Surprisingly short on facts, even if it is a parody. Very slashdot circa 1999. Some notes:
Windows is free to download and try. You don't have to enter a product key - just hit next and add it if you decide to buy it. You get it for 30 days. Here is the URL if you want to try it (windows 7 x64 professional):
There is a live CD but it's only used for recovery. There isn't much of a market for trying Windows.
Drivers. Windows update always handles these for me at least. I haven't had to bother with driver fiddling for years. Not only that, 99% of hardware I've worked with recently just works out of the box anyway.
Package manager. Yes there is - there is just no pick and place repository like Debian. You can get packages from Windows Update though. The package manager is called Windows Installer and the packages are MSI packages.
Everyone installs K Lite Codec Pack and media player classic these days (or VLC) almost as a first item to install. Same as you install win32-codecs on Linux.
Maildir import. You stick an IMAP server on your Linux box and copy all the shit to your PST.
Lots of ways in which windows isn't quite as expensive or has better things available seem to exist but be hidden. I believe you when you say a trial exists, but it's not easy to find - not only is that not on microsoft's homepage, it's on some random other domain (digitalrivercontent.net? Really). It's the same with bizspark/dreamspark/etc. - there's a lot of ways to get microsoft stuff cheap or free if you know them, but they're not easy to find if you don't.
>Drivers. Windows update always handles these for me at least. I haven't had to bother with driver fiddling for years. Not only that, 99% of hardware I've worked with recently just works out of the box anyway.
Only last week I had to track down some realtek drivers for the microphone on my parents' laptop. Not only had they been unable to find them themselves, they'd paid a guy to install drivers on that computer and he'd missed the microphone. I'll agree that usually it's easy to get drivers once you have an internet connection - but quite a lot of wireless chipsets won't work out of the box without a driver. I haven't bothered with driver fiddling for years either, but that's because I've stopped building my own systems and been using ones that come with windows (and drivers) preinstalled; try installing retail windows on a computer and you might be surprised.
>Everyone installs K Lite Codec Pack and media player classic these days (or VLC) almost as a first item to install.
Sure, "everyone" knows about twenty different things you download and install as soon as you get a new windows machine. I see another post pointing to nlite as a solution to all this. But you only know this because you're familiar with windows. Many of the problems windows users trying linux for the first time complain of are of the same nature, and easier to solve.
>Same as you install win32-codecs on Linux.
That hasn't been necessary for years.
>Maildir import. You stick an IMAP server on your Linux box and copy all the shit to your PST.
Seriously? That's supposed to be a user-friendly solution?
a) "Everyone installs K-lite" Wow yeah. Everyone who torrents. All the other poor fellas have no idea. And I personally know those other poor fellas and they could not tell you want a codec is if you put a gun to their heads. Hell, my wife is one.
b) I WISH there was a Windows 8 live CD. MS does not want you to "try windows" they want you committed.
c) Drivers. Ok I give you this one. For the most part windows 7 is ok. Gone are the windows XP days where if you didn't have a disk on you, you didn't have your network card drivers.
d) There is NO PACKAGE MANAGER! None, ZERO. Windows Installer as a package manager is like saying my Garage is a parking lot + valet. Windows installer (this atrocity that is...) is used to... INSTALL software. It's a glorified unzip. There is no way to say "oh hey windows installer, I'd really like to install ruby 1.9.3 with sources" and it would say "give me an hour". Instead you say "windows installer? hello? ok to google!"... "to google" can often lead an unexperience used like my grandfather to download spyware.
e) Well. At least windows can be downloaded now as a free unactivated copy. Gone are the days where I purchase a copy of windows only to find out I can't get a legal disk image of windows 7 stand-alone. Only some upgrade, which is not upgradable from windows xp 32 bit.
Surprisingly short on facts, even if it is a parody. Very slashdot circa 1999.
Congratulations! Now you know exactly how Linux users have felt for the past 10 years every single time someone wrote an "I tried Linux, but . . . " article.
