Technology

Same, but I still enjoy using Windows. I have 30 years of experience with it, and I have a Windows 11 machine... at work. I do stuff with Windows that make my coworkers think I'm a wizard. I'm not trying to brag about being special in a Technology community. Rather, the bar is pretty low. Like when my boss says he has two monitors and that makes him special, I tell him I have four. He taps my one and says no, you have one. I say, come round and watch this. Hold CTRL and WIN and tap left and right. I have four desktops. Super easy, hit Win+Tab or the new task view/switch icon (white square, black square icon) and add a desktop from the bottom. Lots of other shit I do. Word spreads. IT guy's busy (or can't be arsed to show them how to do something)? They come to me. My boss thinks I'm wasting time and gives me more work, but I have all kinds of shortcuts set up. (No AI/Copilot as that requires a Microsoft account, and I don't get one with work and I'm not using my personal one. I could make a dummy one just for work, but I'm not poking that bear.)

At home though, I use Macs. I'm relatively new to Mac, and I'm sure they've had problems like Windows has had lately, in the past, but the biggest complaint seems to be "Liquid Glass is ugly." I don't really care about the theme. It's a fucking theme. Does the shit work like I need? Yes. I don't care what it looks like, though I do fancy a dark theme. Easier on my eyes. But real talk, macOS window snapping sucks compared to Windows. Microsoft figured that shit out with Windows 7. And it's been solid since. We can use a free app called Rectangle to get up to Windows level and a few other tricks, but I don't need it. The system snapping is good enough for me. Finder is also not quite as good as Windows Explorer. They both have all the features I need, but Finder is kinda like the dumb little brother of Windows Explorer. I could replace it with a file manager that beats both of them, but default is good enough. The only one I really know is Directory Opus, which I used on the Amiga (showing my age here), but I just checked, they're Windows only now.

For people who still have machines that run Windows (mine died, which is why I have Macs now, I didn't like what the PC market looked like and Apple Silicon was in its second generation (M2 Pro on the desk, M2 base on the MacBook) and seemed like a better fit for me), I'd recommend some flavour of Linux. Mint is a great place to start if you're familiar with the look and feel of Windows. If you're sick of Windows, but you want something commercially available (you buy it and become their customer) and supported by the company, Macs are $500 now, and that's for the M4, two generations ahead of mine. Though, I'd recommend springing for more storage. 256GB doesn't feel like enough. M4 Pro will get you more cores, but then you're pushing $1000 and you can probably do better with Windows/Intel or AMD, unless you really just want to avoid Windows altogether. Still, find a machine without an OS and stick Linux on it. At that price point it just makes a little more sense.