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Hating windows won't make you cool

Bishwas Bhandari on November 19, 2021

It's five years of introducing myself as a Debian user in the OS world. But I have full respect for Windows as well. Well, my dad uses Windows, but...
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natalia_asteria profile image
Natalia Asteria • Edited

As a Linux fanboy, I don't hate Windows. I think there isn't any operating systems that are the superior ones. It's just that Linux sucks less, at least for my workflow, as I generally don't use proprietary softwares much.

That being said, there are use cases where Windows is still comfortable, such as game development, things that use Adobe products, things that really need Office, gaming and streaming, and many other things.

That being said, if you highly dependent on WSL, I really recommend to just use Linux. Web development don't change much in Linux from Windows pretty much, other than Linux has better symlink support should you use PNPM, and is just the native platform for web development.

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antonrich profile image
Anton

I just wanted to say that Linux isn't perfect and stumbled upon your message. How true that is.

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leob profile image
leob • Edited

This is going to be a bit of a long rant, apologies in advance ... so, I don't "hate" Windows, but I think I have a number of sound reasons why I dislike it. Windows has gotten better (as has Microsoft, under Nadella), but what I used to dislike were a number of things:

  • almost every single admin task had to be performed via a GUI, rather than via a simple CLI command (I think it's better now with PowerShell and all that)

  • prone to crashing and "blue screens" (at least until Windows XP)

  • the tendency of the OS to get slower and slower the more (bloat)ware was installed, until the only "solution" was a complete reformat and reinstall ... been there, done that, lol

  • clunky, unwieldy, overcomplicated and arguably inferior designs & solutions, for instance the infamous "Registry" and COM / DCOM / ActiveX

  • most of Microsoft's software is (or should I say "was") bloated and overcomplicated - not just the OS, but also application software like MS Office (most PC vendors didn't mind, you needed constant hardware upgrades in order to run all of that memory hungry bloatware)

  • the Windows terminal or shell (in essence based on "DOS", for crying out loud) is the most mediocre piece of garbage I've ever seen (yes I do know that they've got WSL now, so you can finally use a decent shell)

  • "non standard" choices which arguably make life harder - for instance, CR/LF as a line terminators rather than LF as everyone else does, or backward slashes instead of forward slashes as a directory path separator (how many times have we grappled with that as developers - oh my application works fine on Linux or Mac but not on Windows because of those friggin' differences)

  • from a moral perspective, the unethical business practices of Microsoft under Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer (forcing & blackmailing OEMs to install Windows and nothing but Windows - remember the monopoly lawsuit? and generally foisting Windows on the world at a hefty price)

  • the tendency of Microsoft to want to sabotage (web) standards in order to protect their monopoly ... numerous examples here - Internet Explorer with its "compatibility modes" and with ActiveX and JScript is/was a particularly ghastly case in point (IE was a piece of junk and its "compatibility modes" were atrocious - back then there were plenty websites which ONLY ran in IE, which is exactly how Microsoft loved to see it)

And I could go on, so plenty of solid reasons for me to not be in love with Windows and Microsoft - but I do realize that things have gotten much better, especially under Nadella.

And you could argue that Apple, not Microsoft, are now the "bad guys", especially since Steve Jobs passed away - insanely overpriced products, incompatible connectors and all that, and very strong "walled garden" tendencies. Microsoft, the new IBM ... Apple, the new Microsoft?

P.S. note however that, in the meantime, Microsoft STILL have a de facto virtually complete monopoly on the laptop/desktop market for consumers and small businesses - Windows comes preinstalled on virtually every laptop that you buy in a store or online, and you have to jump through hoops to get a laptop with Linux pre-installed ... not that much has changed, if you think about it.

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

Yes sir, I do agree with you. Microsoft is now contributing on open source theme, GitHub is owned by Microsoft and private repos are now free. Private repos are huge huge relief for me.
And yes, Microsoft may have done some money hungry things to survive in the market.

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leob profile image
leob • Edited

Good points, yes I know they've bettered themselves, especially under Nadella, but their dirty business practices of the past were a disgrace. "Survive" is a bit of an euphemism, I think you're a bit too kind and too forgiving towards them - they really had a total stranglehold on the market, a.k.a. a "monopoly", and were abusing it heavily.

