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Comment by zb3 | Hacker News Reader

As a linux user, this is fun to watch.. isn't it ridiculous that they enable basic features only because they're forced to do so by the law, and of course only for the regions where this law applies? I couldn't imagine being an US customer, what a farce..

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It makes me feel kind of sick, personally. There's a guilty sort of pity when I see people using Windows 11 and also a pretty persistent dread that only a fraction of people seem to mind.

I can't say it's fun!

I can't imagine the added codebase complexity. Sure, lets add god knows how many branches behind geochecks and presumably litter them across the codebase. Instead of, you know, having one code path that makes sense - open the default browser.

It's petty, but that the expense of their engineering time. On the bright side, it doesn't matter much because Microsoft software seems to decay at a much higher rate anyway.

As a Linux user do you even have basic features like a search bar that searches the internet? It's somewhat hypocritical to complain about Microsoft not doing extra work to expand the capability of features when you don't even have those features in the first place.

Yes! Ubuntu had it a long time ago!

Now it exists as: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1057/google-search

I can't find evidence that Ubuntu had it. Searching only shows a search bar that can find local apps.

The extension you linked doesn't even have any real code in it, and the reviews complain that it doesn't work.

It certainly existed and worked in multiple DEs in the past. It exists in KDE right now too - I just tried it. I usually have it disabled though, and I imagine most people do.

Yes, if you want it. I don't, because I prefer to open Firefox. The most important feature to me that Windows is missing, is the option to not include features I dislike.

What keeps standing out to me is that windows has been moving away from the PC as Personal Computer model, they've been moving in the direction of a MS prescribed experience of what a device running windows is, with less opportunities to customize it as you want. The trouble for MS is that the ability to run old software is one of windows greatest strengths so they can't really cut off too much without killing the golden goose leaving customers freer to move to another platform, but I think windows would be much more of an appliance if they did cut off that legacy.

If I want to search the internet, I launch the browser via a keystroke. I do have a better search bar, that is the one that does NOT search the internet and I like it a lot :)

You could have that kind of setup on Windows too.

You mean you could disable web results? Good, the question is for how long before MS decides that nobody actually wants to do that. On Linux, we don't have this dependency.

I have never wanted my windows search bar to search the Internet (with the one exception being my onedrive). If I want to search the Internet instead of my local file system I'll open a browser

> A search bar that searches the internet

Is an awful feature. Pretty much never have I wanted to search the internet using that bar, and the only time I do it's because I made a typo or pressed enter too soon and the search ranked some internet search above mine.

You also can't easily disable it. This is a win for Linux

> As a Linux user do you even have basic features like a search bar that searches the internet?

Are you fucking kidding? This has been a thing for about 15 years. Here you have a discussion on the subject dating back from 2012: https://askubuntu.com/questions/233543/how-to-enable-google-... .

>Search buttons for Google and Wikipedia were present in the Activities Overview in earlier versions

This supported one web search engine which is what Microsoft was doing. But your link says it was removed which didn't give me codifidence in saying Microsoft so invest a ton of money into the experience.

Does anyone actually use that? All I've seen is people alt-tabbing to their browser (which is already open) and search there. When they use the search bar, it's for launching programs for which it's notoriously bad.

Classic windows user dunking on Linux users without even pausing to think if their sick burn is even slightly correct.

Linux has any feature you want if you look for it. Most distributions are a little opinionated on their default config, but nobody is forcing any type of config, program, defaults, or telemetry on you. You're completely and totally free to configure and use your computer in the way you want with absolutely no interference of any kind. You just have to put in a bit of work.

Meanwhile on windows, your defaults are disrespected and reset automatically. Widgets and programs and adware are installed, configured, and all but non-removable by default. Even if you remove them, Microsoft will put them back eventually. Microsoft will reset your default programs, reset your taskbar config to put useless widgets back. And of course let's not forget just how much spying windows does. Even if you try, you can't really remove it all forever.

Stupid Windows users don't even understand they're essentially cattle to Microsoft. Clueless and uninformed Microsoft fanboys cannot comprehend using the comouter you paid for, which Microsoft owns instead of you, in a way that Microsoft hasn't blessed. You don't even understand the concept of freedom

We’ve had “internet search bars” (aka web browsers) in Linux since the early 90s. The web started on NeXT/Unix, not Windows.

In terms of desktop environment features there is no comparison. The variety of options and widgets in Linux DE’s extends far beyond the basic shit available in Windows.

It took Windows several decades to get virtual desktops (Windows 11). Linux had that in 1993.

Edge has supported multiple search engines for a long time too. That is not what we are talking about.

I understood they were referring to the search bar in Windows 11 which I use every day at work. I am saying that feature is redundant since everyone has internet search in the browser. In Linux we have also have DE widgets that provide the same internet search functionality in the taskbar or a popup triggered with a keyboard combo. The Plasma Search plugin framework for KDE is way more powerful and configurable than Windows 11 search.

The Plasma web search plugin includes ~100 search engines / services OOTB.

>do you even have basic features like a search bar that searches the internet?

Why in god's name would I want that? When I start typing in my search bar I want to find things on my computer, that's why I'm typing on an operating system widget and not a google tab.

It's really sad that W11 is hands down less usable and responsive than almost any other linux desktop I've used because of this.

If you don't want to use it so bad why care about how many different search engines it supports. It sounds like supporting 0 would be fine with you.

> It sounds like supporting 0 would be fine with you.

Er, honestly? Yes, zero would be better than one when that one is hardcoded by Microsoft.

1. I'm not sure how common or wanted this feature actually is. I just search in a web browser. And, when I talk to Windows users, they typically lament that Windows Search does an internet search.

2. I know krunner has this and has had it for a while. I have it turned off and I think it might be that way by default, for the issues noted above.

Turns out, mixing internet search on desktop search is just not very intuitive. Okay, the web browser searches the web. And then my operating system searches... my operating system. Seems pretty good to me.

I mean, I would be quite caught off-guard if Chrome suddenly started showing my documents in google searches.

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