Apropos of what?

I'm trying to stay on topic. If you can't do that then you don't belong in this thread.

This is perfect to bring up in this thread.

Like I said in another post, each release of window$ is becoming more and more restrictive. But window$ users don't care, they like micro$oft controlling their operating system.

As someone who uses both Linux and Windows at home and at work, they each have different tools for making things easier, i.e. if I need to get something at uni or work done, I need to use Windows due to programs like Matlab and Multisim, which I need to analyse and design electronic systems. Yes, there are Linux equivalents but the paid software is much easier (imo) to use and is very powerful simply because the companies that supply said software have lots of money to throw at developers.
However on the flip side I love Linux for the fact that it is much less patronising and is updated at tremendous speeds by people who have no other agenda that to make it better, again there are some things that are much easier to do on Linux, connecting to servers to view system logs, the shell for doing pretty much anything etc so I am unable to just choose one OS.

However I am in no way a power user, just someone who learned about computers due to doing a degree in Electronic Engineering. I prefer Linux as it fits my idea of how software should be but in some ways Windows (or its programs rather) is better/easier to use from a user point of view due to the fact that time and money to spend on development is a trivial matter to Windows.

A bit snippy this morning? Cat pee in your breakfast cereal, perhaps?

When you start a post with "Besides,...", it would be helpful to explain what you are referencing with that.

With regard to "Android v. Windo[ws]": popularity does not necessarily equal better quality(although I am biased- I wouldn't buy a phone, or anything else, with Windo[ws] on it). See, that works both ways- Windo[ws]' popularity as a desktop OS isn't at all indicative of the quality of the product, so you can't assume that Android's popularity on mobile devices is due to it actually being a superior OS(bit of Devil's Advocatism, that).

On topic enough for ya there, Kenny?

That's one area in which Window[s] improves* with every release; they just keep getting better at controlling the ways in which their software is used, and making sure that users pay for it.

*"improves" in the sense that they are successfully achieving a goal

Consumers don't need micro$oft to be a guardian or chaperone while using the OS.

It's almost like micro$oft is dictating what users can and cannot do in the operating system.

Anyway, I don't care. I don't use window$.

Oh please not the whole 'dictatorship' bit again, we don't need Kenny getting riled up again foolishly comparing corporations and real life dictators again.

I'm not using dictatorship as in a leader of a country. I meant to say dictating as in telling or instructing.

This is the funniest thing I've seen all day.

Which is a good thing for Microsoft, since a large portion of its user base doesn't know how to run or maintain a computer properly.

I don't think that's the kind of thing MS dictates.

It's funny 'cause it's true!

Which is why they should be educated -- and only about Linux -- in schools.

M$ and App£e both have bullied schools enough by telling them they must have Windoze computers. I cringe at the fact that teachers at one of my schools associate Windoze -- and only Windoze -- with computers. They have no idea that there are other better operating systems out there. Then again, whenever I mention the word "operating system" everybody always says "What is an operating system?" For the love of God, if you can't Google the words "operating system" in quotation marks to find that out you're 10x dumber than I am.

That said, that school's (and I'm NOT referring to El Toro, although they also have M$ or App£e software on most of their computers) teachers are paranoid about every little thing that kids do on the computers besides surf the Web, and I'm tired of it. Even running Windoze Update they call "messing" with the computers, and that's vital for computer security -- if Windoze is not up to date the latest malware threats can quickly overwhelm it.

I once brought a USB flash drive with Linux Mint on it and before anybody could even give me a chance to do anything one of the most evil teachers in my classroom scolded me with all his might "Don't even plug that flash drive in!" It's as though everybody there wants us to keep quiet and even if kids like me know more than they do they still don't care. They only want to boss us around, not knowing that we actually know more than they do. If I know more than they do, they should listen to me and let me at least show them that nothing but manually and purposely deleting system files or other users' documents will do anything to harm any computer -- and then if system files of one OS are replaced with system files of another OS no harm is done. Their belief is that I don't know anything about computers just because I'm not employed by some M$-corrupted computer repair business even though they're wrong.

Why are they wrong? Because they don't know anything about Micro$oft's corrupt business practices like vendor lock-ins as well as the fact that "computer viruses" are really Windoze viruses. Just because they don't know nearly as much as I do in the field of computing doesn't mean they should boss me down to their level.

What all this comes down to is fear. The teachers are so fearful of trying new things that they want us to feel the same way even though we don't. This is the totalitarian state of mind that so many teachers and business owners have.

Here's my question for them: Do you really know more than me? If you don't know what the term "operating system" means, then you don't. If you don't know what the term "command line" means or what any commands (which are really programs that you type the name of) do, then you don't. If you don't know the Linux-based equivalents of popular Windoze applications, then you don't. If you don't know how to navigate the top and bottom panels or even the Windoze Start menu to launch applications, you don't. If you don't know how to shut down a computer without logging out (that is, with the so-called "power-menu" that is activated by an arrow pointing to the right next to the Start Menu power button in Windoze or with the power icon on the top panel to the right in Linux), you don't. If you don't know any of these things, you're already 50x dumber than I am.