edit: hey guys, 60+ comments, can’t reply from now on, but know that I am grateful for your comments, keep the convo going. Thank you to the y’all people who gave unbiased answers and thanks also to those who told me about Waydroid and Docker

edit: Well, now that’s sobering, apparently I can do most of these things on Windows with ease too. I won’t be switching back to Windows anytime soon, but it appears that my friend was right. I am getting FOMO Fear of missing out right now.

I do need these apps right now, but there are some apps on Windows for which we don’t have a great replacement

  1. Adobe
  2. MS word (yeah, I don’t like Libre and most of Libre Suit) it’s not as good as MS suite, of c, but it’s really bad.
  3. Games ( a big one although steam is helping bridge the gap)
  4. Many torrented apps, most of these are Windows specific and thus I won’t have any luck installing them on Linux.
  5. Apparently windows is allowing their users to use some Android apps?

Torrented apps would be my biggest concern, I mean, these are Windows specific, how can I run them on Linux? Seriously, I want to know how. Can wine run most of the apps without error? I am thinking of torrenting some educational software made for Windows.

Let me list the customizations I have done with my xfce desktop and you tell me if I can do that on Windows.

I told my friend that I can’t leave linux because of all the customization I have done and he said, you just don’t like to accept that Windows can do that too. Yeah, because I think it can’t do some of it (and I like Linux better)

But yeah, let’s give the devil it’s due, can I do these things on Windows?

  1. I have applications which launch from terminal eg: vlc would open vlc (no questions asked, no other stuff needed, just type vlc)
  2. Bash scripts which updates my system (not completely, snaps and flatpaks seem to be immune to this). I am pretty sure you can’t do this on Windows.
  3. I can basically automate most of my tasks and it has a good integration with my apps.
  4. I can create desktop launchers.
  5. Not update my system, I love to update because my updates aren’t usually 4 freaking GB and the largest update I have seen has been 200-300 mbs, probably less but yeah, I was free to not update my PC if I so choose. Can you do this on Windows? And also, Linux updates fail less often, I mean, it might break your system, but the thing won’t stop in the middle and say “Bye Bye, updates failed” and now you have to waste 4GB again to download the update. PS: You should always keep your apps upto date mostly for security reasons, but Linux won’t force it on you and ruin your workflow.
  6. Create custom panel plugin.

  1. My understanding is that the Windows terminal sucks? I don’t know why, it just looks bad.

I am sure as hell there are more but this is at the top of my mind rn, can I do this on Windows. Also, give me something that you personally do on Linux but can’t do it on Windows.

  • EccTMEnglish
    8·
    9 months ago
    1. You can start applications from windows command line. Depending on the program you might need to provide the full path to the executable though. Eg: Start chrome.exe
    2. Windows has a (preinstalled in Window 11, optional in Windows 10) software called WinGet that will update all recognized applications via command line. Covers stuff from Windows Store, and most popular software installers. Basically acts as a Windows package manager.
    3. batch files, software like autohotkey… automation can definitely be done in Windows too.
    4. You mean shortcuts?
    5. Pretty certain you can defer updates until the time suits, but Windows is definitely more forceful in pushing updates than Linux. There are ways of turning off updates too, but probably not without third party software or digging in regedit blindly.
    6. Rainmeter could provide something similar.
    7. Do you mean Command Prompt, or Windows Terminal? Terminal is actually pretty nice, and very customizable, both in terms of theme and functionality.

    I run Arch Linux (btw) and have a very neglected Windows 11 partition.

    I have a command set up in linux using ddcutil that allows me to tell my second monitor to swap source from HDMI (Chromecast) to DisplayPort (PC) and back as desired. No clue how I’d do that in Windows.

    • PlexSheep@feddit.de
      2·
      9 months ago

      I use windows terminal at work. It’s okay for a terminal emulator on windows, but I have some problems with it:

      1. It’s not kitty
      2. When using FiraCode NF, italics are scaled super weird and I hate it. I opened a GitHub issue and was told to use the preview version. (No I’m not going to install a preview version on my work machine just to get something as basic as regularly scaled italics)
      3. Their mark mode is decent but has weird hotkeys and you can’t change them. Must admit that the mark mode interface looks good through.
      4. I can’t use my regular hotkey for the drop-down terminal (normally shift F12, but windows blocks that for some reason)
      • Subject6051OP
        1·
        9 months ago

        hear you mate! md looks gud han! Well that’s something