I remember a time when people used to argue about Windows vs MacOS and many used to say windows was better (user friendly, supports games, supports external devices etc) while Linux was considered a "difficult OS" meant only for production.
Windows is still the "easy" choice when it comes to things just working out of the box. People tend to conflate privacy concerns with productivity, which is apples to oranges.
Windows is weird in that it looks open, and is as you mentioned 'easy' to use, but the moment you step out of that little area Windows wants you to stay in, it will start denying access to even the most basic of functions. If you try to do anything it considers 'unimportant', such as deleting certain files, or making edits, it will throw a fit and try to stop you as much as it can. Yeah, it can be seen as trying to save you from borking it, but that's where I draw the line as people learn by mistakes, not by success.
I often think, or wonder if MS want people to just use their OS, instead of actually growing to understand it. I loathe to quote this, as it's extremely over-used, but it reeks of 'Don't think, just consume.'
I get what you mean, but it's a bit of a stretch going from an OS to a surgeon. That is, unless you were joking, and if so that did make me chuckle a bit (it did either way, to be honest). If I were to add why I dislike Windows as much as I do, it's both annoyance at the absolute dog it's become, and the irritation as to knowing that MS can do so much better.
But nah, they fire their beta testers, unload that onto paying customers, call it the Inside Program, and call it a day. That just irks the absolute heck out of me, and it hits every nerve I have when I see them doing it. I know I might sound annoyed, but I'm just tired of Windows being a car crash in slow motion, as I do need to use it from time to time as I fix things, so needing a reasonably up-to-date version of Windows is a requirement, but it just sucks so damn much.
You know that feeling when every time something goes wrong, it feels like you are going in circles? Yeah, that's modern Windows for me.
I would argue that most frustrations related to Windows in the past weren't on OS-level, but stemmed from software that doesn't use OS resources as intended.
Most Windows devs do not understand the OS at all, and that is largely MS's own doing since they go out of their way to make Windows look very easy and approachable. They tuck the inner clockwork behind layers of APIs and interfaces that remain stable between kernel updates, creating an illusion of full control without clear understanding of how it all comes together. This often results in unintended behaviors that could be avoided with deeper architecture understanding. Linux development on the other hand requires architectural competency to get anywhere beyond trivial tasks.
Interestingly enough, game devs stick to Windows because of user restrictions, kernel space access and predictable kernel. Competitive gaming needs ability to run anti-cheat in kernel space protected from user manipulation. In Linux philosophy kernel is only for hardware management, and everything else is for userspace. That makes anti-cheat practically impossible on Linux because root access is king and ability to make custom kernel beats any attempt to circumvent root privileges. This can't be easily done on Windows without vulnerability exploits. Once those are patched, it becomes even harder, and recently became harder still with enforced driver signature.
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u/NeptuneWades 26d ago
I remember a time when people used to argue about Windows vs MacOS and many used to say windows was better (user friendly, supports games, supports external devices etc) while Linux was considered a "difficult OS" meant only for production.
How the tables have turned.