> Everyone installs K Lite Codec Pack and media player classic these days (or VLC) almost as a first item to install. Same as you install win32-codecs on Linux.
You shouldn't need to know this. Also K-Lite is full of garbage, CCCP is what you want.
> Package manager. Yes there is - there is just no pick and place repository like Debian. You can get packages from Windows Update though. The package manager is called Windows Installer and the packages are MSI packages.
Well yeah, the maintained repository is what makes package managers so attractive.
> Drivers. Windows update always handles these for me at least. I haven't had to bother with driver fiddling for years. Not only that, 99% of hardware I've worked with recently just works out of the box anyway.
Funny thing that, I have a Microsoft wireless keyboard/mouse. When I plugged it into my old Linux laptop, I was a bit worried it might not work, but it did, instantly. When I first plugged it into my newer Win7 laptop, not only did it have to install drivers, but an installation wizard popped up, for a piece of application software, didn't tell me what it was for, except that apparently it was related to the wireless keyboard/mouse and was going to "enhance my experience" (yeah, whatever). All that from just plugging a device! I had to click though this wizard before I could even use the mouse/keyboard. I didn't have to reboot, but for sure did it have some extra updates to install next time before I was allowed to shut down.
Somehow this aggravates me. I am an avid Linux user and I agree with a lot of points in the blog post but I don't think it is realistic to see Microsoft Windows as something that you have never used. Microsoft relies heavily on "common knowledge". Everyone knows that you need to install software by downloading it from the vendors website, everyone knows about drive letters. This might not be a good thing but they can get away with it because they are the leading OS manufacturer.
Some good points the article makes are about the drivers, which need to be installed from CD and/or downloaded from the vendor's website. I think Linux does this a lot better by including a lot of the drivers into the kernel itself. But these points are easy to be ignored when you are irritated with the article.
"Please note that this article is a parody of what some Windows users write about Linux. The events described here have not actually taken place. However, the article is based on author's experiences with the Windows 7 operating system."
What is being parodied - the experience of Windows users encountering the peculiarities of Linux - is not particularly interesting, nor is it particularly worthy of ridicule. Such stories tend to be about people giving Linux a legitimate chance and running up against technical unfamiliarity.
The particulars of this parody just don't carry any water. Windows downloads drivers automatically? That's dog bites man since the 1990's. Windows doesn't have a live CD? Nobody [1] expects it; again there's decades of precedence AND nobody cares.
The parody isn't funny. It doesn't go anywhere intellectually, and if there is a message it's something along the lines of Windows users are inept. The last point is salient because Windows users tend to admire people who understand Linux, not hold them in contempt.
I read the title and clicked. I read the lead and thought it could be interesting. It wasn't and I too was annoyed. Not because I love Windows, but because the article is dull.
[1] "Nobody" in a statistically significant sense relative to the population of computer users and potential computer users.
Actually 99% of drivers now come from Windows Update. I have only had to install one driver manually in the last 5 years and that was an old and obscure Tektronix laser printer.
Drive letters are a hang back from DOS. Ironically at a very low level, NT doesn't have the concept of drive letters at all and does volume mounting as per *NIX systems. That's all down to Win32.
How is it that "everyone knows about it"? It's some kind of intuitively acquired knowledge, or may be the most natural approach? I think not. Any user learns the system for the first time. So the satire in the story is an answer to those who claim Windows to be more user friendly than Linux, and it humorously describes the level of usability of Windows in comparison to Linux.
> I don't think it is realistic to see Microsoft Windows as something that you have never used.
I decided to give Windows 8 a try, but had not used Windows prior to that since Windows 2000 was new and shiny. For someone born in, say, 1995, who is now entering college, it doesn't seem completely inconceivable for them to have never used Windows. Windows had far less dominance during that time compared to when I was a youth.
I thought it was somewhat eye opening to see linux try to bill itself as "having more drivers." I thought that A. linux was originally intended to not contain large libraries of drivers and B. the drivers that it does have are often not as good as those on windows.
