I don't get it either. I've never met anyone who liked any of the dynamic content provided by MS pretending that Windows is media platform. I think these are features the MS execs want, not users.

> Is Linux a usable alternative?

Who knows. Look at Ubuntu and some of the other distros that try to push the app store model, connected accounts, etc.. These people are building the software they want, not the software I want as a consumer.

I pay for Windows. I'd gladly pay for Linux instead if it was good enough.

Red Hat seems at a glance to be more focused on making a good workstation for professional use. Ubuntu seems to be more for beginners on their home computer.

Admittedly, I haven't spent much time with Red Hat (stuck in windows most of the time due to embedded development tools). Can anyone who has used it (and something like Ubuntu) weigh in?

I use Xubuntu, which is great. Really, I would say the difference between Red Hat/Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora is largely cosmetic. I haven't actually used Red Hat as a workstation in years, but the nice thing is that on Ubuntu you can just install the gnome-desktop package or the kubuntu-desktop package, and you get that desktop environment.

So the idea that it's "more workstation oriented..." doesn't really reflect what your experience is.

At the end of the day you have a desktop environment and some packages. And Linux, especially Ubuntu with its package manager, makes it really trivial to swap out the DE if there's something that doesn't seem "power user" enough for you. (And for me, I find the default Ubuntu DE bloated and trend-chasing, but Xubuntu-desktop gives me the same well-supported packages you get on Ubuntu with a stable, no-frills desktop.)

Ultimately it really is about support. There's a lot of services and products that simply don't offer a Linux client, and that's where the trouble comes. Like I was contemplating trying out Tidal since I was annoyed with Spotify's removing a bunch of features from their desktop app, but Tidal doesn't offer a native Linux client. Zoom's Linux client is simply inferior. Lots of stuff like that which have nothing to do with any shortcomings in the OS is where I find the actual problems lie.

The only thing that is limiting on Linux is software availability. As far as an operating system goes, it is more than good enough.

Again, Microsoft seems to be genuinely incapable of understandng why anyone could havev ever liked the Windows already available. As if that was some crazy unthinkable impossibility. Perhaps at some point between 60 and 90% market share you should stop trying too hard to be like the others and consider the possibility that not everything you've done is wrong?

I like the idea and motivations behind a lot of the changes a lot of the time but it’s basically never done well. It’s like… always mediocre.

Like they added weather to the Win 10 taskbar recently and it’s something I’ve wanted before… but it’s blurry! Wtf??

That’s the problem I have with MS… they can do a lot of good engineering but they rarely can do product design, so half the things they build are doomed to fail by default.

Judging by their own line of tablet computers, it seems like they genuinely don't understand why anyone in would want a desktop. Which is sad, because Windows 10 is not a nice tablet UI

When you model this kind of befuddlement, assume that it's rational, strategic action intended to secure more money/growth in the short term than the "sane choice", even if that requires a worse user experience.

They'll just see how bad the complaints are about weird UI choices and privacy, and then release Windows 12 which will be a return to Windows 10 except with less control over your computer.

No strong evidence that this will be the case other than Windows 95/2000, Windows Vista/7, and Windows 8/10.

As best I can tell from the last 25 years, alternating releases are basically alpha versions that everyone is forced to pay to test for them.

I stopped using windows when they bought out vista.

I never got the Vista hate. It wasn't great. XP and 7 were both nicer. But Vista was fine.

you should have waited 'till 7 - and stayed there IMO.