Hacker News Reader

Comment by vetinari | Hacker News Reader

> But LOTD is not any easier for your average non techie.

For non-techies, it is actually a non-problem; they are already used to fact there are systems different than Windows (they know about Android, iOS or ChromeOS). This kind of users are so undemanding, that sitting them behind stock Ubuntu machine they will relatively quickly go their way and are able to do everything they need.

It's Windows power-users who have it most troublesome. They learned something about one platform, and to move to another platform they have to start from scratch.

> And it was never about ease of use, its about adoption, presence and marketing.

Very true. I would add bizdev there too.

View on HN

Windows file management and UI is far superior to anything out there. Its a little ironic that NTFS isn't faster than ext3 (in fact its slower for many use cases) but Explorer is amazing - Finder is a joke and most Linux fm's are modeled after Explorer, so is taskbar and start menu.

> Windows file management and UI is far superior to anything out there

Ehm, no, you are just used to it. In my not-so-humble opinion, it is Finder > Nautilus > Explorer.

In Linux, the taskbar and start menus are not a part of the file manager, but part the desktop shell. The most used one is Gnome, which doesn't have taskbar and start menu.

Meh, I disagree. I use a mac, but finder annoyed me so much that I've paid for forklift. I was happy with both nautilus and explorer.

This is clearly a matter of individual preference. Personally I cannot stand Explorer, but know many people who swear by it (although many of those are in the category of "know enough to be dangerous but not enough to download Midnight Commander").

I agree. When I switched to Mac, I missed Explorer more than anything else. Still do. It's a fantastic design. Finder annoys me still, 4 years after my switch.

>Windows file management and UI is far superior to anything out there

Last I checked, windows explorer lacked split windows and a popdown console, both of which i use constantly. Windows also lacks focus on hover, proper session restore, a simple, readable, usable applications menu, the settings were scattered between at least two different places with no real rhyme or reason. It also has built in ads which honestly kills whatever positives the ui might have.

Anecdotal, but the first time I tried to use windows explorer in win10 it hung for 5 minutes trying to extract a zip archive then crashed. I also use tabs in nautilus all the time, they're far superior to opening an extra window.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com