Most Votes
- Who do you predict will be elected as the next president of the United States? Posted on July 22nd, 2024 | 21771 votes
- What sort of typist are you? Posted on August 19th, 2024 | 15450 votes
- Which desktop OS do you prefer? Posted on September 19th, 2024 | 7980 votes
Most Comments
- Who do you predict will be elected as the next president of the United States? Posted on September 19th, 2024 | 333 comments
- Which desktop OS do you prefer? Posted on September 19th, 2024 | 61 comments
- What sort of typist are you? Posted on September 19th, 2024 | 57 comments
Believe it or not, my choice is ... ChromeOS (Score:4, Insightful)
Chromebooks are exactly where Macs used to be a decade ago: they "just work". Connectivity is a breeze. They are instant-on and instant-off, very responsive. The UI is intentionally kept simple, fast, and uncluttered. Updates are automated and long-term. New features are added sensitively, there are never any changes just for the sake of change or merely for aesthetics.
Personally, I think Chromebooks have not been pitched properly. Sure, they run on low-spec hardware, but that is NOT an experience anyone would like. When you are using a machine to basically just replace an entire human assistant, does it really matter if you spend $350 vs. $600? You're going to make up that difference in time saved practically overnight. You don't need much in the way of hardware, even a moderately-spec'd machine from 5 years ago will perform brilliantly. Google has recently fessed up to this lack by launching a new hardware standard named "Chromebook Plus". Those specs will work extremely well.
I recently tried out Windows 11 and was aghast at how ugly and cluttered the desktop was. Completely unusable, in my opinion. I'd have to remove 4/5ths of the apps on those machines before I'd dream of handing them over to a normal user. Macs fare little better, in my opinion. They are a bit more UI-stable than Windows, I grant you that, but things no longer "just work" out of the box.
So sure, go ahead and roll your eyes at my naivety. I'm a grizzled veteran of computing. I know the goods when I see the goods.
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Kubuntu has really come a long way. Until 18.04, I would have told you the best desktop I had ever used was Fedora 14, and then, at 15 or 16, they went to Gnome 3, which was a complete disaster. Between then and Kubuntu 18.04, I was doing the same as you - switching distributions often. Not anymore.
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I use openSUSE (Leap with KDE) for pretty much everything, but with a couple of caveats.
- the newest version has a new "Dragon Player" and the developer(s) have/has removed the memory functionality. Older levels carry a list of videos you have played with the oldest at the bottom. I use this for a playlist which cycles around every 1-3 weeks and have that running as background music. My test/backup machine is on the new level, the machine I actually use is staying on the old level for as long as I can ma
Re: Believe it or not, my choice is ... ChromeOS (Score:2)
Chrome-devices are also amazing computers for mom, pop and grandparents and other people who are less technically skilled and really just need a half decent and reliable device for some internet surfing - and the device is pretty much bullet proof and very low maintenance and low support effort.
There is not much that can go wrong, it more or less updates itself, and the much lower complexity makes usage easier and more enjoyable AND there will be way less questions and issues, so much more relaxed for you i
We don't need no stinking preferences! (Score:3)
Obviously a flame war poll. And without a sense of humor.
But I have to reject your three-point shot based on my dismal experiences with a Lenovo Chromebook.
I think the missing option I wanted was "Native FORTH as implemented by Cowboy Neal". (Many years ago I actually used a no-OS system. Ran Lisp right out of the microcode. Probably the last of those machines. TI wound up dumping the entire money-losing division onto HP...)
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I would have voted for that option
also BeOS, TempleOS and GNU Hurd needed aon the option list
Re: Believe it or not, my choice is ... ChromeOS (Score:2)
Re: Believe it or not, my choice is ... ChromeOS (Score:2)
Yes, but itâ(TM)s a shame that you have to submit to anal-level surveillance to partake. Enjoy that forbidden fruit, but donâ(TM)t act like you didnâ(TM)t pay for it, in one way or the other.
Currently, Mint on a Framework is the most respectful and flexible workstation Iâ(TM)ve found.
Re: Believe it or not, my choice is ... ChromeOS (Score:2)
What the hell is wrong with the unicode around here? Those are supposed to be ascii apostrophes.
Inb4 (Score:4, Funny)
All the rest of my fellow windows users complete updates and overtake this poll!
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I'd pick Windows only if it was the Windows 2000 style desktop. Last Windows that could provide that was Windows 7.
Then some mentally retarded person thought that borderless flat windows was the best thing ever. Flat windows was last seen with Windows 2.x. The amount of lost time due to closing the wrong window for a lot of people is probably staggering.
