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Comment by phkahler | Hacker News Reader

Why TF are people using an OS that has ads? Whatever the reason I just dont get it.

I wish I knew the secret to tackling this all too common error in perception.

People experience the world differently than you do. People have different priorities and needs and expectations than you do. And none of that makes them wrong or inferior or ignorant or foolish or anything to be confused by.

Oh, I completely agree. It's more a comment on the state of things than a criticism of individual people. Most people would be quite capable of making the change, but like you say they are different from me and have different priorities. And yet we are here because someone wanted to complain about what their chosen OS was doing.

Perhaps, because there are only two options for most people - OSX and Windows.

OSX machines are prohibitively expensive for most, so Windows is the only reasonable option.

I would argue the habits of most people are restricted to a browser on the desktop. I doubt their OS and native applications are likely to be a barrier beyond simply how their UI looks.

That may be true, but in order for them to start that browser they have to have an OS. When they go their local store and buy a random computer they're going to get Windows or MacOS if they feel like splurging.

It's a non-trivial investment to install linux or to look for a PC coming with it preinstalled, especially if it's something they don't particularly care about (since they mostly use a browser).

Well, there are other options but for some reason the market stolidly keeps on being centred around two platforms while ignoring the alternatives. For most people those alternatives - whether they be Linux distributions, browser-centred platforms like Google's Chromebook, large-screen keyboard-controlled mobile platforms like Android or iOS or otherwise - seem to be off the radar even though they often would work better than Windows or MacOS for their application.

Same reason people use an operating system ecosystem that is hostile to adblockers and is a data collection platform for one of the biggest advertisers: because they don't care.

Which is that? First half sounds like iOS, but latter like Android?

I'm not sure how iOS is hostile to adblockers. They have first party support for "content blockers"

If you use Safari.

Use a different browser, and Apple forces it to use Safari to render, disabling it from doing its own blocking, bans it from having add-ons, and doesn't give it that 'content blocking'.

Cause Macs are overpriced and not everyone has the will and patience to tinker in the Linux terminal for hours if any given X hardware or software doesn't work for whatever random reason

You don't need the terminal one bit to use a linux system the way an average person uses Windows. Install and go. Oh wait, "install" is something users of Windows dont have to do...

For most normal people, using Word and Powerpoint is pretty important. let me know when I can use and do word and powerpoint stuff on Ubuntu. No, the Librestack isn't a replacement.

https://www.office.com/

I know it's not perfect yet, but the better and better it gets, the fewer reasons Microsoft is giving people to stick with Windows. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft stopped selling the local version in a few years.

...because it runs almost all the same apps on computers with decent keyboards and physical F-keys and better processor/GPU options at much lower cost, and can have the ads turned off?

What are you talking about?

Is this a Mac vs Windows thing?

I feel like OP was implying people should use Linux.

Linux has worse GPU options (and other hardware too).

Linux has support for most GPU options.

Most ML is done on Linux so it better well have GPU support.

The only part of Linux related to ML on GPU is PCI-E bus driver. The rest of it is proprietary NVidia stuff.

The part, that matters for users - GUI and gaming - barely supports what Windows did 5 years ago.

> The rest of it is proprietary NVidia stuff.

If you're using a Nvidia GPU sure, but it's still supported so I'm not sure what you were talking about in your original comment? Windows Nvidia drivers are also proprietary.

>GUI and gaming - barely supports what Windows did 5 years ago.

You can't be serious? Linux has had workspaces for forever, a feature that Windows finally enacted in Windows 10. Native tiling window manager support is nonexistent in Windows.

The more recent adoption of things like WSL and Windows Package Manager are just a few of the ways Windows trails behind Linux innovations that have existed for years.

The GUI experience in Linux is infinitely more customizable and frankly better than any experience I've had on Windows. Far less bloated and more open in it's overall design.

In terms of gaming I haven't had a snag in forever since Wine or Lutris can do pretty much everything I need.

If you're tech illiterate I can see why someone would think that Windows was superior in terms of innovation, otherwise its pretty clear that Linux has beat out Windows in most interactive user experiences over the past few years.

If you're a developer (which most users of HN are which was what my initial comment was based on) there's virtually no reason to use Windows over Linux.

I don't care about workspaces still. But I need 3 of my monitors with different DPIs to work correctly. And 20.04 just broke that.

Not sure how life is on KDE though.

As for games, GTA V support only came in 2019. Still no Skyrim VR.

I am a developer, but I do .NET, and Rider has not yet caught up to VS for debugging.

Welcome to a world where the market power is solely at the corporation level. The customer is no longer always right. They’re the product.

...and they are paying for it!

Being a C# developer on a code base that is not on .net core, what options are there other than Windows?

Even with .net core, how do you make desktop apps for Linux? There are a few half baked solutions, but nothing serious.

As a developer you might want to avoid proprietary languages even if they seem to be free as in beer. It's always a tradeoff, so I understand, but now you and your users get served ads in order to develop and use your app.

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