As a long time Windows user (~30 years), it comes down to “can I fix this if something goes wrong?”. This applies even more so when I'm talking about a computer that my wife might be using.

99.9% of the time, the answer is "yes" when it comes to windows.

Every time I've tried Linux, some experience breaking issue comes up within hours/days of starting it up, and I simply don't have time to troubleshoot it.

No matter how "stable" and "easy" someone claims Linux to be, I've never had a stable or easy experience in the last 20 years of trying to use Linux. I hate that fact, but that is a fact for me.

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 9 points 4 months ago

I assume you've never used Linux long enough to get a grip. You would get there if you use it long enough.

However, operating systems are just tools. Use which one is easy for you. If you have no spare time to learn a new OS, just use what you know. Though Microsoft's latest shenanigans really force some people to switch to other OSes.

[–] pedroapero@lemmy.ml -2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You can't be serious. Being able to fix anything is the raison d'etre of open source.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

For sure, but when every problem has 100 potential fixes, I no longer have time to experiment with trying to fix them.

Every fix in Linux seems like a hack that requires extensive terminal knowledge of small, random patches that seem to be strewn all over the internet.

Every fix in windows is usually self contained, and you just need to know where to look to access it.

In my teens, I would have loved the challenge to mess with Linux. But I have no desire to do that now.

I will get the itch from time to time to try a new liveUSB distro, and if Microsoft angers or annoys me enough, I might just stick with Linux.

[–] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

yeah but at least we're not told to run sfc /scannow followed by "format your pc" when that inevitably fails to find anything

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 months ago

I can honestly say that I haven't had to reformat a windows PC since the early 2000s because of a problem that couldn't easily be solved.

Even a BSOD is exceedingly rare.

Stability has been excellent, but the threat of advertisement creep is beginning to annoy me.