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Comment by expathacker | Hacker News Reader

I love OS X, but nowadays I can't stand Apple's hardware.

Living outside of the US, using Mac products purchased in the US means you have to go to third-party repair shops. Last week I took my 1-year old, $2,500 MBP to an Apple store in Istanbul, only to find out that Applecare doesn't work here, and a replacement screen would cost me $650 (thanks to super high import taxes). Tomorrow I'm taking it to a 3rd-party repair shop where the repair, with what is likely a counterfeit or stolen screen, will cost $400. I'm considering just buying a used Dell instead, but I hate Linux on the desktop.

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FWIW you might find that Windows 10 Pro + WSL can get you a lot of what you want in terms of desktop capabilities.

MS have been improving the WSL/Windows Interop quite a bit. I find that for things like scripting, text file manipulation and connecting to Linux servers, WSL works fine.

But I'm not prepared to have Candy Crush adverts in my Start Menu, which counts Windows out.

Additionally, I know I can deactivate them by jumping through a couple of hoops, but that's not the point.

It does take some setup and tweeks; but you can create a perfectly serviceable W10 laptop without the crappy start menu and advertising. I primarily use ClassicShell (www.classicshell.net), although others exist, coupled with Spybot's antibeacon (https://www.safer-networking.org/products/spybot-anti-beacon...)

> It does take some setup and tweeks; but you can create a perfectly serviceable W10 laptop without the crappy start menu and advertising.

What a ridiculous situation. Microsoft used to have the fig leaf that it was the OEMs stuffing crapware into new computers but at some point they decided to cut out the middleman and do it themselves.

I'm dreading the day that I have to move off of Windows 7. So far it's still creaking along, but eventually something will force me to upgrade. All I want is to give Microsoft a sum of money (even a big amount of money is fine) and get an operating system that's supported for at least 1 year. If I could get access to Windows Enterprise without jumping through hoops (like self-incorporating) that might be an acceptable compromise.

Out of curiousity, why do you feel that's not the point? Customizing an operating system after installation is a common part of the process for any system

Having to remove unwanted software seems like an odd reason to rule out an entire environment.

Having to fight against a vendor who feels entitled to advertise to you via your general purpose tools is the point, or rather, not going down that path.

Because it shows their willingness to throw the consumer under a bus for an extra dollar. Luckily I have an option (Apple, even though they pulled that bullshit U2 music album move). Unfortunately, I don’t see any other option in the market.

I disagree. I want an environment that works with me, not against me. There's no guarantee that Microsoft won't make ads harder to remove in future versions, and it's a worrying trend that they're there at all. I don't want to invest in a system that I don't feel is aligned with my personal values.

The name Windows 10 Professional suggest that it's suitable for Professional use. I was happy using Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro and Windows 7. But ads are a step too far, and something I don't expect to see in software I've paid for.

I'm happy enough with Linux on my workstation and macOS on my MBP. I can get up and running quickly without doing any pointless tweaks.

Seems like a strange hill to die on, so to speak. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed the ads in the start menu for more than a few seconds.

That's a few seconds too much.

If it were a free OS where you could upgrade to get rid of the ads, I wouldn't mind it.

But it's not. It's an operating system whose basic price is over $100 and you cannot get rid of them permanently in any way without using third-party software. That piece of shit will never become my choice of the operating system.

The very least they could do is to offer ad-free experience in the Pro version. At this moment, I see no benefit of buying Pro at all.

Hackintosh is surprisingly easy these days if you find the right hardware.

Running a "virtual Mac" in a VM is even easier.

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