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Microsoft won’t let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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linux mint people. youre not really using as much windows as you think
My elderly parents in their 60s use linux mint daily and have never had an issue with it (admittedly I did have to set it up for them still). I just set up the desktop shortcuts for them to their websites and turn on automatic updates. The hardest part isn't using an alternative OS like mint or pop, its getting an average person to figure out how to install it. Getting into your BIOS to boot into the installation drive, re-partitioning your harddrive to free up space for dual booting or nuking windows off all together, those are the hardest parts for any first timers IMO. After youve done it a dozen times its no problemo but the first time is nerve racking at least it was to me.
Kinda disagree here, my parents also won't install Windows or any other OS by themselves. An average person isn't going to switch to an alternate OS. Because they do not care.
An average person however IS going to want that specific Windows only mail client, legacy applications that don't run on Linux or use their bank website that isn't supported by Linux.
This is a one way ticket to making yourself the sole family sysadmin.
Becoming the sole family admin is an inevitability. Unless your family are all people who read manuals, and they're not, you are the sole family admin already and probably don't know it.
And as the sole sysadmin of my family I am going to prioritize keeping them in familiar environments to reduce my ticket load as I don’t have a tier 1 group to handle them.
What the fuck bank do you use that looks at your OS and says "fuck that guy"?? It's a fucking website
I had my Mom and Dad using Ubuntu like 12yrs ago. He was fine using it for like 6-9 months, I was impressed.. Then he got a high end slide scanner that literally only worked with custom software in Windows XP. And then my Mom needed some windows only software for her hobbies and well, they both have Windows now and it’s somehow reduced my tech support and they’re happy, so whatever. I’ll stick to Linux/Mac and everyone’s happy.
It really comes down to “use the right tool for the job”.
there is an 'oem setup' you can run. so ive been taking old desktop PCs, running them through the oem setup where i can configure the drivers and everything, and then shut it down.
Then on first boot when i hand it to a new end user, they just follow the instructions. i tell them to leave most things default and theres never really any issues.. printers sometimes i spose
I propose an "e-printer." It'll just be an e-reader that you can send images, documents, any non-moving media to via a "print" icon. It'll have options on how to format the file browser, including a view called "piles" where it shows a disheveled layering of whatever files are in that directory instead of a folder icon. Previewing items in the "piles" view would let you "thumb through" the corners of the "printouts" until you find the one you suspect is the right file. The first select shows an image preview of the file, the second select fully opens the file. Extra points if we can open the file using a voice command such as "ahhhh, there it is."
so, a pdf 'printer' basically. anything you print gets dumped to pdf files... which can be previewed, searched, annotated, organized into directories (piles) etc. as well as sent to and shared with others, or even printed on a dead tree.
most of my 'printing' is already done this way.
Actually, yes. And make it compress and process the PDF real slow-like with a bunch of horrible noises that are frightening to pets.
My intent though is to avoid the inclusion of dead trees in this process, but still create an analog for all the horrible inconveniences of printing on dead trees that my older tech support clients argue are features.
DOT MATRIX PRINTER NOISES INTENSIFY
OKIDATA POWERS ACTIVATE
Instructions unclear; reader broke when I tore off the perforated edges; paper accordion fold appears impossible
Dot Matrix Printer: IT IS ALL PART OF MY CHARM
Now I'm wondering if I could combine the dot matrix printer sound with the sound a 9600 baud Hayes modem makes when someone in the house picks up a phone
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
OKIDATA POWERS ACTIVATE
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
it really should just be a print process that inevitably fails with an incomprehensible error code or a demand for money.
OSX had stacks, and has quick view that does all that piles stuff. I tried them out for about a week when they were first introduced. Grids are better for a reason.
And the print dialogs all have save PDF instead, but automating an eReader upload is a neat idea.
Stacks was exactly my inspiration web describing piles, and gallery is kinda my inspiration on how to "thumb through" files. Except my idea would require a lot of resources dedicated to high quality compressed previews of documents.
Also, I'm not proposing this like I think I've come up with an invention. I'm just hoping that my random musings would inspire someone with far more technological knowhow than myself. When I worked in mobile tech support, I quickly realized that the majority of issues that let bad-actor computer repair companies take advantage of old people revolved around printing stuff.
