[HN Gopher] Why can an ad break the Windows 11 desktop and taskbar?
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Why can an ad break the Windows 11 desktop and taskbar?
 
Author : MBCook
Score  : 301 points
Date   : 2021-09-03 14:00 UTC (9 hours ago)
 
web link (www.ctrl.blog)
w3m dump (www.ctrl.blog)
 
| [deleted]
 
| jseigj43 wrote:
| Windows sucks, what's new.
 
  | syncbehind wrote:
  | Thanks for your insightful comment.
 
    | phaemon wrote:
    | Indeed, not an insightful comment at all. Everyone knows
    | that.
 
  | cortexio wrote:
  | There's some trouble in afghanistan (that's kinda new)
 
| at_a_remove wrote:
| I wonder if the LTSC version will have this nonsense in it.
 
| nicholashead wrote:
| I had a weird issue the other day (two days ago?) too where
| trying to load Microsoft Store/check for updates would just
| completely freeze the program. And also my start menu would not
| execute apps - I could search for them and hit enter to run them
| - but nothing would happen.
| 
| I'm wondering if it was related to some of this. You're
| absolutely right that an OS should never "soft-lock" on
| cloud/networking issues. It's insane to me that we still deal
| with this as programmers in the year 2021. Write asynchronous
| code. Expect network slowness or weirdness.
 
  | d2wa wrote:
  | If I remember correctly, then your specific issue was
  | supposedly fixed in one of the recent Insider builds.
  | 
  | Windows Search is heavily cloud-dependent, and yes it's
  | performance suffers under poor network conditions.
 
| eplanit wrote:
| How can people trust a company with a product like this, and a
| product history like it has, with their code on Github, or with
| their personal/career info on LinkedIn?
| 
| I've always considered Microsoft as the "McDonalds of Software"
| -- they sell billions of copies, but the product isn't of quality
| or healthy.
 
| hpoe wrote:
| Just saying I've been using Ubuntu for my primary work machine
| (in a massive company) for over a year now and things work great,
| haven't had to fiddle with anything strange haven't had any weird
| issues and the UI is much nicer than Windows. I'd recommend
| giving it a try.
 
| dano5 wrote:
| because it's beta? ^^
 
| dano5 wrote:
| because it's beta? ^^
| 
| but joke aside, I don't get ads in the taskbar or start menu
 
| bastawhiz wrote:
| Operating systems in beta are buggy, usually up until the
| eleventh hour. Yet, we continue to be surprised when the latest
| macOS preview or Windows beta eats our homework.
| 
| Just a couple months ago we were bemoaning the issues in macOS
| Monterey, including VPN apps just not working. If you don't want
| bugs, don't run the beta.
| 
| Edit: why the downvotes? A bug in a beta is the only news here.
| Ads in Windows are not new. Critical bugs in Windows are not new.
| Windows updates and services breaking Windows is not new.
| Literally the whole point of the beta program is to find bugs
| like this.
 
| jrockway wrote:
| As I always say in these threads, I would be happy to pay
| Microsoft for a Windows license that doesn't have Cortana, Teams,
| telemetry uploads, the app store, etc. I just want to run
| applications that through past probably-illegal monopolistic
| actions, require APIs that only exist on Windows machines. Accept
| that you are just boring plumbing, and don't have any "value
| added services", and you earn my money. (Oh, and ship the damn
| patch for Hyper-V that adds nested virtualization on AMD
| processors. It's been in preview builds for like 2 years!)
| 
| Computers are about the applications you run and what you make
| with them. Nobody wants to know the name of their OS vendor, or
| buy anything else from them. Sorry, Microsoft. If something is
| good, I'll find out about it. (Happy to pay for Github, for
| example!)
 
  | Causality1 wrote:
  | Sounds like you want Windows AME.
 
  | n8cpdx wrote:
  | I'd like to see windows be part of office 365. Windows users
  | get 'free' Windows on the desktop and Mac users can get
  | licenses for parallels.
  | 
  | Maybe they could set it up so that Windows is free with ads,
  | but subscribers can turn everything off and get full control.
 
  | eric__cartman wrote:
  | Windows should have a "minimal install" option were it only
  | installs the base operating sysyem and not much else. That's
  | why Windows XP/7 will always be the pinnacle of Windows
  | releases in my opinion.
 
  | zakary wrote:
  | I had exactly the same issue. The solution is Windows LTSC
  | (long term service package). It has no Cortana, teams, or
  | Windows store, no Telemetry, and only update about once a month
  | and it never updates automatically, only when you allow it to.
  | It's designed for applications where a computer has to be
  | stable for a long time.
  | 
  | A copy can be a pain to get a hold of because Microsoft only
  | want to licence it to corporate clients, so it's usually not
  | possible for individuals to buy a licence at any price.
  | Microsoft really don't want regular people to have access to
  | it.
  | 
  | but if you look on your favourite piracy site you should see
  | it. Then use a Windows keygen and presto it's activated.
 
| lobocinza wrote:
| Until it's a 'commercial offense' I will counter/refuse
| everything that contain ads.
 
| neogodless wrote:
| My history is rusty, but the first ads in Windows were probably
| in Windows 8 live tiles in the Start Menu. (Not including
| Internet Explorer being forced upon everyone.)
| 
| But it expanded from there - there are ads in Settings
| encouraging browser choice and discouraging changes to default
| applications.
| 
| Ads all over your first-run experience.
| 
| Ads _in the taskbar_ encouraging you to use Edge and Teams.
| 
| The ad system is heavily integrated into Explorer / taskbar.
| Which is how poorly constructed ads can break such vital
| operating machinery.
 
  | dboreham wrote:
  | MS were talking to partners about selling ads on Win95 before
  | it was released.
 
    | quietbritishjim wrote:
    | Depending on whether you count internal properties, there's
    | the MSN icon on the desktop by default on Win95.
 
  | ByteWelder wrote:
  | Even ads on the lock screen (for Microsoft Edge) and through
  | MS-certified drivers (e.g. Corsair iCue, Dolby Atmos).
 
  | drcongo wrote:
  | And they charge you to use this?
 
    | neogodless wrote:
    | Sort of? I've been building PCs for about 20 years, and when
    | doing it for others, I'd have them buy a license. For myself,
    | the only time I can recall buying a Windows license was for
    | Windows Home Server and WHS 2011. I got a free Windows 7
    | Ultimate license, which I have now upgraded through 8/8.1 to
    | 10 Pro.
    | 
    | But yes, a mainstream Windows user pays for a Windows
    | license, either through a direct license purchase, or through
    | the baked in price of a machine.
    | 
    | Most users did not pay to upgrade machines from 7/8/8.1 to
    | 10, but that was a bargain with the devil, as it made it
    | easier on the decision-makers at Microsoft to find other ways
    | to make money off of Windows 10 users.
 
      | drcongo wrote:
      | What a horror story, thanks for the comprehensive answer.
 
      | thaumasiotes wrote:
      | > Most users did not pay to upgrade machines from 7/8/8.1
      | to 10, but that was a bargain with the devil
      | 
      | Bargain with the devil? Most users didn't pay to upgrade
      | machines from 7/8 to 10 because they had nothing to gain
      | from the upgrade. You only bargain to get things that you
      | want.
 
      | sharken wrote:
      | Part of setting up a Win 10 machine should include
      | disabling telemetry, even though it's not easy.
      | 
      | https://winaero.com/how-to-disable-telemetry-and-data-
      | collec...
      | 
      | It probably won't be long before the Windows 11 version is
      | here.
 
    | IshKebab wrote:
    | Barely. You've been able to upgrade for free for at least 10
    | years, and even a new license is like PS30.
    | 
    | It's not surprising they're trying to add adverts. Sucks
    | though.
 
      | profunctor wrote:
      | Where can I get a legit license for PS30?
 
  | mortenlarsen wrote:
  | Not the first ad related issue. Ads in Skype ran unsandboxed
  | javascript, allowing filesystem access.
 
  | chungy wrote:
  | Windows 98 had the Channel Bar enabled by default, which was
  | ostensibly just advertising.
 
  | ProfessionalHat wrote:
  | Yes, it looks like the ads started coming in when MS realized
  | the potential earnings from a market dominant browser. Since
  | they lost the browser war, they have now converted their
  | operating system into a browser with integrated crap (like IE
  | toolbars) in forms of bing search, cortana, app recommendations
  | etc.
 
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| > However, that doesn't answer why the Windows shell was so
| poorly architect in the first place.
| 
| It's simple really: Microsoft doesn't have any competent
| developers working on the Windows user interfaces. My guess is
| that if you display any competence you wind up being moved to
| somewhere they care about like Azure, PowerShell, or the
| licensing team.
| 
| At this point I'm wondering if it is worth trying to build my own
| desktop on top of Windows Server Core.
 
  | markus_zhang wrote:
  | I'm wondering what's the average programming skill MSFT takes
  | in. I mean they definitely have a lot of competitive people who
  | work in kernels and system programming fields, but I'm not sure
  | about the other departments. Maybe the less important fields
  | are for new hires to get into the game and that's why they
  | suck.
 
  | Arainach wrote:
  | This is insulting and trivially untrue. The Windows shell org
  | has a number of excellent engineers. When I was at Microsoft it
  | was one of the most senior and highest-tenured orgs. There are
  | fantastic engineers such as Raymond Chen
  | (https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/) and many more.
  | 
  | Do not mistake domains you don't understand as being bad at
  | things. Programs and extensions that are 26 years old are still
  | running strong on Windows 10 today. The economy runs on ancient
  | tools that rely on that compatibility.
  | 
  | Throwing together a pretty context menu isn't as important as
  | making sure that all of the UI elements are accessible to
  | screen readers and other tools. It's also trivial compared to
  | ensuring that old programs that assumed they could just click
  | on the third menu item to make something happen keep working
  | even if you redesign the menu.
 
    | only_as_i_fall wrote:
    | Is your argument that the windows desktop is a good piece of
    | software or that software developers who consistently create
    | bad software are actually good developers?
    | 
    | I realize most of the terrible bloat, adware, security holes
    | etc are probably caused by external factors, but at some
    | point I think it's important to take responsibility for your
    | own work and either push back on or move on.
 
      | Arainach wrote:
      | I certainly consider it a good piece of software. It does
      | more things across more environments than its competitors.
      | 
      | I have and regularly use machines with all the major
      | desktop platforms in my house - Windows, OS X, Linux,
      | Chrome OS. While I cycle between them, I strongly prefer
      | the Windows machines. The alternatives are all are missing
      | all sorts of window management things such as snapping to
      | screen quadrants and multimon borders, keyboard shortcuts
      | for moving and snapping windows. Monitors with different
      | DPIs is a challenge on Mac and hopeless on Linux. There are
      | all sorts of UI affordances in Windows to do things like
      | open new copies of an app (middle click on the taskbar
      | icon), close an app (middle click on the taskbar preview),
      | and so on.
      | 
      | There are a number of changes I strongly disagree with in
      | Windows 11 such as removing the ability to put the taskbar
      | on the side, but as a whole I still think the Windows
      | desktop is an excellent piece of software that's
      | significantly more usable than the alternatives.
 
  | the_only_law wrote:
  | > At this point I'm wondering if it is worth trying to build my
  | own desktop on top of Windows Server Core.
  | 
  | Supposedly there used to be all sorts of third party shells.
  | Only thing I've found to still exist are a few black box ports
  | though.
 
  | lghh wrote:
  | > Microsoft doesn't have any competent developers working on
  | the Windows user interfaces
  | 
  | Oh please. Do you really think that MS has nobody with any
  | level of competency on any single team in their entire org? Do
  | you really think that low of others? Could it possibly be that
  | sometimes... things have bugs? Shit breaks in ways you don't
  | expect. Things happen.
  | 
  | Painting an entire group of people you've never met with such a
  | large brush is gross. It's just software and these are just
  | people.
 
    | burnished wrote:
    | Its a little hyperbolic of them, but the root issue is still
    | that a buggy advertisement in the operating system, as part
    | of a non-vital cloud service, caused the operating system to
    | break. This doesn't feel like an "it happens", right?
 