I will offer the example of scanner drivers and videocard drivers. True: many linux distros come with immediate support for both. You are more likely to be able to get your monitor's native resolution on first boot with a linux system. You are more likely to be able to use a scanner out of the box on a linux system. You run into problems, however, as soon as you care about more than basic operation. If you want to use a scanner that is not supported by x-sane on linux, you have a very short list of options, and one of the items on that list is "write your own driver." If you want to use certain multiple monitor setups, you typically have to install the buggy proprietary drivers. Certainly it is possible to get stable access to more advanced video card functions, but the process of achieving this is significantly more complex than letting windows update download and install your graphics driver.
This is just a parody but seriously. Windows 8 desktop has 3 major problems. (4 if you include the branding of Metro or whatever it is called.)
1) Desktop should have Metro app's but not in their current implementation. Instead they should be opened on the desktop like any other program. This would allow multi-tasking, use of app's between various devices and it would greatly simplify the dual application environment problem you have now. It would also allow the Windows key to always toggle the start menu and the desktop. Currently the Windows Key toggles last program or menu which is pretty confusing.
2) Power options... a desktop computer should have a default state of off. Not locked. In the metro menu, where you sign out there should be options to both put the computer into stand by and shut down.
Using the lock option signs you out and doesn't put the computer into stand by. Using stand by does what it says it does but mysteriously doesn't sign you out... very strange. Shutting down the computer requires too many steps. (windows 7 is windows keyright arrowenter) A locked work station can be shut down by what is essentially an unauthenticated user.
For some reason the default metro mail app frequently wakes the computer from standby making it unusable. Stuff like this should be fixed.
3) Dual screen is painful. The right settings menu is on the far edge of your second screen. The start menu seems to appear on a random monitor. Both screen's have app launch icons on the desktop yet if you click an icon on the second screen it opens up where-ever the app was last opened. This means often you launch an application on screen 2 and it appears in screen 1. Its weird. In its current state you never know where you should be looking when you perform actions.
You then have minor stuff. If IE is your default browser the IE launcher will fire the metro version of IE. If you have different default browser the same icon fires IE on your desktop... its strange.
Some programs are just unfindable on the start menu... I can see no reason for it. Sometimes they just don't exist which is pretty weird.
Moving to the top right to get the settings panel often doesn't fire properly. Can sometimes start appearing when you are closing a program..
I look forward to Windows9. I feel all of the problems of Windows8 are solvable and the next version is bound to solve a bunch of these problems. If you don't have Windows 8 don't get it. Stick with 7 which is a far more together system.
-------------
In contrast I installed Ubuntu again on Saturday and everything is much smoother. The Amazon results when searching for files is weird but things are far more intuitive and together than Windows 8.
"a desktop computer should have a default state of off"
Different strokes for different folks I suppose... but I haven't turned a computer off except in specific circumstances (like I know a power cut is coming, or I'm not going to touch it in months) for years.
Before anyone says anything about power usage, I actually attached my computer to a power meter and did the math, and leaving a computer on standby instead of switching it off costs you an extra (in NZ) NZD$3.65 a YEAR. This is because "off" computers still use a bunch of power.. if you're really worried about your computer using up power while you're not using it, pull the plug out of the wall. Otherwise, standby is awesome.
> A locked work station can be shut down by what is essentially an unauthenticated user.
This can also be achieved via the switch on the front of the workstation, but at least doing it through software is a bit more graceful. I've needed to shut down locked workstations at work a couple of times, and being able to do it in software would have been a lot nicer.
The fact that Windows can't read most common filesystems is indeed a sheer idiocy, most probably caused by Microsoft's arrogance and assumption that anything else doesn't worth attention since they'll dominate the world forever.
