this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2024
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Fuck Micro$oft

It's time to switch to Linux! Because it's free as in freedom.

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[–] [email protected] 145 points 4 weeks ago (15 children)

What is the point of this "revelation"? When did Microsoft claim that windows were free in any way?

[–] [email protected] 63 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yes, they called themselves the "most open operating system". Which in fairness doesn't imply all the "free" FSF freedoms, but at least being unable to work around restrictions or reverse-engineer to me definitely contravenes "open".

That said, this is just beating a dead horse; literally anyone with a brain who knows what Linux is knows that Windows is less open.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Maybe they meant open, as in it leaks your private data and is open to be exploited by advertisers, malware etc?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Open as in "spread your cheeks and your wallet" open

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

I would not mind the first part

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago

Only if the people doing the exploiting aren't using Windows, because that goes against the terms of service.

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

In other news, snow is cold and wet.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Arguably it's not wet if it's cold enough

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago

Even if it melts back to water, is it really wet or does it simply make things wet?

[–] [email protected] 51 points 4 weeks ago (9 children)

As a Windows "normie" for a long time I used to roll my eyes when people said try Linux. But getting ads in Windows when trying to do a simple admin thing was the last straw. I followed instructions to install Debian on a spare drive and gave it a go and do you know what, it was fine. It made me realise 90% of what I do is in a browser anyway, so why did I have a hang up about having the exact same browser experience in a slightly different operating system?

Using libre office instead of word was a bit of a shift but, again, for the majority of what I wanted to do I it was fine. Libre office works with words .docx format. In fact, I noticed that for a quick document or spreadsheet I'd been using Google docs so much that this wasn't affected at all.

Gaming was a concern, as this was something I (lazily) believed just didn't work on Linux. But I was totally wrong. Not only is steam available on Linux, but even very recent titles work fine run through a Linux based windows emulator. I guess the important thing is that far more of this was automated than I thought it was going to be. There's a stereotype that you're going to be buried neck deep in obscure command lines trying to get basic things working but in my experience I didn't have to do any of that, it all just worked.

Bonus was along the way learning that those "obscure" command lines were not actually that obscure and were actually convenient. Typing "sudo apt install vlc" on the command line and having VLC installed and ready to use about ten seconds later was amazing. (I know package managers are available for Windows, I'm just referring to the 'norms' of each platform)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago

Linux based windows emulator

Wine is not an emulator. It's in the name.

I'm really just joking, but it's a translation layer which has much less overhead compared to an actual emulator. That's why you can get performance that is so close to Windows, and sometimes even better since the OS itself takes up fewer resources as well.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago

I was all worried about gaming then I had a revelation.

I almost never game.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

those "obscure" command lines were not actually that obscure and were actually convenient

Yes, let the darkness flow through you.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago (4 children)

I've been running Pop OS strictly for a few months now, but in terms of gaming, it just doesn't quite feel like it's quite there for me.

Take Half-Life 2 for instance. Valve is one of the few devs/publishers actually making an effort with Linux, and it shows, but it still manages to be inferior.

By default, it uses OpenGL, which is... a mess. Just plain a mess. It's bad. Busted lighting, models look off, effects don't draw right. This has no business being the default.

So, command line options, turn on Vulkan. 1 billion times better. Looks right, feels right... crashes on boot occasionally... and the workshop uploader crashes too...

Well, there's always Proton, except... yeah, performance is decreased a bit. That's nothing major here, but since I don't have the best hardware, it becomes more of an issue with newer games. In regards to HL2, though, it also introduces microstuttering, which is absolutely a big deal.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

You are talking about a game that was developed before Vulkan was a glint in Khronos' eye.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

That response doesn't make any sense. You do know this game received a major update just last week and has native Vulkan support, right?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago

I've been playing Half Life 1 on windows (geforce RTX 3080, latest drivers etc) and it's buggy as hell. I guess my expectations are low..

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago

I followed instructions to install Debian on a spare drive and gave it a go and do you know what, it was fine. It made me realise 90% of what I do is in a browser anyway, so why did I have a hang up about having the exact same browser experience in a slightly different operating system?

That's how it's done people. Alright let's go 2025 Year of the Linux Desktop (Again)! Chop chop! Let's move out!

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

can we get another red rectangle around the whole picture please

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Don't work around the limitations!

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

what was the conference about

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

It was about Co-Pilot and Office365. I only skipped through it, but all I've seen and heard was BS.

https://ignite.microsoft.com/en-US/sessions/GS06?source=%2Fhome

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago

Wow, and Co-Pilot and Office365 are clear indicators of Microsoft being less open.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 weeks ago (7 children)

It's not free as in free beer either?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 weeks ago (5 children)

I work as a Windows/365 technician, I have thought about switching ti Linux at home, but I worry about loosing my Windows skills if I do...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I found that switching to Linux made me able to understand both OSes better, and computers in general. Half of my computer science knowledge comes from screwing around with Linux.

You can still dual boot to keep self-teaching yourself latest Windows concepts so you don't fall behind there, while experimenting and learning on Linux in your free time.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I have actually switched once before, back in 2009-2010 I daily drove Ubuntu, but came back to Windows because of gaming.

At my last job I was a helpdesk technician, 365 admin, VIP technician and their only Linux sysadmin.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Might want to give it another shot these days. Gaming has become exponentially better since then with Steam's Proton software. Still not perfect, but being able to do 90-95% of them ain't bad. The last technical hurdle is games with kernel-level anti-cheat.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago

Oh yeah, if I didn't have to do computer support at work and only dealt with the backend I would absolutely try it!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago

Windows is Free, as in free to gargle deez nuts

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Do you have a few minutes to talk about our Lord and Saviour, Linus Torvalds?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 weeks ago

You mean GNU/Linus?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Sorry Microsoft, I actually had a served all rights already. Nobody else has rights. That's just how it is and I work around all limitations.

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