Microsoft's Windows 11 - Déjà Vu ?

[Judge]

Quite impressive about Linux...if this is accurate.

Virtually no fussing over drivers. No defragmentation or registry cleanup needed. Little maintenance required compared to Windows. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

 

[Judge]

Oh yeah. How do I look? I'm posting using Linux Mint 20.2 right now. Just finished installing it on a spare SSD. Much more elegant than Zorin OS16. Though I still had to install HDAJackRetask to get my external speakers to work. Not much of a problem the second time around.

This time I'll try using Wine again, but I'll install Photoshop 5.5 into the x86 folder. Might make a big difference.

Just know that with these Linux distros, you have to manually turn on the firewall. It doesn't magically come on with installation alone. No biggee...but it's all quite different from Windows.

Nice to have a backup with Internet Access, even if I don't use Linux much for now.

A night later, and I still can't get Wine to work to run Photoshop 5.5. Exasperating. But I definitely prefer Linux Mint to Zorin OS16. So the saga continues...

 

[Judge]

Amazing to see how fast Linux facilitated installing both my HP Laser Printer, and my HP Inkjet Printer/Scanner. I've almost completed making Linux Mint 20.2 as functional as my Windows 10. Today I'll be installing DVD/CD burning software. Lots of choices with the software manager, that allows me to access a ton of validated software directly through Linux. Mkes the "Microsoft Store" seem lame.

In doing more research it seems though that the latest version of Linux Mint seems to have issues with the two versions of "Wine" you can download through the software manager. That these are Ubuntu creations, with issues when it comes to making Wine work which allows you to run various windows applications through Linux. The next time I attempt to install Wine, it will likely have to be done through using the terminal typing some manual commands to download Wine directly for "WineHQ" on the web. We shall see. But for now I will try to finish making my Linux OS otherwise as functional as my Windows 10 is at the present.

Basically if you are willing to learn and occasionally research things and follow explicit instructions you should be able to run Linux as well. It's weird, as everything is different and most descriptions of things pertinent to the OS are different too. But it didn't stop me from making it all work either. Seems if you want a safe, viable OS instead of Microsoft Windows, this is a good way to go.

For me the jury is still out as to whether or not I make this change permanent. But for now I'm just happy to have a second method of safely accessing the Internet. Something I cannot safely do with older versions of Microsoft Windows. I may just get a removable drive setup so I can easily swap hard drives between running Linux Mint 20.2 and Windows 10.

https://www.amazon.com/ICY-DOCK-SAT...rds=removable+drive+bay&qid=1638373252&sr=8-9

 

[Judge]

Amusing to hear that Microsoft has recently relented in requiring a "default browser" process that makes it difficult to make any browser default to but their own. Sounds like Microsoft may even do away with designating a default browser at all. Wouldn't surprised me if the EU threatened them- again over an old issue.

On the other hand, not so amusing were some claims I saw on YouTube citing that Windows 11 will prevent a user from dual-booting to a separate partition with a different operating system. If this is true, it's probably designed to keep Linux users from doing just that. Though this hasn't been verified. But it wreaks of Microsoft. Sad if true. I mean, Linux shouldn't even be on their radar with less than two percent of the market relative to consumer level operating systems.

Meanwhile I finally got "Wine" to work inside Linux Mint 20.2. Windows apps Photoshop 5.5 and Illustrator 8.0 (very old 32-bit software) run just great! They open much faster inside Linux than in Windows 10...lol. But the trick for me seemed to stop attempting to install Wine 5.0, and instead go straight to winehq.org and follow the instructions for downloading and installing Wine 6.0. Apparently some are posting that the Software Manager of Linux Mint 20.2 is using a defective and incomplete Ubuntu version of Wine 5.0. May be best to go after version 6.0 instead. It was like night and day and installed without a hitch.

Not sure I'll outright abandon Windows in the future, but at this point it is entirely possible. Linux really is a viable alternative.

 

[maycontainthunder]

Apologies for waking a slumbering thread...