Fun story: I was trying to get Windows 8 and Linux Mint to dual boot before Christmas, and to use the Windows 8 bootloader (what can I say, it's pretty). Now, the Windows 8 bootloader is a mini-OS itself, containing a fairly sophisticated recovery environment; as such, it needs its own NTFS-formatted partition. Now (and this took me about half a dozen re-installs of Windows and Linux to figure out) if you install Windows 8 on the first partition of your hard drive, it will create a small bootloader partition in front of the Windows partition, and everything will be great. If, however, you install it after say, your Linux partition, the Windows installer will say "oh, look, a big partition for me to dump my bootloader, I don't understand what's on it, so it can't be important", and re-format your ext Linux partition as NTFS (then, when you go back and re-install Linux, Windows is of course unbootable, because you overwrote its bootloader, so even the option of "okay, let's just stick to GRUB" doesn't work). I understand Microsoft not supporting alternative OS's in their bootloader, that's their prerogative, but destructive (and un-warned) reformats of existing partitions as part of the installer? That's just unprofessional.
Not really, the thing is that implementations for accessing said file systems are under a GPL license. In order to integrate them to Windows, they'd have to re-implement from scratch which could lead to a ton of bugs and then they'd have to officially support all of those file systems.
> Using an ethernet cable to get internet to download wifi drivers
Lucky him -- I was installing some new PCs just yesterday, and windows didn't even have ethernet drivers for them; digging around for the driver CD is a pain :-/ Then when I eventually did get online, I found that the company that made my scanner don't support 64-bit versions of windows at all :-|
(All works fine out of the box with latest ubuntu)
Also, what's the windows equivalent of "tar czvf /media/usb/home.tgz ~/" transport USB stick "tar xzvf /media/usb/home.tgz"? Setting up custom profiles for several users on several PCs was hours of pain, and they somehow came out differently each time x_x (As you can tell, I'm not a windows sysadmin, and don't have access to a copy of Windows Server...)
I'm shocked by the author's ignorance. He's kind of an idiot. Simply because he's been living under a rock and lacks common knowledge about how 90% of the world's personal computers run. Pick any OS and if you've never used it before you'll run into quite a bit of cognitive dissonance when trying it out for the first time. Nothing new here. Just a dummy who's trying to acted shocked by an OS everyone and their grandma has used for years.
>Pick any OS and if you've never used it before you'll run into quite a bit of cognitive dissonance when trying it out for the first time.
That's the author's point. He's parodying the myriad 'I tried Linux, and it sucks' blogs that have been around since forever ago.
Since he knew that large sections of the internet have trouble with subtlety and sarcasm, and wouldn't get that without him saying so explicitly in the text, he said so explicitly in the text. Which would have helped if there weren't also large sections of the internet that are prone to commenting before reading the text.
I think you have completely missed the point of the article. It is a parody of the behaviour of microsoft users. As a linux user (I have left microsoft because of Vista), I can ensure you that windows Vista, 7 and 8 are very weird.
I don't consider myself a windows hater per se, but his 'parody' really rings true to my experience, though the absolute limit for me was having to install a special piece of software so that I could scroll the areas underneath the mouse without clicking into them.
This post is a parody; The author explains this in a brightly-colored box on the page that's hard to miss. Perhaps your beef is with the article being parodied?
Do newer versions of Windows include an ssh client yet? If they do, that will remove my major irritation with Windows on the rare occasions I have to use it.
4) You need to Specify the complete path to the desired folder (it must be empty)
On Linux, you just specify it as a mount point at install time, and it gets populated (or it uses its existing content if you don't elect for format it). Technically, you could do it after install by copying the existing files over to the new drive, and then changing the mount options.
So, out of curiosity, how would you do that on Windows for folders like C:\Users?
Windows isn't Linux and Linux isn't Windows. Like another commenter said, Windows users don't typically hold Linux users in contempt, which makes this parody rather ironic.
What is more ironic is that they play up features of Linux like they're great (Live CD), or berate Windows for driver issues. Linux is infamous for lack of driver support.
My most recent experience: Attempting to install Ubuntu variant on my 3 year old Dell Studio laptop. I must boot onto the Live CD first to run the installer, but the Live CD freezes while loading because, I'm sure you guessed it, it doesn't have the proper drivers. Still running Windows, money well spent I guess.
