktop is black with only the cursor and after a couple of seconds Kwin always crashes.
Can I use MS Office natively with that? Also, can I use it as a non-techie lay man in a way that is similar to the way most office bottom-feeders use Windows?
I know there is Open Office but I am lawyer and the free office alternatives just donāt have the rich formatting options I need to do my job. I have tried and they just wonāt do.
ToC via Styles formatting and Table of authorities - these are from the top of my head, which I remember not working properly with Open Office. They need to work when I do them and also should be displayed correctly when I receive them from colleagues in docx format.
Format painter, track changes, spell checker in two languages, intendation adjustments, page breaks, and paste as text - I use these like crazy but I donāt remember if they were OK in Open Office or not.
honestly Libreoffice is not on par with MS Office. I use MS at work and Linux at home and Libreoffice is great for general use, but it is very rough around the edges, and does not have all the capability that MS does. I wish it were not the case but lack of an excellent office suite is one weaknesses of Linux.
In my opinion, it stacks up VERY well, even better, except the toolbar is by-default a mess for some reason while there's a very easy option to set it to tabbed.
How does the UI size work out for you? I recently took a look at it on a windows pc and the tiny size of most things is the one problem I have with it. Then again, I read something about being able to scale different programs individually somewhere (not for windows though)
First of all, libre office is very competent but I understand that itāll always be very behind whetever Microsoft decides to do next.
Office is available on all systems at office365.com if you must use Microsoft tools.
For the non-tech usage, very much yes. Most of the problems your hear about with linux stem from people trying to make it do stuff that you canāt dream of doing on windows because it will stop you. Simply installing a system and using it to browse the web, edit documents, maybe install a few popular programs like VLC or Discord is set-and forget. System installers have recently gotten much more noob-friendly as well, imo the debian and Pop!OS installers donāt really allow you to mess up. KDE is a good choice of DE, but you might be more confortable with others. Good news, you can decide later, as switching desktop Environments is easy and preserves your files.
Not the full suite, natively. You can install it via PlayonLinux, which works well without fiddling, or you can use Office 365 on the web.
Also, can I use it as a non-techie lay man in a way that is similar to the way most office bottom-feeders use Windows?
Yes.
I know there is Open Office but I am lawyer and the free office alternatives just donāt have the rich formatting options I need to do my job. I have tried and they just wonāt do.
Open Office is deprecated. You can use LibreOffice which is free. Or WPS Office or SoftMaker Office, which run on Linux and are 100% compatible with MS Office, but cost money.
Last I used it, it seemed to lack a lot of more advanced features. I think I especially stumbled over the bibliography, though I did not use any add-ons.
also for non-KDE, non-Gnome systems, thereās appimaged ā requires a little more setup, but handles the set executable, automates the AppImage integration (.desktop files and menus), keeps a watch on specific folders for new AppImages, and provides a way to check for updates
Iām saving this. I donāt use any appimages (except a cracked Minecraft bedrock launcher but we dont talk about that one), but Iām still going to save this.
When I clicked on new app image, the OS told me, that program /name of app/ will be launched, I clicked "Continue" and it runs! No meddling with "chmod" or anything like that.
Same, I love AppImages for that. I just wish they also had way to contain configurations instead of putting it on the system. That would make it even more portable.
I installed Linux a few weeks ago and it was on Tuesday I wanted to add some programs I had installed (it was mGBA and melonDS) to my steam launcher, I went through the hassle of making a . desktop file for both of them (I was dumb and used a Ubuntu based distro, so it installed as a snap, which sucks hard on a hdd) and then it wouldnāt launch, I searched up again (I was using chatGPT for all of this, I asked it a lot how to do stuff, itās like this was itās purpose beacuse it always worked first try), did the chmod x+ command and then I was done
There is no install needed, you can just edit permissions and make the file executable and then when you open it or click it the app runs.
What wonāt be created by default is an application menu to run it from whatever desktop environment you use. You can create those if you wish. You can create a launcher in the menu manually, or you can use a tool called AppImageLauncher to create these for you.
Honestly, if all youāve ever experienced in regards to terminals is windows CMD, then you really havenāt seen much. I mean that possitively. Actually, it will give you a far worse impression on what using a Linux / Unix terminal can be like (speaking as someone who spent what feelās like years in terminals, of which the least amount in windows CMD).
I suggest to simply play around with a Linux terminal (e.g. install VirtualBox,.then use it to install e.g. Ubuntu, then follow some simple random āLinux terminal beginner tutorialā you can find online).
I found since people are used to app stores, Iāve had a much easier time convincing people to try out Linux. My mom even said that she always wished her windows PC had a proper app store.
I donāt think getting instagram, or photoshop off the microsoft store is giving anyone a virus. And Iāve never gotten a virus from it in the few times Iāve used it.
I canāt even get the fuckinā thing to open half the time. Thereās no way in hell Iām using that buggy piece of shit to install important software.
Of course, and much of it is on the app store now (which I rarely use myself), but for someone like OPs mom who just wants an easy app store, well there is one.
