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Comment by minkles | Hacker News Reader

Ah you'll spend all that time trying to get Linux to do all that and then it'll hit a wall somewhere and 1-2 apps you really need won't work so you'll be ready to switch back to Windows 11 the next time you need to reinstall an operating system.

They all suck the same. In different ways.

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I've shared this before but in recent years (basically Win8+) it's actually been the opposite. I've had to help companies set up Linux systems running wine because they have better compatibility with ancient "must have" applications.

These days for 90% of users, the only "must have" application is a web browser anyways.

It works until you need Excel. I have yet to find a business which doesn't use Excel in some capacity. As in proper Excel, not somewhat dubious compatibility Excel (LibreOffice).

I'd still argue large swathes of things we take for granted on other platforms don't exist or don't work either.

Most of my office uses Excel for the web because it seems more responsive than the Win32 version.

I guess they are using only basic stuff, given how behind Microsoft 365 is from the native counterparts in features.

To be honest, probably. The vast majority of users don't need the advanced features of excel. I've seen people be awed by pivot tables. I'm sure some people need those extra features, but I'm guessing vloopup is about as fancy as it gets.

We do it for all of our quarterly planning so that's a sync with Jira as a datasource, multiple tables and pivot tables, etc. I'd say the whole thing is probably a few MB.

I don't know where you'd start to see a performance difference compared to Excel for Win32.

I've been on Mint for 2 years. Never looked back.

I never hit that wall you speak of. Has been so amazing I donate 20 bucks every year to the project, just because I feel it has no right being at the same time free and that good.

Congratulations.

That did not work for me. Once in the last 25 years of trying apart from a small bit between 2003-2004 when Fedora worked.

It always has...

Apart from the bit where it didn't like the fractional scaling that still doesn't work properly, the power management issues, the absolutely terrible inconsistent user experience, the poor photo management and editing applications, the non-existent support for working with other people via the apps that they use etc etc.

It works for a narrow group of vocal people who use it for specific tasks but generic and usable, it is not.

I get that you strongly prefer Windows, and that's fine, but this part...

> the absolutely terrible inconsistent user experience

really? That would make sense as an argument for MacOS, but Windows is an absolute dumpster fire when it comes to consistent UX.

I use a Mac for ref. Windows is fine.

You run the best OS for productivity as a base and virtualize other systems you need.

Eh, it depends on what you're using it for. I switched to Linux around six years ago and am quite happy about it. It's not all rainbows and sunshine of course, but at this point I much prefer it to the alternatives.

If Microsoft and Apple weren't continually making their platforms worse I might switch back to one, but they have been continuously going in the wrong direction for many years now, while Linux keeps getting incrementally better.

I actually booted up an old Windows 7 PC the other day and had forgotten how clean and nice the UX was. An OS like that is not bad, but Windows 11?! Good lord, I want nothing to do with it and would much rather deal with some occasional rough edges in Linux.

There are entire companies and institutions that operate exclusively or almost exclusively with Linux on the desktop.

Google, Facebook, Valve, Red Hat, the French Gendarmerie, the Munich city hall...

I contend that if they can do it, others can too.

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