Systemd is a crippling of Linux, and that's worthy of all hate it gets.
Apple lost its way somewhere when they gave up the 68k processor.
Re:Inb4 (Score:4, Funny)
And bring back leaded gasoline!
And phones became worthless when they lost the dial and use buttons.
And if I'm paying for cable I prefer a box that sits on top of my TV.
But if I want it from space I want a massive dish in my back yard.
And don't even get me started on carburetors and distributors!!!
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And bring back leaded gasoline!
And phones became worthless when they lost the dial and use buttons.
And if I'm paying for cable I prefer a box that sits on top of my TV.
But if I want it from space I want a massive dish in my back yard.
And don't even get me started on carburetors and distributors!!!
... and let's not forget the foul murder of the iconic 3.5 mm audio jack.
Re: Inb4 (Score:2)
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Microsoft drove me away (Score:4, Insightful)
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I left Windows when Windows 8 came out and I needed a laptop. I couldn't stand the new UI. Especially the configuration. Windows 10/11 aren't much better.
Left to Mac and haven't looked back.
Windows 7 was the best Windows ever.. but they killed it.
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Windows 7 was the best Windows ever for users... but they killed it.
I mean, when has micro$oft ever given a shit about its users?
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The Windows 8 UI (and that includes 8.1's) was so unpopular that they backed the changes out a bit for Windows 10, rather like they changed course when they saw how much their customers loathed Vista.
Whatever they change, some people are going to hate it, but when the level of hate reaches a certain point then even Microsoft accepts that it needs changing again.
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I will remind you essential departure from Windows 7, I still consider the best, and was brave to keep for good while as business OS of choice at sites of my clients.
They moved from structured graphical Windows interface to the gimmicks of full-screen calculator, Android-style endless sausages of text lines, instead of icons, and now to the plain visual distractions of all sorts. To maintain their OS business-suitable became work of refusing nearly every option of setup, searching how to cleanup and disable
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I thought the point of the Windows 8.x tiles was to have a similar UI across all devices to improve the acceptance of Windows Phones. That went well.
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Sure, the idea was that. Yet: from window-based interface on PC to fall into trap of full-screen calculator is not much of improvement. It is destruction of window-based interface. Likewise, replacement of graphical icons with the sausages of faceless text-lines.
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The first time I installed & used Windows 11, which incidentally was yesterday, I couldn't find the shutdown button. THE SHUTDOWN BUTTON FFS! Searching on the Internet told me in Win11 you now have to right click on the Start Button to find the shutdown/reboot button-more stupidity from the "change for the sake of change" religion.
Dumb unintuitive designs like this is what happens when you hire for DEI charity instead of hiring for talent.
BTW, if you use Win11, install Open Shell; it will reduce your
"prefer" (Score:5, Interesting)
I "prefer" Linux for my desktop, but I "use" Windows.
I also have a playstation. I don't like the playstation. I don't like Sony. But that's where some of the games I want to play are.
MATE (Score:2)
For over 15 years already the desktop I use for productive work is MATE on Fedora.
KDE (Score:2)
That's a good point--the desktop matters much more. I've been using KDE (now Plasma) since 2007.
My daily driver is FreeBSD, but I multiboot with Manjaro and OpenBSD. The important constant is Plasma.
As a corporate user.... (Score:2)
As a corporate user, I find it is just easier to run Windows on my work laptop. Almost all of my work is done on AIX and Linux servers via SecureCRT. I don't have issues with any of the required, Windows only, apps that we have. I know there are workarounds for a lot of this, but our security policies keep us pretty locked down due to the sensitive nature of our work.
There are some that use Macs, but many of them seem to struggle. We have a Mac Support team space that is always abuzz with people having
They are ALL good options (Score:2)
I use a Mac, it works for me, and I have been using them since the Macintosh 512Ke, I moved up from CPM and TRSDOS/NEWDOS80
I have used Windows at work for light CAD work (PCB design), played with Linux, but stuck with my Mac.
Computers are like golf clubs, if you are left handed you will suck with RH Clubs and vice versa. If you have specialised software that is only on one platform, then use that.
What you use has no bear
At home running Linux since 1994 (Score:1)
At the office we are forced to use Windblows, yuck..
