[jerrac]

Makes me wonder what it would take for governments to actually hit Microsoft hard enough for it to hurt. I remember when they were hit with anti-trust fines here in the USA due to how they were bundling Internet Explorer as the default browser. I mean, did they ever stop? I can't recall ever turning on a new Windows install in the past couple decades and not having IE or Edge as the default.

It also makes me wonder what it would take for IT people to finally stop gritting their teeth about having to use, or having to let others use, Windows and start just dealing with the learning curve of switching to some Linux distro. I mean, Windows Recall is spyware. If it didn't come from Microsoft, Windows Defender would be sure to mark it as malicious... What's the name for a screenshot based keylogger I wonder...

I used to just figure that Windows was just all some people could use. And if that was the best tool for them, then ok. But now? I can't say that anymore. It's out and out malware at this point.

In all seriousness, if you are sticking with Windows at this point, why? Is it just the fact your other software doesn't work on another OS? Or is there something good about Windows that you like?

[dijit]

I work in gamedev, it's defacto Windows only.

Unreal Engine supports Linux/MacOS, Perforce supports Linux/MacOS.

So, you'd imagine that it would be fine.

Yet UGS (https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/...) and Playstation/Xbox development tools only work on Windows, and especially focus on Visual Studio (which also only works on Windows).

Things seem more complicated due to Visual Studio Code being cross-platform, and the fact that there's some extremely rudimentary support for consoles in Jetbrains tools, but there's no debugging support at all.

[scarface_74]

In the US, they were never fined for bundling IE with Windows and there was never a browser choice screen mandate.

And anyone can download an alternate browser and looking at Chrome’s market share, most do.

What would you prefer? That a browser doesn’t come with Windows and users going to an ftp site to download one like the 90s?

And to a first approximation, no one wants Linux on their desktop.

[Aurornis]

> In all seriousness, if you are sticking with Windows at this point, why? Is it just the fact your other software doesn't work on another OS?

That’s not really a minor point. It’s a big deal for people who do things other than use a browser, text editor, and terminal.

Even for certain CAD software I use that has Mac and Windows versions, the Windows version feels so much more performant and responsive. I’ll switch to Windows for anything serious.

Also, YMMV, but in the past 5 or so years my Windows workstation has felt less buggy and more stable than my Macs. I’ve dealt with a lot of annoying quirks on the Mac over the years where the only solution is to wait for the next update and hope it’s fixed. Even today, accessing network file shares is incredibly buggy on Mac in certain cases.

[jerrac]

I daily drive Linux for everything except games, and gaming on Linux has come far enough that I'll be switching over soon. My 60+ father also uses Linux for most of what he does.

And, yes, software working on your OS is not a minor point. That's the whole reason I used to go with the "best tool for the job" approach. Windows Recall is what changed that for me. I can't see using an OS with spyware built in as a "feature".

In my opinion, Apple is no more trustworthy than Microsoft, so...

> It’s a big deal for people who do things other than use a browser, text editor, and terminal.

So, the number of video editing, photo editing, CAD, gaming, and so on tools that work on Linux has grown a LOT. It's not just for basic stuff. You can do almost anything you need to on Desktop Linux. Yes, a lot of things are rough around the edges, but they're that way because people haven't invested in them, not because they're bad tools.

[hulitu]

> Makes me wonder what it would take for governments to actually hit Microsoft hard enough for it to hurt

They don't bite the hand that feeds them. Microsoft spends a lot of money for corruption^Wlobby.