• JeremyHuntQW12@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Its not really AI its just a string manipulation program, that, rather pointlessly, summarises paragraphs. The sort of thing you see done in BASIC in old program listing books.

  • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    This is a pretty random Notepad story, but: in 1999 I was doing web development for Internet Explorer 6 (yes, I know) using Classic ASP and Visual Basic (5 or 6? I can’t be bothered to look shit like that up). Probably my most important debugging tool was the “View Source” menu option in IE6, which would bring up the raw HTML of whatever page I was working on in Notepad. One day the “View Source” option just stopped working, completely. Clicking that menu wouldn’t do anything at all; I tried everything I could think of but just couldn’t fix the problem. For six months I was basically coding blind - I had no way of directly seeing the HTML my code was producing.

    Somehow I managed to still get my work done. Then one day I stumbled across an obscure forum post that said “View Source” in IE6 would not work if you had a shortcut to Notepad on your Desktop. I of course had a shortcut to Notepad on my Desktop since I kept everything on my desktop (yes, I know). I renamed my shortcut to “NotepadX” and suddenly “View Source” in IE6 started working again. Possibly the happiest day of my programming life. I played around with it and found that it didn’t have to actually be a shortcut to Notepad - it could be a shortcut to any program or file, but if it happened to be named “Notepad” it would block View Source from working.

    I would give anything to find out where this particular bug came from. It’s really bothered the shit out of me for the past 26 years. I don’t see how it could ever happen accidentally, so I have to assume that some MS programmer somewhere really hated people with shortcuts to commonly-used programs on their Desktop and decided to punish them.

    • H4CK3RN4M3D4N63R570RM@lemmy.ca
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      12 hours ago

      I love that story. Thanks for sharing. What a crazy bug. Maybe IE6 was integrating with windows in some weird way? I almost want to fire up a VM and see if I can replicate it. Think you can remember which version of windows it was?

    • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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      12 hours ago

      Wow! Thank you for sharing; what an weird bug! Perhaps some ancient code to make use of notepad for view source if available, then the available function got changed, for other reasons, to if on desktop, then a different version of notepad broke the chain of borked code?

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        Well, IE6 did open Notepad to show source by default, but it makes no sense why a shortcut to Notepad just existing on the Desktop would prevent that. Especially when it didn’t even have to be a real shortcut to Notepad.

        • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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          10 hours ago

          Probably tried to execute Notepad.lnk, because Desktop came before /system in the path, and however they were calling it did not resolve the link before executing - and that meant a hang, silent error, or no op

  • grayautumnday@leminal.space
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    13 hours ago

    Good luck. As of this writing, I have UNINSTALLED copilot from Windows 11 Pro FOURTEEN TIMES in the past 3 weeks. I continually turn off its access to running in the background and terminate and its services in task manager multiple times a day. I’ve blocked the app in my non-MS antimalware suite. I have uac enabled to block unauthorized apps. I have disabled it in my startup apps repeatedly, to no avail .

    I have disabled Edge browser everywhere possible, but Edge still manages to open itself up and REOPEN COPILOT even though I’ve disabled Edge multiple times and it is literally not the default app for even a single file type.

    It’s no longer POSSIBLE to install a single Office app, or uninstall single office apps. I do not need and do not want to bloat a ton of my SSD boot drive with Access and Designer and Publisher. The windows store standalone version of Outlook cannot load or save .pst backups.

    MS has returned to even worse than its evil Borg ways. But now it’s one of several threats to the continued existence of privacy anywhere for anyone.

    Down with #enshittification #deshittify the #internet. Up with #CryptPad #Nextcloud #OnlyOffice (and to a lesser extent the commercial version #CollaberaOffice). Up with #StandardNotes and #ProtonMail, #ProtonCalendar, #ProtonDrive, #ProtonVPN, and #ProtonPass. Sad RIP to any and all security patches for #RIPLibreOffice (libre users - switch to security-patch-maintained software asap!)