I've been messing around with W11 on my laptop... there are a great many things Microsoft have ruined. One thing initially was the WiFi which took four clicks to get online which is shades of Vista. However, I have found that if you check the 'Connect Automatically' box you can use the WiFi icon in the menu to enable or disable WiFi (I don't leave anything online while I'm not using it).

Another issue is the taskbar because someone who didn't think this through decided to ditch all ability to customise leaving you with a huge taskbar which needs a registry tweak to shrink it. Anything open that is the same program is grouped into one icon... horrible to use.

If they fix the taskbar I think I can get along with it though I do feel that 10 has the best start menu. 11's is a little more awkward to use.

 

[Judge]

Apologies for waking a slumbering thread...

I've been messing around with W11 on my laptop... there are a great many things Microsoft have ruined. One thing initially was the WiFi which took four clicks to get online which is shades of Vista. However, I have found that if you check the 'Connect Automatically' box you can use the WiFi icon in the menu to enable or disable WiFi (I don't leave anything online while I'm not using it).

Another issue is the taskbar because someone who didn't think this through decided to ditch all ability to customise leaving you with a huge taskbar which needs a registry tweak to shrink it. Anything open that is the same program is grouped into one icon... horrible to use.

If they fix the taskbar I think I can get along with it though I do feel that 10 has the best start menu. 11's is a little more awkward to use.

Thanks for sharing! And welcome to AF....

 

[maycontainthunder]

Thanks Judge. One other thing I have just found out that comes clearly under the 'why on earth did they do that?' title is background apps have to be individually disabled. In windows 10 you can do it with one click! ARRRGGGHHH!

 

[Judge]

Thanks Judge. One other thing I have just found out that comes clearly under the 'why on earth did they do that?' title is background apps have to be individually disabled. In windows 10 you can do it with one click! ARRRGGGHHH!

Interesting. Had to look that one up.

Personally I'd add it to their rather long "glitch list", but I suspect MS doesn't see it that way. Defaulting to such a thing may be another way of supporting app developers (exclusively for the MS Store), making it intentionally difficult to purge all those that run in the background using up resident memory. Also may be yet another means to force users to buy more robust hardware to accommodate all the memory to run stuff like that. Whether users need it or not. After all, they already attempted such shenanigans with their default browser. Same old story, boiling down to monopolistic and proprietary practices.

At least it appears that there are alternative measures involving registry edits* one can take to remedy this:

Enable or Disable Background Apps in Windows 11 Tutorial

* Editing the Windows Registry is something for more experienced users. Making a mistake in it can potentially bring down the entire OS.

 

[Storm Hess]

Microsoft is garbage.

 

[Nemesis_2k7]

Sorry MS, but all I can do is again laugh at you. So many bad commentaries about your latest operating system, "Windows 11". Which seems eerily similar to the debut of Windows 8, then 8.1 only to be redone skipping version "9" going directly to Windows 10.


i find its better to use every 2nd version of windows. dont use vista, use win 7. dont use 8, use 8.1. in this case, win 10 and 11 are a joke.

Bad enough for so many computer users who do not have a more current generation (8) of an Intel CPU, and current Trusted Platform Module technology (TPM 2.0) on their motherboard. Which in Microsoft's opinion makes your computer (and mine) unsuitable to run Windows 11.

Sure, you can find any number of online hacks showing how to potentially get around it, but if Microsoft sticks to its guns, it may simply add code to discourage it. With no promises that your system will run properly, even if they eventually get all the bugs out of this system which "out the gate" seems more and more like Windows 8 or even Windows Vista.

Adding insult to injury is to discover that this OS debut is clearly Intel-centric, causing a great deal of grief to anyone running a newer computer with an AMD cpu and a Ryzen gpu. Resulting in noticeable drops in overall performance around 15 to 20%. Causing a PR nightmare for Microsoft, where they are allegedly backpeddling, now working with AMD to solve all those issues.

