Windows 95 had a more successful launch. Believe me: I was there for it, and I had to run tech-support for half a dozen friends’ computers at the time, not to mention several family members.
And I had already been running Chicago betas for several months. What a shit show that was…
I was a kid at the time with a pirated copy of W95. I had memorized the W95 license key (wasn’t that difficult but I finally forgot it) because I had to reinstall it so often. I think at least once a month.
17195-OEM-0001875-01864
Yeah, I reinstalled that much that I remember it.
I freed up a couple of spare brain cells on that sort of thing back in the day once it was discovered around the schoolyard that Windows 95 (in addition to Office and a couple of other M$ products) would happily accept a CD key of all ones: 111-1111111. I don’t think this was applicable to the OEM versions, though. Windows 98 meanwhile would take a key of 12345-12345-12345, etc.
I still have the Windows 2000 MSDN CD key memorized. From XP onwards, the… alternative… activation methods did not require knowing license keys anymore.
One wonders what it was like to be a member of mankind in an era when all you had to memorize was actually useful information.
Me too, at work, on a dozen machines. ALL THIRTY TWO FLOPPY DISKS.
I’m pretty sure I still have an index card somewhere with an XP key on it. I very nearly had it memorized.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure I had a w98 and xp key memorized at one point
This is what share holder value looks like.
Yet another Microslop moment
Doubly so this is why I fear for the future of Linux dev if AI generated development is the future.
skip windows
Are you a masochist, if you continue to rely on Windows when it keeps on accumulating new bugs and issues?
Because you see a claim online you think all users suffer from it?
“Just works,” eh?
Windows “just works” the way Microsoft wants you to just work it.
macOS is the same way, but they also haven’t made stupid sweeping changes that break decades of muscle memory, solely for aesthetic purposes…Like whatever the fuck they call paintbrush now, taking away the Alt+F and Ctrl+S keyboard shortcuts. Ugh.
That’s why I like Linux, really. It feels kinda…idk…hostile(?)…using Windows lately. Like there’s a tension in the air between me and my computer. As in, Linux behaves the way I tell it to behave. It knows the rules and so do I. The computer is subservient to me. Windows (and macOS…but to a lesser extent, because I’m not nearly as strong in it as I am the other two) act like they are in charge.
And even if I don’t want to customize it, there’s a thousand different OOBE’s out there for Linux, surely one will work the way that I want it to.
Gnome is a great example. The Meta+LeftClick+Drag operation for moving windows, and Meta+MiddleClick+Drag for resizing? Chef’s kiss. Lot’s of DE’s incorporate some variant of that now.
Get used to using that and then go back to Windows.
Hell even Tiling WM’s. How long did it take Windows to get (modern) tiling, and how ass-poor is it? Seriously, Hyprland (at least on CachyOS) has got to be the absolute slickest out-of-the-box-experience I’ve had with a DE. Tiling in Windows feels like it hasn’t seen an improvement since probably Windows 3.1…and even in 11, it’s only halfway decent if you install PowerToys.
My magic desk rocks should not be telling ME what to do. I should tell THEM to delete my root partition.
Haven’t quite done that yet, but i did need to reinstall arch about 3 times before i got it right. About 5 years with no 15 minute+ issues thus far.
I have more interest in starting a WatchWindowsDie group than I do in going back to Windows, but it seems like the entire internet is already on the beat.
Windows will not die so easily. Two reasons: 1. Too much money behind and around it. 2. Sheer corporate inertia. 3. As long as there is no competition to the AD/Entra ecosystem, companies will buy it. Ok, three reasons.
I will counter all that with one reason:
Nobody trusts Donald J. Trump with their data.
The French Gardia switched over to an in house Linux distro and now a lot of governments and companies are watching to see what happens.
Worst and worst.
Thanks for the heads-up, I’ll be sure to not update my OpenSUSE install to Windows 11 👍
They have the wallpaper locked at work somehow. Thanks for the reminder I need to stylise my cursor again. Black with green border.
At home, I’ve been Windows free for a few years now.
just like my Roku
For the people not using Linux in the comment section, you can’t skip a Windows update. It’s going to happen no matter what.
I mean I guess you can adjust the registry or whatever but 90% of Windows users aren’t going to do any of that.
I could have done it and I didn’t. I updated and now my cursor is all fucked up.
Even registry changes won’t stop their stomping. My final straw was changing the drivers for AMD for the fifth time, despite editing the registry, sending console commands, and exiting settings. MS drivers just bulldozed right over them. I said fuck it, set up another ssd with Bazzite, dual booted, and three months ago converted the Windows drive to a VFAT, after not booting Windows for a full year. I miss Fusion 360, that is all. I do not miss the headaches. Linux took time to setup, time to learn, and time to personalize. I still think it saved me time overall with how few problems arise, however.
You can pause Windows updates, although I’m not sure I would suggest it because they are usually patching a baotlad of security vulns.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/updates-lifecycle/pause-updates-in-windows
Not defending Microsoft in any way, just pointing out that the option exists. Of course you will get updates once it unpauses, but maybe another CU down the line won’t break shit.
I’ve tried everything it eventually doesn’t update all on its own regardless of you wanting to do it or not. So I just stop trying to fight it.
It’s an optional update. It doesn’t automatically install without activating the option to do so.
Skip
today’sWindows 11update: it breaks cursor styling, resets wallpaper, and morethere, I fixed it.
Install Linux*, Problem Solved.
*Make it Mint.
Thanks. Will not switch from Gentoo to Windows today.
Eyyyy gentoo gang 👋
Man, I feel like I went 15 years without anybody talking to me about using Gentoo but now THEY’RE BACK! Glad to see you.
I use Debian BTW. ; )
But you’re right, when did it shift from gentoo to arch?