    | flohofwoe wrote:
    | If it would be the exception to the norm that would be fair.
    | But the bugs and regressions in the Windows desktop UI are so
    | numerous these days that there must be a reason why the
    | quality is so much below the average. Poor management driving
    | the good developers out could be one of them (or it's just
    | because they fired their QA, who knows).
 
    | aspaceman wrote:
    | It's gross incompetence.
    | 
    | If you have Microsoft's resources, you should be able to
    | compete with a good UI. They can't. To me, that's a sign of
    | complete incompetence. Excuse it however you like, but those
    | guys are getting paid and failing at the job.
    | 
    | I don't understand the need to apoligize for shit software.
    | It's shit. I don't care that some idiot spent their whole
    | life taking that shit. It still smells, looks, and tastes
    | like shit. I'm not going to enjoy it as a delicacy because
    | they "care".
 
    | seph-reed wrote:
    | As a competent developer of user interfaces, I'd consider
    | working for Microsoft career suicide.
    | 
    | It would look bad on my resume. And given how much of a mess
    | it is, it sounds like a terribly stressful job. I think any
    | dev who doesn't see those red flags (or care about them) is
    | very, very likely incompetent.
    | 
    | Honestly, even they weren't it's like a self fulfilling
    | prophecy. It's fairly incompetent to take a job that people
    | believe is for incompetent people. Unless you totally turn
    | shit around, which obviously nobody has.
 
      | sk5t wrote:
      | Might it be that not everyone would view taking on a big
      | challenge with a potential ton of impact "career suicide"--
      | or, would you shun an industry peer who tried to make
      | Windows better?
 
    | RHSeeger wrote:
    | > Shit breaks in ways you don't expect.
    | 
    | Well, to be fair, the cause and effect in this case shouldn't
    | even be connected in a way that allows for this. It's like a
    | bad CD in your car stereo causing your engine to fail. A
    | smart car manufacturer makes it so that the data bus cannot
    | send information from the public areas to the engine area. A
    | bad car manufacturer does not put up those blocks.
 
      | habeebtc wrote:
      | It is unlikely. But that can actually happen.
      | 
      | A catastrophic failure of the head unit can impact the
      | electrical system which can do weird things with the spark
      | plugs or other systems.
 
      | HPsquared wrote:
      | Cars aren't always the greatest either - never mind the CD
      | player, the radio receiver can be an entry point:
      | 
      | https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33622298
 
        | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
        | Automotive EE here. Worth noting that almost every
        | infotainment system is android or Linux-based right now.
        | 
        | They crash all the time. They're absolutely awful
        | quality. they are made almost exclusively with cheap
        | foreign engineering. It's really the wild west when it
        | comes to things.
        | 
        | There vehicle interfaces are usually subsystem modules in
        | the radio. Your Linux side talks to your "vehicle side"
        | over usb, uart, SPI, etc. There is still a good module
        | there most of the time, but it has 100% trust of its main
        | processor.
        | 
        | Since 2018, US vehicles since almost all come with a
        | firewall to separate the radio/telemetric/infotainment
        | busses from the vehicle busses.
        | 
        | Their solution wasn't to harden the fancy systems, it was
        | just to separate them from the important ones.
        | 
        | I despite these big stupid complicated displays that
        | encourage accidents.
 
    | api wrote:
    | Really really good developers are in high demand, and they're
    | hard to find. At the top there's a ton of salary competition
    | with the FAANG companies and other large companies, or with
    | startups that offer equity and more interesting work. MS is
    | neither of these.
 
    | bbarnett wrote:
    | _Oh please. Do you really think that MS has nobody with any
    | level of competency on any single team in their entire org?_
    | 
    | He said no such thing.
 
      | Arainach wrote:
      | " Microsoft doesn't have any competent developers working
      | on the Windows user interfaces"
      | 
      | Verbatim quote. The commenter being responded to said
      | exactly that.
 
        | bbarnett wrote:
        | And?
 
        | lghh wrote:
        | > And?
        | 
        | It seems the did in fact say such a thing that you said
        | they didn't say.
        | 
        | I imagine you're misinterpreting what I said. That's
        | reasonable, I can see how I was not clear.
        | 
        | I was saying that there's no way there's a single team at
        | MS that does not have a competent person on it, not that
        | there's no way ALL teams have 0 competent people on it.
 
        | [deleted]
 
    | HumblyTossed wrote:
    | > Shit breaks in ways you don't expect.
    | 
    | It broke because it could not hit an unessential cloud
    | service. This is absolutely something someone should have
    | expected.
 
      | ChuckNorris89 wrote:
      | _> This is absolutely something someone should have
      | expected_
      | 
      | It's ok, we rushed the implementation to meet this sprint's
      | goals, the fix is part of the next sprint. /s
 
        | laumars wrote:
        | In fairness, this kind of mistake is the kind I'd expect
        | a junior to make, and only the once.
        | 
        | Putting time outs and other error handling around remote
        | endpoints is prettier much the first lesson you're taught
        | when interfacing with remote end points.
        | 
        | Yes mistakes happen and I've seen other companies ship
        | products that have failed in similar ways, but I've
        | always believed Microsoft is thought of as a FANNG and to
        | see a school boy error in their flag ship product a
        | couple of months before it ships really makes me question
        | the standard of leadership running the team.
        | 
        | Who's QAing it? Why wasn't those functions covered in
        | unit tests? Who peer reviewed that code? And who's
        | running the development teams that allow all this
        | guardrails to fail? It's not just one engineer who had to
        | fuck up to cause that bug.
 
        | ziml77 wrote:
        | I had the misfortune of working with a vendor that did
        | work in sprints. I couldn't see it as anything other than
        | an awful way to work that caused things to take longer
        | than they needed to because priorities couldn't be
        | shifted on the fly and anything other than break fixes
        | couldn't be released mid-sprint.
        | 
        | That fixed release cycle might make certain things
        | easier, but it also causes a forced lag on all changes
        | and encourages shipping code that isn't actually complete
        | so you don't have to tell people to wait another 2 weeks
        | for the change.
 
        | ed_elliott_asc wrote:
        | This pretty much sums up sprints, extra meetings at start
        | and end, less flexibility (we don't want to change the
        | scope of the sprint) and generally worse for everyone.
        | 
        | I wish some of Kanban was more widely accepted,
        | especially things like making sure you have enough worked
        | planned in the backlog to just keep taking tasks and
        | working on them till completion.
 
        | robocat wrote:
        | https://apenwarr.ca/log/20171213 - "An epic treatise on
        | scheduling, bug tracking, and triage" includes comments
        | on software Kanban and has same well written hate on
        | sprints.
 
      | [deleted]
 
    | hulitu wrote:
    | Taking into account the mess win 10 UI is together with Teams
    | and Office 365 i would say that, yes, they don't have any
    | competent developer in those teams.
 
    | cortexio wrote:
    | watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99dKzubvpKE&t=70s
 
    | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
    | > Oh please. Do you really think that MS has nobody with any
    | level of competency on any single team in their entire org?
    | 
    | I dunno, let's see:
    | 
    | > Microsoft doesn't have any competent developers working on
    | the Windows user interfaces
    | 
    | Looks like I am specifically calling out one subset here in
    | particular. So I would say that no, no I don't believe what
    | you're implying I believe.
    | 
    | > Could it possibly be that sometimes... things have bugs?
    | Shit breaks in ways you don't expect. Things happen.
    | 
    | Bugs happen to everyone, but the people working on the
    | Windows interfaces have poor architectural choices,
    | nonsensical user-hostile decisions, and a history of
    | reinventing the wheel with slower (and buggier!), less
    | featureful, interfaces.
    | 
    | > Painting an entire group of people you've never met with
    | such a large brush is gross. It's just software and these are
    | just people.
    | 
    | This is the image they project into the world, if they want
    | to be thought of differently then they should actually do
    | something to project that image instead.
 
      | marcus_holmes wrote:
      | I suspect the nonsensical user-hostile decisions are not
      | being made by the devs themselves. And if I was in their
      | position (of implementing nonsensical user-hostile
      | decisions) I would probably not give two shits whether it
      | was done well or not.
 
        | only_as_i_fall wrote:
        | And I don't think anyone would blame you as a person for
        | making that choice, but I also wouldn't call you a highly
        | competent developer.
 
      | jerhewet wrote:
      | It's very refreshing for me to find someone that can
      | succinctly describe how fucking incompetent almost all of
      | the UI / UX designers and developers at Microsoft are
      | without being hammered down as "a troll" in the comments.
      | 
      | There are a LOT of us out here that remember how well
      | things were designed and implemented 20, 30, and 40 years
      | ago, and how disgustingly broken everything is now, and how
      | everyone nowadays ACCEPTS THIS AS NORMAL.
      | 
      | Microsoft Teams is a steaming pile of shit. Windows Desktop
      | Explorer is a steaming pile of shit. The XAML bullshit
      | they're using for the Start Menu button in Windows 10 (and
      | I'm guessing Windows 11, since I am _not_ going to be
      | installing it) is a steaming pile of shit. Microsoft 's
      | invasive advertising and telemetry IN A DESKTOP OPERATING
      | SYSTEM is a steaming pile of shit.
      | 
      | People need to stop pretending this shit isn't broken.
      | People need to stop calling people who point out how
      | fucking broken this shit is "trolls".
 
    | tapoxi wrote:
    | It's part of the HN Cycle(tm)
    | 
    | * Blog complains about Windows being a mess
    | 
    | * Comments about how the Mac workflow is better
    | 
    | * Blog complains about how the Mac is too restricted
    | 
    | * Comments about how Linux is finally good now(r)
    | 
    | * Blog complains about Linux desktop
    | 
    | * Comments about how WSL2 saved them from the nightmare that
    | is GNOME/KDE/etc
    | 
    | repeat ad nauseum
 
      | prewett wrote:
      | This is hilarious because it's so true... There's also a
      | conversational/argumentative style where you take the
      | opposite position, either because you like to go against
      | the flow or because you want to see how well the other
      | guy's argument stands up to yours. I think if you look at
      | my comments I tend to have a lot that are "well, no,
      | ". If I'm at all
      | representative of HN, it would surprise me if part of the
      | HN Cycle(tm) is contrarianness.
 
      | AQuantized wrote:
      | I do think it's finally become true (for me at least) that
      | desktop linux is Actually Good (c)
      | 
      | Previously on more user friendly distros like Ubuntu I
      | didn't feel that the advantages over Windows were
      | significant enough to warrant certain software suites being
      | unavailable (adobe, autocad, etc.). And lightweight distros
      | like Arch caused too much headache even with the wiki and
      | knowing "what you were doing."
      | 
      | Arch now feels both relatively easy to use day to day,
      | while still being incredibly customizable with almost no
      | bloatware. The only real problem is certain almost non-
      | negotiable utilities like PulseAudio not necessarily being
      | as high quality as most of the user utilities.
 
        | criley2 wrote:
        | I'd be willing to try linux again, but the thing that
        | stops me every time is having to go into terminal and
        | start building my f'n software and manually updating or
        | fixing some terminal only setting that is breaking things
        | 
        | I absolutely refuse to use an operating system for casual
        | use that requires daily terminal knowledge and endless
        | googling to remember and use.
        | 
        | It is what it is, but I do enough of this stuff
        | professionally that I want an operating system that works
        | from the second you push the power button with
        | peripherals and software that work instantly after
        | plugging in.
        | 
        | The second I'm digging through old forums looking for
        | some multi-line arcane terminal script to paste to make
        | things work, I boot back into something else and delete
        | the linux partition
 
        | [deleted]
 
        | Closi wrote:
        | Linux desktop is awful. At least WSL2 saved me from the
        | nightmare that is GNOME/KDE/etc
 
        | dividedbyzero wrote:
        | I like the Mac workflow a lot better.
 
        | bogeholm wrote:
        | I think the Mac is getting too restricted these days,
        | with the T2 and SIP and all
 
      | ASalazarMX wrote:
      | Except it's not a cycle, those are different people
      | commenting different topics.
 
        | hapidjus wrote:
        | Its a cycle on HN.
 
        | robertlagrant wrote:
        | Yes, if someone from one group states a position, someone
        | from another group will rebut it. It's not a quirky
        | pattern, it's just how discussion works.
 