    Up with companies based in countries with strong privacy protections, that provide zero-knowledge services, and that do zero or minimal logging and discard logs swiftly (yay for thegood.cloud)!

  • Poop@lemmy.ca
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    15 hours ago

    I mourn Notepad as well, but Notepad++ is great and it hasn’t smeared shit on itself yet.

  • clashorcrashman@lemmy.zip
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    12 hours ago

    I’m glad I left Windows again when I did (about 2 years ago). There’s no AI bullshit in vim or mousepad. That said, vim is available on windows, so a full switch isn’t necessary if you’re not all about that Linux life.

  • Rose@slrpnk.net
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    17 hours ago

    Notepad had one job. Operate on a damn text file. Operate on the damn text files I choose.

    I knew it was going down the drain when I reopened Notepad and it opened the files that were previously open. No. Don’t do that. That’s overly helpful. You were only supposed to operate on the damn files I chose. These files I’m about to work with aren’t necessarily the files I previously worked on. If I want this functionality I might as well open it in vscode.

    I’m, like, screw it, might as well keep Emacs running if I need random temporary text editing.

    • SavageCreation@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      I hate it when my technology tries to be smart. Be predictable, you piece of junk. I dont need my laptop to sleep when I shut the lid because all that foes is stop it from shutting down. And opening it doesnt need to turn it on ffs. I blame company policy.

      I miss when things were simple, predictable, and you could simply work around them.

    • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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      13 hours ago

      FYI, you can turn this feature off. Click on the gear icon, scroll all the way down, there’s a new section called “AI features”, which has a toggle switch to disable Copilot. Once you flip it to off, Notepad looks and behaves precisely as it did in the past.

      EDIT: also, you need to be logged into a Microsoft account and have an active Copilot Plus subscription for any of the AI features to even work. If you try to use them without a subscription, you just get prompted to sign up for one.

    • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
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      17 hours ago

      Personally I find that feature (including tabs in general) very helpful and is something i’d expect from a text editor in the 20th century.

      Just my opinion. To each their own, but just wanted to share that it might also be many others’ opinion too.

      • antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 hours ago

        Gotta agree here with you. Yeah theoretically maybe someone really just needs a text editor with absolutely no additional convenient features (maybe the older versions of Notepad allowing different fonts and word wrap was too much for someone as well?). But this is such an objective improvement in 95% of usecases it’s kind of ridiculous to complain about it.

      • oo1@lemmings.world
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        15 hours ago

        Meh, sounds like a worse version of notepad++, which has been very popular and reliable since the early 21st century.

        If they make notepad more bloated than notepad++ then I’d use it even less.

        But each to their own.

        • JustARegularNerd@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          15 hours ago

          See I’d use Notepad++ if I was coding or doing any kind of actual file editing.

          However, when I’m at work and need to take a phone call, the tabs in Notepad and the auto saving are literally game changing for me.

          That being said I haven’t bothered with the AI stuff in it at all, and it feels as usual, Microsoft doesn’t stop when they have a Good Thing already, they keep pushing it beyond that point for their interests. And now we’re left with not a basic editor but a personal assistant.

          Long live Linux and freedom of choice.

          • SavageCreation@lemmy.world
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            13 hours ago

            But that is literally what I use notepad++ for: tabs, keeping unsaved files (good for temporary things like reminders) and also because I swear it opens faster than notepad.

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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        11 hours ago

        In the 20th century I’d expect something that can open, edit and save plaintext files. But we’re 1/4th of the way into the 21st century.

        I find I have two uses for a plaintext editor: plaintext, and computer script. I don’t like using rich text editors like Word for writing notes and such because the formatting options just get in the way; plaintext lets me “just write.” And for this, there’s very little automation that will be helpful.

        In the Linux ecosystem, plaintext editors are all trying so hard to be IDEs. They’ll close parentheses or quotes or whatever for you, and if you’re doing something like 15" to mean fifteen inches you’ll get two, you’ll hit backspace and it’ll take both away…it doesn’t help.

