Windows 11 still sucks.

[UCyborg]

Off-topic:
We were diagnosing a critical issue at one of our customers few years back. We could not identify the issue on our side. Turned out it was caused by buggy MariaDB version they had on a Debian installation. The bug caused certain queries to not return expected results. I don't recall the details, but the fixed version existed for quite some time at the time, though probably not in Debian's repo.

[frostknight]

Off-topic:
We were diagnosing a critical issue at one of our customers few years back. We could not identify the issue on our side. Turned out it was caused by buggy MariaDB version they had on a Debian installation. The bug caused certain queries to not return expected results. I don't recall the details, but the fixed version existed for quite some time at the time, though probably not in Debian's repo.

Yeah... I guess it goes to show that even if the majority of debian/devuan are stable, hiccups do exist.

[UCyborg]

They have allied with the computer manufacturers. This is how Microsoft won its monopoly in the early nineties; the arrangement was then known as Wintel. The hardware manufacturer’s interest dictates planning obsolescence; it secures another sale some years hence.

Perhaps Moonchild and the crew would make great such partnership. And we'd call it Moontel.

I remember the days of messing with about:config to get most out of Firefox. Now it seems the only choice for someone that values their time is...Chromium.

[Mæstro]

Most of my headaches related to Pale Moon might really be about µBlock filtering. Since inheriting Ungoogled Chromium’s office, Waterfox has sufficed for me if I do not feel like bothering to sift through XSS on sites I care little about. Surely, I could use a fresh Pale Moon profile for many of these sites, but Waterfox has always been open in the background anyway for Discord’s sake, making it a natural choice for such sites. Retiring Discord removes my need to have two browsers running all the time. Perhaps I should create a shortcut to run the other profile for my desktop to avoid the need to go through about:profiles. (I cannot find a one-click extension for this, although I seem to recall one existing.)

[UCyborg]

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but things can get strange when venturing outside phpBB forums. I encountered funny bug on GitHub, under repository's Actions page, opening any workflow that builds the program. When I hover over the icon to access build logs, some scripts gets into infinite loop. Then after the browser's prompt about unresponsive script, you can stop it and click the icon to access the logs.

[UCyborg]

Off-topic:
µBlock...it's been a while since I dug into it at the deeper level. It "inherited" ridiculously long whitelist of sites where I allow JavaScript (my rule was simple if the site has something useful to me, then it must be fine). It's the list I carried from NoScript. I don't remember specifics, but there is something different about JavaScript blocking between the two, I don't remember being able to say with NoScript block this domain when on one site, but not when on another. I remember NoScript blocking remote fonts along with JavaScript. Then I didn't recognize this concept with remote fonts, kinda assumed NoScript is just weird since some sites would show rectangles at places.

I use Floorp at work for Teams, Edge had problem with microphone and I can no longer use the desktop client. Though Edge is handy for Google Drive and NextCloud. Maybe I could look into desktop application for the former. NextCloud is broken in Pale Moon, Drive works with specific user agent, but takes its time. Pale Moon is easy to bog down even without notorious sites, it'd be interesting to see how other browsers cope as I honestly haven't a clue how they cope with more tabs in the tab bar. I only spent a bit more time in the past at home to keep other browser's config in sync, mostly user scripts and styles.

With Pale Moon, updates usually don't turn things upside down, which is nice and welcome, I like the way I can have tab bar among other things. Though it's a bit archaic in places, I recently came across the message I must resume debugging in another tab to be able to resume in current tab...something along those lines.

[Night Wing]

I did a lot of "surfing" today on YouTube mainly looking for new surfing longboard videos. I did not find any. But I did find something on Windows 12......or the lack of Windows 12 based on Micorsoft's plans for the Windows operating system.

Take a look at the video. You may agree with it or you may not. But it is an interesting video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ertOHqFPILs

[frostknight]

I did a lot of "surfing" today on YouTube mainly looking for new surfing longboard videos. I did not find any. But I did find something on Windows 12......or the lack of Windows 12 based on Micorsoft's plans for the Windows operating system.

Take a look at the video. You may agree with it or you may not. But it is an interesting video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ertOHqFPILs

Saw this too, honestly, I thought windows 8 was the beginning of microsoft's descent into madness, but its probably been bad long before that. idk.

Still, I am glad I exited around 8

[Night Wing]

The co-worker at the shop where I volunteer at, he wanted me to see this video about Windows Defender in Windows 11. I've seen a few of these videos and I think the asian guy in it might be AI generated since he is always wearing the same shirt with the same fabric color. Even the microphone clipped to his shirt is always in the same place.

