Using Windows for business is torture
Using Windows for business is torture
I don't know why so many companies decide to use Windows these days when there's Unix/Linux But it seems like a lot of companies still choose to use Windows over anything else. It runs like crap, and the latest version, Windows 11, is shockingly bad. There are so many frustrating things that come standard with Windows 11 that have no place in a business context. For example, Microsoft shopping. This comes loaded on your Windows 11 browser, edge. I couldn't find a way to turn it off, so it's just there. Why in the world would I need that on my work computer? Also, Microsoft start news or MSN is heavily embedded into the edge browser. Lots of trackers and personalization features which again, should not be included in a business computer. It tracks every website I go to, recommends ads and personalizations to me, I can't download any other browser because this is the standard one that comes on the computer
The operating system itself is also incredibly frustrating. There's a context menu when you right click things that you cannot get rid of because your company sets policy, and now you have to have a stupid show more options menu every time you click something, so try and imagine a few hundred to a few thousand clicks a day having to navigate with that, very frustrating. Also, Windows start menu search. You can disable it on a personal PC but on a business computer without admin rights, You can't disable the start menu web search. So it searches the web anytime you type anything in and makes it extremely difficult to find your files.. Everything requires a workaround. Turning off copilot, turning off context menu, turning off web search, turning off user account control which is not possible on business PC but on personal PC it is, still really frustrating though. Turning off copilot, turning off Cortana, getting rid of the search box on your taskbar.
Like, I don't know why any serious company would use Windows with this in mind
Because it's "easier" to support Windows from a business perspective and it's easier on users to use Windows as most already do use it and thus need no additional training/decreases support tickets.
I'm a small business environment it's much easier to manage with Linux but you still need an OK Linux admin on staff.
Once you start scaling up on paper Linux certainly works but there are a lot of factors that most people (such as yourself) don't consider.
This is coming from a pure Linux admin working on a mixed Enterprise environment where 99% of the infra is windows
The benefit of Windows is the vast amount of ready made tooling, primarily Intune these days. I don't think Linux has anything equivalent.
There is plenty of tooling for Linux to accomplish most if not all of the same goals but in my experience the difference between the two is the the windows tooling is much "friendlier" and for better or worse easier to get off the ground than a Linux equivalent.
Going the Linux route can and will work but it practically requires you have a a very good admin running the show who truly understands the infrastructure you are working with. I love Linux and greatly prefer working with it over Windows is basically every capacity but I'm not about to go my director and try to convince him we should switch from Windows to Linux as that conversion would be an immense undertaking and I am realistically the only person on staff capable of managing it.
Additional given so many other businesses/partners are also Windows based shops it very often just makes things easier when everyone is playing on the same or very similar field.
-
It's more compatible with almost every software.
-
Most companies that run windows also use things on the Microsoft stack like MS Teams, MS Office, etc. These don't have proper alternatives for Linux.
-
It's familiar for everyone working in the company.
I don't know what company you're in but imagine how bad the average person is in using a computer. Asking people to use Linux is a no-go.
But modern Linux is easier to use than modern windows, so that last point doesn't really work.
Modern Linux runs just about any windows app, including most games. It also supports web browsers which can access Teams, etc.
It seems like maybe the reason is more inertial than based on factors a well run business should consider.
-
Because all of what you've listed is easily managed at an enterprise level. It sounds like your Windows admins are lazy, or you have executives that actually like those shitty features. I've seen that happen before too.
None of what you've listed besides start menu web search is enabled at my workplace.
I'll agree 1000% that a lot of those settings don't need to be locked behind admin rights though, and there should be an easier way for enterprise admins to leave more of these settings up to their end-users.
This is a post by a person who has no experience whatsoever of managing enterprise IT. Businesses use Windows because of Active Directory, and InTune, and MS 365. The client-side OS itself, and its horrible usability problems, are irrelevant.
It's usability issues in Enterprise (or just using Windows Pro on a domain with proper management) aren't the same as Windows Home.
And if OP thinks Windows has usability issues in business, let's see what happens when we replace 1000 Windows desktops with a random flavor of Linux.
I don’t know why so many companies decide to use Windows these days when there’s Unix/Linux
None of our end users know how to use Unix/Linux.. MacOS or Chrome books would be more likely looking at the youngest in the work force.
Everything else you listed basically comes down to end user / power user preferences. 99% of our end users barely remember what to click on if it is not on their desktop.
Like, I don’t know why any serious company would use Windows with this in mind
Being able to mass configure, secure and monitor all devices with many different vendor tools remotely is nice. Have you ever tried to manage a fleet of Linux laptops in the field?
I don't know why so many companies decide to use Windows these days
Hahahahahaha
Clearly you haven't worked in a business with more than a few users, with the simplest of requirements.
Come manage a 20-user environment where you need business-standard apps to interoperate seamlessly with every client you have.
Now expand that to 10,000 users.
Let's see you run CAD on a Linux box.
Let's see you open/edit/return an excel file without fucking it up. Especially because most of such files will have tables, and Libre/Open office doesn't support tables.