        | [deleted]
 
      | Mikeb85 wrote:
      | True the gist of it is that people just like complaining
      | and that the grass is always greener.
 
    | 908B64B197 wrote:
    | I think someone is angry he failed his interview in
    | Redmond...
 
    | only_as_i_fall wrote:
    | As others have pointed out, the very reason they're facing
    | this much criticism is because this bug was very foreseeable
    | and avoidable.
 
    | bodge5000 wrote:
    | Its a controversial opinion (I think) but I'm inclined to
    | agree. I do tend to find that devs are often much harsher to
    | other devs, sometimes unfairly so, than any other profession
    | that I know of.
    | 
    | If you complain your mechanic is slow and expensive, a load
    | of other mechanics will come and tell you (and probably
    | rightly so) that the job is more difficult and complex than
    | you know of. But you don't see that often with devs, which is
    | a bit disappointing.
 
      | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
      | Probably because your mechanic isn't actively making your
      | car perform worse, gluing ads onto the body, or redesigning
      | your steering wheel based on the latest fads.
 
        | nhinck wrote:
        | > gluing ads onto the body
        | 
        | Surprisingly I have heard of this being done. Mechanics
        | placing stickers on windows without permission.
 
        | ChuckNorris89 wrote:
        | I see this in Europe a lot. Brand new cars often have the
        | dealership name and logo on a sticker on the back window,
        | or the license plate frame, or even the body of the car.
        | 
        | Jesus Christ, is the dealership playing me to advertise
        | their business on the item I just paid them money for?!
        | If not, then take that branding shit off!
 
        | jagger27 wrote:
        | This happens in North America too. I explicitly asked the
        | dealer where I bought my car not to slap their unpaid
        | adverts all over it, and they still put a sticker on the
        | trunk lid, a license plate frame on the rear, and an
        | inventory tracking sticker on the windshield.
 
        | bodge5000 wrote:
        | I highly doubt the devs themselves run microsoft. I could
        | be wrong but theres probably a manager or two in there as
        | well. Maybe I'm stuck in the past, but I was under the
        | impression that devs build the thing, others decide what
        | it is thats built. If that is the case, then I personally
        | wouldn't call a dev 'incompetant' because of a decision
        | not made by them.
        | 
        | Of course you could say they should stand up against
        | this, but again, whilst theres this hostility towards
        | other devs, why are you going to risk not being able to
        | put food on the table for someone on the internet who
        | thinks your an idiot?
        | 
        | (As an aside, the analogy doesn't really stretch that far
        | since developers are hired by companies whereas mechanics
        | are paid directly by customers. Perhaps car designers
        | would be a better fit here, but again, other car
        | designers would be quick to point out the problems with
        | your complaints, but thats by the by)
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | > Of course you could say they should stand up against
        | this, but again, whilst theres this hostility towards
        | other devs, why are you going to risk not being able to
        | put food on the table for someone on the internet who
        | thinks your an idiot?
        | 
        | Very few developers are in the position of starving if
        | they refuse to implement terrible ideas. If they are in
        | that position, fine, but at least feel an appropriate
        | amount of shame for the garbage you're making.
        | 
        | > Perhaps car designers would be a better fit here, but
        | again, other car designers would be quick to point out
        | the problems with your complaints, but thats by the by
        | 
        | I think the car designer version supports what I'm
        | saying: Tesla wants to replace the steering wheel with a
        | yoke and people are rightly criticizing them for it.
 
        | ed_elliott_asc wrote:
        | I'm a contractor working for a consultancy who is working
        | for a tobacco company, I was told it would be a retail
        | client and I feel bad, not bad enough to quit immediately
        | as i do genuinely need the money right now but I'll leave
        | when I can.
        | 
        | (I tried passive aggressively quitting by insisting they
        | put my day rate up expecting them to say no but they did)
 
      | shawnz wrote:
      | Anecdotally I think it's pretty common for mechanics to
      | claim that their competitors don't know what they're doing.
 
        | bodge5000 wrote:
        | Maybe that was a terrible example, although I could be
        | wrong.
        | 
        | It kind of makes sense actually, of course I hear of more
        | developers being hostile to other developers compared to
        | say mechanics, but that could be because I hear from more
        | developers full stop. There's probably a term for it and
        | everything.
        | 
        | That being said, I'm sure I've come across a lot more
        | camaraderie amongst other professions than developers.
        | Anecdotally, I know theres been a few times I've
        | complained about or seen people complain about a certain
        | profession and seen a wave of posts come in from other
        | workers defending them. Then again, its possible those
        | just stick out in my mind more than the many times that
        | presumably hasn't happened.
 
        | ralgozino wrote:
        | I think that you have this impression because you are
        | comparing the inside of a professional environment with
        | the outside of others. I'm pretty sure that in inner
        | circles of other professions they speak trash of others,
        | but you don't see it from the outside, just like a random
        | Joe won't never read HN whrrry devs speak trash of other
        | devs
 
      | dylan604 wrote:
      | I see you've never been in a video editing bay. An editor
      | is where all of the results from the other crafts of trade
      | all land in one pile. Plus, it's actually the editor's job
      | to get rid of the crap and pull out the gems. The vitriol
      | I've heard (and given) from an edit bay would make for a
      | great niche series that would only be understood by other
      | editors (meaning it would not be succesful).
 
        | bodge5000 wrote:
        | That sounds more like banter (or something like that) to
        | me to be honest, I haven't been to a video editing bay so
        | yeh I have no idea, but to be honest in my experience the
        | vitriol given is inversely proportional to how serious it
        | is.
        | 
        | As I said, could be wrong though, maybe developers arent
        | alone in not liking each other
 
        | dylan604 wrote:
        | >As I said, could be wrong though, maybe developers arent
        | alone in not liking each other
        | 
        | of course there are other groups of people that don't
        | like other people. have you seen the world today?
 
        | monkpit wrote:
        | > today
        | 
        | Sorry, this bugs me. Forming groups of humans that
        | dislike other groups of humans is as old as humanity
        | itself.
 
        | dylan604 wrote:
        | fair play, which only solidifies the point further
 
        | bodge5000 wrote:
        | I assume your joking, but there has been a problem of
        | people taking things far too literally in this thread, so
        | in case not, I meant developers being often unfairly
        | harsh to other developers.
 
        | dylan604 wrote:
        | >maybe developers arent alone in not liking each other
        | 
        | Of course I'm not dead serious, but there is some
        | seriousness implied. You called out devs specifically not
        | being alone in not liking one another. I made a reference
        | to another profession that doesn't like their direct
        | related counterparts. What in the world did you think
        | that meant? There are not chefs that don't like other
        | chefs or that there are not chefs that don't like devs?
 
      | veltas wrote:
      | I told my current mechanic about my last mechanic's quote
      | for a job and they laughed and said it was a rip-off and
      | otherwise derided them. And my current mechanic works fast
      | and doesn't waste my money.
 
        | ed_elliott_asc wrote:
        | Have your wheels fallen off yet :)
 
      | Rd6n6 wrote:
      | Other professions have professional organizations that have
      | strict rules about maintaining the public trust in the
      | profession. Challenging each other's competence publicly is
      | really discouraged. By contrast, many trades people can
      | criticize each other and do so endlessly... even though
      | those trades have a higher bar for being allowed to
      | practice than software does. It's harder to make a
      | spaghetti mess that somebody else has to build on because
      | of standards and physical constraints too
 
        | bodge5000 wrote:
        | I think that might be it, mechanics wasn't really the
        | example I was going for, but I couldn't think of the
        | actual profession (something like an architect I guess).
        | I guess it might just be a trades thing, which as you say
        | makes sense
 
  | mattowen_uk wrote:
  | > _At this point I 'm wondering if it is worth trying to build
  | my own desktop on top of Windows Server Core._
  | 
  | Oh, I'm not the only one thinking this then! That's good to
  | know. For years I've been tinkering at the edges of this by
  | having my own app launcher, and my own desktop widgets, and an
  | explorer style start menu navigation app.
  | 
  | All I need is to hook into the systray (although, do I need
  | that? it's just a distraction), and put together a good/fast
  | app switcher app, and I could ditch explorer.exe and the
  | startmenu app completely.
 
    | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
    | Honestly I'm surprised I haven't yet stumbled across a
    | community of people doing this. If I had to guess, there's
    | probably a stumbling block that makes it unsuitable for a lot
    | of desktop use cases that I'm not aware of.
 
      | pacifika wrote:
      | It used to be the case that directx 9 wouldn't install, and
      | several software would detect the server is and refuse.
 
    | selfhoster11 wrote:
    | I'm pretty sure Retrobar will work with the systray, that is
    | if you're into the classic Windows taskbar experience.
 
  | mathattack wrote:
  | This is also why they never bother getting cut and paste to
  | work between apps from companies they buy.
  | 
  | It's compounded by clueless salespeople who don't know their
  | products well enough to push the improvements that their
  | customers want.
 
    | thrower123 wrote:
    | The inconsistency in the way copy/paste works just inside of
    | Outlook is maddening.
    | 
    | Copy text and an image from an email? Images paste in all
    | broken.
    | 
    | Copy just the image from the email? Sometimes it works,
    | sometimes it doesn't.
    | 
    | Copy the image from the email, paste it into Paint, crop the
    | canvas, then copy from Paint into whatever? Works every time.
 
      | sixothree wrote:
      | Excel is even worse. Perform any action between the time
      | you copy and the time you paste and everything on your
      | clipboard is lost.
 
        | markus_zhang wrote:
        | Yeah this really sucks. Fortunately I'm largely away from
        | the spreadsheet world. My motto is stay as far away from
        | business as you can and have a happy life.
 
        | joenathanone wrote:
        | Excel is insane, the undo button is universal, meaning if
        | you are editing multiple spreadsheets, you can't just
        | undo changes to one of them if you made a mistake between
        | editing, you have to undo all changes to all open
        | spreadsheets to get back to your desired undo point.
 
        | tragomaskhalos wrote:
        | Joel Spolsky used to work on Excel and he has written
        | some brilliant stuff about it (at least, in its early
        | days). My personal favourite is the revelation that the
        | Excel team had their own C compiler, which kind of takes
        | Not Invented Here into the stratosphere.
 
        | officeplant wrote:
        | This is why I always open up multiple instances of Excel.
 
        | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
        | It's still an MDI app under the covers (not that that's
        | any excuse).
 
        | quakeguy wrote:
        | Yeah, this is so unproductive, it boggles the mind.
 
        | hughrr wrote:
        | Oh god this is one feature that literally makes me want
        | to jump on a plane to Redmond and throw my own excrement
        | at them like a deranged chimpanzee.
 
      | [deleted]
 
      | RubberbandSoul wrote:
      | I have the habit of "washing" everything with Notepad to
      | get rid of inconsistencies:
      | 
      | Copy text, data, etc from wherever
      | 
      | Paste it into Notepad
      | 
      | Copy it again
      | 
      | Paste it where you want it and then apply any formatting
      | according to the destination app's formatting rules
      | 
      | Not a great workaround but at least it works.
 
        | inetknght wrote:
        | > _I have the habit of "washing" everything with Notepad
        | to get rid of inconsistencies_
        | 
        | I also do that. I 100% attribute that to browsers and
        | people who want to copy/paste HTML and have it all
        | colorized and formatted in the destination app.
 
        | klyrs wrote:
        | FWIW, this is necessary in linux and android too.
 
        | toto444 wrote:
        | I used to do that and then I learnt about Crt + Shift +
        | v. That pastes the text without any formatting.
 
        | TorKlingberg wrote:
        | Ctrl+Shift+V is great, when it works. Which it doesn't
        | annoyingly often, such as Atlassian's Confluence wiki. So
        | I paste and re-copy things in the URL bar all the time.
        | Ctrl + L V A X
 
        | InitialLastName wrote:
        | That's broken in Outlook 2108. Now they want you to paste
        | (CTRL+V) and then hold CTRL and click on/navigate to the
        | obscure icon for the paste variant you want.
 
        | jon_richards wrote:
        | That used to work in Google sheets, but now it only
        | pastes the last thing copied _from_ Google sheets. Really
        | frustrating.
 
