Is windows obsolete now?

[exxos]

Probably a bit of a bold statement, but considering my travels in Linux over the past few days where I have taken the open source voice recognition module and built a program all custom tailored to everything I like all the features I like and just have it exactly how I want it.

Basically got me thinking because AI can write whatever I want and if there is a bug I can pretty much instantly solve it myself now, whereas if I download a Windows program for voice recognition and reported a problem, they would pretty much guaranteed not to care or even reply or let alone fix it. This has always been a huge problem for Windows software that companies just don't care anymore.

Any utilities I want I can just get AI to write them now.. So there's no need for me to buy programs and with Linux being an open source environment, I can build on and fix and update others work.

So, probably saying Windows being obsolete is a bit of a stretch, but indeed apart from mainstream programs. A lot of programs would not really be needed to be purchased anymore, and you don't have to suffer intolerable customer support, like with Windows programs, because you can just do everything yourself instead.

[russellnash]

Yes. I stopped using it twenty years ago and before then I had already had enough of it.

[alexh]

The quality and features of Linux open-source software has (in the past) lagged significantly behind paid applications for Windows. The user experience was typically lower and the learning curve significantly higher.

This is coming from someone who mainly uses Android these days with Linux userland while in the office and Windows for accounting / admin and certain FPGA tools that have no Linux equivalent.

Good luck getting AI to write you an FPGA synthesis and place and route tool (i.e. it can't)

[Darklord]

Windows was obsolete for me from the time it was introduced, and
I'm reminded of it's obsolescence with every update...

[Oldskool]

Yes it is…. Linux improved and Windows 11 is terrible..

[Steve]

Yeah I agree completely, I've been 100% Linux on all my machines for almost ten years now. If there's some program you cannot live without (like @alexh mentioned) you can simply run it in the windows emulation layer (wine) or dual-boot if you must. During my transition to Linux I dual-booted for the first few years, as I slowly migrated away and found my software alternatives. These days rather than dual-boot I'd run windows in Virtual-box for that 'special software'.

[sporniket]

Good luck getting AI to write you an FPGA synthesis and place and route tool (i.e. it can't)

Yep good luck. Only a handful platforms supported by next-pnr. It requires someone motivated and a little bit knowledgeable AND having paid for the vendor toolchain to start reverse engineer the process and hopefully generate a valid bitstream, eventually.

Before getting busy with a baby, i was musing to write support for the gal16v8 using their python framework thingy, and even that will be quite involved.

Back to topic, like it was said, one either absolutely needs a windows OR macos software (don't forget drivers for your hardware) and is stuck to those OSes, or it does not need anything specific, and one of the popular distribution of Linux is good enough.

Personnally, I had to wait for my HP ink printer to be supported before switching for good (no dual boot).

[Maximilian]

Probably everything AI can write for Linux, it can write for Windows.

And the future of computing is certainly going to change a lot..

For every crap thing I can find over Windows I can find something similarly crap about Linux too, it just depends on your personal use case which is best.

I use both..

[Kochise]

Windows still works very well and can be tweaked the same way. Not as easy though as community de-bloater get blocked or rendered useless with the next Windows update, but still.

Still working on Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows 2000, very open and well understood machines, with lot of software that are still working almost 30 years later without having to recompile them from source (which is often a pain in the ass if the kernel changed, or old libc or whatever reason).

Linux can be nice, giving you this feeling of being the master and commander of the mothership, but there are so many finicky things to do to just get it still working right. Not just apt install from official repositories, if you're feeling adventurous, otherwise a vanilla Windows system would do just as well.

I wonder if vibe coding a modern Atari environment would be a better mix in-between ? Of course the lack of "material" (aka recent software) might be a drawback. But who know, that would be a first step in modernising the platform. Freemint is nice but not "modern" by any standard. AmigaOS got way further than "us" in that regard.

So to answer the initial statement : Windows is obsolete for people that found a "better" way, a better response to their use cases, otherwise it's still the King of the OSes out there. It's administrative options makes it the defecto de-facto standard for IT department, even Linux is wanting in that aspect (no, ssh ain't help much there).

Just like vehicles helping you to travel distances, just find the right technology to suit your needs. Even a pony would do, if it fits you.

[rubber_jonnie]

Not a Linux user per-se but Mac OS. When my eminently powerful enough Windows laptop wouldn't upgrade to Windows 11 I decided to try a Mac and got a 2012 Macbook Pro and gave it a whirl, liked it and migrated to an M1 Mccbook Pro and after spilling liquid on that, onto an M5.

Much nicer than Windows IMHO and obviously Unix based.

I still do have Windows laptops and use them where necessary but can also use Parallels to run Windows and Linux seamlessly on my Mac. That includes running Windows apps that appear to be running on my Mac desktop.

This is super useful for apps that aren't available on Mac.

I won't go back to Windows for my personal machine, it's just so bloody annoying, and I have to use it for work since they wouldn't swap me to Mac!!!

I think to say Windows is obsolete is the wrong way to put it TBH, but perhaps it is behind the curve.