Even though I no longer work in tech support, I still offer free basic tech support and computer repairs to older members of my community to try to make amends for having worked for such bloodsucking companies.
People say this but if you're just using something like Linux Mint, it's vastly simpler than Windows.
The search works. Never will you open the start menu, search for an app, and instead get ads and bing results.
All functions are done through graphical programs (terminal isn't needed).
It's laid out in the usual Windows UX, complete with a taskbar at the bottom, start button in the bottom left that opens a familiar menu, minimise, maximise, and close buttons in the top right of a window.
Apps are installed through an app store, rather than searching online, hoping you've downloaded the right installer, opening it, going through the installer, deleting the installer afterwards.
Auto updates can easily be enabled at first time setup, in the tutorial program that runs upon first boot.
A distro like Mint is easier than Windows or MacOS. It doesn't need to be made any simpler, it just needs to be available out of the box on more devices, because no average user will ever change their OS, not even to an easier to use one.
There's a guy above that listed 11 issues that he couldn't figure out when he swallowed from Windows to mint. I swear the Linux maximalists just repeat "Linux works perfectly" on loop hoping that'll make it true
I never said you'll never run into issues. Desktop OSes are intrinsically more complicated than, say, a notes app.
But if you think people don't run into issues on Windows all the time, or that no time was spent learning how windows works, then you're out of your mind.
Mint is objectively easier to use than Windows. I'm not telling you to use it. Use what you want. I'm just giving you the info.
i sWeAr WiNdOwS mAxImaLisTs jUsT rEpEaT "wIndOWs wOrKs pErFecTlY" oN LoOp hOpiNG tHat'LL mAkE iT tRuE
what maintenance? most of the peeps i have using it blindly are just automatically applying recommended updates.
Friend of mine has a System76 laptop and had to talk to their support about issues with the webcam on certain apps. It was fixed but they asked him to check
lsusb. This guy only knows the basics of the terminal from me having to teach him.And what would've Microsoft support said?
"Reinstall drivers, reboot, and pray it starts working!"
Troubleshooting Windows for non-tech people isn't any easier in any way.
The windows environment, as f*d as it is, is the ONLY mental model they are capable of. I have a short list of very needy users who cannot remember their f'ing password. Any of them, much less that there are multiple passwords.
Every day it's some random BS with email, or scroll bars or something that makes me think FFS why is everyone this incapable of grasping a simple web search??
I moved some of them to Apple because I'm not touching M$ with a ten-foot pole anymore. Oh god, the anguish I heard. The screams. The scroll bars just disappear!!! AAiiiiGhhhh! They close out windows and think that's closing the program. "But I restarted it!" No you didn't. They have no idea what desktops are, much less multiple ones. No C drive?? No C drive? complete catatonia. It's never-ending.
Long story short, the entirety of the computer revolution (that was a thing we called it once, which was the style at the time) is very much just Windows for them. That's it. If you can make a Linux system mirror exactly Windows 10 in every respect and - AND - run all of Microsoft's products with no incursion of *nix-ism at all then they'll be happy. Well, not happy. Not-always-crying-in-panic. Obviously, that's never going to happen.
I've hated Microsoft for so long; I've long since given up on them ceasing to be a cancer on the modern world, it's all I can do to just erase them from every corner of my computing experience where possible.
And besides, Linux usually provides useful logs, so you don't have to fumble in the dark.
I'm not discounting System76's support (hell to my friend Linux is hard, but rewarding), but I am saying that this sort of thing is still alien to the average consumer. I've seen university students not know what a command line is.
My mom is running Fedora 38 on a T14 Gen 2. It's much more reliable than her old macbook, but we did have some issues with the sound driver, and the fingerprint reader is like Sex Panther cologne - 60% of the time, it works every time.