But if the information in the video is correct, this is the main point for me. This is a very long video almost 48 minutes in length. So if anyone is going to watch it, better get a cup of coffee or whatever is your favorite beverage is and maybe some chips and dip to go along with the drink.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrrbRdbd1AI

[UCyborg]

I'm done screwing around with Win11 after about a year...when did it pass? Well, not that I did much besides doing the usual boring things I always do on a computer. Wow, what a breath of fresh air, Aero theme, actual window borders...at least that's how my Win10 installation is. Another thing, it's incredible how sluggish Explorer in Win11 is. It already took some hit with 10, but 11 is just on another level. From folders opening with delay (11 23H2) to folders opening instantly (10 20H2).

Also, I'm not sure if this was a problem with 10, wouldn't be surprised if it is, but 11 definitely could have its memory compression process stuck in a permanent loop under certain circumstances. Didn't find any solution other than rebooting.

Off-topic:
Also put back the other sound card in the computer, the one with a clicking relay and LED lights, the Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus. I hear molex connector that this card has for powering LED strip is a relic not found in today's computers.

Some annoyances 10 has...among others, this one probably doesn't happen much in practice, but it seems if it's been hibernated for a while, some icons in tray are missing. They take space, but no icon. Not sure if long time since last wake is really the factor, but I can't find any other explanation, unless some bits on the disk just flipped in one year.

Anyway, not the main thing, but among others, icons of pinned applications could disappear if you have taskbar set to show only programs from the monitor each taskbar occupies. Likes to happen when you move windows from one monitor to another. I also remember automatic background changes, if you have set accent color (used for some UI elements) to be taken from background image, this did not always cause flicker / redrawing in applications (Registry Editor is a banal example).

Well, Windows 11 also destroyed hope of these things getting better. While possible the first problem doesn't happen with re-designed taskbar, does it even matter when it's so dumbed down?

[Mæstro]

For whom is Windows 11 being dumbed down? I ask this, minding that Windows already managed to capture large majorities of whole countries’ populations well before the UI began to decline, suggesting the older, sane interfaces were already well within a stupid man’s grasp. My only reasonable guess would be for the benefit of users who are accustomed only to using mobile phones, where oversimplified interfaces are, as we discussed elsewhere, needed to guard against natural clumsiness. As Gen Z come of age, we are likely to see more and more such users.

[moonbat]

For whom is Windows 11 being dumbed down?

The dumbing down began with 8 - that was when the move to turn the desktop UI into a mobile phone actually began. Peoples' memories are short - UI wise every Windows after 7 was trash. 11 made it worse with its pointless CPU restriction and being horribly slow even compared to 10.

[Mæstro]

I have always been aware; it is one of the cardinal reasons I avoided 8, then 10. My phrasing was deliberately neutral towards the attitudes of those users here who dislike XP and 7. (Some CLI lovers even consider GUI in general to be dumbed-down!) Time and community effort seem to have rehabilitated 10 in many people’s eyes, but not mine. Even that rehabilitation often involves stripping 10 of elements rooted in mobile design. I had in mind when writing figures about PC ownership in various countries antedating Windows 8, and the fact a Gen Z adult today might not remember any OS not influenced by mobile design.

[moonbat]

Some CLI lovers even consider GUI in general to be dumbed-down!)

Those ones are probably in retirement homes by now
GUIs have been the norm for more than 30 years at this point. It's also crazy how many people claim to not want to use linux 'because of the terminal'. Post Ubuntu, using the terminal is strictly a personal preference or an edge case. 7 was the pinnacle of desktop UI in my view, plus it was far more secure than XP and on an updated kernel (NT 6.1 vs XP's 5.2)
Also I'd love to see them do graphic design from the commandline, probably they're content with ASCII art!

[Night Wing]

When people come into the computer repair shop where I help out, many of them do not like how they turn off things in Windows 11 "Retail" not Enterprise, those settings sometimes get turned back on from future updates. Some of them have heard of the command line (Terminal) from die hard Windows advocates stating everything has to be done in linux distros using the Terminal.

I tell people that is a bold faced lie since many things in many distros, one does not have to use the Terminal much. The proof is in the tower computer which has three hard drives in it which are installed with Mint, MX Linux and Debian.

Once these people start demoing the linux distros over a month or two, they change their minds and they start really considering switching from Windows 11 to a linux distro and that distro is usually Mint. Mint has an excellent Forum for solving problems from the Mint community on there. This is where I got help when I began using Mint back in January of 2013.

At this time since I am using the MX Linux and Debian distros, I rarely go into the Terminal to do things. Mostly in both distros, I only use the Terminal heavily to access the Hosts file when I want to add website addresses to block websites.

In Mint, the Hosts file can be added by installing it from the Software Manager by searching for it using it's name, "mintnanny" (without the quote marks). Once installed, it will be listed in the Mint menu with the name, "Domain Blocker" (without the quote marks).