        | orangepurple wrote:
        | In Windows programs another shortcut for unformatted text
        | is Control Alt V where Control Shift V does not work
        | 
        | https://superuser.com/questions/407113/shortcut-in-word-
        | or-e...
 
        | tragomaskhalos wrote:
        | Ah yes - the "sheepdip" as we call it
 
  | hughrr wrote:
  | How bold of you to suggest they have anyone competent working
  | on PowerShell or Azure.
  | 
  | Everything I go near from them is a monumental crapfest these
  | days. They could be a good platform if they stopped this
  | schizophrenic direction changing and actually fixed shit rather
  | than hiding it behind layers of new shit.
 
    | markus_zhang wrote:
    | That's the reality of modern software development: creating
    | new shits on top of old shits. They don't have the time to
    | clean up the old shits. I guess we have to accept that.
 
      | hughrr wrote:
      | The problem is if it was a zoo this deep in shit it'd be
      | shut down from an animal welfare point of view.
      | 
      | Perhaps we should consider software welfare as well.
      | 
      | "Clean up your shit or we'll fine you"
 
      | nitrogen wrote:
      | If copyright terms didn't last so long, then other people
      | could take the old layers and "compost" them into
      | fertilizer for new code.
 
        | marcodiego wrote:
        | only if the code was available.
 
        | selfhoster11 wrote:
        | I think you have an excellent point.
 
| alkonaut wrote:
| The Windows Shell works the way it does because it worked that
| way before. If I wrote an extension for explorer 15 years ago and
| it used a bug or even an undocumented api it probably still
| works. That's the good thing. The other side of the coin is that
| things can never fundamentally be fixed. It appears that explorer
| must block the UI thread while waiting for a network share
| operation (for example) due to some fundamental eternal
| compatibility promise.
 
  | banana_giraffe wrote:
  | Not any more. I mean, they'll still work, but shell extensions
  | are now hidden behind another layer in the right click menu on
  | Windows 11.
 
| kwonkicker wrote:
| Wait, why are we ok with the fact that windows has ads in them?
 
  | fron wrote:
  | The choices are to accept Windows w/ ads, or reject Windows
  | altogether
  | 
  | It's not about being ok with it, it's about only having the
  | nuclear option, switching OS entirely, as the alternative
 
| phreack wrote:
| They coupled the OS to cloud stuff so tightly they break
| together? That's so absolutely bonkers, even if it's a boiled
| frog situation, I'm speechless. I'll start dual booting Linux to
| get used to it because this is finally unacceptable.
 
  | pas wrote:
  | Well, considering that real frogs jump out when the water gets
  | too hot, maybe people will too. (If there's an alternative, and
  | they really feel the inconvenience.)
 
| unanswered wrote:
| Expect more of the same. My impression from my years in the
| Windows org is that the only team with any devs remaining working
| on the desktop version of Windows is the shell team, and that is
| being staffed more and more by webdevs.
 
  | blibble wrote:
  | I for one can't wait for explorer.exe to be entirely replaced
  | by Electron
 
| alexeiz wrote:
| Microsoft Teams was installed on my test Windows 11 box without
| asking. When the Teams notification appeared, I was like "WTF is
| this shit?" I had to go, search for Teams in the start menu and
| then uninstall it. After this incident upgrading to Windows 11
| I'm not.
 
  | a13n wrote:
  | I'm pretty sure Teams came with installing office for me, not
  | installing Windows 11. I could be wrong though.
 
    | nicce wrote:
    | Teams is intended to be part of the Win 11. They have had
    | even ads about that; no need to install it anymore!
    | 
    | https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/24/22548738/microsoft-
    | teams-...
 
| jacquesm wrote:
| Well, it's a surface so therefore sooner or later it will be
| plastered with ads and functionality is secondary to eyeballs. So
| this is more or less by design. Every time you see a surface that
| does not have advertising on it you have to wonder how long it
| will remain that way.
 
| adamdusty wrote:
| This happened to my girlfriend's laptop that she uses for school.
| By the time they released this fix I had already backed up what
| she needed, wiped the SSD, and installed a clean version of
| windows 10. After that, we'll both be on windows 10 as long as
| possible.
 
  | MBCook wrote:
  | She was running a pre-release OS?
 
    | bitwize wrote:
    | Well, she is dating a Hackernews.
 
      | lostlogin wrote:
      | Which is why it's mystifying. If she was running an obscure
      | distro, compiled from source after checking each line for
      | nefarious code _like everyone should do_ , and after having
      | prepared the hardware (carefully consulting the
      | compatibility list), that would be normal.
 
  | post-it wrote:
  | Best not to use a beta OS on your main workstation anyway.
 
  | syncbehind wrote:
  | Why would you ever run a beta/ pre-release on your main
  | machine? That seems like asking for trouble.
 
    | adamdusty wrote:
    | She can do whatever she wants with her stuff. I told her I
    | could run it back for her if she wanted when I saw she was on
    | 11 but she said she liked it.
 
| HumblyTossed wrote:
| > How come that it would stop responding just because of one
| failed cloud service?
| 
| Because the network the developers are on ALWAYS connects to the
| cloud service so nobody ever ran into an issue.
 
  | grishka wrote:
  | Unless the main purpose of your software is to be a client for
  | an online service, you should always assume that the normal
  | state of the user's network connection is offline, and being
  | online is an exception.
 
| emn13 wrote:
| Sigh, now I pressed Win+C because the article mentioned it... of
| course that opens cortana, the app that insists on being
| unclosable and sticking around in your alt-tab order, no matter
| whatever you do.
| 
| Lovely.
 
  | aspaceman wrote:
  | Really wish I could meet the idiot who closed that bug as WNF.
  | Just know they have some dumb as rocks reason for keeping that
  | behavior.
  | 
  | "The user may want to return to Cortana. WNF"
 
    | lostlogin wrote:
    | Siri on the Mac isn't this bad but it is also horrible.
    | Getting it too never appear and never try to help is an
    | irritating step which is required on a new install.
 
    | emn13 wrote:
    | It's also just plain weird and inconsistent - like so many
    | windows apps by MS. The default OS behavior is fine, and
    | works. Why are they going to the extra effort to _break_ it?
    | Other apps sometimes decide to minimize to the tray, but even
    | those don 't stick around in your alt-tab order o_O. You'd
    | think first party apps would adhere _more_ strictly to OS
    | norms, but no...
 
      | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
      | Dark patterns make money. MS likes making money. If you
      | don't want to be a pawn in their social experiment use
      | something else.
 
      | Piskvorrr wrote:
      | ($_$) Why indeed...?
 
  | neogodless wrote:
  | Ah in Windows 10. It's slightly harder to close, but... task
  | manager > end task does it!
 
  | d2wa wrote:
  | It's C for Chat in Win11.
 
    | WorldMaker wrote:
    | Used to be C for Charms in Windows 8. RIP
    | 
    | (Global Share/Print/Cast/Project was a good idea, just needed
    | more apps to support it.)
 
| Mindwipe wrote:
| Well, ultimately because the new taskbar is a half finished mess,
| and the idea that it is ready to push out a month from now to
| mass users is completely bonkers.
 
| Piskvorrr wrote:
| Windows (a product that you need to _buy_ a license for) has
| builtin ads. Well, good for MS, I guess...as for me, I 'm quite
| happy that MS has pushed me away from its stack already with
| Vista: it sure isn't getting any better.
 
  | mschuster91 wrote:
  | Windows 7 was a perfectly decent OS. In my opinion, the best
  | one they ever made. Rock solid in the end, able to run on
  | anything from ultra low cost embedded stuff to high performance
  | workstations, no ads...
  | 
  | Only thing that bugs me to no end is that they never released a
  | "final" version that has _all_ available security and quality
  | updates included, so one does not need to run Windows Update
  | for hours after a fresh SP1 install (after wasting hours
  | getting WU to _run_ in the first place, it broke thanks to some
  | signature hashing update).
 
    | wintermutestwin wrote:
    | ? In your 1st paragraph, you praise Win7 as "rock solid," and
    | in the 2nd, you point out the incredibly lame and
    | showstopping bugs in their SHIT updater which show just how
    | jello solid their OS is. I have the same types of updater
    | issues on Win10 boxes I have to support. I assume that the
    | new clusterfuck will be more of the same.
 
| stefan_ wrote:
| Remember when 70% of iOS apps stopped working because the
| Facebook SDK crashed on launch after Facebook servers started
| sending slightly differently formatted JSON crap? And then, it
| happened again?
| 
| Looks like this innovation has finally landed in Windows!
 
  | chadlavi wrote:
  | That was third party apps. This is the OS itself.
 
    | stefan_ wrote:
    | A distinction without a difference, my favorite.
 
      | chadlavi wrote:
      | It's not my fault if you can't tell why a third party app
      | crashing because of its developers' choices and the entire
      | operating system crashing because of the OS developer's
      | choices are very different things
 
| HelixEndeavor wrote:
| The fact that we're no longer shocked and aghast at the idea of
| Microsoft pushing advertisements to the desktop - but rather that
| those ads have bugs in them - shows how far the Overton window
| has shifted. Boiling the frog.
 
  | city41 wrote:
  | A good time to thank Stallman for seeing all this coming and
  | preparing way back in 1983. As far as I know he was the first
  | person to kick off the open source OS effort, and of course
  | quite a few people have helped over the decades.
 
    | sneak wrote:
    | None of the OSes that Stallman suggests are acceptable are
    | actually acceptable, though.
    | 
    | No real way to build a skyscraper or produce a state of the
    | art feature film on free software.
    | 
    | Stallman was as wrong about just as much stuff as he was
    | right.
    | 
    | It turns out that a few hundred billion dollars of paid
    | software engineering effort can't simply be waved away as
    | "nonfree, so irrelevant". The whole world moved on to devices
    | where not only is the software nonfree, there is not even an
    | option of choosing free software, and, even if there were,
    | there is no comparable free software to choose.
    | 
    | Why? Because they work better and allow you to get more
    | things done in less time.
 
      | arminiusreturns wrote:
      | What OS's RMS suggest are irrelevant to the gp's comment
      | that RMS saw this slippery slope in computing coming long
      | before most.
      | 
      | > No real way to build a skyscraper or produce a state of
      | the art feature film on free software.
      | 
      | Yes, CAD software is a known issue in FOSS land, but you
      | can still run them in wine on linux when you have to. It is
      | getting better though, lots of consistent updates to some
      | of the foss-cads.
      | 
      | Blender on the other hand, is now often the backbone of the
      | feature film industry. As a matter of fact a large portion
      | of the industry is moving more and more towards at least
      | OSS. (https://www.aswf.io/projects/)
      | 
      | > The whole world moved on to devices where not only is the
      | software nonfree
      | 
      | This is a blanket statement and not true. What about the
      | fact that foss generally runs the vast majority of the
      | internet that allows those non-free devices to function?
      | You've basically got a bunch of linux boxes at the edge of
      | every residential network. Reminds of that time I got into
      | an argument with the Guardians senior technical editor who
      | tried to tell me linux was irrelevant... The supercomputing
      | top 500 certainly doesn't reflect such claims, since you
      | mentioned "state-of-the-art".
      | 
      | > there is not even an option of choosing free software,
      | and, even if there were, there is no comparable free
      | software to choose.
      | 
      | In the vast majority of the cases, there are plenty of FOSS
      | alternatives to choose.
      | 
      | > Why? Because they work better and allow you to get more
      | things done in less time.
      | 
      | Why? Because the school system got locked into to
      | proprietary software when it shouldn't have and thats all
      | they train people on for the most part. Not because of
      | inherent issues in the software interface.
 
        | danudey wrote:
        | > Yes, CAD software is a known issue in FOSS land, but
        | you can still run them in wine on linux when you have to.
        | It is getting better though, lots of consistent updates
        | to some of the foss-cads.
        | 
        | And if you have any issue at all and need technical
        | support, the company will say "That is not a supported
        | configuration, sorry." and you're on your own.
        | 
        | > This is a blanket statement and not true. What about
        | the fact that foss generally runs the vast majority of
        | the internet that allows those non-free devices to
        | function?
        | 
        | And non-free software runs the networking hardware that
        | that internet runs over.
        | 
        | > Because the school system got locked into to
        | proprietary software when it shouldn't have and thats all
        | they train people on for the most part.
        | 
        | Because the school system trains people on what is
        | actually being used, and not on what should,
        | theoretically, be used, in a hypothetical scenario where
        | everyone has weeks or months to relearn everything they
        | know about computing (like how to install and use Linux,
        | and then how to install and use Wine, and then how to
        | install and use their proprietary business tools on Wine
        | on Linux and solve any bugs that come up).
 