I think itās still important to explain the key difference between an āapp storeā and a package repository: the latter isnāt a āstoreā because everything is free.
I came back to KDE after a long absence because I never liked it back in the day (I found it ugly and bloated). I was really surprised by how good it has become. Itās now my favourite desktop environment on Linux, and Iām looking forward to version 6. So to any other oldies still avoiding KDE because of how it used to be, itās worth another look.
I second your experience. It was not so impressive back then and 2indo2s was much nicer, but not anymore. Iām feeling it, this year Linux will be on top!
Here I am thinking thereās some obscure Linux project using a name thatās somehow a sequel to Windows, like a Windows 2, but also a play on the 2__4me meme.
Oh, this is good news for me. I remember trying KDE years ago and feeling that it was just way too heavy. My goto is usually Cinnamon, but the lack of Wayland support has made me hesitant to go all in with out on my gaming PC. Def gonna give KDE a try, thanks!
Cinnamon was where I had ended up too. So now I have a couple of Linux Mint/Cinnamon machines and a Tumbleweed/KDE machine. It surprised me that I like KDE more.
Photoshop is now available in the browser. Just Excel (not always, sometimes LibreOffice Calc with VBA compatibility does the trick), the other Adobe Creative Cloud applications, and some other Windows-only software (for example I dual boot Windows, because of advanced game macros written in AHK that donāt work on Linux via wine or ahk_x11, and I have failed in porting or rewriting them (itās too big of a task, there is a whole team behind the actual macro). Soā¦ still some reasoms to run Windows, but fhese reasons are decreasing.
Youāre casually blowing off two of the main reasons why I still have to use Windows.
Is there a Linux alternative to Excel that will allow me to reliably write and execute VBA macros that I can then deploy to my windows using co-workers?
Is there a Linux alternative to Photoshop? Doesnāt even need to be the most current version. Iād be happy with something that is functionally comparable to Photoshop 7.
Iām not being glib with those questions either. Itās been probably ten years since Iāve really used Linux. If there are legitimate alternatives Iād absolutely give it another go.
Everything you said is true, though I feel itās ultimately a comparison between apples and oranges. Hyprland is awesome because itās a tiling window manager that you can configure to your most niche desires. Gnome is awesome because itās a comprehensive desktop environment that sets everything up for you.
True. Although this post is less a comparison of the two than a renewed appreciation of what makes Gnome fantastic, especially the QOL parts taken for granted for so long ;)
this one i donāt understand im in windows insider beta so i get a lot of frequent updates but i never notice them because windows has gotten good at only doing them when im not on the computer. so ill wake up and theyāre already completed
My GF had a Windows laptop until this week and her last straw was three reboots in a row, each with over an hour of waiting for updates on shutdown and startup. She never asked for the updates, and wasnāt asked ifbahe wanted to perform them.
Now her password is required for any updates, and she controls her computer,as it should be.
I use xmonad as my main WM, so Hyprland would be a very easy transition. I would have switched by now but I just love Haskell
so much.
Iām not talented enough to port Hyprland to Haskell (at least the configuration aspect) but I wish someone wanted to do that. What I like about xmonad is that its core is actually formally verified.
For me it was the opposite. I had Ubuntu installed and wanted to do a upgrade to the next release, took around 2 hours āsettings things upā where I just said fuck it and force closed it.
My experience with big release distros was like that. I rarely had an upgrade complete without issue. Rolling release has been good to me so far. Granted, this was 10 years ago and things gave probably gotten better since.
I like EndeavourOS (Arch based) and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed (or Gecko Linux). But if you prefer sticking with apt based distro Debian Sid is a rolling release.
I think so, but from what I hear it is pretty stable, enough to use. Iād keep backups of important files, but I do that anyway. I use the Branched release myself, but an aquaintance of mine uses rawhide.
I used Manjaro in 2015 for about a year before switching to Arch and sticking with that for a long time. Recently I tried EndeavorOS for a few months, then I switched to Void just to try it.
I use Ubuntu. It generally tends to be boring stable, which is kinda what I want out of my OS these days. I can still customize it, and even break it if I really get bored, but itās nice to have things just work for the most part.
I switched to Debian Stable after using Ubuntu LTS for 6 years, and recommend Ubuntu for beginners. It is stable, best community support, boring and good olā reliable, which is perfect to learn Linux and get accustomed to it. Even corporate support and game developers target Ubuntu first. Considering it runs smoothly on a 6 year old midrange Intel laptop chip, nobody is getting that 200% performance boost with other obscure fancy distros.
Yep, games being designed to support Ubuntu first is a big reason why Iām so far into Ubuntu. I could easily switch if I needed to since Iām both a programmer and very comfortable with Linux but for me, it does everything I need an OS to do.
Debian Stable is really, really close for gaming, since Ubuntu LTS itself is based on Debian Unstable branch, if you choose to upgrade with more Linux knowledge in future. Nobara is dedicated to gaming.
Honestly speaking, I keep W10 on SSD for games if any works in a wonky manner on Linux. Takes like 30 seconds to log off Debian, boot into Windows, fire up a game, get back to Linux when not playing.
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