I just recently switched from Ubuntu to Manjaro (two Linux distros, rather different from each other) because I was curious.
Ubuntu was already way less of a nuisance than Windows. Not in stability, mind you, but in pretty much everything else.
Now, Manjaro has so far been the smoothest sailing I’ve ever seen, beginning from the installation with the Live-USB (which is typically the threatening thing people switching OS tend to dread the most and IMO one of the big reasons many more people do not just give it a try). Didn’t even have to install graphics card drivers myself, something you still have to do regularly on Windows.
It’s fairly OSX-like in how everything “just works”, which really did surprise even me.
And “even when it’s working properly” is just a weird statement to someone like me using both Windows and Linux regularly and not having stability issues with either. Except for using a Linux distro that is known for being unstable sometimes due to being on a very much bleeding edge, all desktop OS are very stable by now.
Other than Windows sometimes forgetting I have a keyboard and making me plug it out/in again…
Oh, improvement!
But you still gotta go through the typical “NVIDIA Experience” each time there’s an update, and it always wants to press all its other software on you as well. PhysX, their audio drivers (which messed up my audio devices every single time I accidentally installed them, so now I make really sure not to) and one other thing that I can’t remember right now.
I don’t know, I never had use for any of that NVIDIA stuff beyond the GPU driver, so it’s always kind of a bother.
Either way, though, I think all desktop systems have left behind the state of constantly having to care about getting the right drivers and jumping through hoops to make things work.
Though every time I play some old DOS game and do the IRQ 7 / DMA 1 / Port 220 routine, I am smiling inside…
It does not appear to be the case. Windows update seems to want to keep it up to date and I don’t have nvidia experience installed. The only thing I seem to lose are “game ready drivers” but since I rarely play games at their release I’m not sure I’m missing much.
Yeah, this is most welcome. As a tech company that needs to be able to work with corporate entities, I can tell you that our strong recommendation to use any browser EXCEPT Edge with our platform has been a deal-breaker more times than I care to count. You’d be amazed at the corporate penetration of Edge, and how many IT departments have learned to adapt and refuse to allow any other browsers in their networks.
Heck I work for the US federal government and they encourage us to use Chrome for everything, although we do have some web apps that want IE. Last private sector job I had for a large international corporation was IE or Chrome as well.
I don’t get why Edge is hated. I mean I would rather use Firefox at work (I use Safari, Firefox or Brave on my home computers), but it seems fine to me.
We run an enterprise package here named Banner, and it won’t work in Edge. It does half-well in Explorer, but it runs much better in Chrome or Firefox.
Something is fucked with language selection in the new Edge & I suspect it’s due to the Edge site & app not having rights to determine geographic location (very much on purpose).
My attempt to download the Mac version sent me to a download page in Chinese.
My gaming PC install is in Spanish language even though the OS and previous IE installs are all in English.
WTF Microsoft? Just let me pick the language instead of demanding rights I’m not going to give you.