        | sneak wrote:
        | I was always perplexed at Blender's quality and polish,
        | given that it is F/OSS. It turns out it started off as
        | proprietary software, and was open-sourced later. (It's
        | also impossible to create a feature film, start to
        | finish, with Blender alone, which was my point; not that
        | there aren't 3d animation tools that work on linux.)
 
        | AlexAndScripts wrote:
        | Almost all of Blenders development has been as FOSS
        | software. It was open sourced in 2002.
 
      | ravenstine wrote:
      | > No real way to build a skyscraper or produce a state of
      | the art feature film on free software.
      | 
      | I don't know much about building skyscrapers, but we
      | neither need "state of the art feature film" nor are
      | incapable of producing _perfectly adequate_ film with the
      | tools currently available as free software. There are also
      | countless feature film and animation tools that run and are
      | used on Linux all the time.
      | 
      | Irrespective, I do actually think your viewpoint is valid
      | generally speaking in that FOSS operating systems are
      | inadequate for general purpose computing. They're great for
      | servers or specific tooling, but they suck horse chestnuts
      | if you just want something you can install whatever you
      | want on them and just expect it to work as well as you can
      | on something like macOS or Windows. Those who deny that
      | usually are power users that don't see things from the
      | perspective of the average person who isn't a software
      | engineer or tinkerer.
      | 
      | Of course, this is a failing of both the system and society
      | itself. We ought to know better, but we are too lazy and
      | too hooked on convenience to care enough.
 
        | boudin wrote:
        | That's far from being true. Installing software on
        | Windows and Macos is a shitshow.
        | 
        | Dealing with updates is such a pain that it built the
        | habit of ignoring updates as much as possible by default.
        | 
        | The only thing that made things a bit better for users
        | with little technical knowledge is the fact that more
        | things are done in the browser nowdays, and this is true
        | for any operating system.
 
      | mrmonkeyman wrote:
      | Feudal serf: without the master we would have nothing.
      | 
      | Reality: a really tiny, almost microscopic group of free
      | software enthousiasts have brought forth at least a couple
      | of the best OSes the world will ever have, one of those
      | being more successful than all others combined (Linux).
      | There is more to computing than the desktop (and mobile).
      | You have been lied to and will be lied to forever until you
      | stop being a serf. Hard pill to swallow but no, proprietary
      | bullshit "products" build by slaves don't hold a candle to
      | anything produced by a group of skilled and competent
      | enthousiasts not driven (and distracted) by morally
      | repulsive and objectively suboptimal incentives.
 
      | y4mi wrote:
      | Most of the apps on my phone are from f-droid so your
      | premise is void.
      | 
      | It's true that it's unreasonably hard to get a decent
      | mobile device that's also free by his definition, but there
      | definitely are free app choices which are often superior to
      | their closed equivalent if you step outside of the apple
      | ecosphere.
 
        | sneak wrote:
        | How about the baseband? How about the tools used to
        | design the CPU? How about the firmware in the handheld
        | scanner that the delivery person used to bring it to you?
 
      | _Algernon_ wrote:
      | >Stallman was as wrong about just as much stuff as he was
      | right.
      | 
      | When it comes to predicting the future correctly, 50/50 is
      | a pretty good track record IMHO.
 
        | sneak wrote:
        | The >=50% he was wrong about (I phrased it carefully, it
        | could even be 99/1, as he has been Quite Seriously Wrong
        | about many other things (how to lead FSF, how to
        | communicate with the public, how to behave at
        | conferences)) is likely of vastly greater importance than
        | the few minor technical aspects he was right about.
        | 
        | I'm on Team Free Software but I'm also on Team
        | Productivity and it turns out that software engineering
        | matters a lot to the latter and the quality and quantity
        | of engineering effort put into free software is a tiny,
        | tiny fraction of that put in to nonfree software.
        | 
        | I doubt the right way to change this is by yelling
        | at/chastising users and developers. If it were, Stallman
        | would have been successful. As it appears, he's been
        | mostly a failure.
 
      | city41 wrote:
      | Why does it have to be an either/or? Of course Stallman and
      | a large group of volunteers can't compete with giant
      | corporations. But their contributions are very valuable and
      | needed.
      | 
      | It also turns out that few hundred billion dollars of paid
      | software engineering was greatly subsidized by volunteer
      | open source work. Every Android phone in the world uses an
      | open source kernel as one very obvious example.
      | 
      | I for one am very grateful for Stallman and everyone else.
      | I use Linux for everything. Works great, meets all of my
      | needs with zero complaints. If it wasn't for them, I'd have
      | no choice but to use Windows or MacOS.
 
        | sneak wrote:
        | > _Of course Stallman and a large group of volunteers can
        | 't compete with giant corporations._
        | 
        | If they (or their ideology) can't, then nothing else they
        | say has any relevance.
        | 
        | > _But their contributions are very valuable and needed._
        | 
        | How so? Decades of their braying has not solved the
        | problem; indeed things have gotten much worse.
 
    | pjmlp wrote:
    | Not really, the only reason why UNIX got widespread was
    | because originally AT&T wasn't allowed to charge for it, and
    | its source code was available for a symbolic price alongside
    | the source code, which eventually lead to the UNIX V6
    | annotated book.
    | 
    | Had AT&T been allowed to sell UNIX from the get go, Stallman
    | would have had to base his endevours on something else.
    | 
    | Then again, it doesn't matter given the amount of GPL-hate
    | nowadays that everyone goes with business friendly licenses.
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
  | This is the inevitable result of Win10 being "free". They have
  | to generate revenue somehow.
 
  | arminiusreturns wrote:
  | but but... _microsoft of today isn 't like the microsoft of the
  | 90's, right?_
  | 
  | So glad I saw this coming about windows 8/10 and left windows
  | land never to look back.
 
  | Joeri wrote:
  | I'm ok with cheaper products that are funded with ads. I'm not
  | ok with not having the option to pay more to not see ads.
  | 
  | - How can I pay microsoft to never see an ad in windows?
  | (paying for office 365 gets rid of most of them, but not all)
  | 
  | - How can I pay my cable provider to not see unskippable ads in
  | on-demand content?
  | 
  | - How can I pay my newspaper to have an app that doesn't show
  | me an ad every couple of pages?
  | 
  | - How can I pay google to just show me the results, without
  | filling the majority of the page with ads? (Paper cut: this
  | used to exist, but google got rid of it before I ever found out
  | it existed.)
 
    | jabbany wrote:
    | This also potentially gives rise to perverse incentives like
    | the one described in this comic: https://www.smbc-
    | comics.com/comic/2012-01-12
    | 
    | Basically if there's an option to remove ads the platform
    | hosting ads will be incentivized to pick _worse_ ads to get
    | people to pay up the removal fee.
    | 
    | A lot F2P smartphone games are examples of this in action...
    | they offer a way to remove ads by paying but then in return
    | have some of the worst unskippable ads before you've paid.
 
    | cogman10 wrote:
    | Agreed.
    | 
    | The fact that all software seems to be migrating towards
    | being totally funded by ads or subscriptions is distressing.
    | 
    | I just want to pay a fixed price and own something again. It
    | drives me nuts that now-a-days everything is about rent
    | seeking or shoving ads into view (or both, see streaming
    | media services).
 
    | lotsofpulp wrote:
    | By giving you the option of paying to avoid ads, the entity
    | selling ads drastically lowers the price of their remaining
    | ads since the people buying ads are very interested in
    | advertising to those who have the ability to not pay for ads.
 
      | justin_oaks wrote:
      | Perhaps people buying ads are interested in advertising to
      | people with the money to avoid the ads... but is it wise
      | to?
      | 
      | I would be interested to see how effective ads are for
      | different groups of people. Are the people who are paying
      | to get rid of the ads more or less susceptible to buying
      | products based on an ad?
      | 
      | As a person who gets annoyed at ads, I would be LESS likely
      | to buy something that I've seen from an intrusive ad.
 
      | stronglikedan wrote:
      | Huh, insightful! I never thought of it that way.
 
  | zdragnar wrote:
  | We have had ads in windows since st least the release of 8 many
  | years ago (many in tech time at least). On top of that,
  | manufacturers have been pushing ads onto windows for even
  | longer in the form of preinstalled crapware.
  | 
  | The bug is really the only thing that is new here.
 
| Jalad wrote:
| Reminds me of this Leslie Lamport quote:
| 
|  _A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer
| you didn 't even know existed can render your own computer
| unusable_
| 
| Although I wasn't expecting a Windows 11 desktop machine to be a
| distributed system!
 
| glecedric wrote:
| Does anyone know if the Windows 11 pro version will have the ads
| and privacy shenanigans ?. Or you require the enterprise version,
| which is not easy to get for the average joe.
 
  | CTOSian wrote:
  | last week I tried the w10 enterprise (latest iso) and -holy
  | crap- on the start menu search , there was an ad "for
  | minecraft", I did run those removeappx scripts but even then...
  | yes I am back to linux (not everything is fantastic there, I am
  | talking about theming) but when I remove the m$-edge and the
  | darn thing is being reinstalled AGAIN after an update, that is
  | absurd -not to mention I had to play with the policy to cut off
  | the telemetry - at least on linux I have the friggin control.
 
| 0xcde4c3db wrote:
| On this note, is anyone familiar with the state of alternative
| Windows shells? The last time I played with them was ca. 20 years
| ago when the cool kids were running LiteStep on Windows XP.
| 
| The LiteStep web site and forums still seem to be up, but I don't
| think it's been under active development for quite a while. I've
| also seen some scattered praise for Classic Shell / Open Shell
| (although I'm not sure whether that's a full shell replacement)
| and heard of a handful of people running the ReactOS shell on
| Windows.
| 
| Is this still at all viable, or has MS made an intractable mess
| of the relevant APIs over the years?
 
| [deleted]
 
| jumelles wrote:
| I'm not crazy! I had to reinstall Windows last night, extremely
| frustrating.
 
| yoyohello13 wrote:
| Everyone blames Microsoft for this shit, but the real blame
| should go to everyone who STILL chooses to use their user
| hostile, buggy, platform.
| 
| If you want to see stuff like this change then use an OS that
| actually views its users as more than ad revenue.
 
| lpcvoid wrote:
| It saddens me that a developer decided to stuff json into the
| registry, when it's perfectly possible to instead store nice and
| compact binary data structures. But this is 2021, can't have
| efficient data representation anymore.
 
  | rdiddly wrote:
  | I was, not quite saddened, but surprised, to see JSON in the
  | registry recently. I forget where it was though or what I was
  | doing.
 
    | yabones wrote:
    | I've seen XML hex encoded before. That was from a Toshiba
    | printer driver on win 7. This seems like the logical next
    | step...
 
  | babypuncher wrote:
  | I prefer data be serialized into something human readable
  | wherever there is _any_ chance a person might want to edit it
  | manually. Storage is dirt cheap and de-serializing JSON is very
  | fast.
  | 
  | The registry isn't the place to do it, and I'm surprised anyone
  | still bothers with it in 2021. All my software relies on config
  | files, and this is the pattern Microsoft themselves have
  | promoted for years with .NET
 
| dimgl wrote:
| I'm trying to break away from Windows but Linux OSes are in such
| poor shape as replacements for workstations... In particular I'm
| talking about desktop environments, not so much the OSes
| themselves, although the kernel and the OSes at times have their
| own problems too.
| 
| I decided to try GNOME 40, everything was sort of okay until I
| couldn't even even pin custom applications to the dock... I had
| to write .desktop files or something and I just gave up. I also
| tried ElementaryOS but still ran into tons of usability issues.
| 
| Granted, a lot of those issues are because some apps are missing
| Linux specific functionality and developers aren't really focused
| on supporting Linux, but honestly there are power users waiting
| to get away from Windows right now. Every other week my friends
| are talking about how once there's a good Linux alternative
| they're switching and never looking back. Now with Valve's Proton
| things are looking better than ever for gaming, but it still
| feels like Linux has a long way to go.
 
