If you swear by windows, you probably have good reasons. People who like windows would love to hear them. Otherwise, why partake in a conversation that frustrates you at all if you don't want to argue in support of your opinion?

+1 for the windows camp: Personally, I haven't found a better alternative for running Adobe programs on good hardware without taking out a loan on my house (mac pros are a no-go). So Windows works best here.

Another +1 for the windows camp: Gaming (but SteamOS is starting to compete here).

Other than that, I have found that some variant of linux or macOS outperforms windows in every way for my needs (insert obligatory, YMMV), and I am happy to list those out if anyone is interested or needs help deciding which OS suits their needs best.

I was making a specific counterpoint to the argument "there really isn't a good excuse to stay with Microsoft". My point needed no elaboration to be valid.

> Otherwise, why partake in a conversation that frustrates you at all if you don't want to argue in support of your opinion?

Because in my experience said "conversations" always devolve into the same useless arguments, which are entirely irrelevant to the point that people have good reasons they use Windows because anyone else's opinion of their reasons is irrelevant.

Because you want upvotes, so you gotta give people things to agree with. If I just say "Linux Sucks" I'm not giving people much to agree with, except naked tribalism.

But there are other things I can say that will allow members of my tribe to feel they're not voting tribally - and even some Linux enthusiasts to think I've got a point:

* "Linux doesn't support Photoshop / MS Excel / Altium / SolidWorks"

* "Microsoft's fanatical devotion to binary backwards-compatibility means I don't have to worry old software will break because I've got the wrong version of python installed, or my version of libreadline is too new."

* "I've got an nvidia graphics card, and nvidia drivers on Linux are a right mess"

* "Linux is all-too-often a second-class citizen, both hardware and software makers giving it less testing and support than they do Windows and Mac"

"You don't need those things anyway, Krita / LibreOffice Calc / etc are good enough. Alternatively, don't they run in Wine?"

> * "Microsoft's fanatical devotion to binary backwards-compatibility means I don't have to worry old software will break because I've got the wrong version of python installed, or my version of libreadline is too new."

"People shouldn't use old software because it is insecure. Fortunately there are armies of third party package maintainers dedicated to keeping software up to date for you and updating is easy and painless."

> * "I've got an nvidia graphics card, and nvidia drivers on Linux are a right mess"

"Don't use Nvidia then."

> * "Linux is all-too-often a second-class citizen, both hardware and software makers giving it less testing and support than they do Windows and Mac"

"That's why we have to push more for its adoption!"

Like I said, I've played this game a lot. This is exactly how it goes every damned time. No matter what you say, someone will come out of the woodwork to argue that your opinion is wrong, you chose the wrong hardware, or even, bizarrely, that normal people don't need that, like that has anything at all to do with why you need it.

Well, if you're going to post arguing against your own point every time... :)

But this is not arguing that the opinion is wrong. It just shows that it's not a universal true for everyone and that Linux could work for other people reading this.

I would say it is at least as good as this post:

"You actually can directly listen to many scientists on social media."

Literally everything that followed was people being upset I didn't give them reasoning to attack. Well you know what? I'm sick of their bullshit arguments designed to promote their favorite OS by telling me all my personal decisions are bad just because I don't like the same things they do.

"there really isn't a good excuse to stay with Microsoft" implies that Microsoft is bad, and on HN it's more or less accepted (mostly due to the user tracking and non-flexibility). Of course, there are still reasons to stay with Microsoft, so that argument is far from perfect too.

> I would say it is at least as good as this post: "You actually can directly listen to many scientists on social media."

My post suggests how to find the opinions of actual scientists. It's an actionable suggestion with reasoning unlike yours.

> by telling me all my personal decisions are bad

Nobody tells you that your personal decisions are bad. People are just discussing the reasons to choose one system of the other. Bystanders read that and decide for themselves. "I love Windows" arguments do not help anyone to decide.

Let me sum up:

>> There's no good reason to use Windows

> If Windows fits how you use a computer better, then that is a good reason.

That's it, that's all I'm saying. I didn't even say Windows was good. I certainly didn't say I love Windows, because I really don't and you will find many posts by me to back that up.

> Bystanders read that and decide for themselves.

THIS thinking precisely illustrates why I didn't elaborate on why I use Windows. With evangelists it isn't about discussion, or understanding, it's about performing a fucking sales pitch and I'm goddamned sick of it.

You did exactly this.

Edit: changed to the relevant statement