Your merits matter most to me. But we all need to get the hell away from that platform.

That sucks. And the only way to fix it is to get people not to play.

I am on hiring committees for a large firm for it positions. When people put their linked in on their resumes, I see it as a negative. If they can’t value their personal data, I don’t see how they can value my companies.

Linked in shouldn’t even be an option. It was shit before microsoft bought them (email man in the middle, remember that?) and somehow microsoft made it worse.

I would never touch that platform. Friends don’t let friends use it.

Do you really hate algorithms (since AI doesn’t really exist yet) or do you hate the hype and marketing?

Those examples are so bad. You do not need AI to do any of those. That’s just cut and paste.

Hell, we have had fake reality video overlays that are better than that on our phones for over a decade.

My current environment - and one for many years, is just like you describe. No ads, instant launch (either from a launcher, or just type what I want and it pops up). No spyware, no account, no assistant. I even have a modern file manager that windows STILL hasn’t surpassed.

But I remember at the time when XP came out, Windows 2000 already was all those things, Beos was all those things, Macs were all those things.

Without the nasty (and limited) XP colors and theme, the 10 minute exploits, the huge waste of space in all the dialogs, and the beginning of the Pro vs Home licensing, where they started with the bullshit of home has: only 1 processor, no remote desktop, no 64 bit, they even removed windows backup!

You could exploit and gain admin in a Windows XP machine right to the end, it could not be locked down if a user sat at it. Which, I know, if you have access to the machine usually all bets are off, but for a multi user machine it was less than acceptable.

I find it weird that people look back fondly on XP. I remember at the time thinking it behaved like crap, had an interface that looked like shit, and was extremely easy to compromise.

I guess Rose colored glasses for some people…

Thank goodness. I hate most current UI.

It’s funny that one thing I really liked about it was the floating windows and toolbar. Then everyone complained and they brought it all together. But now people I work with using software that we pay nearly a million dollars to license are getting all excited becuase they introduced… floating windows.

This milestone was reached a long time ago. For some reason uncle bobs Facebook post has been just as reliable a media source as any other for a lot of people already.

We mock crypto because anyone who has it wants to hoard it as an “investment”. Nobody wants to use it as a currency.

I tried for years, buying and selling goods with crypto. I never purchased any crypto, I just earned it. I tried to talk others into the same. You need to spend to have value… they just laugh and day hold your bags tight with diamond hands.

Yeah, it’s never going to work.

Did I say that? I said windows has caused me more issues lately. I was replying that Linux desktop is fine. It works. Has worked for a very long time.

But since you brought it up… No. I do not think Windows is an easier desktop to use. Depends on familiarity and what you want to do with it. They can’t get single click right. They can’t get multiple desktops right. They certainly do not have activities. If you are using a Gnome workflow, windows seems almost insane in comparison. Don’t get me started on the ads and what this whole discussion started about with Edge trying to push itself into your way. And how about that registry system? So intuitive and useful right?

I have tried to switch my daily driver to linux for more than 15 years now, Linux desktop just isn’t ready.

Something isn’t adding up here. I switched to mostly Linux around 2003. By 2005 it was all Linux unless I got paid for it. My wife has been only Linux since then and she doesn’t really know how to use a computer and doesn’t want to. Linux just works for her.

I do all my work from a Linux desktop and two Linux laptops. Well and a Steamdeck I use as a desktop when traveling. I remote into windows machines when I am using windows for jobs. Sometimes desktops, sometimes Azure virtual desktops, but my local client is always Linux.

I have an MSDN, I admin Azure instances, SQL servers, Windows Servers, and work on Windows desktops. Over the last two to three years it has been the windows machines that are the most annoying and troublesome. Linux is just easy and just works.

The Linux desktop is ready. Has been ready. Something is going on with your situation. Could be breaking old habits, could be hardware. I don’t know. But saying Linux is to blame here is ridiculous.

Yeah, they sadly are not curiously strong anymore. In fact not strong at all, more on the simply sweet peppermint now days.

Altoids as a name have been around a long time, but they have been just candy ever since Mars bought them. They aren’t even made or marketed in the UK anymore.

I miss altoids.