        If I’m programming anything of any size I’m going to open an IDE, probably because I’m working within some ecosystem. If I’m writing a couple lines of Bash I’ll probably use Vim. So I’d rather tune my plaintext editor to write actual .txt files, as prose.

          • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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            8 hours ago

            That would fall under “computer script.”

            I am either:

            • Writing in plain human English, in which case I need a PLAIN TEXT editor. Maybe I want spell check and stuff like that in it.
            • Writing computer code, for which I’ll use a code editor or IDE. Maybe I want syntax highlighting and bracket closing and auto indent here.
      • Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        I like how the tabs save when I close notepad. Its super helpful when I just need to jot down some quick notes or a serial number or something.

        And I’m really dumb so I often close my notepad window before I’m done and this feature has saved me numerous times.

        I don’t have copilot in my notepad tho. Which is good.

        • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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          13 hours ago

          The best part is that it even retains unsaved documents (and unsaved changes in existing ones), which makes it very feasible to use Notepad as sort of an extended clipboard. Surprisingly good thinking for Microsoft.

  • comfy@lemmy.ml
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    14 hours ago

    Installing cross-platform programs like that is a great way to prepare for a move over to penguin town, and check for any blockers keeping you from making the leap.

  • BranBucket@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    I like Focuswriter, it’s a little more feature rich than Notepad, but it stays out of your way and has that same “Just me and a blank page” vibe.

  • oni ᓚᘏᗢ@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    AI sure killed the motto KISS. Copilot for notepad is literally using a nuclear reactor to light a single bulb.

      • BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk
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        13 hours ago

        They’re not temporary any more, they keep coming back, I keep forgetting and then my PC reboots and I need to make a quick note and have to wait for 50 zombie text files to rise from the dead.

            • oo1@lemmings.world
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              13 hours ago

              Table can mean “to discuss a topic at a meeting” (British English) or “to postpone discussion of a topic” (American English). Canadian English uses both meanings of the word

              Canada . . . seriously? I can’t sanction that type of behaviour.

              • porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml
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                8 hours ago

                That’s the problem with being influenced by both British and American English. We have both senses in New Zealand English too, although I think the US one is slowly winning out and the British one might one day fall out of use.

          • mhague@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            I wonder, why is ‘literally’ so special?

            Someone steps out into unexpectedly cold weather and says, “It’s freezing out here.” But it’s not below freezing.

            Someone that hasn’t eaten all day takes a bite and says, “I was starving, this is the best burger I’ve ever tasted!” They weren’t really starving, and they probably didn’t just rank every burger they’ve eaten.

            We exaggerate and/or use words incorrectly for the effect so often, people are constantly using words “incorrectly” but then they say, “I’m literally dead right now.” and dictionaries change their definitions and people point out semantics. It’s like literally is figuratively magic.

            • FrChazzz@lemm.ee
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              19 hours ago

              It’s almost like language is radically democratic and words only mean what we largely agree they mean, with fluctuating cases based on particular contexts.

            • theblips@lemm.ee
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              18 hours ago

              Yeah, somehow “literally” is the only word in a figure of speech that cannot be part of the figure at all! They are so smart for pointing that out

            • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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              17 hours ago

              “Freezing” is an exaggeration of “cold”, just like “starving” is an exaggeration of “hungry”. It’s “a lot of X”.

              “Literally” is not an exaggeration, it’s the opposite of “figuratively”. It’s “-X”.

              Those are two entirely different things. But of course inflammable means flammable.

              • petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                14 hours ago

                Incorrect.

                Freezing
                “Freezing is a phase transition in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point.”

                Starvation
                “Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism’s life.”

                You are literally wrong, and I will accept a 1-page apology written in MLA format before the end of this week.

                • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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                  13 hours ago

                  I honestly do not see the contradiction. “Very cold” -> liquid turns to solid. “Very hungry” -> severe deficiency.

            • Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              20 hours ago

              The correct definition is the opposite of figuratively. This has been an ongoing linguistic war for nearly a century, and your WRONG thoughts on how it should be used only serve to further the enemies cause.

              • porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml
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                20 hours ago

                This has been an ongoing linguistic war for nearly a century

                So after over a century of people using it that way some other people got a stick up their butt about it, cool. Doesn’t make it wrong.

                • oo1@lemmings.world
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                  14 hours ago

                  People who get het up about “literally” are fabulous.

                  If Dickens, Twain and Joyce can use it as an intensifier, then that’s awesome enough for me.

                  Of course literally is often overused figuratively, flogged like a dead metaphorse; but used literally, literally is often literally redundant anyway.

                  I think it’s got a third use now though, which is even more fun, using it to troll languague purists who think language drives communication rather than the other way round. That might well have motivated Mark Twain too.

      • theblips@lemm.ee
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        18 hours ago

        The use of “literally” is part of the figure of speech you’re pedantically referring to. Saying “figuratively” would be redundant, as everyone knows Copilot is not a nuclear reactor, and also declaring that you are using a figure of speech “weakens” it (like /s for sarcasm). By saying “literally” they are saying “wow, this fits so well that this isn’t even a metaphor anymore”.
        If you want to correct everyone for saying literally instead of figuratively, correct every teenager saying “I’m actually dying rn 😂” with “ackshually you’re not ACTUALLY dying, as I can see you are still alive typing tips fedora

        • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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          14 hours ago

          Oh. I thought “literally” was just referring to the fact that many of those data centers pull from nuclear grids.

    • TORFdot0@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      The new moto is “keep giving me money stupid”

      How wasting billions on AI accomplishes that goal, I don’t know but I’m sticking with FOSS apps and platforms just to be safe

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      21 hours ago

      The first nuclear reactor was used to light a single bulb. Presumably it was either an incredibly inefficient bulb or an incredibly inefficient reactor.

      Anyway this is all just an extension of everything having an app.

      • oni ᓚᘏᗢ@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Using an actual nuclear reactor to light a single bulb is literally using a- I’m kidding. I leave lemmy for a couple hours, come back and see a total armageddon, all because there are picky people about the use of words.

  • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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    18 hours ago

    People complain that Linux is inconvenient but then prostrate themselves upon the broken, buggy, ad-infested spyware that is Windows. Doesn’t seem very convenient to me. This person thought that their Notepad data was private before Copilot? Ha!

    • Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      “convenient” ≠ “best option” or even “easiest option”.

      Linux is inconvenient because they would have to go out of their way to switch to it. Windows is convenient because it’s right there and ready to go on essentially any computer.

      And people dont care about “best” or “easiest” options because to most people a computer is just a means to an end.

    • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
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      17 hours ago

      Sadly most people grow up using and are tought Windows from the first time they touch a computer so its quirks and workarounds of bugs are engrained in the users mind.

      Uprooting their entire (current) knowlegebase is inconvenient… but it’s still for the greater good of their privacy and in my opinion effectiveness of whatever they do.

      • Susurrus@lemm.ee
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        14 hours ago

        The fundamental roadblock here is: people are generally done with ‘learning’ when they become adult. Not learning computers or software, or anything else in particular. Just learning. There seems to be a somewhat common idea that ‘education’ and ‘learning’ is for children, and as an adult, you should have better things to do. Sadly, we can see all around where such an idea leads us.

      • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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        15 hours ago

        IMO usually a lot easier than learning Windows too. But I can understand them not knowing that if they’ve never tried. All they know about Linux is that it’s nerdy and technical.

        • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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          11 hours ago

          My findings: Microsoft keeps changing Windows. You have to keep learning because oh the Start menu looks and works different for the 7th time in my life. All the settings menus are different. Again. Right clicking on this doesn’t work now. I stopped using Windows 10 years ago and I don’t know how it even works anymore. Learning Linux did not feel much different from being presented with Windows 8.1. And Linux doesn’t shift out from under you as fast as Windows does.

    • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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      13 hours ago

      All of the Copilot features in Notepad require manual interaction. When you click the button, there’s a menu with options like “Rewrite”, “Summarize”, “Make shorter”, “Make longer”, etc., which either operate on the current selection or the entire document. How exactly that’s implemented is obviously speculation, but most likely it will only send your data to Microsoft when you actually activate one of these functions. In fact, none of them even work without an active Copilot Plus subscription (I’ve tried). There is no free tier here, if try to use any of these features without a subscription, you’ll just get prompted to sign up for one.

      Also, the entire thing can be easily turned off from the settings panel.

  • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 day ago

    i installed arch on my laptop almost 10 years ago

    I have to fix something maybe once a year and I only update once a week, if i remember

    reboot maybe one time in a month

    the myth that you need to fix Linux constantly needs to die

    • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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      1 day ago

      My fiance is constantly fighting with windows 10 and 11 because shit breaks on there all the time. The challenge isn’t that Linux breaks more often, or that troubleshooting it is harder, it’s that if you have experience with how Windows breaks, and how to troubleshoot windows breaking, Linux breakages and troubleshooting feels entirely alien.

      • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
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        17 hours ago

        Sadly I have to disagree. If I have an issue on Windows, I just can never find an answer because every result on my search is the microsoft forums, which of course never has any solutions that work.

        On the other hand, specifically for arch, the arch forums always have the answer for me because there are actual smart people on there.

        A side note, windows and their products always have terrible documentation, which can add to the frustration at times.

        • JustARegularNerd@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          15 hours ago

          I think you’re both right.

          If you’ve always grown up Windows, then you generally know the steps to go through to try and fix it, which are oftentimes laborious and sifting through useless answers like sfc /scannow until you finally find some command you need to run like onedrive.exe /reset and about 12 other steps to get your OneDrive syncing (example problem).

          Now you switch over to Linux as a fairly new user, oh my audio isn’t coming from my speakers but is from the jack. Uhhhh, the Settings show it all there and working? Oh, here’s a forum answer but it tells me to edit my pulseaudio.conf file? Where the hell is that? Oh, I found it but it’s read only? Oh, I have to type sudo nano /etc/pulseaudio.conf into a terminal? Woah, what the fuck is this text editor?? I guess I use the arrow keys to move, but no mouse support? Alright I’ve edited it but what the heck Ctrl S isn’t saving? Oh, the legend at the bottom says Ctrl O, and uhhhh, yeah overwrite? Now Ctrl X to exit, and uhhh, okay it’s still not fixed but maybe a reboot fixes it. And if we fast forward 4 hours it turned out to be an audio driver.

          You get my point. Linux is just different enough where if something breaks, and its something weirdly specific, its a lot of unknowns the user has to rapidly learn where they know these annoying troubleshooting things in Windows already. Linux does have really good forums and answers and documentation but its a learning curve regardless and that can be too much for a really casual user who doesn’t have the time or will to follow through.

          • grayautumnday@leminal.space
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            13 hours ago

            It’s especially tricky when one is generally only trying to install xnix on a device that is no longer supported by MS/apple.

            Though it seems to be less of a problem for me when I install Ubuntu distros. I recently installed the LT Kubuntu on a Surface Pro 3 with no hiccups, despite how intensely proprietary EVERYTHING on surface devices turns out to be.

            I was fine using Windows 10 for a long while. Windows 11 has freaked me the f* out with how intensely the Borg has removed all abilities to customize app installs and wholly eliminated the ability to remove bloatware and have it stay removed. Windows 11 is basically a huge very effective advertisement for every OS that is NOT windows.

      • notabot@lemm.ee
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        24 hours ago

        I feel that, but in the opposite direction. I’m used to Linux, so the weirdness of Windows is alien to me, and every time I have to try to fix a family member’s computer (“hey you’re good with computers, aren’t you? Could you take a look at a problem I’m having?” I’m a sap like that) I feel absolutely baffled as to what’s broken and how it’s even possible for that to break in the furst place.

