It’s really easy to over estimate the Windows user base. I have a family member who has gotten so pissed that the start menu moved from the left to the center that she refuses to use it. Functionality is more or less the same but apparently that’s enough for her to not want to use Windows 11.
And no she won’t use Linux.
She hates when Facebook changes it’s UI and stopped using that a few years ago (probably a good thing).
I have a family member that’s similar - they get really mad at inconsequential changes on the computer. But they also refuse to learn anything, so they’re just mad all the time. They also treat their phone like a capricious deity- they’re afraid to touch anything.
On the other hand, I have another family member that spends a lot of his time tinkering with linux. Years ago I got fed up fixing his windows machine I slapped xubuntu on his machine, and he took to it. He’s done several updates and fresh installs since.
Both of them are retired, so it’s not like they’re hurting for free time.
They also treat their phone like a capricious deity- they’re afraid to touch anything.
Considering that there was a MIUI bug that would soft-brick the phone if you set minimum width to a too large value (smaller display size), or if you disabled “MIUI optimization”, or perhaps even installed a bad update, maybe better to be careful. But MIUI was really on the extreme with bugs.
I didn’t personally experience those, though I only played with the display size and only updated once, as MIUI 13 had way too many known bugs. But I found there was some, though not large chance of SD card corruption if I didn’t “Eject” it before reboot.
But to be fair, the optimization and minimum width are both in Developer settings.
As for (possibly) permanent things, from my mind:
Basically anything in MTK Engineer mode or other dialer-accessible secret menus (hidden just like Developer settings)
That time Samsung disabled band mode selection with an update, but the settings wouldn’t reset thus remaining locked however they were set by the user (probably not used by regular users, but just like with MTK EM, there were apps to access this without special codes)
And lastly one that may actually impact regular users who utilize eSIM adapters (e.g.: eSTK, JMP, 5ber, 9esim):
eUICC is recognized and listed by internal SIM manager; switching profiles on a sysmoEUICC1-C2T resulted in an error which made that plastic eUICC disappear from both the built-in SIM manager as well as EasyEUICC-SGP.26. Moving that same eUICC to another phone works just fine. However, moving that eUICC back to the Pixel 4a 5G shows the problem persists. Even another sysmoEUICC1-C2T would not even be recognized by EasyEUICC anymore. Its almost as if the plastic-eUICC functionality has been bricked
Heh, that sounds like… me.
Yeah, I know it can be moved. But what I missed more was fullscreen start menu. Then again, my favorite Windows version is 8.1.
I was also postponing updates (for months) when there was a switch from Plasma 5 to Plasma 6. And I wish I could have kept it for a while on Arch, but partial upgrades always eventually catch up on me.
8.1, not 8.
8.1 had a regular desktop as well, but it was really well optimized.
I tried it on some really old laptop, and it even beat Windows XP and Linux Mint in speed. Probably because it was mostly meant for stuff like tablets.
I get it honestly. The reason I’ve never bumped from windows 10 to 11 is because of the taskbar changes, it’s a single issue killer for me. There are a lot of reasons to ditch windows in general though so now I’m moving to Linux. It isn’t my daily driver yet but I’m getting there. I can have whatever taskbar I want with Linux
You can move the taskbar back to the left, it’s a setting in the context menu. But by all means, please don’t let that drag you away from Linux. Windows is going to get a lot worse in other ways soon. It always does.
I forget the name of it right now, but Stardock has a bunch of diiferent Windows customization software one of which modifies the start bar to be more like 10.
Also my favorite bit of “productivity” software - Fences.
I agree with their sentiment, I like my menu on the side, the middle of my screen is busy showing me what I was doing. I don’t want it covered up because I opened the start menu.
I’m the minority in my family I suppose, because the kid doesn’t know better and can barely tell the difference between raspberry pi OS and Windows and the wife “kinda likes it in the middle”. I’m also the only one who uses Linux. I feel dirty if I ever have to do something on their computers. I keep a liveUSB of opensuse tumbleweed to minimize my interactions with Windows at home.
