Microsoft is in trouble, and MX Linux must help

[remfan1994]

As you likely remember, in the 90s Windows was a pretty 'leet' OS -- with a powerful and flexible GUI that came with many options and robust features. Its influence inspired a generation of desktop environments like XFCE and KDE. However, in the strange day and age of today, Microsoft is not looking so hot. As a matter of fact, Windows 11 is so weak I could hardly believe that passes for a finished product. They are so poor and watered down it is as if they are not a shadow of what they were. It's sad.

Enter MX Linux, and its configuration tools and customization panels that make Windows 11 look like a bootleg knock-off! And how many of these features are derived from MS contributions to computer technology? And how many of you first used a Windows OS and were initiated to technological hobbyism through a culture Microsoft supported then yet no longer does? If they had S-mode on by default in Windows 95 would you be a Linux user today? If Window's 98's Control Panel had been as poor as Windows 11 settings would you know a registry from a radio toggle?!

I assert that we owe Microsoft a charity. MX Linux should rebrand one of their DE-variety ISOs "Microsoft Windows" as a tribute and donation to Microsoft, because they have enriched us and they are now in a pitiful way. To pay back into them what they have paid into you is a moral incumbency at this point. I know this is an irresistible idea that you can not want to refuse, because you know those who do mock their Maker. Don't forget how you were made and have mercy on the down-and-out if it is right to do so.

Thanks for reading and have a good day.

[Eadwine Rose]

There is a linux version that looks a lot like M$, but reading reviews it's very surface like and isn't highly regarded. A friend of mine actually wanted to start using that when her computer stops supporting W10, told her what I thought of that one (don't).

[CharlesV]

@remfan1994 Sorry, Microsoft did NOT invent the GUI .. In fact, MS rode on the backs of many companies to "create' windows.

AND, MS has created its own problems with its continued "Marketing above Product", including first making many attempts to kill Linux, and now to "create a better Linux" .

Seeing as how I started my Windows development under windows 3.1, spent many years creating windows applications and then was "turned out" my MS with all their BS ... MS flat out ruined my Windows world and while I still support many customers using windows - I *strive* to move customers away from their worsening platform.

I for one shall always vote no on "charity" .. MS *still* is the largest computer company, they *still* are what ? 96% of the personal computer market? and they are *still* looking for methods to make *more* money off their customers. Hard pass!

[siamhie]

@remfan1994 Sorry, Microsoft did NOT invent the GUI .. In fact, MS rode on the backs of many companies to "create' windows.

Apple released Lisa in 1983 and M$ released Windows 1.0 in 1985 but the grand dad of all was the Xerox Alto in 1973.

AND, MS has created its own problems with its continued "Marketing above Product", including first making many attempts to kill Linux, and now to "create a better Linux" .

I still remember reading the infamous Halloween documents in 1998.
I also remember when M$ went after Sun and tried to kill off java but not before they went after Mozilla and tried to kill off Netscape.
Man, there was a lot going on in the mid to late 90's. I should dig out my book I bought back then and re-read called The Microsoft File.

[Freja]

Still MS have lot of money, Is MX? Total volunteer. example: Freja received zero cent from MX (Until today).

I understand a little bit of what you're saying, but also true MS has done some known not good things.
(As CharlesV and siamhie said, there are few original elements in MS.
I think excessive commercialism is harmful in most cases.)

"trouble" means for example, "nothing to eat something" or "no money" I think.
It's true that MS was a victim of CrowdStrike. However MS can save MS.

Above all, I refuse to allow MX to be placated by MS like "1 of other debian based distribution".
Personally, I'd like MX to be "unrelated" to MS if possible. (I want to cut any ties with MS, Because MX is a unique castle.)

[DukeComposed]

Apple released Lisa in 1983 and M$ released Windows 1.0 in 1985 but the grand dad of all was the Xerox Alto in 1973.

Most of the major software companies of the 1970s and 1980s all built their foundations on stealing ideas from Xerox PARC. And most of the work Xerox pioneered came from people stealing the research of Douglas Engelbart while he was working at the Stanford Research Institute. Engelbart gave what is still known as The Mother of All Demos in 1968 and presented a prototype computer system with functional teleconferencing, remote access, WYSIWYG text editing, real-time collaboration, and a mouse-driven UI. Much of the demo was recorded and it can found on YouTube.