          • notabot@lemm.ee
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            24 hours ago

            Like the error you used to get at boot on AT vintage machines “Keyboard not detected. Press F1 to continue”.

            To be fair, back in the day I had plenty of times where Linux refused to recognise the harddrive it had just booted from. Computers are wierd, and their software is built by humans.

        • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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          22 hours ago

          Went out for supper the other night with a buddy of mine who came to visit from out of town. He’s a systems technology trainer coordinator at a community college. (Basically, he teaches the teachers about new technologies before they have to teach it to their students the next term.)

          We were talking about tech at supper, specifically windows, and I realized that I have been on Linux for so long that I completely lost any knowledge of how to do any of those things in Windows. And I’m honestly okay with that.

      • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 day ago

        I am a system admin and have to run a ton of Windows servers, I feel it. If you don’t keep up on the patch notes shit can get bad without even realizing it. I hate Windows for all the crap that is layered on it but it wouldn’t be so bad if Microsoft didn’t change shit just to change it and move stuff around without a good reason. The forcing of things is what really makes me upset. IDK about your AI shit Microsoft! ITS NOT HELPING

        • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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          1 day ago

          None of their docs for 10 or 11 are gaurunteed to be accurate either because they keep changing where things are in what menus to “be more intuitive” only it wasn’t intuitive before, and it’s not intuitive now, and when you do a web search for a problem you get instructions from 2 months ago that reference settings and options that don’t exist anymore. (this is me agreeing with you by the way, I’m piling on, not refuting)

          I genuinely think at this point if you, dear reader, have a computer, and you want to use your computer, you should be strongly considering installing Linux Mint, MX Linux, or AntiX depending on your hardware not because it will be easier to use than windows, but because it won’t be any harder to use than windows, and you can start building up the knowledge and skills for how to use and troubleshoot linux just like you did when you first started using windows, and it will be easier long term because Windows is just going to keep getting worse and worse and more unusable and less documented and harder to troubleshoot and use.

          I accept that I am biased by that I have years of Linux experience, but I switched my 68 year old mother to Linux because she couldn’t update her laptop anymore because of Microsoft shenanigans and she finds MX Linux to be neither harder nor easier to use. It simply is, to her. There are things she doesn’t know how to do on it, but those are things she already didn’t know how to do on windows.

          • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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            1 day ago

            I got my mother in law on Mint linux a couple years ago, it never gives her any problems. It is the way to go with the seniors

            • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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              24 hours ago

              100%. We tried it first but her laptop was simply too low powered to run it so we stepped back to MX Linux, which is somewhat of a light to middleweight distro. I really wanted her on Mint since it would be more her speed, but even the XFCE edition was too much for the machine. Also, credit where credit is due, when mom found out MX Linux was developed in conjuction with the antifascist distribution (AntiX) she really wanted to go that route, or even all the way to AntiX 🤣

            • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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              22 hours ago

              Tried with my mom, she wanted to go back to windows because it had the games she wanted to play - the mobile shit ported from google play to microsoft store

        • Techognito@lemmy.world
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          22 hours ago

          I am a system admin and have to run a ton of Windows servers

          I feel your pain, I am a “Linux System Administrator” and the amount of Windows server crap I have to deal with on a daily basis…

          1. Why is XBOX Live services running by default on Windows Server???
          2. Why is co-pilot running by default on Windows Server??!?!?
          3. And what M$ engineer thought, aah yes the best possible place for a recovery partition is at the end of the main OS partition???!?!?!?!?!
          4. And lastly, what the actual fuck were they thinking when they put Windows 11s shit UI on Windows Server.

