This image was created by /u/kuebic@discuss.tchncs.de for this comment here: https://discuss.tchncs.de/comment/21735989. I had encouraged them to post it somewhere, but as far as I can tell, they never did.
Panel 1: “Installing Windows 20 years ago” screenshot of install wizard with just a couple buttons
Panel 2: “Installing Linux 20 years ago” screenshot of a busy command line
Panel 3: “Installing Windows today” screenshot of a busy command line
Panel 4: “Installing Linux today” screenshot of install wizard with just a couple buttons
My favourite part of the Linux installation process is when it automatically places itself before windows in the grub menu boot order
Inb4 don’t dual boot: I occasionally need to for work
Better than Windows just straight up overwriting your Linux boot partition on an update.
Just boot partition?
I once installed Linux Mint by shrinking Windows 10 partition in Linux against the recommendations. On first Windows boot it seemed fine, except that C: was still showing the old size.
On next Windows reboot it got annihilated with “Repairing drive C:”.I wouldn’t blame Windows for this one. In this case, this is likely because the Windows partition table wasn’t updated when you changed your C: partition, so Windows legitimately thought there was filesystem corruption because the size didn’t match its partition table.
You should always used the currently installed OS to free up space first, so it’s aware of the change. Then run the installer and install to the free space you made.
Or better yet, use separate physical drives for different OSes.
Problem is, Linux Mint installer says nothing about that as far as I recall, and just offers a convenient slider to allocate space between Windows and Linux.
And that was my first computer. Yeah, I am relatively new to computers.
But hey, I only lasted with Windows for 2 days. In Windows 10 I couldn’t even wrap my head around when to use Control Panel and when settings, because look, mature OS, we have Settings 1 and Settings 2.
In comparison, Linux Mint 20 MATE was far simpler, so having really used neither, I went with the easier one. However, that doesn’t mean I had any idea what I was doing. I didn’t even understand the concept of partitions.
Just imagine a total newbie.
“Where is the file stored?”
“On… the computer…?”
One of the many reasons I stopped dual booting decades ago.
Does windows still do this shit? Lol
That really only happens if you use the same drive for both installs, though
“It only really happens if you have a common setup”
You say that as if it’s an excuse. No program should ever overwrite an existing filesystem without explicit consent from the user.
During my distro hopping phase of 2011, I tried out a distro called IP Fire. It wiped out my whole drive on boot.
I still have that laptop, hoping one day I’ll retrieve that data.
That is a shitty design and for an outfit a big as Microsoft, I feel that it is intentional
What is this con-cent you speak of? Some kind of… negative currency? A bad smell?
- Microsoft, allegedly
Overwrite existing filesystem?
- Yes
- Later
it’s the part AI is doing for you now
but they’ve been ignoring it long before AI showed up.
Ugh. That reminds me of the Microsoft admin fanboys where I worked, dissing Linux because its all command lines, while saying that MS inventing PowerShell was a stroke of genius making their lives easier.
I had a coworker, about 30 years old… Who taught computer science at a college prior to us working together… Who said to me “Command line? That stuffs ancient, man.”
Just in case you were thinking about spending money on college tuition to learn computer science…
Tell him a wrist brace helps with mouse-induced RSI when it flares up.
SUsE Linux had a nice GUI installer in 2005.
Caldera had a GUI installer in 1998…
I never used Caldera, but holy hell the font and design of this installer brings back so many memories.
Uhhh. No.
Is this like the time that travel journalist was in Hungary, saw 1 cow, that happened to be white, then wrote “all the cows in Hungary are white”?
Over 20 years ago, I installed linux with a gui (suse, as easy as ubuntu to install, before ubuntu), and still could. At the same time, could also install Gentoo, and still do. Free to choose how to install linux, any of many ways, gui or not, then as now.
… Was this made by a windows user, and windows only gives you one way, and they thought that’s what it was like with Free Software too?
Think you’re taking this too seriously.
To the average Joe, yeah, Windows is easier to install than ever. But to anyone with a passing interest in the OS has needed to do more and more work just to keep the OS recognizably sane vs the mess it has become.
Contrast that to Linux, which has stayed recognizably sane or even getting better.
Think you’re taking this too seriously.
Welcome to Linux. You’ll hate it here.
Installing windows for most of that time hasn’t been a thing people do. They bought a computer and it had the internets (the picture with the blue e) and the word (the picture with the paper and a W) and that was pretty much them sorted. We’re weird for knowing the difference and that’s not a bad thing to be.
Exactly. Most people have no idea that is even a thing.