Needless to say, I've never bought a new OS the same year it came out. I have no intention of being an unpaid beta-tester for Microsoft, and I hope you aren't either. Scary to see the stores now carrying laptops with Windows 11 under the circumstances. Oh well...

At least we have alleged support by Microsoft for Windows 10 for the next four years or so. Unless they go back on that as well. We shall see. Maybe "Windows 13" may be just beyond the horizon.

 

[Nemesis_2k7]

this day and age, use linux and WINE.

For example on my AMD gpu based system
i use the ersnt MESA PPA for my gpu drivers.
i use the LUTRIS ppa for all my windows gaming needs.
and i install wine 7.x "staging".

those 3 things and i run 99% of my windows games and software.

natrually i do a sudo apt update && sudo apt full upgrade on a daily basis.

linux is quickly becoming a very easy to use OS replacement for windows and mac. specifically ubuntu flavours.

 

[Judge]

this day and age, use linux and WINE.

Yep. Microsoft dumping Windows 11 on the world prompted me to take a spare SSD and load it with Linux Mint 20.2 and Wine. Makes for a nice backup.

 

[Judge]

Yet another incentive to dump Microsoft. The advent of Wine 7.0. Improving a "compatibility layer" that allows a user to install various 32-bit Windows applications to run on a Linux Distro. Using it with Mint 20.2 I found it to visually improve how it renders Photoshop 5.5 and Illustrator 8.0. Two great Adobe applications that are more than 20 years old. Ironically I can't even run Illustrator on Windows 7, 8 or 10. And Photoshop 5.5 can occasionally be one PITA on Windows 10.

Yeah, Linux looks better and better all the time. Though I temporarily loaded Zorin OS16 one more time and definitely concluded it wasn't as intuitive as Mint 20.2. Guess I'll be pushing the edge of the envelope and see if I can make Microsoft Office 2000 work through Wine 7.0 as well.

LOL...addendum: Just installed Microsoft Office 2000: Word, Excel and Power Point. All seem to run fine on Linux Mint 20.2.

Though presently it's looking dubious in considering building a new computer at this time. I'll have to see if things improve in the second quarter when it comes to the obnoxious pricing of gaming GPUs. It could be some time before those prices really do drop, contingent with cryptocurrency mining remaining on the decline, as well as supply chain issues improving with chip manufacturing. All likely tied to the pandemic, and whether or not it finally recedes and evaporates for real.

Wine 7.0 arrives with a "large" number of improvements: Here's what's new | ZDNet

Wine Stable 7.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 20.04 / Linux Mint 20

 

[Judge]

Looks like Microsoft has begun to actually listen to computer users, given what I see in this latest Windows Build #22557. Lots changes for the better. Particularly a much more customizable task bar. Initially it was woefully limited.

A major drawback for me and Wine 7.0 in Linux Mint 20.3. Photoshop 5.5 works great in terms of rendering graphics, better even than in Windows 10. But there's one thing Photoshop can't do- it won't access either of my printers. So presently all I can do is to save a file, then open it up into Gimp 2.10 and print it from there.

And I can't install windows printer drivers using Wine 7.0 either. Bummed....

 

[Judge]

Another blistering criticism of Microsoft, and how they have essentially abandoned focus on an operating system to pursue data harvesting on a sinister- and global level. I frequently access "Jayz's" witty YouTube tech presentations. He's usually right on the money.

 

[Shaddock]

hard to remember but I think windows xp was good and I liked windows 7. I´m using windows 10 and it is okay too. can´t upgrade to win 11 and don´t want to.

I buyed an used laptop (but in good condition) with "only" 1600x900 graphics (normal and not full HD) and less-average specifications, but it only costed around 400 euro, which is very cheap I think. it will work for 3-4 years overall maybe and then I will buy a noone for the same price I think. I can do everything with it, except new games, but I can watch let´s plays of them. and I don´t want to buy much money for graphics cards and don´t have it too.

I can prefer the program "O&O Shut Up" (for Win 10), where you can set more detailed system settings (for example for data protection).