Parody or otherwise, the experience strongly mirrors my actual response to my first Windows NT installation in the late 1990s, shortly before first trying, then converting to, Linux. I'd used both Unix and Microsoft DOS / Windows systems for about 10 years already, so my biases were fairly balanced.
What I'd been told was a real server OS disappointed me with its lack of a true admin account and access method (there are privilege states above "Administrator", there's no sudo), its paucity of shell commands, its lack of true terminal emulator support, its lack of multi-user capability, its lack of 'mount' semantics (some parallels), X11 display abilities, a badly crippled POSIX implementation, miserable documentation, remote access, etc., etc.
After a few months of playing with a number of then-available Unix compatibility environments (MKS, UWIN, Cygwin), I finally gave Linux a shot. And ... it wasn't bad. Comparable to the SunOS workstation I was using at the time in tools.
Eventually discovering Debian and what real package management could buy for you really sealed the deal. I've continued to have tangential exposure to Windows over the years, but it's always been a hugely frustrating, complicated, inconsistent mess to deal with.
As a Windows to Linux convert for the past 5 years I actually enjoyed this parody due to some of the points he brought up that make me facepalm every time I use Windows. I don't know how many times I've cursed Microsoft over not recognising alternative file systems, then to realise I can't even get straight back into Linux because my boot loaders been replaced!
Lucky enough for the guy who wrote this. He didn't try it long enough to know that there's this thing on Windows OS called "Virus/Worm/Trojan" that eats up everything on his PC. ROFL.
Half the article is about Windows installation problems. Thing is, though, most Windows users don't install Windows - it's already there on the computer they bought.
[+] [-] meaty|13 years ago|reply
Windows is free to download and try. You don't have to enter a product key - just hit next and add it if you decide to buy it. You get it for 30 days. Here is the URL if you want to try it (windows 7 x64 professional):
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-59186.iso
There is a live CD but it's only used for recovery. There isn't much of a market for trying Windows.
Drivers. Windows update always handles these for me at least. I haven't had to bother with driver fiddling for years. Not only that, 99% of hardware I've worked with recently just works out of the box anyway.
Package manager. Yes there is - there is just no pick and place repository like Debian. You can get packages from Windows Update though. The package manager is called Windows Installer and the packages are MSI packages.
Everyone installs K Lite Codec Pack and media player classic these days (or VLC) almost as a first item to install. Same as you install win32-codecs on Linux.
Maildir import. You stick an IMAP server on your Linux box and copy all the shit to your PST.
[+] [-] lmm|13 years ago|reply
Lots of ways in which windows isn't quite as expensive or has better things available seem to exist but be hidden. I believe you when you say a trial exists, but it's not easy to find - not only is that not on microsoft's homepage, it's on some random other domain (digitalrivercontent.net? Really). It's the same with bizspark/dreamspark/etc. - there's a lot of ways to get microsoft stuff cheap or free if you know them, but they're not easy to find if you don't.
>Drivers. Windows update always handles these for me at least. I haven't had to bother with driver fiddling for years. Not only that, 99% of hardware I've worked with recently just works out of the box anyway.
Only last week I had to track down some realtek drivers for the microphone on my parents' laptop. Not only had they been unable to find them themselves, they'd paid a guy to install drivers on that computer and he'd missed the microphone. I'll agree that usually it's easy to get drivers once you have an internet connection - but quite a lot of wireless chipsets won't work out of the box without a driver. I haven't bothered with driver fiddling for years either, but that's because I've stopped building my own systems and been using ones that come with windows (and drivers) preinstalled; try installing retail windows on a computer and you might be surprised.
>Everyone installs K Lite Codec Pack and media player classic these days (or VLC) almost as a first item to install.
Sure, "everyone" knows about twenty different things you download and install as soon as you get a new windows machine. I see another post pointing to nlite as a solution to all this. But you only know this because you're familiar with windows. Many of the problems windows users trying linux for the first time complain of are of the same nature, and easier to solve.
>Same as you install win32-codecs on Linux.
That hasn't been necessary for years.
>Maildir import. You stick an IMAP server on your Linux box and copy all the shit to your PST.