Tbh, Installing Gentoo today is basically the same as it was in the first screenshot anyway :D But then again, most people would object to conflating the Gentoo installation to the “Linux installation”
And there be ways to install gentoo [based respins] with a gui, even 20 years ago.
I installed gentoo slightly over 20 years ago and I don’t remember a ui for it. I do remember compiling the Linux kernel
Okay, let me clarify that with an edit, adding [based respins].
E.g Sabayon’s first release was out 20 years ago.
I remember trying sabayon at the time and being disappointed enough to return to gentoo 😁
This meme would be better if it were:
left column: 20 years ago
right column: todayI am new to linux Mint and mullvad had an update ready, so i clicked update. It just stayed downloading on 0% for like 5 minutes, so i remembered this ISN’T WINDOWS. So i opened terminal and sudo apt upgrade and Mullvad was updated and new version installed.
It’s weird how windows makes things looks easy, but then they don’t work well. Linux makes things look difficult, but it they work well.
not very accurate, you can still install Windows graphically, and you could install Linux either on a console or with a GUI both in 2005 and now
Yes windows can be installed easily, but it’ll require a Microsoft login to do it- this meme is made for people who don’t want that.
Unless windows hates your computer then it’s powershell and regedit for you!
It’s a meme, Karen.
Don’t forget to remove the french language pack
Pourquoi? C’est très utile!
For real!
Getting help with Linux 15-20 years ago: some forum full with slurs telling you to google it
Getting help with Windows 15-20 years ago: “Do this and this, if that fails look up data backup methods before the reinstall.”
Getting help with Linux now: various Wikis and blogs. The hazard of finding an AI hallucinated blog post is significant, but can be blocked.
Getting help with Windows now: support forums owned by Microsoft filled with users telling they have the same issue, and AI agents hallucinating solutions.
Getting help with Windows now: support forums owned by Microsoft filled with users telling they have the same issue, and AI agents hallucinating solutions.
I feel this to my core.
My work PC uses Windows, and sometimes I have to Google something that is acting up, which takes me to these sorts of threads. It’s always:
OP: I’m having trouble with this app, it doesn’t recognize my default audio device. I’ve tried X, Y, and Z, which did not work.
Jimothy, Certified Windows Expert: Greetings, OP! My name is Jimothy, a Certified Windows Expert and fellow Windows enthusiast! I am sorry to hear about the issues you’ve been having. But don’t worry, I am here to assist. 3 paragraphs later You should try going to the user settings and make sure that “Use default audio device” is checked on. Did this fix your issue?
OP: I don’t see any setting labeled “Use default audio device.”
15 posts follow from other users who are experiencing the same issue, also confirming there is no such setting.
Jimothy, Certified Windows Expert: Greetings again, OP! I am sorry to hear that did not answer your question. According to the app specifications, use of the default audio device is not a supported feature at this time. If you would like to make a suggestion to include this feature in a future release, you may submit a request through the Microsoft Feedback Portal. I will now close this topic to further replies. Thank you!
lol, freaking nailed it. God those are insufferable.
Asking for Linux help online is still just as toxic and useless as 20 years ago.
All the support forums I went to (redhat, gentoo, debian) in 2005 were friendly helpful and well moderated. What is this fud?
Being told “RFTM! noob”, isn’t as common as it was 20 years ago. At least with Fedora where good help can be found. Still, there are a good number of questions that just don’t get answered either.
Being told to read the manual did me good.
We should bring back RTFM, and cease allowing it to be smeared as something bad. Burnout is no fun. RTFM spares developers from burnout, allowing them to continue developing good software (and have it be well documented… if only users would read the flippin manual!) ;D
Getting help with Linux 15-20 years ago: some forum full with slurs telling you to google it
No it wasn’t, where we you going for help lol?
On the forums asking for help.
What forums? In 2005 every forum I went to was really helpful, friendly, and nothing like what you describe.
Certainly there was a little bit of internet snarkiness I would imagine, but I remember everyone being pretty nice to each other.
I decided to go back and look using the way back machine and went through a few threads, everyone is being really nice and helpful to each other.
Same experience.
Huge part of what kept me in the community of the Free Software philosophy.
It’s in the 4 freedoms. Free to use, study, share and change, the software. That’s the enabled and protected spirit of helping each other.
Assertions of contrary, has me wonder what those offering those other assertions were doing to get that kind of reception and impression.
20 years ago it was way easier to install Linux from a boot disk (like ubuntu or suse) than windows from scratch. Sometimes XP didn’t have the necessary drives and you’d need to find bootable drivers and load them from a floppy disk
It was even easier to install OSx86 on my laptop than windows vista from scratch in 2007
Maybe this is one of those thinking that 20 years ago was the 90s
Yeah in 2005 every major distro had a decent clean gui installer. I recall at the time using fedora. Then Ubuntu a few years later.