Why would you swap a MacBook to Linux?
linux is great for two types of people.. those that just need a browser or libreoffice and could use even a livecd or reset-on-reboot kiosk mode type se;tup that's been set up for them, and those that want to get their hands dirty.
for everyone else, it can really be a pain in the ass sometimes when something goes wrong. help is fragmented in even more ways than the distros themselves, and every third response is usually something along the lines of 'google it' ("i did, that's how i got here") or 'rtfm' ("what fucking manual?"--documentation is lacking for soooo many things) and then silence.
at least with windows you should already know going-in that 'backup and reinstall' is probably high-up at #3 on the list of things to try/do, after you search and scan a much larger pile of resources specific to windows and its (relatively few, by comparison) different versions.
This is a take I would have agreed with 10 years ago but not today.
There's also the SteamDeck and gaming is a very valid use case now. I do admittedly like getting my hands dirty but I use Linux as a daily driver for school and home.
The forum culture has gotten a bit better. It used to be like that more often 10 years ago but now people seem more helpful. It also really depends on what you google. (E.g. my desktop crashed Linux help vs gnome crash error from logs) But you're also expecting a lot of free support from the community. If you need support buy Linux from a company that offers support like System76, Steam, etc.
Ok, and you can also just backup and reinstall Linux?? In fact some distros automatic snapshots of your system get taken and you can roll back from the terminal, GUI, or bootloader.
The last one I just don't get. Windows errors are cryptic hieroglyphics or UX'd to uselessness. At least I'm Linux it tells me what went wrong either on the screen or in logs. Even with visual bugs I've been able to find an exact bug report with the developers response and the version it will be fixed in after some Googling.
This, and persistent sound driver issues, are what ultimately drove me away after using Linux as my primary for a few years. Forums were also filled with shorthand and they wouldn't tell you what to actually type into the fucking terminal. Can't figure out what the shorthand means? Too bad, because nobody will tell you.
If you have to hit the command line, it’s bad for most people.
You don’t really need commandline in linux anymore, unless your doing advanced stuff which means you should learn commandline anyway.
As others have said. The real obstacle is getting it all installed. The only advantage to win and mac is it comes preinstalled.
Installing Linux through now-ubiquitous Calamares takes just a few minutes, it explains every step (of which only one is actually technical, which is drive partition, and the rest are like selecting time zone and admin password), and it's extremely intuitive. It is literally easier than installing Windows.
But yeah, most people never installed Windows either, and just get it preinstalled.
Peanuts for me but i am already in. Now try explain it to your (grand) parents.
Most people don’t know what a partition or a bios is.
I agree its not harder then installing windows but there is a reason that people ask me to install their windows.
Which is true, a lot of people see it as black magic. They are just used to what the product comes with, even if you could install iOS on an Android phones or the other way around, people would still buy an iphone cause it comes with it.
Which in almost all cases you never have to do, unless you go for like Arch or Gentoo or something, which nobody should do unless they know what they're getting into.
If you installed something like Linux Mint, there's no reason why you'd ever need to go into the terminal. It's just an option for if you want to use it, like the command prompt, powershell, or registry in Windows.
Don’t get me wrong. I use Linux extensively, but mostly server loads and gateways. But have used Mint and Rocky as desktops. So I can’t see how someone can reasonably argue that they have the same polish as Windows (or MacOS) for the average user. Too much command line, too many disparate tools without consistency, just to name a couple.
Linux has its place, but it is not for the average person yet. I wish it would get there, but for decades people have been saying this.
Just throwing more personal anecdotal story, I use Mint at home and Win10 at work. The amount of time something wonky happen at work, like Teams being Teams, or issues connecting to wifi, are much higher than at home.
The only time I've touch the command panel is when there's some obscure programs I wanna try out. I don't even know how to delete a file using the Command Panel without looking it up first.
Using Mint as an Internet machine, and even gaming in my case with Steam making it so much easier, I feel much less resistance with Mint compared to Win10. Win10 just hides everything away and I feel like I need to twist its arm just to maybe have it do things I want, and I just want to print something. Mint was literally just plug and print. Mint feels more like Win7 than Win10 ever did to me.
Honestly, this. It's very ironic, but with settings hidden God-knows-where and poor support for much of the advanced software, I find Windows way less polished and comfortable than Linux, despite many claiming the opposite
People who claim the opposite either haven't tried a mainstream distro in several years or they work for Microsoft.
I wish but I have a Samsung notebook and the damn fingerprint reader won’t work on any Linux distribution.