edit: hey guys, 60+ comments, can’t reply from now on, but know that I am grateful for your comments, keep the convo going. Thank you to the y’all people who gave unbiased answers and thanks also to those who told me about Waydroid and Docker

edit: Well, now that’s sobering, apparently I can do most of these things on Windows with ease too. I won’t be switching back to Windows anytime soon, but it appears that my friend was right. I am getting FOMO Fear of missing out right now.

I do need these apps right now, but there are some apps on Windows for which we don’t have a great replacement

  1. Adobe
  2. MS word (yeah, I don’t like Libre and most of Libre Suit) it’s not as good as MS suite, of c, but it’s really bad.
  3. Games ( a big one although steam is helping bridge the gap)
  4. Many torrented apps, most of these are Windows specific and thus I won’t have any luck installing them on Linux.
  5. Apparently windows is allowing their users to use some Android apps?

Torrented apps would be my biggest concern, I mean, these are Windows specific, how can I run them on Linux? Seriously, I want to know how. Can wine run most of the apps without error? I am thinking of torrenting some educational software made for Windows.

Let me list the customizations I have done with my xfce desktop and you tell me if I can do that on Windows.

I told my friend that I can’t leave linux because of all the customization I have done and he said, you just don’t like to accept that Windows can do that too. Yeah, because I think it can’t do some of it (and I like Linux better)

But yeah, let’s give the devil it’s due, can I do these things on Windows?

  1. I have applications which launch from terminal eg: vlc would open vlc (no questions asked, no other stuff needed, just type vlc)
  2. Bash scripts which updates my system (not completely, snaps and flatpaks seem to be immune to this). I am pretty sure you can’t do this on Windows.
  3. I can basically automate most of my tasks and it has a good integration with my apps.
  4. I can create desktop launchers.
  5. Not update my system, I love to update because my updates aren’t usually 4 freaking GB and the largest update I have seen has been 200-300 mbs, probably less but yeah, I was free to not update my PC if I so choose. Can you do this on Windows? And also, Linux updates fail less often, I mean, it might break your system, but the thing won’t stop in the middle and say “Bye Bye, updates failed” and now you have to waste 4GB again to download the update. PS: You should always keep your apps upto date mostly for security reasons, but Linux won’t force it on you and ruin your workflow.
  6. Create custom panel plugin.

  1. My understanding is that the Windows terminal sucks? I don’t know why, it just looks bad.

I am sure as hell there are more but this is at the top of my mind rn, can I do this on Windows. Also, give me something that you personally do on Linux but can’t do it on Windows.

  • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
    1·
    1 year ago

    (character limit, cont’d) Those few hundred megabytes of state applications have should be easily shareable over WiFi, and in a perfect world they should be streamable as well. I want a system where I can basically throw my screen onto another and stream what I’m doing, or transfer it when you want to take my work on the go.

    Sadly, nothing usable for normal computer users is ready for such a system without extreme containerization and sandboxing efforts, but it’s still my dream to one day be able to do. Plus, you’d need to deal with the different control methods that TVs/laptops/phones require, and I think only GTK has a workable concept for that so far.

    Microsoft clearly wants to move Windows to the cloud entirely, and that’s one way to implement the “throwable” applications for sure. RDP support running single applications remotely, so by making everything a client to a mainframe, your entire workflows could be shared uninterrupted, while being able to render specific applications on specific screens only. I’m not happy that this is all cloud based, but a mainframe like setup for home computers could work on Linux too if the streaming capabilities are implemented right.

    The big problem with computers in general is that they’ve become tools. They need to be easy and safe to use for the general public, they’re no longer just cool things to tinker with. Worry-free security comes with vendor updates, and vendor updates come with a lack of freedom unless you buy open source.

    As for IoT crap, the EU is going to force products, both hardware and software, to get patched, or to get pulled out of shelves. A bunch of open source people protested this bill (they were on the hook for maintenance, mostly because they sell consultancy and support on the side) but I think this law has the capacity to solve the IoT shit problem, or at least start solving it. Stores will think twice about the products they stock when part of their inventory becomes worthless when a company refuses to publish security updates.