Anyway, all of that is old history, and probably not that many people care lol, but I like the truth to be told.

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

I guess, it's because I am a GenZ and don't know a lot about the history.

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leob profile image
leob

Yep I thought so ;) if you'd know the history you'd be a lot more critical of our Microsoft "friends", they did some truly atrocious stuff

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eugenejerry profile image
Eugene N.I.

You re right

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natalia_asteria profile image
Natalia Asteria • Edited

I wanted to say about the Valorant one.

It's really because of its extrimist anti-cheat, if they required secure boot on Win11 probably they won't support Linux at all since you can completely modify the kernel anyways, plus anticheats on Linux are userspace only atm.

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

What do you think will Valorant be allowed ever in Linux? In any exceptional cases?
I don't think wine can execute Valorant.

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leob profile image
leob • Edited

Well it's just my opinion lol, I'm sticking to my criticism because I think most of it is well-founded.

  • Yes I do know about PowerShell and VBScript and all that (hey I even mentioned PowerShell), my statement was in the past tense ... okay this point is moot now, 1-0 for you lol

  • I think the Registry sucks because it's a monolithic blob and a nightmare to manage or troubleshoot, the Linux philosophy with separate config files is simpler and more flexible IMO

  • "Do you even know what COM and DCOM do" - that's pretty condescending, I think you should change your tone

And finally, MS is still a de facto monopolist, and I think that that's undesirable.

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xowap profile image
Rémy 🤖

Well I don't hate Windows, I fucking loathe Windows because it's plain bad and evil.

  • The UX talks to you like a rapist ("Do you want to give up on your privacy? [Yes] [Yes later]")
  • It's not libre in a time when there is nothing technological left to hide (Linux does the same things). I'll let the readers imagine what else there could be to hide there.
  • Microsoft has proven times and times again that they have many dirty fingers in many dirty pies ranging from industrial spying to anti-competitive practices.

And this is just by looking at non-technical arguments. Don't get me started on all the reasons that make me want to throw Windows computers through the window (haha) as soon as I touch one.

Overall I find this argument of "it's just a tool" fairly dangerous. It's never just a tool, especially when it's something as big as Windows. When you pick a tool, you alter a bit the shape of the world. If you're saying "it's just a tool" you are implicitly saying that the only KPI that matters to you is productivity. Not freedom, not justice, not social constructs, not the state of the planet. Just how productive you're going to be. In essence, you're giving up a bit of everybody's freedom in exchange for money.

Now maybe you need to use Windows for some things. I sure as hell need it for some tasks. But I still hate it and I will always pick the option that doesn't involve Windows (nor OSX) if the option exists.

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

@xowap And this is just by looking at non-technical arguments. Don't get me started on all the reasons that make me want to throw Windows computers through the window (haha) as soon as I touch one.

Nice one! Haha

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

Woow!

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dilutewater profile image
Rachit Khurana

Yes, i agree with you.
Linux is no dout a very good operating systems. But. Windows is also a very good and stable os.

Linux isn't for everyone. However i would say that everyone can use windows without any problems. And I have experienced many issues in linux and have to find workarounds for that, while windows just does it perfectly.

Linux is only for people who really know what they are doing and know how to Google. For the rest Windows is fine.

But ya , once a user stats using Linux for some time, he/she will most probably not switch back to windows.

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tourmaline profile image
Tourmaline

Hating shady, dishonest and money hungry companies like Microsoft (and Apple) seems natural and logic. Now, their software is other topic, I just simply love technology so I want to use everything, I enjoy Windows and getting software for it and installing it is just so easy, a big advantage against Linux, for example the discord version for Linux isn't working in my distro for some reason. In Windows that wouldn't be a problem at all, or LibreOffice Impress, that is good sure, but making a presentation in PowerPoint is just a lot easier, and we can keep forever listing examples.

But Microsoft not allowing to personalize Windows 10 without buying a license is...

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

At the end of the day, we all need money. Money helps us to survive. Also, Microsoft has done a lot of good works in my country as well.

