I dare to say most Linux users know more about windows problem solving than the average windows user
That's only true for a time. After you stop dealing with Windows for enough years, you just forget the bullshit and you become almost as clueless as the guy asking for help. You're really good at Linux though. So when they ask for help you are all like:
But with a less annoying and more kidnapper vibe where you're withholding your valuable help till the bastard pays ransom. "You want help? Switch to Linux." You don't care if they don't.
I've been on Linux exclusively for over 5 years now. I'm starting to struggle with some Windows stuff that I just forgot how to do. But also I'm still shit at Linux. It just works so well that I never really had to learn what's under the hood.
I think another part of this is that you can do a little sleuthing in Linux and generally figure out what's causing an issue because the error messages are generally helpful!
In Linux, running a buggy / non-starting app in terminal will usually spit out something understandable. I think once we figure this out it spoils us a little.
Windows on the other hand, with anything that actually requires intervention, seems to go out of its way to be obtuse and goes all "contact your system administrator" about it. You spend more time trying to look up and cipher their "error codes" and dealing with unhelpful "support" than figuring the problem. (Which usually involves "nuke and pave a driver" anyway. Lol)
Yep. Haven't used windows besides poking at other people's machines and trying to figure out wtf is going on in about 20 years.
I'm just as clueless as you bud, but I've got a bootable Linux drive I can plug in. Come on, you know you wanna... It'll be great, you'll love it. It's free
Maybe for some, but even if you have to keep it up because your work it relatives demand it, Windows ecosystem is essentially impossible to debug when it hits issues and you just have to take guesses as to why the obscure bad behavior is happening.
Windows is better at not needing to be fixed or the first place by self healing, whereas with Linux distributions you have to know how to fix those issues, but once it goes beyond easy to fix issues, Linux is reparable but windows isn't.
If it isn't blatantly obvious, it didn't fix itself, and SFC didn't fix it, then they always say reinstall...
Dealing with Microsoft's bullshit has always been one of the most pursuasive arguments for Linux.
I dare to say most Linux users know more about windows problem solving than the average windows user
Well, your Windows skills are being represented by Bennett, who is no John Matrix, but also
isn't a standard civilian. And he does have that chain mail vest...that separates him from the normies too.90% of problem solving is just Googling stuff and screwing with settings, which isn't particularly Linux specific.
There is definitely a difference between finding out the registry exists vs having to look up which key to edit
Being able to find a solution instead of a huge amount of bloat is Linux specific.
Even the average windows gamer doesn't know shit anymore.
I remember learning a lot of stuff as a side effect of Morrowind modding. :D
In my experience professional Windows admins tend to be click ops guys. Trying to tell them that they don't need a GUI is impossible.
They are also the ones who will lock onto legacy ways of doing things. Try telling them that the thing they are trying to do is in the settings app.
Then they're shit admins, I'm always using Command Prompt and Powershell because the GUI fell short somewhere.
Also
Try telling them that the thing they are trying to do is in the settings app.
There's a reason for that, the settings app is trash the second you need to do something beyond the basics and doesn't cover enterprisey things whatsoever
I dare to rebuke that
Just install Linux. Should fix most of their Windows problems.
Where are my weather widgets?
Just install one. Likely it won't have ads.
Funny you say that I saw someone on the bus the other day with a terrible KDE theme.
It looked kind of like Windows 11 but in the worse possible ways. They managed to get the panel to look like Windows 11 but they were using the wrong icons and the wrong Window decorations.
Whenever I get a tech question its always about how to navigate a gui I am unfamiliar with. And when I can't give them an answer, they assume I'm actually clueless about technology.
My least favourite technical support calls were with people who didn't know their own interface and I was having to direct them, blind, to get the information and do the diagnostics I needed.
There were at least a couple of times where I had to ask the customer to describe literally everything they saw on the screen starting at the top left and working their way down.
I sometimes pretend to be one of those people when I get tech support scammers on the phone because I know how tortuous it is.
windows is very complicated and inconsistent if you get to look under the hood
As a Linux user, I shit on Linux tutorials being obtuse because the solution is often like "then sudo [command]" and now run these 8 other commands. But at least with Linux commands, a smart person can piece together what's going on.
Windows, it's even worse. It's like a bunch of black boxes talking to other black boxes so after you right click to enable that property and add this registry key, you then have to reboot into your bios to turn on "Fuckboi" mode and take photos of your asshole for verification, then log into your Microsoft account to get this Powershell script and now you can finally see your children again.
And to add insult to injury, many of the issues in Windows are just "I don't want to do this the way MS wants everyone to do this."
There is still not a neat replacement for wmic in PowerShell. If I want to do the equivalent of
wmic product where name="some shitware" call uninstallit looks like this:$instance = Get-CimInstance win32_process -Filter "Name = 'powershell_ise.exe'" $instance | Invoke-CimMethod -MethodName 'Terminate'Like how the hell is that easier to understand Microsoft? Everything else in PowerShell follows a general pattern of Upper Camelcase.
That's just one instance of what I've found working with pwsh at work that leaves me thinking wtf
Just like the enterprise software it is.
This is why I always bounce around between all 3 major OS's (Yes yes, I know Linux distros complicate thongs)
Keeps me flexible, an OS is a tool and you need to use the best tool for the job at hand
I bet that if you stepped away from the computer while removing said thongs they wouldn't seem so complicated.
