I’ve been using Linux exclusively for about 8 years. Recently I got frustrated with a bunch of issues that popped one after another. I had a spare SSD so I decided to check out Windows again. I’ve installed Windows 11 LTSC. It was a nightmare. After all the years on Linux, I forgot how terrible Windows actually is.
On the day I installed the system and a bunch of basic software, I had two bluescreens. I wasn’t even doing anything at that time, just going through basic settings and software installation. Okay, it happens. So I installed Steam and tried to play a game I’ve been currently playing on Linux just to see the performance difference. And it was… worse, for some reason. The “autodetect” in game changed my settings from Ultra to High. On Linux, the game was running at the 75 fps cap all the time. Windows kept dropping them to around 67-ish a lot of times. But the weirdest part was actual power consumption and the way GPU worked. Both systems kept the GPU temperature at around 50C. But the fans were running at 100% speed at that temperature on Windows, while Linux kept them pretty quiet. I had to change the fan controls by myself on Windows just because it was so annoying. The power consumption difference was even harder to explain, as I was getting 190-210W under Linux and under Windows I got 220-250W. And mind you, under Linux I had not only higher graphical settings set up, but was also getting better performance.
I tried connecting my bluetooth earbuds to my PC. Alright, the setup itself was fine. But then the problems started. My earbuds support opus codec for audio. Do you think I can change the bluetooth codec easily, just like on Linux? Nope. There is no way to do it without some third party programs. And don’t even get me started on Windows randomly changing my default audio output and trying to play sound through my controller.
Today I decided to make this rant-post after yet another game crashed on me twice under Windows. I bought Watch Dogs since it’s currently really cheap on Steam. I click play. I get the loading screen. The game crashed. I try again. I play through the basic “tutorial”. After going out of the building, game crashed again. I’m going to play again, this time under Linux.
I’ve had my share of frustrations under Linux, but that experience made me realise that Windows is not a perfect solution either. Spending a lot of time with Linux and it’s bugs made me forget all the bad experience in the past with Windows, and I was craving to go back to the “just works” solution. But it’s not “just works”. Two days was all it took for me to realize that I’ll actually stick with Linux, probably forever. The spare SSD went back to my drawer, maybe so I can try something new in the future. It’s so good to be back after a short trip to the other side!
The problem with Windows is that it is not build to be parametrised. Anyone a bit tech-savy will be frustrated by the inability to tune it effectively for their need.
The problem with Linux is that it is not tech-normie friendly. Sure it has distribution easy to use and pre-parametrised so anyone with basic computer skill can use it. But people with basic computer skill don’t have computers with Linux. Anyone who just want to use a computer has to first learn how to install an OS.The problem with Linux is that it is not tech-normie friendly.
That probably was true 15 years ago. That is absolutely not true now. This misconception stems from the fact that most tech normies have a lot of experience with Windows through job, so people assume Windows is friendly, but in reality they just know how it works.
Learning how to use Linux is dead easy. It’s not popular because it’s not pre installed, as you said, but it’s not because the OS is bad, it’s because Linux doesn’t have multibillion corporation behind it to make sure its everywhere.[…] in reality they just know how it works
In my experience, they know how a few utilities and how a handful of programs work, but have no idea how Windows works. Not that many people actually know how Windows works.
Roughly figuring out the boot sequence of Linux is relatively easy once you’ve used it for a year or two. What happens when Windows boots? Who knows? kernel32 probably is involved at some point.Linux/Unix is actually relatively simple and logical once you’ve figured it out. Windows is a messy dark maze with grues waiting at every corner to eat you.
I came to the same conclusion recently. Had a bunch of issues after i decided to try running windows 11 instead of 10 in a vm. One of them being that my usb dac refused to work, turns out after googling and finding a weird random chatgpt article that it was caused by a specific update. Had to roll the update back to solve it. Now i have to hope that they solve it before they decide to force the update on me anyways.
See, I’ve had a similar experience getting games to run on Debian. Steam games crash and require research and testing to see if I can even get them to run, having some in-game videos just not play, black screens, and games just kinda freezing are all super common for me. That’s just when trying to run games via Proton.
I get some of it can be tied to a skill issue on my part, but at the end of the day I’m tired and don’t want to spend what little free time I have tinkering to get a game working, at least most days.
Still, my dislike for Windows 11 outweighs my interest in gaming so Debian stays.
Well, Windows was never perfect. People just got used to its shenanigans. They tend to meddle with bullshit registry yet somehow basic commands on Linux is too complicated.
The average user doesn’t even know the registry exists.
In windows’ defense, the “complication” comes from the fact that there is no constant visual display of the filesystem structure in a terminal window like there is in the Windows registry.
That said, taking an hour to become comfortable with the terminal is not a difficult task. Understanding
~, and constantly usingdf -handls -al(for me anyway) will help a lot of people figure it out.
I forgot how terrible Windows actually is
Windows, while always shitty, has seriously gone downhill in the past 5 years. I’m looking to switch back to Linux myself, but I have an NVidia GPU that needs constant driver babying on OpenSUSE (my preferred distro). My current plan is to find someone who is willing to swap a RTX 4070 for a equivalent or slightly worse AMD card, and then switch back to OpenSUSE.