In my opinion, Linux is gaining market share because of all the things Microsoft is constantly adding things to Windows 11 through updates which many people (like myself) do not like, do not want and do not need.

The only drawback is some programs are Windows only and will not work in a linux distro. The case in point is the Turbo Tax program. And to add insult to injury, the new version of Turbo Tax will only work in Windows 11. It will not work in Windows 10.

[Moonchild]

An interesting anecdote, but it does underline the major problem with Windows 11 and why it keeps gaining market share despite the bad experiences and bad press.
The relaity is that user simply don't switch operating system. the vast majority of users will use the operating system that "came with the PC" regardless of disliking it, and simply never switch away. They would sooner buy a new device than change the O.S. on one, unless they are very technically inclined and comfortable with the computer's workings.
As Night Wing indicated it took several months of casual use for these users to even start considering switching to Linux. This isn't an easy or fast process because there is a lot of resistance. That resistance makes a lot of sense, though: You're effectively asking the users to throw aside what has worked for them so far (often for years) to start something completely new and different.
You'd be hard-pressed finding many common computer retail places offering something other than Windows 11 at this point. If you do find one, it tends to be a small shop that is comfortable providing support for Linux desktops, and that is pretty rare.

[Night Wing]

An interesting anecdote, but it does underline the major problem with Windows 11 and why it keeps gaining market share despite the bad experiences and bad press.
The relaity is that user simply don't switch operating system. the vast majority of users will use the operating system that "came with the PC" regardless of disliking it, and simply never switch away. They would sooner buy a new device than change the O.S. on one, unless they are very technically inclined and comfortable with the computer's workings.

I think there is another way to look at it and I'll explain below. Three points.

When the average person person; not a power user, buys a new computer now, it comes with Windows 11 installed on it. So when the person turns it on, he has to go through the motions to activate it. This activation immediately goes to Microsoft's servers letting Microsoft know another Windows 11 computer has been added to their total of Windows 11 users and their market share for Windows 11 keeps growing.

But then some of these people who find Windows 11 not to their liking, they come to our shop and after demoing our tower computer with those three linux distros, they decide to make the leap and switch to a linux distro which is usually Mint.

If some of these people who think they still might need Windows 11 for "something", if they have a tower computer, they purchase a second SSD and we install Mint on it. Then we go into the BIOS and change to local time from UTC time since UTC is what Windows 11 uses. This way, both Windows 11 and Mint will display the same correct time and date.

Getting back on Point 1. When the above happens and over time, these people again come into our shop and ask us to go into the BIOS and change the boot order so when they turn on their computers, Mint comes up first, not Windows 11 and displays on their Desktop.

For Point 2. For those people who decide to drop Windows 11 altogether and asks the shop to format their Windows 11 SSD and install Mint, if this happens, I do not think Microsoft is notified this computer no longer has Windows 11 on it. And this is why (I think) Linux is gaining in market share. If this is so, then there is no reason to think Windows 11 is losing market share.

The sticking point is if the computer is a laptop since laptops usually come with a single hard drive. A person will have to do some "soul searching" if they want to go strictly "commando" and format the Windows 11 hard drive and install a linux distro on it. No more Windows 11.

Point 3. For a laptop, for those who really want Windows 11 and a linux distro on it, we tell them to buy a second hard drive and we will install a linux distro on it of their choice. This way, they still have their Windows 11 hard drive as a "backup" operating system. And we make sure the exact time and date is correct on both hard drives running Windows 11 and the linux distro.

The only "fly in the ointment" for a laptop, is going from one hard drive to the backup hard drive since laptops built and sold today, some of the them are a real pain to take apart to get to the hard drive if a person wants to go back to Windows 11.

[frostknight]

The only "fly in the ointment" for a laptop, is going from one hard drive to the backup hard drive since laptops built and sold today, some of the them are a real pain to take apart to get to the hard drive if a person wants to go back to Windows 11.

That's why its probably good to have two SSDs unless you are 100% sure you won't feel like switching back to windows.

Then you can pick whichever order you desire and have a backup drive for other stuff when needed.

I can't tell you how many times I distrohopped after windows 8.1, made me feel suspicious of windows due to the ram usage tripling from 8.0.

It was rather odd.

[Gemmaugr]

https://reclaimthenet.org/microsoft-cop ... wser-links

Microsoft’s latest Copilot update does something the company frames as helpful but functions as a takeover: every link you click inside the app now opens in a Copilot side panel, powered by Edge’s rendering engine, rather than the browser you chose and set as your default.

[Mæstro]

‘Edge’s rendering engine’ is just Blink. Can we even keep our monopolies straight when they mesh together like this?