I would argue it's getting better than Windows in relative terms by leaps and bounds. Mostly because Windows is getting worse, but still.

Windows is going downhill in a hurry, while MacOS is stagnated (at best), while Linux is constantly advancing, slowly, maybe sometime the wrong path, but always moving.

In what ways do you think Linux is getting better than Windows? Do you also think Linux is getting better than macOS or FreeBSD?

When I bought a new Windows 11 machine I foolishly copied over my data from the last machine without doing any research. It was only after I was done that I realized by default Windows copies my user directory to Microsoft's "cloud", so all my tax returns and other personal data are bouncing around Microsoft's servers somewhere. I sure hope their security is good.

By default Windows shows ads in my start menu. It also shows me ads in my notifications. I guess I could understand if it was free, but it's not.

And then there's Copilot...

Don't forget forced online account for an offline operating system and the default browser edge sharing all visited full urls with microsoft in the name of smartcreen safe browsing.

> I could understand if it was free, but it's not.

never in my life have i paid for a windows license.

https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts

If you've bought a pre-built computer, desktop, or laptop, you've paid for Windows. Traditionally, we've called this the Microsoft Windows Tax[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows

- This is why I never feel guilty about "pirating" Windows. I've already paid for it!

huh, good point! never saw it that way. never bought a pre-built myself, but the first PC i got when i was a kid was a pre-built with Windows on it.

the argument i always used is that Windows feels like spyware, and slowly seems to turn into it. showing me ads, selling my data. don't see why i should pay for this.

You mean install an illegal copy? I guess everything is free if you steal it.

On my home desktop PC Windows 10 is saying I can't upgrade to Windows 11 and doesn't give any explanation. There's nothing wrong with the machine and I hate Windows 11 anyway (I have to use it on my work laptop) so there is no chance that I will buy a completely new PC just to run Windows 11.

So Linux has always been getting slowly better over the years (I first used it more than 30 years ago) and Windows has been getting a lot worse - so Linux easily wins.

Linux > Windows

- Respect privacy - Is integrating better AI: no invasive AI, yet available if wanted - Usability and stability of UI and intefaces

MacOS and BSD [disclaimer: big fan of BSD] are somewhat stagnated. Depending on what you want to do, many open source projects are "linux first" what can be a problem (ask me how I know!)

It is better since at least 2006, otherwise I'd choose another OS to use since then, and I didn't.

Linux kernel is just waaaaayyyyy better than Windows, at this point. Better hardware support, better stability, more features. And it keeps getting better.

Windows kernel is not _bad_, but it's developed by far fewer people.

Linux also has systemd with its unified system resource management. I can slice and dice my system as I want between containers. Oh, and containers are also awesome (Windows has them, macOS doesn't).

Desktop environments are a matter of personal taste. I like my DE very minimal: status bar, quick launcher panel, and that's it.

For a desktop experience? Sure! For a server that needs to be supported for many years? Well...

That's a curious take. Today's Linux distributions are more reliable than ever with more long-term support than ever.

What changed is that you usually do not run a snowflake anymore which you carefully update to the next version in situ, but some amount of compute and storage. Today everything is blue-green and updates mean deploy, destroy behind a load balancer.

Is this a different timeline where suddenly everything is the other way round?

Well what? Don't most servers run Linux? And support is good assuming you pick a distro that fits

They do. And yes, choosing a good distribution will help. But the fact that most servers run Linux isn't indicating it's the best choice. Most desktops run Windows - and this doesn't mean it's the best desktop OS :-)

> But the fact that most servers run Linux isn't indicating it's the best choice

True, but server choice is typically made by professionals, while desktop choice typically isn't. So people measure those two by a (imo correct) double standard

Sure, but that's also why I asked you explain your comment.

I've explained it here, even if it's a bit long: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnVp25-6Qao

For desktop? If you not using gnome then yes.

Don't Amazon run their servers on Linux?