A trend with Windows. Mac and Linux have no problem showing you what you’re saving. Literally every other operating system that I know of has better decision making than Windows. Hell, even the file storage on an iPhone shows you the extension.
Same, and honestly I didn’t even think about security, I just need to know if this file will run on my [phone, xbox, zune, etc]. Do normal humans just not need to know whether this file is Airplane.1980.720.x0r.avi vs Airplane.1980.720.x0r.nfo vs Airplane.1980.720.x0r.srt?
Tbf, windows still defaults to hide file extensions (which is what I was responding to, not limewire specifically, especially since it still applies to torrents today), at least last time I checked. If they finally changed that, it was too recent for comfort.
you know what’s even dumber is that windows never learnt to identify files apart from its extension. every other modern operating system (e.g. everything unixlike) knows how to identify files even without file extensions
Yeah but then I can’t tell what filetypes they are. Having the type directly in the name is an awesome convention. And theoretically, it prevents the os from having to read every file’s contents. And it’s good for not having to use thumbnails. So you can have more condensed file browsing. It’s also better for proprietary filetypes and new things since the os doesn’t need to know wtf something is.
Your logic reminds me of using nondescript variable names in programming. Yes, the system will probably know, but I’m the user, I’m the person this is all for. And it’s good convention to have good naming convention. File extensions are nice to have and good convention.
Mmmm… As long as the os treated it as separate from the filename. One of the reasons extensions exist is so that the name of the file doesn’t encroach with the self-identifying-filetype/extension. If you put it at the front as a prefix, you would lose the ability to have EITHER names of files OR extensions as separatable and simultaneous ordering systems.
So dumb that windows hides the file extension as default.
Especially since it only associates by file extension.
I feel like that’s long been a trend- instead of trying to lift users up and educate them, let’s just give up and hide things.
It’s really easy to over estimate the Windows user base. I have a family member who has gotten so pissed that the start menu moved from the left to the center that she refuses to use it. Functionality is more or less the same but apparently that’s enough for her to not want to use Windows 11.
And no she won’t use Linux.
She hates when Facebook changes it’s UI and stopped using that a few years ago (probably a good thing).
I have a family member that’s similar - they get really mad at inconsequential changes on the computer. But they also refuse to learn anything, so they’re just mad all the time. They also treat their phone like a capricious deity- they’re afraid to touch anything.
On the other hand, I have another family member that spends a lot of his time tinkering with linux. Years ago I got fed up fixing his windows machine I slapped xubuntu on his machine, and he took to it. He’s done several updates and fresh installs since.
Both of them are retired, so it’s not like they’re hurting for free time.
Considering that there was a MIUI bug that would soft-brick the phone if you set minimum width to a too large value (smaller display size), or if you disabled “MIUI optimization”, or perhaps even installed a bad update, maybe better to be careful. But MIUI was really on the extreme with bugs.
I didn’t personally experience those, though I only played with the display size and only updated once, as MIUI 13 had way too many known bugs. But I found there was some, though not large chance of SD card corruption if I didn’t “Eject” it before reboot.
But to be fair, the optimization and minimum width are both in Developer settings.
As for (possibly) permanent things, from my mind:
Basically anything in MTK Engineer mode or other dialer-accessible secret menus (hidden just like Developer settings)
That time Samsung disabled band mode selection with an update, but the settings wouldn’t reset thus remaining locked however they were set by the user (probably not used by regular users, but just like with MTK EM, there were apps to access this without special codes)
And lastly one that may actually impact regular users who utilize eSIM adapters (e.g.: eSTK, JMP, 5ber, 9esim):
https://osmocom.org/projects/pysim/wiki/UE_behavior_with_plastic_eUICC
TIL MIUI as in Xiaomi User Interface
Hey, that first part exactly describes my uncle. We might be related!
Heh, that sounds like… me.
Yeah, I know it can be moved. But what I missed more was fullscreen start menu. Then again, my favorite Windows version is 8.1.