  | walteweiss wrote:
  | Before I switched to Linux (from macOS) I believed such
  | commenters as they gave me the plausible excuse.
  | 
  | This is wrong. Linux is very good for an average person.
  | 
  | Well, if that average person wants to do something unusual and
  | doesn't want to invest even a fraction of their time into
  | learning the system... well, blame on them. Making a desktop
  | file is no rocket science, and something you can learn how to
  | do within half an hour at most. Don't listen to someone who
  | makes such a bold statement as 'Linux in such a bad state' and
  | then immediately shows their lack of competence with showing
  | they are unable to make a desktop file. It is not Linux, it is
  | you and all those guys who upvoted you to become the top voted
  | comment on this thread.
  | 
  | ElementaryOS is trash, just get yourself Fedora Workstation or
  | even Ubuntu, if you have no idea of how to deal with Linux,
  | changes are it will be much easier for you with those distros.
 
    | dimgl wrote:
    | It sucks to say this on Hacker News, but you're being really
    | naive. If I, as a power user, have trouble installing and
    | even running Linux, how can you expect a normal user to do
    | it?
    | 
    | I run into non-stop issues with Linux. I ran into a bug where
    | I can't even boot into a Linux OS without artifacts if I have
    | more than one monitor turned on. I ran into sound driver bugs
    | where my microphone pitch is completely off on Discord and
    | other apps. The Fedora installer didn't even open for me.
    | 
    | Linux is not accessible. If it was, you'd see hundreds of
    | power users moving to it. You're doing the Linux community a
    | disservice by writing it off as "people being impatient".
 
      | lostlogin wrote:
      | The completely different experiences people have make me
      | wonder what's going on and what broken to cause it.
      | 
      | I have no great skill set and mess around with machines at
      | weekends. I got Ubuntu desktop running on the metal and in
      | a VM on both Proxmox and ESXi with everything passed
      | through and working nicely and did so without any
      | particular issues (bar thunderbolt, but that turned out to
      | be hardware and a new machine was shipped to me and it now
      | works).
      | 
      | This was on a Nuc, but the different experiences point to
      | something being very wrong.
 
      | 188201 wrote:
      | I wonder how do you solve the technical problem if there
      | was driver issue in Windows.
      | 
      | When I am facing issue in Windows, I google it, then I got
      | some regedit trick to perform. If that works, that's great.
      | If not, then I need to search for another trick until it
      | works. Since windows command line sucks, I have to hop
      | through different configuration windows to try solving the
      | issue. A very frustrating experience.
      | 
      | Could an average Windows user could able to diagnostic
      | their problem and confidently perform an action knowing it
      | will work? My experience is they just ask their friend,
      | family or ask for immediate solution on social media. If
      | they can't solve it, then maybe just buy a new one.
      | 
      | I think Windows is just as accessible as how many friends
      | and family using Windows.
 
      | kempbellt wrote:
      | > Linux is not accessible
      | 
      | Linux is _extremely_ accessible.
      | 
      | Most popular linux variants can be downloaded for _free_ ,
      | and it's easy to find solutions to most common issues you
      | run into. I'd be surprised if there isn't a StackOverflow
      | post or two that have solutions to the issues you ran into,
      | and even if there aren't, you can usually get answers just
      | by asking.
      | 
      | Some linux variants are better than others, and YMMV per
      | use case, but saying "linux is not accessible" is
      | incredibly inaccurate.
 
        | at_a_remove wrote:
        | I refer to this technique as the Distro Distract. I first
        | ran into it during my first experience with Linux in the
        | mid-nineties.
        | 
        | I install a distro, I experience problems, there's not a
        | lot of info out there. I hit #linux or some forum and I
        | am told that what I really have is an XY problem, and the
        | real problem is that I am running the wrong distro.
        | 
        | So I install Distro #2. And my problems have vanished!
        | But ... but there are _new_ problems that were not there
        | in the first distro. So I hit the forums again and get
        | someone nearly identical telling me that what my actual
        | problem is is that I just have no idea how to pick a
        | decent distro, and what I should _really_ be using is ...
        | 
        | People do not want to cycle through one distro after
        | another. That is not accessible. It takes time to pick
        | out the next one and install (less now), and then you go
        | through your stuff until you hit yet another brick wall.
 
      | bubblethink wrote:
      | >It sucks to say this on Hacker News, but you're being
      | really naive. If I, as a power user, have trouble
      | installing and even running Linux, how can you expect a
      | normal user to do it?
      | 
      | It has less to do with technical abilities of the user and
      | more to do with their general outlook and what they value.
      | If you look for deficiencies, you'll find them. If you
      | value the freedom and no bullshit experience, research the
      | hardware and put in some effort to make it work.
 
    | [deleted]
 
    | walteweiss wrote:
    | Forgot to add about the distros: I didn't mean Ubuntu and
    | Fedora are bad in any way, but the opposite. I think they are
    | very good for an average person who looks to escape Windows.
    | Personally I think Fedora Workstation is much better than
    | Ubuntu, but very similar in that very departments: being very
    | popular and yet working out of the box.
 
| redleggedfrog wrote:
| C'mon man, throw a try/catch around that sh*t!
 
| nihilmu wrote:
| how can you people live like this?
 
| nihilmu wrote:
| how can you ppl live like this?
 
| intrasight wrote:
| I'll stick to using Windows Server as my desktop.
 
  | dimgl wrote:
  | I've been thinking about this more and more. Is it worth it?
 
| tomxor wrote:
| That Windows has ads in it sounds completely insane to me... you
| buy an OS.. and you _still_ get ads? Makes my memories of win95
| seem fonder.
 
| DrBazza wrote:
| > Microsoft pushed a promotional message
| 
| which is why "I'm out" after 20 years or so on Windows.
| 
| I don't want an OS that sends me messages like that, supports
| adverts, or (initially at least) demands to be always connected
| to the internet to store my "stuff" in their cloud.
| 
| I haven't booted into Windows for (checks `uptime`) about 4 weeks
| now.
 
| cm2187 wrote:
| The biggest deal breaker I have seen with win11 so far is the
| following:
| 
| https://chromeunboxed.com/windows-11-insider-preview-chrome-...
| 
| Microsoft was already overriding your default apps regularly. But
| now to change back the default browser it looks like it will
| require many manual steps if I understood correctly. Multiply
| that by multiple machines...
 
  | neogodless wrote:
  | But why would you want to default to Chrome and not Firefox...
  | ?
  | 
  | OK OK the point is, it should be the user's choice to (easily)
  | switch. Even if they are wrong!
 
    | C19is20 wrote:
    | The user is never wrong, just sometimes incorrect.
 
  | philipov wrote:
  | > _Windows 11 Insider Preview makes it more difficult for users
  | to default to Chrome_
  | 
  | Are they implying that it won't be more difficult to default to
  | Firefox? I ditched Chrome already.
 
  | criley2 wrote:
  | I wonder if users who are unwilling to deal with increased
  | hassle in browser changing will also give up things like
  | iPhone/iOS which outright ban competing browser engines.
 
    | colejohnson66 wrote:
    | Nitpick: they _don't_ ban competing engines. They disallow
    | JITing JavaScript outside a WebView. Firefox or Chrome could
    | include their own, but the wouldn't be able to JIT the
    | JavaScript. A distinction without a difference, but it's a
    | lie to say they ban other engines.
 
      | csande17 wrote:
      | Yes they do:
      | 
      | > 2.5.6 Apps that browse the web must use the appropriate
      | WebKit framework and WebKit Javascript.
      | 
      | https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
 
      | code_duck wrote:
      | Do you think it would be accurate to say that functionally
      | or effectively bans competing engines by forbidding a major
      | component? I believe Mozilla or Google would prioritize
      | including their own engine if it was reasonably possible.
 
        | diamondo25 wrote:
        | Yes. But I don't think its allowed to run a virtual
        | machine of any kind in the App Store, which the browser
        | javascript engine is/has been.
 
      | [deleted]
 
    | MattGaiser wrote:
    | Unlikely.
    | 
    | I have nothing against Edge. I just already know where
    | everything is on Chrome. That's why default changes annoy me.
 
  | Frenchgeek wrote:
  | Welp... Good thing Wine and Proton keep getting better...
  | Because unless Microsoft pay for my computer, I won't allow
  | them to act as if they own it.
 
    | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
    | I hear you. Don't get me wrong, I have _plenty_ to complain
    | about in Linux too which is why I 'm still on Windows, but
    | the day is coming where Microsoft has finally made Windows so
    | shitty that it drives me away.
 
      | seph-reed wrote:
      | I switched over to ElementaryOS for my
      | movie/music/games/3d-modeling/video-editing/daw machine a
      | bit ago.
      | 
      | It's pretty, and it (mostly) "just works." I legitimately
      | believe this project is on its way to eat Windows and
      | Apples pies.
      | 
      | Worth watching the progress of: https://elementary.io/
 
        | Tijdreiziger wrote:
        | Which applications do you use for video editing and DAW?
        | How does the experience measure up to the competition on
        | Windows?
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | I don't particularly appreciate Linux distributions that
        | try to pretend they're not Linux distributions by
        | slapping "OS" in their name. Regardless, Elementary
        | doesn't fix any of the issues I personally have with
        | Linux Desktop that keep me from switching today.
 
        | selfhoster11 wrote:
        | Eh, IDK. The Arch and Ubuntu experience are very far
        | apart for me, especially as far as hardware support goes
        | (beyond just kernel drivers, I mean - lots of devices
        | need userland utilities to support their functionality,
        | things like remote scanning for instance). They are
        | different OSes that happen to share a kernel, but that's
        | it. Even the userland close to the kernel can be very
        | different.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | They share a kernel, shells, package management as an
        | application distribution model, and many disparately
        | developed complex systems. They all run the same software
        | more or less.
        | 
        | Once you've used a few dozen different Linux distros,
        | which I have over the 20 years I've used Linux for
        | things, you find that almost all of them are basically
        | the same. Occasionally there's an outlier like Gobolinux
        | or Rox that everyone ignores but even they still has most
        | software in common.
 
      | Mikeb85 wrote:
      | Meh, for all of Linux's minor inconveniences it works
      | pretty damn well and the freedom to not deal with MS and
      | Apple's bullshit is a pretty big win.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | That's subjective. There are deeply ingrained paradigms
        | on Linux that infuriate me to the point that, thus far,
        | I'm more willing to put up with MS's bullshit than I am
        | with Linux Desktop's.
 
        | jmholla wrote:
        | I'm curious what those are. If they're around the UI,
        | I've found Cinnamon is a really good approximation.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | I'm already getting downvotes just for mentioning the
        | things I've already mentioned. Unfortunately this is the
        | common reaction whenever anyone brings up having problems
        | with the way Linux Desktop does things. It's apparently
        | ok to complain about lacking hardware support because
        | that's a problem people can dismiss easily with "just buy
        | different hardware", but if you say something like you
        | don't want to use Linux because you think package
        | management is a stupid way to manage applications then
        | people just want you to shut up.
 