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Windows is ugly and tacky (Score:3)
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No AmigaOS ? (Score:1)
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Linux (Score:2)
macOS is definitely last for me (Score:2)
Nerds (Score:2, Flamebait)
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Honestly, I expected the Linux share to be higher.
all of them (Score:2)
For my everyday use, MacOS, for gaming windows, and for my homelab and old machines, linux
for my servers, whichever OS the ISV requires, and if there are multiple choices, a cost/benefit analysis by the whole team is in order
what do you mean I have to choose one?
are y'all the kind of people that use a flathead scredriver also as a chisel, a hammer and as a philips screwdriver?!
Linux (Score:2)
My current machine still has Windows, though I really prefer Linux.
Mind you, there is no single "Linux desktop OS", so only listing it as 1 item is not technically accurate. ChromeOS (which you didn't list) is based on Linux, so I suppose I can forgive you for not making it a separate choice - but the "real Linux" users and FOSS purists (not necessarily the same people) would exclude it. But as a Mageia user my Linux desktop bears little resemblance to a Debian or *buntu user, and then there's OpenSUSE whic
Missing options... (Score:2)
We could have at least used an "other" option. I prefer and primarily use FreeBSD.
Haiku! (Score:1)
I'd prefer to use Haiku, but not everything I need is supported (yet!).
MacOS (Score:1)
Apple put the E in unix and castrated a perfectly good OS.
Cowboy Neal OS (or...) (Score:2)
OS/2
Prefer Linux, stuck with Windows (Score:2)
I was stuck with MacOS. No, that's not fair. I liked Mac OSX, up to the point where it became obvious they were crippling hardware to push new sales. My first couple Macs lasted for five to seven years before seeing significant performance loss. My last two lasted two years, then about eight months. Which is why they were my last ones. The two years was nearly acceptable, but was a negative hit against them because the big selling point for paying a little extra up-front was the length of time I could go be
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Yup. I'm in a similar boat as I use a Windows 10 LTSC desktop and a Windows 7 laptop for music production. As a Reaper user I could run it on Linux but without access to the huge collection of VSTs I use (both freeware and paid). So I'm stuck with Windows for music production.
However, when I saw the direction Microsoft started to head in a few years back I moved all my day to day stuff (web browsing, email, playing music, watching the occasional DVD, occasional office stuff etc. etc) over to an Ubuntu ma
To game or not to game ? (Score:1)
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I game on Linux. Mostly Minecraft with modpacks (huge amount of hours e.g. with Astro Block and Per Fabrica ad astra), some Steam games without proton (most hours on Team Fortress) and some native (most hours on Widelands) and some browser games.
There are some games I would pay and play if they were for Linux, but I skipped those because they are not. I prefer to support only those who support me, but this is just my personal preference.
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For me, Windows is a necessary evil for only 1 thing: Gaming.
I don't game on my laptop... so I'm using Fedora and entirely satisfied with the user experience.
I do game on my desktop pc... so Windows 11 it is... even if I'm not especially a fan of it.
Yes, I know, Steam has Proton... but I despise buying games with DRMs. So, I mostly get my games from GOG.com (I also don't use their launchers)
So, vote went for Windows... But I'll just as easily use Linux if I don't plan on gaming on said machine.
I've been using Linux as my primary gaming OS for quite a few years now. My PC dual-boots Windows, but the only things I boot Windows for are iRacing and PUBG, and it's been months since I played either of those. I also buy from GOG whenever possible, and many of their games work fine with Proton. The Heroic games launcher can download your GOG games and set them up to use Proton automatically (and add them as an external application to Steam if you wish). It's what I use to play my Windows-only GOG gam
Multiple Monitors (Score:2)
With 5 monitors and a moderately sized homelab I have a ton of Linux and Unix VMs to play with and Windows to play games.
I tried a linux desktop in the past a few times and the window manager just doesn't cleanly let me use multiple monitors on two video cards (5 monitors on 2 2000 series nvidia cards; 24G of ram). Last time I had it, I had to move my mouse to the right, up, and left to use the upper left monitor. It got annoying after a while.
With 5 monitors I have a hacked 6k display. Maybe when we have t
Y'all are disabling cups-browsed right now, right? (Score:2)
Don't wait until Monday.
Forced hardware upgrades (Score:1)
The hardware requirements of Windows 11 are enough to cause me to avoid it where possible. The policies of companies like Apple and Micro$oft that seem designed to generate e-waste don't get enough criticism. Computing hardware from years ago is easily powerful enough to do everything the average user needs to do. If Windows 11 was (a) not wasting so many processor cycles on unproductive and counter-productive tasks and (b) more flexible on the hardware it would run on, that would probably have saved many m