Had cause to installWin11 on my gaming PC last night. On a fresh SSD with the main one disconnected, of course, so it doesn't decide "Hey, all of this is mine now".

And my god, it's a shitty experience.

First, I had to use another Windows PC to make the installer, because WIndows is a special snow flake.

Then I figured I'd save myself the arsehole of having to open the PC up by installing it via a USB>SATA adapter I have. Nope. Windows can't be installed on a device connected by USB. Because fuck you.

Then I had to dig about in the BIOS to change boot order and set secure boot.

Then it took half an hour to install.

The two saving graces were that I used Rufus to create the installer, so it copied the user account and set the installer up so I didn't have to figure out how to swerve setting up with an MS account. And the Nvidia drivers downloaded and installed automatically.

And to make matters worse, after all THAT, I had Windows 11 on my PC. Horrendous.

It makes me realise that a good part of the reason why Linux users handwave away many of the issues inherent in that OS, is because the general experience of setting it up is so much less hassle*.

You can make the installer right there in Disks without any special settings. You can install it wherever you want: Hell, for the first three months I had that PC, I had Kubuntu running off a 1Tb USB3 SSD. Never had a problem with it.

And the entire process of installing takes 10 minutes.

The only area that a Winstall is better is in setting up the Nvidia drivers, because fuck Nvidia.
_
*acknowledging, of course, my privilege of not needing any accessibility features to install an OS

@DJDarren I haven’t really used Windows in years but I’ve had to use @shezza_t ‘s Windows ‘puter for A Thing the last few days and OMG!

I was a long-time Windows user and developer for years so I expected the experience to be like putting on comfy slippers. It was not like putting on comfy slippers. It was horrible.

@OpinionatedGeek What can I say? Three decades in the corporate Windows world has irretrievably programmed my brain. I still struggle on the MacBook, even after all these years.

@DJDarren

@shezza_t @OpinionatedGeek I must admit, I'm the kind of bell end, Linux neophyte who's used Linux for long enough now that there's things about macOS that's beginning to irritate me.
@DJDarren @shezza_t Oh yes, there’s plenty of annoyances there too. Like “if I close the program, take the hint that it means I want to close the program instead of keeping it around”. I’ve given up on gnome too. So far xfce has been the least annoying but I haven’t used it much yet.

@OpinionatedGeek I've tried with Gnome, because so many people wang on about how it's the obvious choice if you're coming over from a Mac.

Nope. Gnome is bullshit.

Plasma 4 lyf.

@shezza_t