I use a Mac for work, but also use windows and Linux machines.
The best experience hands down when it comes to specific things would be Linux, for very niche things because it's way less clunky than it used to and people have figured things out in the meantime.
My mac is the only system that I can mount (without too much pain because people have figured it out) any filesystem, I can virtually open every document from Mac to Windows to Linux. I have something close to package control with homebrew. The M chips are ridiculously good at both being decently performant while low energy consumption.
Sure it has its host of issues and I would be the first one in line to dunk on Apple for many many... many many, reasons, but there are things to like with their laptops...
In comparison, recently, Windows has been more and more aggressive towards their users and their data, attempting to lock people in for some spreadsheet editor... Gone are the days of Lotus1-2-3...
Have you tried Anubis or similar tools? I've had similar issues with bot scraping of a forum taking all server resources, and using PoW challenge solved the problem.
I've always wondered: has there been any effort to implement a PoW challenge like that at a lower level? I.e., TCP but the handshake requires solving a challenge, otherwise the connection is just closed? It seems like something that could benefit from being invisible on the application layer.
I wrote the below to explain to our users what was happening, so apologies if the language is too simple for a HN reader.
- 0630, we switched our DNS to proxy through CF, starting the collection of data, and implemented basic bot protections
- Unfortunately whatever anti-bot magic they have isn't quite having the effect, even after two hours.
- 0830, I sign in and take a look at the analytics. It seems like <SITE NAME> is very popular in Vietnam, Brazil, and Indonesia.
- 0845, I make it so users from those countries have to pass a CF "challenge". This is similar to a CAPTCHA, but CF try to make it so there's no "choosing all the cars in an image" if they can help it.
- So far 0% of our Asian audience have passed a challenge.
Whilst I appreciate you can do this, and some people have programs they need Windows for, I am sick of fighting my OS.
One thing I realised when I switched to desktop Linux was just how quiet it was.
It just sits there until I want to do something. It doesn't try and trick me into changing my default browser, or put adverts in my program launcher, or harvest my data.
I'm tired of fighting my software in general, not just my OS. I only wish it was as easy to "declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of" my other software as it apparently is to do with Windows. I'm tired of all the pushiness, nudging, pressuring, and coercion. Software products should not be trying to change my behavior.
This is really uncommon outside of bigtech/VC startup companies' products. The only "misbehaving" Linux programs I can name from the top of my head are google chrome and postman (both which I no longer use).
This problem is unfortunately also prevalent in websites and it's even harder to evade.
I feel like that also happens on Linux tbh. Gnome has very specific ideas of how everything should be, and anything they let you do through plugins today, they will take away tomorrow.
Of course, you have the option of not using gnome. I myself use xmonad and don't bother with desktop environments anymore.
I think there's a fundamental difference between software with strong opinions and software that fights and tricks you. I definitely use some applications "wrong" but I recognize and accept that's on me. The programs don't really care, but Windows feels like a lawn mower that hates me, or Larry Ellison.
I like Gnome on my Surface Go, because the defaults make sense on a touch interface, but all my other computers are running Xfce.
I changed the panel to mimic OpenSuse (it’s already a preloaded template) and it is perfect for using with a keyboard and mouse with a familiar interface.
If anyone is looking for a desktop environment that does not get in your way, that is the one. Things evolve slowly on Xfce, it is for some of us a feature, not a bug.
I tried Gnome 5 years ago and all we could do is point and laugh at it. I tried it recently with a new framework laptop "official support" and all, still a horrible OOBE and I don't feel like I can trust them.
GNOME was started by a guy who thought Microsoft was peak software design. Its founding document is called "Let's Make Unix Not Suck" where not sucking basically means being more like Windows. Make of that what you will.
That's OK. That was a different time, that was an effort to attract people, for whom, windows was their baseline. Bringing people in like that was not a wrong decision, many people first experience of non windows was gnome, many of those stuck around.
How is gnome minimalistic compared to say, a default conf of fvwm, dwm, i3, sway, weston? It has all the things most people need: access to wifi/bluetooth/launcher/a file manager, apps for nearly everything, etc.
Yes it is opinionated and there are stuff you can only configure using gconf or extensions if the default conf is not your preference but minimalistic it isn't.
Anyway I don't really understand the Gnome bashing when there are KDE and at least 6 or 7 other complete desktops availables for the users + millions of windows managers and wayland compositors for those that want a more personalized experience. The fact it is proposed as a default desktop by many distros who aren't forced to choose it is a testament at how sane its defaults are.
It is not like the situation in the windows and macOS where the desktop is almost impossible to customize without breaking stuff[1]
[1] I tried litestep on windows decades ago, it was mostly usable but it only changed the shell, windows were still managed the same terrible way as in vanilla windows.
It's minimalist in the sense that they have decided what you should be allowed to have as a user, and any extensions you rely on to bring back functionality that has been considered basic for 30 years will break with every version.
other environments can start as minimalist, but once you have set them up in the way you want, those features will rarely go away. usually that would be considered a bug/regression, not a feature.
In my experience unless you upgrade on the exact date of the new Gnome release most of those extensions get updated within a month or 2 of the release.
Additionally if non breakage and stability is a must for you the long term support distros such as debian, ubuntu LTS or an rhel derivative such as Almalinux are available.
While obtaining and using newer software was annoying on long term support distros in the past, tools such as flatpak, toolbox and distrobox have made it super easy now so you can run a super stable system+desktop basis that doesn't change in 10 years alongside bleeding edge apps.
Hey - I wonder if you might be able to elaborate on this? I'm on gnome and have had by and large a pleasant experience, and now I'm curious what I might be missing out on. What made it feel like a horrible OOBE for you?
I use KDE Connect and discovered a feature I didn't know about the other day.
I was watching a youtube video on my computer and my phone rang. The video automatically paused whilst I had my call, then when I hung up, the video continued.
Totally seamless. The kind of thing Apple would show off as part of their "continuity" between macos and iOS.