        | arepublicadoceu wrote:
        | > but if you say something like you don't want to use
        | Linux because you think package management is a stupid
        | way to manage applications then people just want you to
        | shut up.
        | 
        | In my experience people respond better when you actually
        | explain and provides arguments to why you think "package
        | management is a stupid way to manage applications" and
        | not simply say this blanket statement.
        | 
        | For instance, I believe that *not* having a package
        | system is a stupid way to manage applications because:
        | 
        | - you have to trust many more parties than a single
        | repository;
        | 
        | - you incentivize people to do unsafe things like running
        | downloaded exes from sites;
        | 
        | - now you need to also trust that no one tampered with
        | the websites and have to manually checksum and verify
        | authenticity of each application whereas a good package
        | manager should do this for you;
        | 
        | - Removing applications without package managers is a
        | worse experience.
        | 
        | Now I would love to hear your arguments and, maybe,
        | change my mind.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | > In my experience people respond better when you
        | actually explain and provides arguments to why you think
        | "package management is a stupid way to manage
        | applications" and not simply say this blanket statement.
        | 
        | I have done this many times on HN, and it almost
        | universally results in downvoting.
        | 
        | > Now I would love to hear your arguments and, maybe,
        | change my mind.
        | 
        | Fine, whatever. I don't need the fake internet points.
        | Let me start by saying my complaints here are
        | specifically in regards to the way Linux packages, repos,
        | and managers work to avoid someone from Haiku showing up
        | to tell me I'm wrong:
        | 
        | - Repos are no better than walled gardens except that
        | they are typically maintained by unpaid third parties
        | 
        | - Said unpaid third parties sometimes introduce bugs or
        | arbitrary changes to the software
        | 
        | - You can't install applications to different disks or
        | have multiple versions of the same application
        | 
        | - Copying applications from one computer to another is
        | massively complicated because most package managers never
        | consider this use case at all
        | 
        | - Package managers encourage the kind of interdependency
        | hell and reliance on fixed paths that makes them
        | necessary in the first place
        | 
        | - The proliferation of package formats and package
        | managers has made packaging binaries for Linux an
        | incredible pain in the ass
        | 
        | To address your points specifically:
        | 
        | > - you have to trust many more parties than a single
        | repository;
        | 
        | This is true even in the repo world. You have to trust
        | the developer of the application and the maintainer of
        | the package for that repo at the very least. There is no
        | reason someone cannot curate a repository of software
        | that is not managed by and tied to a package manager and,
        | in fact, there are many of these to choose from.
        | 
        | > - you incentivize people to do unsafe things like
        | running downloaded exes from sites;
        | 
        | Yes, but I think that speaks to a failure of non-mobile
        | OSs to implement proper application sandboxing once the
        | internet became the dominant distribution medium for
        | applications. I also think this threat is given far too
        | much weight in comparison to being constrained in your
        | choice of software.
        | 
        | > - now you need to also trust that no one tampered with
        | the websites and have to manually checksum and verify
        | authenticity of each application whereas a good package
        | manager should do this for you;
        | 
        | Yes. Again, I don't think this is a big deal, especially
        | when compared to restricting my choice in software. The
        | thing I think makes personal computers valuable is that
        | people can install pretty much whatever they want, make
        | their own stuff, and easily pass it around. Package
        | management and repos overcomplicates this.
        | 
        | > - Removing applications without package managers is a
        | worse experience.
        | 
        | Only under "installer/uninstaller" paradigms. "Portable
        | Applications" in Windows, or Application Bundles on Mac
        | or NeXT, or the original Macintosh's single-file
        | applications, or RiscOS AppDirs, or even DOS's buncha-
        | files-ina-folder paradigm make removing an application as
        | simple as deleting a single object. Not to mention they
        | make copying or moving applications, or running them on
        | different media, as trivial as any file operation.
        | 
        | I probably won't change your mind as a lot of this is
        | subjective, equally your arguments do not sway me.
        | Suffice it to say, the Linux community agrees with you,
        | and that is part of the reason I don't want to use Linux.
 
        | joshuaissac wrote:
        | You can use the "buncha-files-ina-folder paradigm" on
        | Linux and Unix as well, but generally, applications are
        | written with the assumption that they will be installed
        | at a particular location, and can unexpectedly fail if
        | you put them elsewhere.
        | 
        | The RPM Package Manager itself is an example of this. It
        | can be configured to be installed to a custom location
        | via the build system, but it has hard-coded paths in some
        | scripts so the package manager would break when it hits
        | this code months after appearing to work correctly.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | Right, theoretically Linux applications _can_ work this
        | way, there 's even AppImage to really prove the point.
        | The problem is that basically nothing in the Linux world
        | does do that because it just isn't the way things are
        | done.
        | 
        | At the end of the day, it's the same difference to me.
 
        | BugWatch wrote:
        | I'm a Windows user with as-portable-as-possible software
        | catalog, and I approve of this message.
        | 
        | Jokes aside, I am mostly in a complete agreement with you
        | on it. I'd only add that both approaches should exist,
        | and that the package-people should (learn to?) provide a
        | more portable variant of their software. I don't have
        | much experience with Linux (which some of my comments
        | just might show), but all that "black box magic" that
        | happens behinds the scenes never sat right with me...
        | especially since I have a supernatural ability to hit
        | some edge cases where install fails halfway, and now you
        | can't deinstall nor reinstall, and you're stuck in limbo.
        | (Or finishes, but just won't run on account of something
        | not working in the background, and, well, good luck
        | finding out what exactly and how.)
        | 
        | Sure, portable-style applications on Windows are not
        | immune from not working here and there, but across two
        | decades now - it's mostly been set it and forget it.
        | Different versions of software can usually co-exist, or
        | even the same one (e.g. I specialize one for specific
        | purposes), some even co-run.
        | 
        | I do miss some features of the Linux (file system
        | versatility, mostly), but I've grown to live with it. And
        | while Microsoft is increasingly making Windows
        | unbearable, as long as I can bypass/block their idiotic
        | decisions (Start menu, telemetry, updates) and make them
        | work when I want, and how I want... I guess I'll stick to
        | it.
        | 
        | [[Now, when the hell does Microsoft plan on fixing up the
        | Exporer shell and its antiquated 25X-char path issues?
        | (LONGPATH is enabled, but Explorer still shits itself on
        | such a path. But I try to use DOpus, anyway...).
        | 
        | Also, custom(izable) open/save dialog replacements, I'd
        | kill for those.]]
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | > I'd only add that both approaches should exist, and
        | that the package-people should (learn to?) provide a more
        | portable variant of their software.
        | 
        | The great thing about portable applications is that you
        | can still put them in a repo and use software to manage
        | them, you just don't actually have to!
 
        | asddubs wrote:
        | good news for you is that linux is moving a bit more and
        | more towards the portable application paradigm, with
        | things like snap packages and AppImage. E.g. for
        | texstudio I found that the version in my repos was
        | outdated, so I just downloaded an AppImage file off their
        | website and am using that now. Same for ultimaker cura.
        | And you can use multiple versions in parallel.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | Snap and Flatpak are very much not portable (in the
        | Portable Application sense). Snap relies on a repo and
        | Flatpak heavily encourages one, although it does have a
        | single-file bundle concept. Sadly both of them suffer
        | from many of the other restrictions I mentioned.
        | 
        | AppImage is pretty great, I wish more projects used it.
 
        | Raineer wrote:
        | My only gut reaction to this is a bit of surprise. There
        | are almost limitless variations of the "Linux Desktop",
        | but Windows still wins out in your mind as the correct
        | way to run a desktop.
        | 
        | No judgment, just bemusement. I will always choose the
        | freedom to configure over a set-in-stone approach.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | I wouldn't say that. I hate Windows these days quite a
        | bit too, I just hate it less than I hate Linux Desktop.
        | 
        | I also strongly disagree with the "limitless variations".
        | Most Linux distros are just another distro (usually
        | Ubuntu) pre-bundled with a specific set of packages.
        | Almost all of them use the same shells, the same
        | application distribution model, and roughly the same set
        | of disparately developed software. The differences are
        | largely cosmetic.
        | 
        | > I will always choose the freedom to configure over a
        | set-in-stone approach.
        | 
        | Ironically, this is why I don't like package management
        | and repos: I like to have complete freedom over what
        | software I install and that model is restrictive. One of
        | the things I like about Windows is that if I go to some
        | rando's site where they've written some niche
        | application, I have nearly 100% certainty that the
        | executable I download from them will work without me
        | doing anything special. In Linux I usually end up having
        | to go through the hassle of creating a whole build
        | environment (in a container because I'm not insane) to
        | compile their github repo... after I hunt down and
        | compile their dependencies that also weren't in my
        | distro's repo of course.
 
        | not_kurt_godel wrote:
        | You've made 4 posts bashing on Linux with more complaints
        | about supposedly being attacked than actual substance
        | about why you don't like Linux. Could it be that the
        | backlash you're getting is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
        | 
        | At any rate, I would be genuinely curious to hear what
        | specifically you don't like about Linux beyond
        | tautological statements like not liking its paradigms and
        | calling package management "stupid" without any
        | supporting rationale.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | > You've made 4 posts bashing on Linux with more
        | complaints about supposedly being attacked than actual
        | substance about why you don't like Linux.
        | 
        | I have repeatedly complained about Windows[0] in this
        | thread, and the very _second_ I mention not liking Linux
        | people _really_ seem to want to recommend me Linux
        | distros or ask me to tell them why. I have never seen
        | anyone do this for any reason other than performative
        | argumentation.
        | 
        | > At any rate, I would be genuinely curious to hear what
        | specifically you don't like about Linux beyond
        | tautological statements like not liking its paradigms and
        | calling package management "stupid" without any
        | supporting rationale.
        | 
        | I don't even need supporting rationale for an opinion. I
        | could say I don't like any of the distro logos and that
        | would still be a perfectly valid reason not to want to
        | use Linux. At least in a sane world it would, but Linux
        | users apparently have some bug up their ass about needing
        | everyone to agree with them about how great it is.
        | 
        | [0] With great hostility and in the context of expecting
        | it to eventually drive me to use Linux
 
        | not_kurt_godel wrote:
        | > I could say I don't like any of the distro logos and
        | that would still be a perfectly valid reason not to want
        | to use Linux
        | 
        | It's not perfectly valid if the purpose is to have a
        | discussion that's meaningful to other people who don't
        | have your exact set of preferences and pecadilloes.
        | Saying you don't like a logo isn't a useful piece of
        | information because for 99% of people that's not going to
        | be a reason to use or not use a piece of software. Either
        | you don't realize that or you're being willfully
        | combative for its own sake.
 
        | nobody9999 wrote:
        | >It's not perfectly valid if the purpose is to have a
        | discussion that's meaningful to other people who don't
        | have your exact set of preferences and pecadilloes.
        | Saying you don't like a logo isn't a useful piece of
        | information because for 99% of people that's not going to
        | be a reason to use or not use a piece of software. Either
        | you don't realize that or you're being willfully
        | combative for its own sake.
        | 
        | While I disagree strongly with GP, your argument seems to
        | completely miss their point. GP expressed her opinion as
        | to the utility/viability of Linux _for their use case_.
        | 
        | We both disagree with GP's arguments, but even we almost
        | certainly don't share the same "set of preferences and
        | pecadilloes."
        | 
        | Mostly, I think it's pretty closed-minded to denigrate
        | someone who expresses an _opinion_ (unrelated to _facts_
        | presented in an objective reality).
        | 
        | Give the GP a break. If their "preferences and
        | pecadilloes" don't match yours, why is that any skin off
        | your nose? As such, why do you feel it necessary to
        | belittle the opinion of some rando on the 'net?
        | 
        | I'll say it again just to make sure you understand that
        | it's your tone and attitude that disturbs me and not the
        | content of your argument: widespread use of package
        | managers have completely changed Linux for the better
        | IMHO. What's more, I find the arguments provided by GP to
        | be both weak and unpersuasive.
 