But god help you if you needed wifi drivers.
Even in the 90s Redhat had a decent installer.
My favorite conspiracy of the moment is that Microsoft intentionally does this New Coke thing and then they will roll out actually good Windows and make all of DA MONY AND KEEL DA LEENOOCKS DIZIZZ. But it’s Microsoft, so the long game will go on forever and there will be no pay off. Also - Mint is soooo gooooood to use compared to Win11
People forgot already…
EVERY SECOND WINDOWS IS GOOD Win XP good, Vista bad, 7 good, 8 bad, 10 good, 11 bad, 12 good?
Only this time around Linux got to the point where everyday users can switch and only run into debiliating problems twice a year, so MS is losing customers.
The fuck? XP was awful. I left because of it. What are you on about?
Maybe you had a specific experience with It, but XP was and is considered universally a good windows version, compared to its predecessors and the posterior Vista. Only losing to windows 7 when it launched.
Security was awful, multi user wasn’t, windows started the Microsoft id program with it, they lied about removing programs with an apllication that only hid them, they tied music downloads to explorer only, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
It was a nasty looking mess, got hacked in 10 minutes if you put it on the internet until service pack 3, and in person it wouldn’t last 3 minutes.
That’s leaving out the crazy licensing programs they introduced.
It was really, really bad. But since a lot of people knew nothing before it, they look back at it with rose colored glasses. It was truly garbage.
All windows after 7 was just a downward spiral of shittiness.
You say so yet 10 is fast, convienient and easy to use. Wouldn’t call it better than 7, but it was good.
Nah, 10 is the primordial ooze from which all the current vile evil coming out of microsoft was formed.
7 was faster, more convenient, less in your way, and just overall a superior product. No microsoft OS has even equaled what 7 was, much less be superior to it.
Straight up said I wouldn’t call 10 better than 7. So what’s your point? 10 is, overall, good OS. Not best, not great, good.
Straight up said I wouldn’t call 10 better than 7. So what’s your point?
10 is the primordial ooze from which all the current vile evil coming out of microsoft was formed.
Agree to disagree. 10 is fast, reliable and convienient. I agree it served as a sandbox for all the shit they crammed into 12, but it doesn’t change anything.
Still would prefer 7. Kinda loved 7.
Is there any coke alternative that’s almost as good and in some regard better, but for free?
Amusingly, Ubuntu Cola is pretty good.
Lots of smaller, independent brands make nice cola, like Fritz-Kola in Germany or Breizh Cola in France. Don’t expect to find them at your local hole in the wall though.
windows xp WAS NOT 20 years ago
24 years ago! Don’t forget to schedule your colonoscopy.
October 25, 2001
Don’t schedule a colonoscopy unless you have symptoms of a GI disorder, or unexplained weight loss. The evidence does not support non-targeted screening programs.
What should be my default “Remember that you’re getting old!” helpful tip now, then?
Check your linkin park cds for disc rot.
Terrible advice. Screening prolongs lives much more than you think. Got a history of family polyps? Which a lot do, get screened. Those will turn cancerous. Wife is an RN at a GI clinic. They see it day in and out.
But no, go ahead and just bury your head in the sand so you don’t have to go through 1 night of shitting your brains out to find out they removed the polyp(s) that would have turned into cancer in 5 years and resulted in only having to remove some intestine, if you’re lucky. Just 1 example of why it’s important to do it. And, if you react well to anesthesia, propofol is one hell of a great nap.
What are the risks to be screened? Super freaking low.
Damn, I’ll have to look into that.
Your healthcare providers are perversely incentivised to recommend scoping because it’s an easy money maker, but for most people the discovery and removal of benign polyps is not worth the risks that come with an invasive procedure (IV stab to give sedation and pain relief, over sedation affecting tasks requiring concentration, complications due to the procedure itself).
I don’t think I ever messed with the Windows 3.1 OS on my family’s 486, but from Windows 95 and onwards I’ve done multiple installs of all the consumer versions of windows and was an avid user of win2k at the time. And for Windows 11 I have only ever installed it in a VM on a Linux machine to test Windows tools that are part of our builds at work.
I’ve also installed the last couple versions of Linux Mint a few times on some newer and older PCs. And some other distros in VMs for various reasons.
ALL of my recent Linux installs have gone far more smoothly and quickly than ANY Windows installs I remember.
Old windows? Better.
New Linux? Best!