I also remember when M$ went after Sun and tried to kill off java but not before they went after Mozilla and tried to kill off Netscape.
Man, there was a lot going on in the mid to late 90's. I should dig out my book I bought back then and re-read called The Microsoft File.

A lot of the problem with suing tech companies, especially in the 1990s, was that the specific technologies were too sophisticated for the legal system to comprehend. There's a video of Gates in an anti-trust deposition where a lawyer interprets an answer he gives as being evasive when in reality the lawyer is clueless that the "Java" he's so interested in is both a programming language and a virtual machine that interprets bytecode. Gates tries to explain the difference to him and he's just not getting it. He can't wrap the bacon of his mind around this one specific fig and that's when you start to realize that prosecutors didn't know enough about tech to effectively apply the law to it in any meaningful way.

Another example of this is an old essay by Scot Hacker, who used to write about The BeOS (remember that?) for Byte magazine (remember those?). It was called He Who Controls the Bootloader and outlines how the anti-trust case against Internet Explorer was a matter of the DOJ looking for anti-competitive practices in entirely the wrong place purely because they knew what a browser was, but not a bootloader. If you've ever wondered why you've never heard of a major PC OEM selling a machine that dual-boots by default, or why you've never heard of the Hitachi Flora Prius (which against all odds, did), Hacker's article is worth your time.

[Melber]

I suspect OP forgot the [/s] tags and is just trolling for some MS bashing.

Disclosure: I use Windows every day at work. It's fine.

[DukeComposed]

Disclosure: I use Windows every day at work. It's fine.

I think that's the real tragedy here. It's fine.

After years of Windows rightly earning a reputation as being buggy and unstable, eventually they lucked into a fairly decent platform. By the time they got to the progression of Windows 2000 > XP > Windows 7, most of the serious usability issues had been solved, installs didn't mysteriously start slowing down or breaking after 18 months. You wouldn't get some "Fatal: vbrun100.dll missing" error on startup that if you clicked "OK" on it, it'd go away and everything would seem to still be functional. Remember that cruft used to be a thing.

Windows 10 is fine. It's stable. Put it on any machine made in the last ten years or so and it will do what you ask it to do. Microsoft finally figured out how to ship an OS that won't self-destruct or bluescreen on Tuesdays if you hold your mouse wrong. Even Windows 8 was stable. Then they started turning Windows into an advertising platform and making fairly radical design choices, many of which can't be changed or reverted.

You liked the Windows 7 start menu? Too bad.

We taught you to expect the start menu to always be in the lower left corner? Too bad.

You don't like Candy Crush or random news tiles? Too bad.

Brian Boyko put a lot of this frustration into Windows 8: The Animated Evaluation about how the Windows operating system has more or less removed you, the user, from the driver's seat and taken a more active role in controlling your hardware, not just in terms of managing how you interact with your devices and with your data, but outright dictating what you can and cannot do with it. His primary thesis in the video is more about the bad choices that led to the short-lived, ill-fated Windows 8 Metro UI mandate, but even in those elements you can see that the company has firmly settled into the decision that your machine isn't really your machine, and that you need to be carefully shepherded in how you're going to behave when you use it.

Windows as an OS is fine. You have to disable all of the extra stuff they've glued onto it first, which is a big reason why the consumer-grade Home versions are so wildly reviled. The enterprise-grade releases which don't ship with the extraneous bogons is expensive for a reason, and the really nice version of Windows that's stripped down, bare bones, and only gets security updates and nothing else isn't even available for individuals to purchase. Windows as an OS is fine. Windows as an engagement platform, or a monetization resource for social media, data collection, or brand ambassadorship? Well, that's another matter.

[operadude]

@DukeComposed Thanks for this:

Most of the major software companies of the 1970s and 1980s all built their foundations on stealing ideas from Xerox PARC. And most of the work Xerox pioneered came from people stealing the research of Douglas Engelbart while he was working at the Stanford Research Institute. Engelbart gave what is still known as The Mother of All Demos in 1968 and presented a prototype computer system with functional teleconferencing, remote access, WYSIWYG text editing, real-time collaboration, and a mouse-driven UI. Much of the demo was recorded and it can found on YouTube.

I recall that you had recently posted (or replied to a post) about Xerox PARC. I found your post illuminating and looked-up Xerox PARC on Wikipedia. Fascinating stuff!

By any chance, do you have a link to that post (or reply) of yours where you wrote about Xerox PARC? I would like to look at it again.

[Eadwine Rose]

You can click on someone's username to find all their posts.