I am fine as long as it would be (and in many cases already is) a viable alternative. It doesn't have to destroy Windows or anything...

*puts torch and pitchfork back again* Ooooohhhh. ;(

Ok, seriously, as a refugee from Windows I also don't like command lines. That's the reason why I have a multi boot system.

I usually am, at least if it is about following online instructions on how to set up and configure something, or instructing someone else on that over phone, email or even writing online instructions for them to follow, how to get something done.

It is just so much easier with a bunch of commands that you just need to copy&paste to your terminal, instead of making a Youtube video or and extensive web page with various desktop screenshots, how to get something done.

And naturally if you want to automate something, like that certain things or commands are run every time you log into your computer or once a week... naturally that kind of scripting is much easier with text than with GUIs. But I guess for most that is already quite "advanced" usage, automating something that you don't have to run them manually all the time.


Some things I still prefer doing in a graphical interface, like setting up partitions in Windows Disk Management or Linux GParted may be more natural than doing it with fdisk or similar in a terminal, and certain compress/uncompress operations with my archives I tend to like to do with a graphical tool like 7-zip, instead of using its command line counterpart.

Then again, when I tried to find a way to compress 1000 subfolders into 1000 separate 7-zip archives (the 7-zip tool doesn't have such option, like I recall e.g. WinRAR did).. I ended up doing it in the command prompt also in Windows because there didn't seem to be any other way. So this is the "compress_subfolders.bat" file I created, just running it in a folder to compress all its subfolders into separate 7-zip archives:

for /d %%X in (*) do "c:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a "%%X.7z" "%%X\" -mx9

(just in case someone else has been wondering about the same...)

@OP - Is it? I'd say that's subjective.

For the average PC user I would say Windows is better for a bunch of reasons, but it really depends on whether those reasons apply enough to any one individual.

Some claim that as an operating system it is better ... more secure etc. It may well be, but at the end of the day, it is about ease of usage, and for many Linux is a bridge too far, especially with older generations or those who have many ties to Windows features or usage etc or don't want to relearn some things.

Take me for instance. I'm no great fan of Windows, but I am tied too deeply to it to change now ... if I was 20 years younger and my mind was wired differently, then I might indeed give up Windows for a Linux sea change. Windows (and MS products in general) have already stolen many years from me that I will never get back, but at least I know enough now to be mostly in control. To change to Linux would be a huge adaption for me, and more wasted time, and would result in me giving up a bunch of things. But hey, I am atypical in my PC use. I am not an average user by a long shot.

Even though I do use Windows (and Linux), this is true too, whenever I end up into some Windows (administration) instructions that suggest I should use PowerShell to get something done. At that point I usually I wish the instructions were for bash instead (because I am far more familiar with bash than powershell), but then as long as it is mere copy pasting of commands to the powershell terminal, I guess it is ok...

I must admit there is certain hurdle for me wanting to to even learn use PowerShell, when I already can use bash. I keep thinking whether PowerShell offers anything over bash that makes sense to learn it too, and why did Microsoft need to come up with its "own way of doing things" with Powershell....

Then again I know some MS consultants with MS certificates who apparently live and breath powershell, they probably even dream in Powershell...

Walled garden in progress
ability to force an update on users to slip in a backdoor
hiding all the things so users have no real control thus minimizing support requirements
Hideous tile interface to blatantly visually remind onlookers what OS your all using advertising market share
No real backwards support helping to kill off the old market to support the new
Yup it's better... just not for the user

Windows is NOT better than Linux.
Linux is NOT better than Windows.

They are two almost completely different software platforms.

You will never need to "mount" anything on Windows to copy files and stuff.

You will never play the latest and greatest games on Linux. Ever.

Microsoft will never release the code of Windows under a GPL license. They have been making billions of dollars selling it for decades.

Stop this nonsense. Just stop it.

I just mean I wish it would get a large enough market share to warrant widespread support. I'm hoping ReactOS will bridge that gap one day, but it's a ways off from complete functionality.

'No trolling pls', he says, while starting the thread with a bait.
Oh right, it's an Orkhepaj thread, figures.

My dad gave me an old laptop with W10 on but told me the battery was terrible and you couldn't use it for more than a few minutes unplugged. I installed Linux on it and it lasts a good few hours between charges now.

Since you don't have to pay for Linux and it doesn't pester you to activate it, I think it's also easier to install than Windows.

One reason I prefer Windows is you can (could?) set a registry key to make it sort how you want but I can't seem to get any file manager in Linux to cooperate with me.

But... ReactOS isn't Linux, is it?

What are we talking about here, Linux or any Windows challenger? There's always MacOS, Android (on Chromebooks) etc...

"automount" is real. When I insert e.g. an USB memorystick or an USB hard drive to my Linux systems, they get automounted pretty much similarly as in Windows, even if those USB drivers are NTFS formatted. EDIT: Or are they automounted because they are NTFS formatted?!? Not sure, but I guess I could test it by formatting one USB hard drive with e.g. ext4.

However, the Windows partitions on my dualboot system don't apparently get automounted in Linux, but maybe that is just good so that I don't accidentally do anything on them, while I am on Linux. And since the Windows NTFS partitions are still visible all the time, "mounting" them does not need anything more than merely clicking with the mouse once on them in the "file explorer". Then I can access their files, copy files to and from them etc.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Microsoft seems to care less and less about their Windows license sales, at least to homes (corporations and especially servers are a different matter...). I guess that is why they've offered free Windows 10 upgrades to pretty much all Windows 7 and 8 home users, and why they are not really enforcing home users to activate their Windows 10 Home (it apparently keeps working fine forever even without activation, with only a couple of cosmetic "annoyances" like the watermark telling that it is not activated, and no ability to change the wallpaper IIRC (due to that watermark, I guess)).

Azure cloud is where MS seems to make most of its money these days, I think. They probably don't care that much with which OS you use Azure services, as long as you do.

Now you lost me. Stop what?

you only need to add one line to fstab file to automount it , it is very easy to do

Wasn't Windows 98 or XP source code leaked recently? That should make ReactOS life yet a little more dificult...

Speaking of it, will download and check progress :)

Maybe that was on purpose. I can just see MS, now.