Seriously? That's supposed to be a user-friendly solution?
[+] [-] Justsignedup|13 years ago|reply
a) "Everyone installs K-lite" Wow yeah. Everyone who torrents. All the other poor fellas have no idea. And I personally know those other poor fellas and they could not tell you want a codec is if you put a gun to their heads. Hell, my wife is one.
b) I WISH there was a Windows 8 live CD. MS does not want you to "try windows" they want you committed.
c) Drivers. Ok I give you this one. For the most part windows 7 is ok. Gone are the windows XP days where if you didn't have a disk on you, you didn't have your network card drivers.
d) There is NO PACKAGE MANAGER! None, ZERO. Windows Installer as a package manager is like saying my Garage is a parking lot + valet. Windows installer (this atrocity that is...) is used to... INSTALL software. It's a glorified unzip. There is no way to say "oh hey windows installer, I'd really like to install ruby 1.9.3 with sources" and it would say "give me an hour". Instead you say "windows installer? hello? ok to google!"... "to google" can often lead an unexperience used like my grandfather to download spyware.
e) Well. At least windows can be downloaded now as a free unactivated copy. Gone are the days where I purchase a copy of windows only to find out I can't get a legal disk image of windows 7 stand-alone. Only some upgrade, which is not upgradable from windows xp 32 bit.
[+] [-] npsimons|13 years ago|reply
Congratulations! Now you know exactly how Linux users have felt for the past 10 years every single time someone wrote an "I tried Linux, but . . . " article.
[+] [-] antihero|13 years ago|reply
You shouldn't need to know this. Also K-Lite is full of garbage, CCCP is what you want.
> Package manager. Yes there is - there is just no pick and place repository like Debian. You can get packages from Windows Update though. The package manager is called Windows Installer and the packages are MSI packages.
Well yeah, the maintained repository is what makes package managers so attractive.
[+] [-] tripzilch|13 years ago|reply
Funny thing that, I have a Microsoft wireless keyboard/mouse. When I plugged it into my old Linux laptop, I was a bit worried it might not work, but it did, instantly. When I first plugged it into my newer Win7 laptop, not only did it have to install drivers, but an installation wizard popped up, for a piece of application software, didn't tell me what it was for, except that apparently it was related to the wireless keyboard/mouse and was going to "enhance my experience" (yeah, whatever). All that from just plugging a device! I had to click though this wizard before I could even use the mouse/keyboard. I didn't have to reboot, but for sure did it have some extra updates to install next time before I was allowed to shut down.
[+] [-] vincentkriek|13 years ago|reply
Some good points the article makes are about the drivers, which need to be installed from CD and/or downloaded from the vendor's website. I think Linux does this a lot better by including a lot of the drivers into the kernel itself. But these points are easy to be ignored when you are irritated with the article.
[+] [-] brudgers|13 years ago|reply
That might be because it is poor parody.
"Please note that this article is a parody of what some Windows users write about Linux. The events described here have not actually taken place. However, the article is based on author's experiences with the Windows 7 operating system."
What is being parodied - the experience of Windows users encountering the peculiarities of Linux - is not particularly interesting, nor is it particularly worthy of ridicule. Such stories tend to be about people giving Linux a legitimate chance and running up against technical unfamiliarity.
The particulars of this parody just don't carry any water. Windows downloads drivers automatically? That's dog bites man since the 1990's. Windows doesn't have a live CD? Nobody [1] expects it; again there's decades of precedence AND nobody cares.
The parody isn't funny. It doesn't go anywhere intellectually, and if there is a message it's something along the lines of Windows users are inept. The last point is salient because Windows users tend to admire people who understand Linux, not hold them in contempt.
I read the title and clicked. I read the lead and thought it could be interesting. It wasn't and I too was annoyed. Not because I love Windows, but because the article is dull.
[1] "Nobody" in a statistically significant sense relative to the population of computer users and potential computer users.