That’s more of an OpenSUSE issue, as much as I hate to say it’s not Nvidia. Fedora may work better for with the options available for non-free DKMS builds on kernel upgrades, but you’ll always be battling the Nvidia side with newer kernels pack releases. The open builds don’t work for display yet, so that’s not an option anywhere.
Oh for sure. I just like OpenSUSE enough to switch GPUs for. I only really run older games aside from Baldur’s Gate III and Cyberpunk, so I really don’t need the latest and greatest.
What makes SUsE so good for you?
I was in a somewhat similar place when I first got a laptop with Windows 11 preinstalled. Decided to dual boot, set Windows up with strictly local accounts, and actually poke around in there out of curiosity.
Tbf, the last time I was regularly doing anything in Windows was during the Vista --> Win 7 era. This did not make 11 any more approachable or easier to get even very basic things accomplished. I didn’t like the UI (still don’t), and kept getting frustrated at those “little” things like the Bluetooth codec issue you mention. Haven’t even tried to do much gaming on that side, to compare, other than a couple I couldn’t get working properly through WINE/Proton. (A couple of other software packages too.) So I ended up rarely playing those, and only booting into there at all once in a blue moon.
I did recognize that a lot of that frustration was on me and my expectations, though. Doesn’t mean that I still don’t want to have more control over basically everything about my system. I probably could make even modern Windows work better for me, but why bother when I’m already happy enough elsewhere. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Good call. I’ve had to use Windows on work computers for the last 15 years, and I think it’s insane when people talk about it being simple or just working. I feel like I’m being gaslighted by people who maybe don’t know Linux very well so they decided Windows is good actually.
It appears to be all held together with string and ready to crumble randomly.
We keep one Windows laptop in our house so my partner can use some proprietary software she needs for work. When something goes wrong we just reimage it with the HP support tool because otherwise trying to fix it is like pulling your own teeth out.
I work in IT supporting windows (server primarily) and from my perspective it does work pretty well. We have around 1500 Windows clients and around 400-500 Windows servers and it works pretty damn well. Sure problems happen, in general it does work. Now, I don’t work in T1 support so I’m not sure how often people have problems but I would definitely hear about it if it were as bad as some on Lemmy claim.
Our Windows Servers in general work great, I don’t think we have noticeably more problems with them compared to our Linux servers which we have maybe 20% more of.
Remember that pretty much the entire enterprise world use primarily or exclusively Windows clients and that would absolutely not be the case if they were “held together with string and ready to crumble randomly.” That would simply not be acceptable in companies which could lose millions in just lost productivity.
Windows is a just the comfort zone for normies…
Linux once set up has less issues but it can be hard to set if you your hardware doesn’t work out of the box. Which is a real risk
As somebody who works in IT at a Windows-only environment, I know exactly what you mean.
I have to fight with Windows on a weekly basis. Driver issues, firmware issues, software crashes/lockups, performance issues, etc etc.
Just this week, I have two users experiencing issues with their monitors. Identical enterprise grade laptops, identical drivers, identical docking stations, all totally up to date on Windows 11. Their old Windows 10 computers worked fine. Still trying to figure out what’s wrong.
The Windows 24H2 update broke my Bluetooth audio, the sound is completely messed up and makes the system lag a bit. Uninstalled the update, Bluetooth works. The update automatically installed itself again after a few weeks and broke it again but I can no longer uninstall it for some reason.
@feddup @Lettuceeatlettuce Sadly the Debian 12 update did the same to me. I fixed it and it stays fixed. But its annoying nevertheless.
Welcome back to sanity
How did it play under Linux?
Look, I’d get my Mom to switch to linux if she still had a chance to play warcraft. Does it play on a rolling RPM release so I don’t have to periodically reinstall the OS? I’m serious. This is almost the only reason I don’t switch the family – very particular games.
Amen. This is similar to the experience I have too. When I use Windows I have as many if not more problems. If I was only using a web browser, like most non-power users, I would have across the board worse issues on windows.
Windows sure is bad, though I haven’t seen an actual blue-screen in years. That’s some foul luck.
You just get forced update while you’re in the middle of work and random settings resets.
Using Windows since Windows XP was sired. Using Linux for longer than that, mostly Linux servers, but have tons of years of Linux Desktop experience under my belt, with probably half of all Linux distributions on DistroWatch.com.
Conclusion: Linux server rocks. Windows Desktop sux in many ways, but it just works and I personally have no issues with it. Linux Desktop is the worst hell possible. Barely ever works. It is literal hell and I hate it.
Whenever I try to get into Linux Desktop, I have to meditate and drink a de-stressing tea beforehand, or else I cannot guarantee the laptop’s or PC’s screen’s safety, when dealing with Linux Desktop.
For anyone attempting to comment: note, that there is a huge difference between headless server Linux usage and Linux Desktop/GUI usage. I’m only talking about Linux GUI. Linux headless is fine and works great!
Yep, I have used Linux since 2017 after W10 just made everything slower for home use and work. I have been using W11 for work lately, and it sucks. The office16/root/vfs/ProgramFilesCommonX64(86)/office16/ai.exe and aimgr.exe keep hogging resources in task manager and bogging down the system when ever I try to get work done. Deleteing those files helps but they come back after updates, so for now I created two empty text files and changed the filename and extensions to match the deleted files, so far that has kept updates from reinstalling those ai files
