The fact that one person cannot get a device to work doesn't really prove anything. If it were thousands of people with the same problem, it might. If you get one of the Linux OSs at no cost, you can't expect much support. You can get support if you pay for it which is what Suse, Red Hat and Canonical do. I 'think' Apple support is probably better but the price you pay is also quite a bit higher.

On post #1:

I've had a similar experience here. People know windows is trouble, but it's familiar (to them) trouble. And it reinstalls well - it has to.

Linux has scores of distributions, a steep learning curve at least a dozen window managers. All the variety scares folks, and the CLI certainly scares them. People don't know what to google, That's what frightens them most. You want an answer5, and don't want to be treated as an idiot. Windows users DO want to be treated like idiots - and they are

EDIT: @rtmistler(post #10): Yes, windows does go up to 11. I had 10 installed, but it decided to update itself because it was downloading the update quietly in istallments and sprung that on me.

It reminded me of the volume knobs in the movie "This is Spinal Tap". Some dweeb thought that because his volume control was graduated to 11 that he had more volume .

What a post. I appreciate the ideas and views shared.

Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

I have the 'one louder' windows 11 now. I had to google how to shut it down

Right click on the 'start' menu, whose icon looks like a program. It's on the left. I'm not rushing back.

Microsoft Corporation came by their billions honestly. We have to give them that.

Windows is the foundation layer of a software "stack" that contains some truly excellent products. They have also lavished attention on the issues which face companies who own and must manage thousands of computers. They unabashedly followed IBM's business model in setting up their system: you will pay a lot of money to them in company-wide license and support subscriptions, but you will then get what you pay for.

Windows and Linux and MacOS (OS/X) are actually not in "competition." If you want to run a particular piece of software, you invest in the foundation which does it best – or, as the case may be, the only foundation which does so. It's entirely normal for enterprises to run all three platforms at once.

You really like revising history, don't you? https://www.justice.gov/atr/us-v-mic...-findings-fact

EDIT: But I will say that what is now being done with some of that money is highly commendable.

The government never succeeded in finding that Microsoft had "monopoly power," because the nature of the industry is such that no one can actually secure it. As we all saw, when one day when a college student spent a cold nordic winter writing source code.

The entire "open source" concept blossomed from there, and did what "monopolistic industry" could never have done. Which is why today we have technologies that we never could have "afforded" to produce, had the effort been required to sustain itself through proprietary revenue streams. "A rising tide lifts all ships," and every proprietary company has benefited.

But, Microsoft's (and IBM's, and Apple's, and Oracle's, and ...) business model does remain valid. They still offer proprietary things that are actually worth buying. They will never have "monopoly exclusivity," but they will still compete and win.

The US Government in the GW Bush administration unilaterally dropped the case despite opposition from many of the states in volved in it who opposed this action. The Bush Administration continued to severely limit regulation of the industry.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...010-story.html

Microsoft has a justly deserved reputation for dishonesty and abuse of its monopoly power in the industry having over 90% of the computer market, still at that approximate level on personal computers. Microsoft has been involved in numerous lawsuits, the link below being the tip of the iceberg.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_litigation

Probably the best 'job' Gates ever did was outsmarting IBM, Patterson and Kildall in 1980. His actions since have proved that he is a shrewd businessman and that he would do pretty much anything to achieve his avowed lifetime goal of being rich.

Recently he has been giving a lot of his ill-gotten gains away to organizations that are deserving so he has to be complimented for that.

Windows is absolutely the best, easiest, fastest thing out there as long as all you want to do is run Microsoft stuff. I do not mean exactly things WRITTEN for Windows, but actual software written BY Microsoft. That is what it really is excellent at, and I have found no other good reason for it to exist.

The other good reason might be that it (re)installs well, which it has to. It's easier for a luser to reinstall windows knowing he will be finished the same day.

There you go again. Have you ever worked at the Ministry of Truth?

"The Court held that exclusionary contracts with Internet access providers violated the Sherman Act... The Court determined that inter alia, the appellate court’s finding of monopoly power was not error. Except for one license restriction prohibiting automatically launched alternative interfaces, all the original equipment manufacturer license restrictions were market power uses unredeemed by legitimate justification. Exclusion of the company's Internet browser from a program removal utility and commingling of browser and operating system codes was exclusionary conduct."

Source: https://www.lexisnexis.com/community...microsoft-corp

The outcome is somewhat beside the point, though. If you read the Findings of Fact in the DOJ link I posted above, you'll see that the company most certainly did not earn it's billions honestly. All of their questionable, immoral, unethical and outright illegal business practices are listed there in black and white on public record for you to see with your own two eyes. I'll remind you that these are findings of the court... not some baseless rumours from the press.
I'd argue that he's currently doing his best work.

Windows is specifically designed for simple minded people doing simple tasks.

that's the fun part. too many people don't look at computers as a way to have fun.