I know, right? Gotta take the hands off the keyboard or at least take your eyes off the monitor for a second if you use your teeth.
Don't tell me what to do, you're not my Dad!
an OS is a tool
I've been supporting Mac, Windows and Linux for years. I find I can only truly keep up with two at a time, so every couple of years I switch windows -> OSX.
I used to bounce between them for the same reason, but nowadays the right tool, for me, is always a Debian variant, anyway. (or Arch, counting SteamDeck).
- My gaming is on SteamDeck now.
- My Office bullshit works fine on Android, and Linux. There's always been a community for this. There's a learning curve to get professional results, but it's so much less hassle once mastered.
- Remote management is so much nicer with Linux. I still deal with some of that crap on Windows, and the Windows admins go on about how they need Windows to be able to remotely manage. I bite my tongue, but I feel embarrassed for them every time they do so. Remote management is about 20 years more mature on Linux than on Windows.
- Artistic stuff, interestingly, also Linux, for me. (I never got into Adobe suite, I felt wary of their monopoly early.) But GnuIMP and Krita get the job done, for me.
Edit: And I can still collaborate. Office cloud tools work on Linux in the browser, nowadays.
Yea for personal professionals it's fine, but my career is in IT, so staying flexible is important for multiple fronts lol I'm just as comfortable in a Linux heavy position as I am in a Windows or MacOS and being able to do all 3 makes mixed environments a hell of a lot easier.
Remote management is so much nicer with Linux. I still deal with some of that crap on Windows, and the Windows admins go on about how they need Windows to be able to remotely manage. I bite my tongue, but I feel embarrassed for them every time they do so. Remote management is about 20 years more mature on Linux than on Windows.
For terminal stuffs, for Remote Desktop, all the Linux solutions are.....not that great, they work. Microsoft's RDP otoh is fantastic, high quality, low latency and easy to pass through USB devices, Webcams, mics etc. right out of the box
Not sure what your Windows guys mean by needing Windows to remotely manage Windows, there's plenty of cross platform RDP clients. The only time I've needed Windows to manage Windows is for very enterprisey Windows-specific things, like Active Directory or group policies
But Windows is never the best tool for any job. Unless of course you only know that one tool like most people do.
There is a lot of software that only runs on Windows that has no viable alternatives. For private use, the vast majority of people would be fine without Windows, but so many professional applications require it.
You don't work in IT do you?
How about for Digital Audio Workstation duty?
What are you talking about? I love playing fun little games like "find out which of the three control panels has the option I need" and "trying not to click on the web results in local search".
I love how some control panel options now open settings and they still don't have fucking consistent theming
Do clean install
"Where are my apps?"
what the fuck is an app?
What is is?
Just install Linux on a full wipe.
Whatever their windows problem was, it’s gone and they’ll never ask you again.
It depends. I’m Carl Weathers with XP.
Baby, you got a stew goin'
I always had a windows system around (for gaming, so it was kind of mandatory for a while), so I had a minimum level of know-how to fix most common issues on windows.
I've been telling people asking me for help that I would never be able to help them with W11, as I won't be touching it at all. Not even for work. It finally convinced quite a few that they did not need anything more than a linux box with a browser and libreoffice. Feels nice.
Why is everyone poking fun at Vernon Wells? Because he's intentionally being goofy for the picture?
Why is everyone poking fun at Vernon Wells?
because he didn't win 7 Mr. Olympia titles - that's why!
Leave discount Freddie Mercury alone!
He holds the distinction of fighting in the most comically lopsided boss fights ever filmed. Arnold circa 1984 vs my neighbor Larry who always lets me borrow his ladder and smokes a mean brisket while drinking 12 beers.
Show me an Apple OS and I go full Boomer Mode. It's embarrassing.
Let me download this thing real qui-
Edge Crashes
Okay let me just ope-
Store crashes
Nvm ill just che-
Settings crashes
How about control panel?
actually opens
Okay cool now we just need to che-
Menu no longer exists because it moved to Settings
Screw it let's check google on my phone
sfc /scannow
Okay I'm out
I learned programming in a command line environment (VAX/VMS) but then started doing Microsoft contract jobs and got too used to Windows, so now Linux is very cryptic to me. Tbh Unix always has been, especially compared to VMS where all the system commands and their options are actual words. But I ran Ubuntu exclusively for a year or two and only reverted to Windows out of necessity, but now that I don't need any Windows crap anymore I'm ready to go to Linux again.
Besides Ubuntu I've heard good things about Mint. Also Oreon looks interesting. Any opinions?
Mint is like when a Team of reasonable People took Ubuntu and removed the stuff they don't like, and add there own Oldscool (win7~xp) Desktop and a few usefull Tools. Works well for me on slow/mobile devices that do simple things (Browser, libereoffice, mail, copy files) Very reliable for that. But i don't use it for Desktop/Workstation Stuff like Virtualisation/Server
Thanks for the reply, especially the direct comparison with Ubuntu. My web dev friend who uses Mint loves it.
this is me with graphic design. I use photoshop, illustrator and indesign but when someone asks me to do something simple in powerpoint I'm like "ok ... now how do we make a rectangle ..." and it's like I'm touching a mouse for the first time in my life.
drawing on PowerPoint is a nightmare
What's the name of that actor besides Arnold?
Vernon Wells, in Commando. Pretty much the most McBain movie Arnold made.
Chubby Freddy Mercury