          On the less ranty/negative side:

          • AD isn’t horrible, while I prefer freeIPA, I can’t complain too much.
          • powershell other than being wordy commands, is kinda nice.
          • Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            why is XBOX live services running on windows server

            You reminded me of when i was at an MSP and we had this dental client. And they had some actually pretty cool software that processed 3d X-rays and generated a 3d model and would point out various types of potential issues. Now this was like ~2014 so before photometry or AI was really a thing so it was really impressive.

            But to compute that stuff in real-ish time (like under 30 seconds, so by the time the patient walked back to the exam room) you had to offload the processing to a Windows server, but that worked fine.

            But like everything, Windows updates continue ever “”“forward”"’ and eventually they added the Xbox game bar. I didn’t think anything of it and just left it running. About a year later and a few updates to the dental software later I am looking at their server and figure “hey, I should disable this. Its a server after all”.

            Bad mistake. Their software stops working so now they can’t take any type of scans. I’m trying to figure it out, I’ve got a team of engineers looking at this with me. We can’t figure it out. Everything looks fine except the process just won’t start. No error message, no wrong looking logs. The executable just never starts.

            Well turns out at some point along the line they picked up a dependency relying on Xbox game bar for this program to run. So the solution was to just leave the service running lmao.

            This is honestly more of a story about bad programming than windows server nonsense but you made me think about it. I wish I figured out what was actually depending on game bar but I left shortly after that. Actually before the patch was pushed out haha

      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        21 hours ago

        Tbh, I disagree. Troubleshooting on windows for me became “reboot or reinstall it.” Back in the days before 10 sure, but after it just got to the point where even microsoft support doesn’t know how to do anything either.

        In contrast, I have a problem on linux, I google, I find a stackoverflow page with the answer in a few terminal commands which are usually explained, sometimes I go check that program’s manual or help page before I use it, but the command usually does fix the issue.

        And it’s not like you never have to use the terminal on windows, flash drive corrupted by windows and needs to be restored? Diskpart is here and it sucks but it works, CLI though. Editing conf files too, had to find (that was the hard part) and edit a conf.json file last week for a friend of mine who was installing a windows service.

        • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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          18 hours ago

          (i agree entirely but if you say that to people who think linux is scary, they think you’re being a dismissive jerk)

    • OhShitSon@lemm.ee
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      22 hours ago

      I switched from W10 to Fedora KDE a little over a month ago, and the amount of troubleshooting I had to go through during this time is unlike anything I’ve ever faced with Windows. I think I have a handle on things now, but the switch to Linux as a casual user was not as seamless as I’d been told over and over.

      Others experience may be different of course, but in my experience Linux is not as easy to use as Windows.

      Still happy with my choice to not swap back to Windows though.

      • ByteWelder@feddit.nl
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        21 hours ago

        I have the exact opposite experience: I recently installed Fedora (stock, so Gnome) and had 0 issues. It was easier to install that Windows. The sidenote is that I have a Framework laptop, so my hardware is fully supported. And I was a Linux user before, so nothing looks alien to me. I didn’t need the terminal to get everything working, including wireless printing.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      21 hours ago

      I don’t know what you’re talking about because when I tried Linux it was a nightmare. The only thing that worked properly ironically was the printer. It’s straight up would not play sound, if I plugged in headphones it would play sound but it would not play sound through the speakers. There were lots of people telling me I needed to install new sound drivers, or run arbitrary commands. None of them fixed it.

      It ended up being a problem with the USB driver. That’s ridiculous, I shouldn’t have to mess around with a driver for an internal component.

    • bluewing@lemm.ee
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      22 hours ago

      With the apparent rise of immutable spins, it might get to be even less since user space is separate the OS space. I’m trying Aurora on my laptop to see if there is any advantage to running an immutable spin over the standard distros. I’m kind of torn about it right now, there are some advantages to both and some downsides to both.

    • Darren@sopuli.xyz
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      16 hours ago

      What I will offer from my limited experience is that the Mint install I have will begin to topple over after a few weeks if I don’t run updates, whereas my Mac will soldier on without missing a beat if I miss several months of updates.