Which Linux distro you going to use on laptops, that has power management that isn't painful to configure? Or that even works?
Which distro supports all the hardware you already own, out of the box? Manpower to setup systems, and figure out new ways to do things, isn't free.
Then you're talking about re-training staff to use a completely different OS and tools, when they have approaches that have been used for decades, across generations of users.
On and on it goes.
One should understand why a fence exists, before thinking of removing it. You clearly don't understand business if you think it's that simple.
Most of those business tools can be run in a web browser. CAD not so much. But so help me if you make me download Microsoft office to modify a spreadsheet!
Inertia. The same reason companies are still running and maintaining COBOL programs. Not to mention it's familiar to most of their users. Those of us that use Linux at home are a distinct minority.
Another rather big reason. Is that it's backed by a company. There's someone specific to go to if things go south. There are equivalents in the Linux world. Like red hat Enterprise linux. But then you lose a lot of the savings something like Linux offers. Granted you lose a lot of the hassle of anti-futures as well. That might start becoming a motivating issue soon enough.
On the whole people often in charge of Financial and procurement tend not to be very technically oriented. And want to go with the safest of the safest options in their perception whether or not it's a good option.
And finally, in the business space there hasn't been many companies selling and pushing systems pre-equipped with Linux for businesses to buy often. It's getting better now. But it's something you would only expect to see generally on the server side. Office wise its often just Dell HP or Lenovo business Towers all running Windows. But with companies like system 76, tuxedo, and framework offering for home users. You might start seeing more in business as well.
Windows is enterprise, nothing else comes close if you want to manage many hundreds or thousands of computers.
Enterprise Windows has full control, everything can be automated, everything can be removed. All the annoyances you have in retail windows disappear. It's just a group policy rule, which is managed centrally, away.
Prevent users from installing apps? Lockdown what devices can be plugged in? Windows makes it possible
HyperV on windows is a super power for enterprise. Want a locked down environment, run it in A VM. Want a qubes experience, do it in hyper-V.
Sounds like your business needs to update their GPO to disable those features that aren't useful for your business.
Except for disabling UAC, that's basically like logging in and running everything as root on Linux.
Using Windows
for businessis tortureFortunately I work in a small shop and am a domain admin. Using a combo of Powershell and ShutUp10, I cut out as much of the stupid bloat and spyware as I can. The OS still sucks, but it's much more tolerable with that crap turned off.
One of these days I'm going to get off my lazy butt and create a custom Windows 11 installation ISO with the nonsense pre-removed.
(And yes, I also use Linux, and prefer it.)
I've been asking that for about 15 years. If you're just now considering it, in 2039 you'll still be asking it.
I hate that they hide things in the right click menu so much
Microsoft spends millions (maybe billions) on advertising and PR. They give massive discounts to get big companies hooked on their products. Most people aren't even aware there is a choice.
I've always just wiped my work laptop and installed Linux.
You guys wanna know why Windows>Linux? It's very simple. You just refuse to accept how simple this answer is, but this has always been the answer.
Windows:
Click the thing. Ok, that did the thing.
Linux:
It's so easy! Just go into terminal, and I hope you memorized your commands, because not only will you need to remember the command, but you need to make certain there are no typos. Anywhere. Ever. Or the whole thing does not work.
And the userbase are people who may not even be wearing matching socks. Simply because they didn't notice, or maybe they didn't care.
So "click the thing" is intuitive. "Memorize the entire ecosystem of commands" is like doing homework.
People don't like hard things. People like easy things. And if it's hard, they give up, and play with ball in a cup instead.
Linux hasn’t been that way for a few decades now. You can definitely get that “terminal exclusive” experience if you want, but it has been made so much easier in the last 20 years with most distros being as easy to use as Windows with a mouse + keyboard UI experience being the way you can do just about anything. The only times I’ve absolutely needed to use a terminal were for very special circumstances like a specific setting I wanted or back in the day when I needed to update an app, but even that is now taken care of in the UI with various distros using app marketplaces.
The true most complicated part has been the setup, but even that has been made more user friendly in the last 7 years. Though I have yet to see anyone make it as easy as Microsoft does to get a ISO of Windows onto a USB with one application, so I will give Microsoft that as the upper hand. Though this wouldn’t even be an issue if consumers had Linux ready machines in stores like you can for Windows and macOS.
Guarantee, if you put a Windows theme on a Linux distro or just use something like Zorin OS and give it to someone with little to no tech savviness, they will think it is Windows and use it in the same way and may not ever truly notice. And with websites now (past 5-10 years) detecting your OS, even going to websites to download a specific app will sometimes default to the Linux option. Microsoft Windows having an app store is what macOS and Linux have been doing for even longer.
The availability of apps/applications that users are used to using is the second biggest challenge most average users would face, but there are tons of alternatives to choose from in most cases, with some being better (better UI choices, little to no tracking, longer update support) and/or free.
LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX
We like Linux, but not to the point we're aping Steve Ballmer.
(If this is lost on you, search up "Developers developers developers" along with his name.)
Okay maybe stop now.