I just have to say, after having booted into Windows, that Linux is so much nicer than Windows when it comes to doing system “updates.”
So, here I am, sitting in my chair for about 20 minutes looking at a mostly black screen and a highly dubious looking percentage number going up very slowly. It tells me that Windows is “updating” and that I should keep the computer turned on. Good thing I have the computer turned on or I wouldn’t know that I shouldn’t have it turned off, right?
Anyway, I start to think about how this experience goes in Linux. In my experience, I do “system” updates about once a month, and I can see each individual package being installed (if I glance away from my browser session, that is). In Windows, I have no choice but to sit here and wonder if the system will even work again.
Windows decides that it wants to update drivers, apparently (I honestly have no idea what it’s doing, which is part of what pisses me off), because it reboots the computer. Then it reboots again. Then, eventually, everything goes back to the familiar Windows desktop. WTF?
How anyone could prefer Windows to Linux is truly a mystery to me.
I mean you can break Windows enough to have to debug it every five minutes, too, that would also be frustrating.
For the average user who isn’t tinkering with everything Linux is a pretty smooth and pleasant experience.
Also I’m not mystified by Windows’ market dominance, but we all know the reason isn’t because it simply provides a better experience. Most Windows users have no choice in the matter as it’s just the default.
Also software availability doesn’t have much to do with the OS. It’s a reason I don’t use Linux more, but it’s not something the OS does poorly. It’s something software developers do poorly.
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Windows is fine at being an OS, most of the time it just works. I think the exact same thing is true of certain Linux distros, especially for the average user who could load it up, browse the internet and watch videos without ever breaking or having to debug anything.
If we’re purely talking about the OS. Forget software or imagine you’re exclusively using software that works fine on both. I think Linux is a much nicer experience. It has really improved over the years.
Obviously we can’t just ignore software, though, and that’s a huge part of why Windows is still so popular. But another huge part is that Microsoft pays a lot of money to make it the default OS on lots of hardware. I can’t even think of a single person I know who chose windows, it’s just what companies use and what most computers come with pre-installed. Companies like it because Microsoft provide tech support. There are many reasons why Windows is so popular that have nothing to do with the user experience.
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Sorta but not really, it’s ubiquitous now so it almost has to be on new hardware, and Microsoft offers big discounts for OEM versions. They lose money to guarantee it stays the default I guess? Either way, I still don’t think there’s a lot of people actively choosing it.