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tourmaline profile image
Tourmaline

Yeah, I would work for Microsoft or Apple in a heartbeat if I ever had the opportunity, for their money I could even pretend they are not evil corporations as long they pay me.

And yes you are right they also do lot good deeds too, I'm using and learning Azure for free thanks to Microsoft.

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

I could even pretend they are not evil corporations as long they pay me

Haha, nice one.

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xavidram profile image
xavidram

In my opinion, every operating system has it's drawbacks. I've been a .NET developer for quite some time now. I have always liked the .NET environment and until the release of VSCode, development in Linux was harder to do. With the recent changes to Windows 10 after Update 1809, Microsoft has made it their mission to follow in Apple's footsteps and almost completely require you to use their Microsoft account and track your movements on the Windows OS. I have been able to circumvent the requirement but it is getting more and more tedious, even when doing fresh installs of the latest Windows 10 pro ISO you have to sign in with a Microsoft account, then manually create a local account to remove the Microsoft account.

I have actually done the full transition over to Linux for development as of the release of .NET 5 and honestly have not regretted it. I use ZorinOS as my daily development operating system and really like their implementation and support of WINE when I need specific Windows applications running on the Linux environment. For gaming I have a dual booted OS with windows 10 for anything that strictly requires Windows.

Of course hating on Windows doesn't make you 'Cool.' But most of us who have started to have a disdain for Microsoft has come in the recent years with some of their needless directions they decide to take. Like taking codebase from an existing project and rebranding it as their own for example: keivan.io/the-day-appget-died/ . Resulting in subpar implementation of an already beloved piece of software.

Everyone is going to search for the distro that best suits their needs. I don't believe there will ever be a single distro that covers all grounds. Which is why I personally dual boot my machine to get the best of both environments. Gaming on windows only, everything else (for security reasons) on Linux. If the price of the windows operating system is out of the question, that is a whole other challenge to solve.

 
leob profile image
leob • Edited

Hey relax man, chill, just tone it down a notch, better for your health, you sound very agitated ... "my dismissiveness of DCOM" and "I have no respect", really? Big words my friend, I've said none of that.

So I have no respect, but then immediately you start ranting about the "tyranny of idiots" and "pandering to the ABM crowd" (what is that by the way?) - I just wonder how much "respect" such statements are showing.

I'm absolutely fine with DCOM being a fantastic RPC technology, but comparing DCOM or gRPC with REST is comparing apples and oranges. If I've coded a controller in Laravel or Rails and I want to do an Ajax call from my JS frontend, then yes, I'll just use REST and process a JSON response, if you don't mind. Totally eludes me why every app or website, even simple ones, would need high end RPC technology rather than HTTP and Ajax, just seems overkill to me. Most apps or websites aren't rocket science.

For those (rare) cases where it does provide benefits, then by all means do use RPC or whatever you prefer. One-size-fits-all doesn't exist my friend.

Oh and what is the "ABM crowd"?

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morixplus profile image
MoriX

I finally see someone from linux community that doesn't hate windows
Good job also i use debian and windows

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

Thanks, but I don't use Windows and suggest you not to use dual boot.

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eugenejerry profile image
Eugene N.I.

Why can't we use dual boot?
I am currently on dual boot also.

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

Simply, I don't like dual boot.

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willtrout profile image
Matt Willtrout

Hate is a sign of moral weakness; there are many reasons to mistrust Microsoft.
I can give you eleven.

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phantas0s profile image
Matthieu Cneude

I used Windows 98 for years. Then Windows ME.

Windows ME.

I'm sorry. I hate Windows.

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developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari

Yeah! Btw, are you using Linux based OS now?

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oniichan profile image
yoquiale

I've been using windows since I was a kid and will keep using it for all my life. As a daily driver there's no better OS. I still use Ubuntu for some dev stuff such as services and docker.

 
leob profile image
leob

LOL at least I learned something today ... I'm not even "against" Microsoft, they're simple irrelevant to me, I couldn't care less.

 
developerbishwas profile image
Bishwas Bhandari • Edited

Can you please teach him, how to install valorant on linux? he is asking the question in forum, here.

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