[+] [-] meaty|13 years ago|reply
Drive letters are a hang back from DOS. Ironically at a very low level, NT doesn't have the concept of drive letters at all and does volume mounting as per *NIX systems. That's all down to Win32.
[+] [-] shmerl|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] randomdata|13 years ago|reply
I decided to give Windows 8 a try, but had not used Windows prior to that since Windows 2000 was new and shiny. For someone born in, say, 1995, who is now entering college, it doesn't seem completely inconceivable for them to have never used Windows. Windows had far less dominance during that time compared to when I was a youth.
[+] [-] bloaf|13 years ago|reply
I will offer the example of scanner drivers and videocard drivers. True: many linux distros come with immediate support for both. You are more likely to be able to get your monitor's native resolution on first boot with a linux system. You are more likely to be able to use a scanner out of the box on a linux system. You run into problems, however, as soon as you care about more than basic operation. If you want to use a scanner that is not supported by x-sane on linux, you have a very short list of options, and one of the items on that list is "write your own driver." If you want to use certain multiple monitor setups, you typically have to install the buggy proprietary drivers. Certainly it is possible to get stable access to more advanced video card functions, but the process of achieving this is significantly more complex than letting windows update download and install your graphics driver.
[+] [-] sebnukem2|13 years ago|reply
"Everyone knows" that you need to defragment your hard drive to improve its performance.
"Everyone knows" that you need to keep your anti virus up to date if you want to keep using your computer.
etc.
[+] [-] bobsy|13 years ago|reply
1) Desktop should have Metro app's but not in their current implementation. Instead they should be opened on the desktop like any other program. This would allow multi-tasking, use of app's between various devices and it would greatly simplify the dual application environment problem you have now. It would also allow the Windows key to always toggle the start menu and the desktop. Currently the Windows Key toggles last program or menu which is pretty confusing.
2) Power options... a desktop computer should have a default state of off. Not locked. In the metro menu, where you sign out there should be options to both put the computer into stand by and shut down.
Using the lock option signs you out and doesn't put the computer into stand by. Using stand by does what it says it does but mysteriously doesn't sign you out... very strange. Shutting down the computer requires too many steps. (windows 7 is windows key right arrow enter) A locked work station can be shut down by what is essentially an unauthenticated user.
For some reason the default metro mail app frequently wakes the computer from standby making it unusable. Stuff like this should be fixed.
3) Dual screen is painful. The right settings menu is on the far edge of your second screen. The start menu seems to appear on a random monitor. Both screen's have app launch icons on the desktop yet if you click an icon on the second screen it opens up where-ever the app was last opened. This means often you launch an application on screen 2 and it appears in screen 1. Its weird. In its current state you never know where you should be looking when you perform actions.
You then have minor stuff. If IE is your default browser the IE launcher will fire the metro version of IE. If you have different default browser the same icon fires IE on your desktop... its strange.
Some programs are just unfindable on the start menu... I can see no reason for it. Sometimes they just don't exist which is pretty weird.
Moving to the top right to get the settings panel often doesn't fire properly. Can sometimes start appearing when you are closing a program..
I look forward to Windows9. I feel all of the problems of Windows8 are solvable and the next version is bound to solve a bunch of these problems. If you don't have Windows 8 don't get it. Stick with 7 which is a far more together system.
-------------
In contrast I installed Ubuntu again on Saturday and everything is much smoother. The Amazon results when searching for files is weird but things are far more intuitive and together than Windows 8.
[+] [-] SCdF|13 years ago|reply
Different strokes for different folks I suppose... but I haven't turned a computer off except in specific circumstances (like I know a power cut is coming, or I'm not going to touch it in months) for years.
Before anyone says anything about power usage, I actually attached my computer to a power meter and did the math, and leaving a computer on standby instead of switching it off costs you an extra (in NZ) NZD$3.65 a YEAR. This is because "off" computers still use a bunch of power.. if you're really worried about your computer using up power while you're not using it, pull the plug out of the wall. Otherwise, standby is awesome.