I was also postponing updates (for months) when there was a switch from Plasma 5 to Plasma 6. And I wish I could have kept it for a while on Arch, but partial upgrades always eventually catch up on me.
8.1, not 8.
8.1 had a regular desktop as well, but it was really well optimized.
I tried it on some really old laptop, and it even beat Windows XP and Linux Mint in speed. Probably because it was mostly meant for stuff like tablets.
I upvoted you for your bravery.
I get it honestly. The reason I’ve never bumped from windows 10 to 11 is because of the taskbar changes, it’s a single issue killer for me. There are a lot of reasons to ditch windows in general though so now I’m moving to Linux. It isn’t my daily driver yet but I’m getting there. I can have whatever taskbar I want with Linux
You can move the taskbar back to the left, it’s a setting in the context menu. But by all means, please don’t let that drag you away from Linux. Windows is going to get a lot worse in other ways soon. It always does.
I forget the name of it right now, but Stardock has a bunch of diiferent Windows customization software one of which modifies the start bar to be more like 10.
Also my favorite bit of “productivity” software - Fences.
I agree with their sentiment, I like my menu on the side, the middle of my screen is busy showing me what I was doing. I don’t want it covered up because I opened the start menu.
I’m the minority in my family I suppose, because the kid doesn’t know better and can barely tell the difference between raspberry pi OS and Windows and the wife “kinda likes it in the middle”. I’m also the only one who uses Linux. I feel dirty if I ever have to do something on their computers. I keep a liveUSB of opensuse tumbleweed to minimize my interactions with Windows at home.
A trend with Windows. Mac and Linux have no problem showing you what you’re saving. Literally every other operating system that I know of has better decision making than Windows. Hell, even the file storage on an iPhone shows you the extension.
AI is the ultimate in accomplishing this.
Make slaves! Yee haw!
When i was a windows user, setting it to show file extensions was one of the first things that i would do after a installation
Same, and honestly I didn’t even think about security, I just need to know if this file will run on my [phone, xbox, zune, etc]. Do normal humans just not need to know whether this file is
Airplane.1980.720.x0r.avivsAirplane.1980.720.x0r.nfovsAirplane.1980.720.x0r.srt?Who was downloading 720 resolution videos on Limewire?
Tbf, windows still defaults to hide file extensions (which is what I was responding to, not limewire specifically, especially since it still applies to torrents today), at least last time I checked. If they finally changed that, it was too recent for comfort.
Or
vs… wait, abort, abort!
Nah ConAir rules lmao.
Put the bunny back in the box.
One of the first things I have to change on any PC I get my hands on. Same as mouse acceleration.
Given that I have worked with people who got confused when the start button stopped having the word “Start” on it I am going to disagree with you.
I can totally see somebody putting in a ticket because “it kept adding letters to the end of the file name when they saved”.
you know what’s even dumber is that windows never learnt to identify files apart from its extension. every other modern operating system (e.g. everything unixlike) knows how to identify files even without file extensions
Yeah but then I can’t tell what filetypes they are. Having the type directly in the name is an awesome convention. And theoretically, it prevents the os from having to read every file’s contents. And it’s good for not having to use thumbnails. So you can have more condensed file browsing. It’s also better for proprietary filetypes and new things since the os doesn’t need to know wtf something is.
Your logic reminds me of using nondescript variable names in programming. Yes, the system will probably know, but I’m the user, I’m the person this is all for. And it’s good convention to have good naming convention. File extensions are nice to have and good convention.
fair enough but i have the unpopular opinion that file extensions should be a prefix not a suffix so that all files of the same type sort together
Mmmm… As long as the os treated it as separate from the filename. One of the reasons extensions exist is so that the name of the file doesn’t encroach with the self-identifying-filetype/extension. If you put it at the front as a prefix, you would lose the ability to have EITHER names of files OR extensions as separatable and simultaneous ordering systems.
THOSE FUNNY LETTERS CONFUSE ME
It’s unreal! I don’t use it but sometimes I have to touch one and I honestly can’t tell how anyone gets anything done.