        | not_kurt_godel wrote:
        | > If their "preferences and pecadilloes" don't match
        | yours, why is that any skin off your nose?
        | 
        | You're right, that specifically is not skin off my nose
        | or anyone else's. By the same token that you're not
        | disagreeing with the content of my argument, I'm not
        | disagreeing with GP's[0] opinion per se, but just
        | pointing out that the hostility they're getting is a
        | self-fulfilling prophecy brought about by the way they're
        | expressing it. I'm not belittling their opinion, I'm
        | belittling the fact that they are coming to this
        | discussion with a position of 'Linux is bad because I
        | don't like it for Reasons(tm) and if you disagree with
        | that you're just another hater I don't have to explain
        | myself to'. It's lame and unproductive and combative and
        | not a quality contribution.
        | 
        | [0] Sidenote: I've never seen the term "GP" before -
        | clearly you're referencing u/AnIdiotOnTheNet in some
        | fashion similar to "OP" but would be curious to know what
        | exactly that means.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | GP: Grand Parent, as in the parent of this post's parent.
        | 
        | > I'm belittling the fact that they are coming to this
        | discussion with a position of 'Linux is bad because I
        | don't like it for Reasons(tm) and if you disagree with
        | that you're just another hater I don't have to explain
        | myself to'.
        | 
        | I didn't come in to this thread to argue about things I
        | don't like about Linux or convince anyone that my
        | unpopular opinions are right [0]. I offhandedly mentioned
        | I didn't like Linux, and then people came out of the
        | woodwork to ask me why. As I've mentioned I've been
        | through this many, many times and the result is always
        | the same: they ask me why, then they engage in
        | performative argumentation with my reasoning. They don't
        | care why I don't use Linux and aren't interested in
        | changing my mind, it's all a performance to sway others
        | and I'm pretty damned sick of it.
        | 
        | [0] Which is not to say I haven't done this in _other_
        | threads where it is more on topic.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | > It's not perfectly valid if the purpose is to have a
        | discussion that's meaningful to other people who don't
        | have your exact set of preferences and pecadilloes.
        | 
        | I don't see how what other people find meaningful has any
        | bearing at all on whether or not I want to run Linux.
        | Remember, before everyone crawled out of the woodwork to
        | talk about Linux in this 'fuck Windows 11' thread I only
        | said this:
        | 
        | > Don't get me wrong, I have plenty to complain about in
        | Linux too which is why I'm still on Windows
        | 
        | An offhand remark about not liking Linux is apparently an
        | open invitation for every evangelical Linux desktop
        | asshole to berate me until I give them arguments to
        | attack.
        | 
        | > Saying you don't like a logo isn't a useful piece of
        | information because for 99% of people that's not going to
        | be a reason to use or not use a piece of software.
        | 
        | By that reasoning everyone talking about privacy and
        | security in regards to their choice of Linux should shut
        | the hell up too because the market is pretty clear it
        | doesn't care.
        | 
        | This whole "blah blah blah other people blah blah blah
        | 99% blah blah" is what I mean by performative
        | argumentation. It isn't about my preferences, which are
        | really all that matters when it comes to what I should
        | choose to run, it's about putting on a show for other
        | people, evangelising and advertising your favorite OS.
 
        | nobody9999 wrote:
        | I agree with your assessment that folks should stop
        | bashing on you for your unpopular opinion.
        | 
        | I happen to disagree with that opinion. However, it makes
        | no difference to me whether you run Linux or Windows (or
        | CP/M, RSX-11 or AmigaOS for that matter) as your daily
        | driver.
        | 
        | It's both rude and obnoxious to pound on you for your
        | unpopular opinion, especially since that's based solely
        | on your personal preferences and not objective facts.
        | 
        | As for the downvotes, they are just shorthand for "I
        | disagree with you but don't feel like putting the time
        | and effort into rebutting your argument."
        | 
        | And the obverse (WRT upvotes) is also the case.
        | 
        | tl;dr: I think you're wrong and disagree wholeheartedly.
        | That said, I'm glad you chose to express yourself and
        | hope you continue to do so in the future.
 
        | alerighi wrote:
        | Package management is to me one of the biggest benefit of
        | Linux. Whenever I have to deal with Windows/macOS
        | machines I find myself in the middle ages having to
        | install the software manually downloading it from the
        | internet and having to keep it updated. Even now that
        | Microsoft had finally integrated some sort of package
        | management in Windows and a store, there are not even the
        | Microsoft products such as Office or Visual Studio on it!
        | 
        | While on Linux I type in my terminal:
        | paru -S 
        | 
        | and install it. If the software for some reason is not
        | packaged (very rare, since with the AUR repositories of
        | ArchLinux there is everything) it's trivial to make a
        | package and publish it so other people that have to use
        | the same software can install it.
        | 
        | On Windows each time I install the system from scratch I
        | have to spend a day downloading and installing all the
        | programs, on Linux I can install all the software that I
        | need by simply launching a single one line command.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | To each their own. I like having the ability to install
        | applications to different disks, and to have two
        | different versions of the same application installed at
        | the same time, among other things package managers and
        | repos restrict.
 
        | ravar wrote:
        | Ditch the Desktop, embrace i3.
 
        | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
        | Even if I liked tiling wms and keyboard-only GUI that
        | wouldn't actually fix many of the issues I have with
        | Linux Desktop. The issues have to do with the multitude
        | of disparately developed complex systems that are kludged
        | together under the hood.
 
        | jagger27 wrote:
        | Or Sway, which is more or less i3-upon-Wayland.
 
      | Frenchgeek wrote:
      | Well, I did spend a few days finding a modern version of
      | Linux that can run on a Mac mini PPC... Its OS X was
      | outdated so I installed Yellowdog on it, then Debian and
      | now that Debian don't support 32 bits G4 anymore all I
      | found was Void Linux. Plus side: there's so little loading
      | at boot, it start very fast. Downside: I had to install
      | Linux like it's 1995. So I know well Linux is far from
      | perfect... But it has become at least as good as the
      | competition for my uses.
 
    | alerighi wrote:
    | I recently switched back to Linux after not using it as my
    | main OS for a couple of years.
    | 
    | I was surprised how better it got, one example, everything
    | worked well out of the box, and I installed Arch Linux not
    | Ubuntu, no problem at all, GNOME 40 is great, fonts are good
    | out of the box, gestures that works, things like screen
    | brightness works, Wayland is finally stable, printer installs
    | without too much trouble.
 
      | orf wrote:
      | You're damning it with faint praise there rather than
      | selling it.
 
  | chris37879 wrote:
  | Eh, give it a day or two, someone will make a tool that sets it
  | and keeps it set just like they did for Windows 10, or, leave.
  | That's what I'm doing, Windows 10 currently only gets booted
  | for me to play a couple e-sports games with bad DRM that some
  | of my friends and I play together, other than that, I'm in
  | Linux full time on Pop_OS!
 
  | themulticaster wrote:
  | Somewhat related: I removed Edge a few years ago because I
  | didn't use it and thought it's just a regular application. A
  | recent Windows update however just wouldn't install: Every time
  | it would abort and roll back the update installation just after
  | the reboot, reporting one of those mysterious and very helpful
  | Windows Update error codes. After a few days of scratching my
  | head I found out that due to a bug, that specific update [1]
  | can't be installed unless Edge is installed (prior to the
  | update). IIRC the reason is that helpfully Windows installs the
  | lastest Edge version for you during the OS update, so that "you
  | can experience the fastest web browser, Microsoft Edge!" (or
  | something like that, you know the drill.
  | 
  | Nowadays it's not even supported to remove Edge since -
  | according to certain Windows news outlets - Edge is somehow
  | integrated into Windows 10 so by removing it you could break
  | the OS. (Just why??) The aforementioned news outlets also ask
  | why you would ever want to remove Edge - "Have you tried the
  | new Edge browser? It's quite fast nowadays!"
  | 
  | To clarify: I am not opposed to Edge itself in any way, but the
  | whole "Why would you ever want to do that?" rubs me the wrong
  | way.
  | 
  | Another "Why would you ever want to do that?" story: IIRC, in
  | Windows 8 there was a semi-official way to place your home
  | directory on a different drive than your system directory. Back
  | then I had a 128 GB SSD I wanted to use as a system drive for
  | Windows, but because my downloads folder quickly accumulates a
  | lot of baggage (> 50 GB) I wanted to place it on another drive.
  | A few years down the road the upgrade to Windows 10 failed with
  | a mysterious error code. Again, after a few days of scratching
  | my head I found out that my setup (with the home directory on
  | another drive) is not supported for the Windows 8.1 to 10
  | upgrade.
  | 
  | Common Windows news outlets and forums also commented this
  | issue along the lines of "Why would you ever place your home
  | directory on another drive?" I guess I was too spoiled with the
  | UNIX way (of separate mount points inside a unified hierarchy)
  | to see the error in my ways... (/s)
  | 
  | [1] Sorry, I don't remember the specific error code or update
  | number anymore. Perhaps the 2004 update?
 
    | TonyTrapp wrote:
    | > Edge is somehow integrated into Windows 10 so by removing
    | it you could break the OS. (Just why??)
    | 
    | One technical reason is probably that the majority of it -
    | the engine - is also what drives Webview2 (a web view that
    | you can embed into your applications just like you could
    | embed IE into your applications).
 
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Because Microsoft sees the 1/10 of a penny it gets from the ad as
| more important than your Desktop and your Taskbar.
 
  | Ballas wrote:
  | It seems that in this case they would get 100% of the money. Of
  | course that would be clear if you read the article, as the ad
  | is for Microsoft Teams.
  | 
  | Edit: I am dumb. Please disregard.
 
    | misnome wrote:
    | I think OP meant that the 100% of the value of the ad does go
    | to Microsoft, but that the value of a single ad would be very
    | low, in fractional pennies.
    | 
    | edit: 
 
      | Ballas wrote:
      | What you are saying makes even less sense.
 
        | yial wrote:
        | I believe what they're trying to say, is that for
        | Microsoft the revenue that they're "booking" per ad is
        | 1/10th of$0 .01. Not that they're only getting 1/10th of
        | the ad revenue.
        | 
        | And that they'd rather is $0.001 over your desktop
        | experience as your desktop usage doesn't generate them
        | income.
 
        | PaulHoule wrote:
        | Actually I think they are being penny wise and pound
        | foolish. Alternately, they are distracted by the new
        | shiny.
        | 
        | Early sources, such as this classic book
        | 
        | https://www.amazon.com/Image-Guide-Pseudo-Events-
        | America/dp/...
        | 
        | frame public relations and marketing folk as cynical
        | manipulators who don't fall for the illusions they
        | create.
        | 
        | The post-modern environment has had about 60 years to
        | develop since that book was written and I think the
        | culture has deteriorated and I believe that, today, the
        | image makers really do live in the "the matrix" they've
        | created and have trouble distinguishing it from reality.
        | (I think of how Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons really fell
        | for his victim Madame de Tourvel.)
        | 
        | My contacts with local business people and people who
        | sell ads for radio and newspapers have convinced me that
        | prices for advertising were too high for a long time
        | because the people who buy advertising get gratification
        | from hearing their name on the radio and the people who
        | advertise won an auction because they get more
        | gratification from hearing their name on the radio more
        | than anyone else.
        | 
        | Years ago somebody who was an "influencer" would try to
        | appear authentic (not an "influencer") but today
        | authentic people will try to look inauthentic ("i pretend
        | to be an influencer even though I don't get paid") to get
        | credibility.
        | 
        | People under this spell will run ads in situations when
        | they clearly shouldn't and they'll be astonishingly
        | resistant to anyone who tries to talk sense into them.
        | 
        | (Your desktop usage does make income for Microsoft since
        | your OEM bought Windows for you. If they annoy you enough
        | you might switch to Linux, MacOS, etc. Unfortunately your
        | OEM probably wants to wreck the value of a $2000 computer
        | they sold you by selling $2 worth of annoying ads.)
 
      | Ballas wrote:
      | Ok, I thought about it and came to the conclusion that I am
      | slow today. I apologize.
 
        | dyingkneepad wrote:
        | Don't worry, Fridays are supposed to be read-only.
 
| marcodiego wrote:
| If the OS has ads out of the box, it is already broken.
 
  | inetknght wrote:
  | So... also Ubuntu then
 
    | officeplant wrote:
    | Yes? Ubuntu has its fair share of problems over time as well.
    | Luckily there are hundreds of other distros.
 
    | [deleted]
 
    | Mikeb85 wrote:
    | Where are the Ubuntu ads? I remember the Amazon ads back in
    | the day, but there haven't been any in quite some time.
 
      | e3bc54b2 wrote:
      | Ubuntu has weird ads in the apt upgrade or something like
      | that promoting their other services. They also sneak in
      | their Snap package for Chromium even if user asks apt to do
      | it. In general the Snap push feels like making proprietary
      | apps normal on Linux desktop.
 
      | daxelrod wrote:
      | They promote other technologies of theirs via the MOTD,
      | which some consider an ad. See
      | https://news.softpedia.com/news/canonical-under-fire-for-
      | put... .
      | 
      | Here's the current MOTD: https://motd.ubuntu.com/
 
| hbn wrote:
| It's hard to even make the "this is what you signed up as an
| Insider" argument when they're supposedly releasing this thing
| next month. This launch is gonna be a mess.
 
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