[+] [-] archangel_one|13 years ago|reply
This can also be achieved via the switch on the front of the workstation, but at least doing it through software is a bit more graceful. I've needed to shut down locked workstations at work a couple of times, and being able to do it in software would have been a lot nicer.
[+] [-] coffeedrinker|13 years ago|reply
The Start menu appears on the screen (right or left) based on which Windows button you pressed (left or right side of space bar).
You can also open the charms menu on either screen, although it is more difficult to position the mouse pointer at the bottom of the left screen.
[+] [-] shmerl|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BruceIV|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Argote|13 years ago|reply
Definitely not worth it from MSFTs perspective.
[+] [-] Shish2k|13 years ago|reply
Lucky him -- I was installing some new PCs just yesterday, and windows didn't even have ethernet drivers for them; digging around for the driver CD is a pain :-/ Then when I eventually did get online, I found that the company that made my scanner don't support 64-bit versions of windows at all :-|
(All works fine out of the box with latest ubuntu)
Also, what's the windows equivalent of "tar czvf /media/usb/home.tgz ~/" transport USB stick "tar xzvf /media/usb/home.tgz"? Setting up custom profiles for several users on several PCs was hours of pain, and they somehow came out differently each time x_x (As you can tell, I'm not a windows sysadmin, and don't have access to a copy of Windows Server...)
[+] [-] sauravc|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AimHere|13 years ago|reply
That's the author's point. He's parodying the myriad 'I tried Linux, and it sucks' blogs that have been around since forever ago.
Since he knew that large sections of the internet have trouble with subtlety and sarcasm, and wouldn't get that without him saying so explicitly in the text, he said so explicitly in the text. Which would have helped if there weren't also large sections of the internet that are prone to commenting before reading the text.
[+] [-] webreac|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] numeromancer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fredsted|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] armored_mammal|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rjknight|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hhudolet|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BHSPitMonkey|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Joeboy|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] meaty|13 years ago|reply
And you don't have to install anything. I chuck it all in c:\windows and it's available in PATH then.
[+] [-] cleverjake|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jaredmcateer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] madsushi|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] recursive|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dschep|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EricButler|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] foxbunny|13 years ago|reply
On Linux, you just specify it as a mount point at install time, and it gets populated (or it uses its existing content if you don't elect for format it). Technically, you could do it after install by copying the existing files over to the new drive, and then changing the mount options.
So, out of curiosity, how would you do that on Windows for folders like C:\Users?
[+] [-] JimmaDaRustla|13 years ago|reply
What is more ironic is that they play up features of Linux like they're great (Live CD), or berate Windows for driver issues. Linux is infamous for lack of driver support.
My most recent experience: Attempting to install Ubuntu variant on my 3 year old Dell Studio laptop. I must boot onto the Live CD first to run the installer, but the Live CD freezes while loading because, I'm sure you guessed it, it doesn't have the proper drivers. Still running Windows, money well spent I guess.
[+] [-] dredmorbius|13 years ago|reply
What I'd been told was a real server OS disappointed me with its lack of a true admin account and access method (there are privilege states above "Administrator", there's no sudo), its paucity of shell commands, its lack of true terminal emulator support, its lack of multi-user capability, its lack of 'mount' semantics (some parallels), X11 display abilities, a badly crippled POSIX implementation, miserable documentation, remote access, etc., etc.
After a few months of playing with a number of then-available Unix compatibility environments (MKS, UWIN, Cygwin), I finally gave Linux a shot. And ... it wasn't bad. Comparable to the SunOS workstation I was using at the time in tools.
Eventually discovering Debian and what real package management could buy for you really sealed the deal. I've continued to have tangential exposure to Windows over the years, but it's always been a hugely frustrating, complicated, inconsistent mess to deal with.
[+] [-] marcloney|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hydrology|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qwerta|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] curlypaul924|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brudgers|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Finster|13 years ago|reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE4fz8cwL9c
It's OVER
[+] [-] jonascopenhagen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] foxbunny|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] abcd_f|13 years ago|reply
Uhm... no? There's a re-partitioning step in W7 installer.