I used to have the same "that upgrade DIDN'T make my life easier" with every new version of Fedora that I installed, until GNOME3, which completely removed any trace of productivity that I had.
I then ditched desktop Linux.
I don't think people enjoy new versions of anything (look at the backlash to Lion since Snow Leopard), there are still vocal complaints about Yosemite in OSX land.
My parents like Windows.
My brother likes Windows.
I use it daily and find it tolerable, like you.
But I think it would be naive to say that nobody likes Windows, don't you? Try giving any of my family or my wife my MacBook and see how angry they get in a short space of time.
If you didn't go "man gnome3 sucks, I'm reverting back to gnome2 (or never upgrading gnome in the first place), or moving to the mate fork, or using the comparable xfce until mate stabilizes" like the rest of us who can't stand gnome3, maybe you were never meant to have Linux on the desktop for long. I mean, GP's first complaint, my emphasis:
>Windows is a proprietary ecosystem where choices are made for the benefit of microsoft's shareholders and nobody else.
All software distributors make choices for someone's benefit, maybe sometimes even for the users', but the difference with non proprietary ecosystems, like Linux, is that users can make their own choices if they don't like the ones made for them. Sometimes this requires coordinated effort (like forking gnome2) that can sometimes be so effortful it might as well be as out of reach as changing choices in the closed ecosystem, but many other times it's as simple as installing a different desktop environment through your distro's package manager. What if I don't like the new look of Windows or OS X? I can choose not to upgrade the entire platform, but that's it, unlike in Linux land where I can upgrade piecemeal. It's even worse if I don't like a webapp's new look -- I can't even use the old version. I can of course stop using it. Great choice that, when it's the only alternative to 'tolerate'.
I agree with you that it's silly to say no one genuinely in a non-fanboy way likes Windows. (I live with such a person.) Personally I find Windows intolerable for anything but playing games on Steam and NoMachining into a Linux workstation. If my day-job was programming C# applications, I'd probably tolerate Visual Studio too. If that was my hobby and all my time was with Windows, and I forgot all I know of the Linux world, and like my housemate I installed various 3rd-party tools to change the boneheaded choices Microsoft occasionally makes (this does make my last paragraph hyperbole) then I might even like Windows as a whole.
>What if I don't like the new look of Windows or OS X? I can choose not to upgrade the entire platform, but that's it, unlike in Linux land where I can upgrade piecemeal.
You underestimate the customisability of Windows. Its ecosystem is mostly proprietary and closed-source, but that didn't stop people from modding what they could - just look at all the "post your desktop" threads that appear in various forums and you'll see lots of examples that are barely recognisable as Windows anymore. A lot of these involve little more than copying/replacing a few files, or some registry editing, so it's actually not so difficult at all.
In fact I'd say that "upgrade piecemeal" with Linux is made more complex because of all the dependencies that often arise with various apps all wanting very specific versions of libraries, multiple competing standards that do not interoperate (count all the GUI toolkits...), and emphasis on portability that tends to reduce the availability of binaries.
As for OS X... I agree there's not much customisation going on there, but I'd attribute that more to the demographic of Apple users. If Apple had the same marketshare with Mac OS as Microsoft has with Windows, I bet there would be a ton more modding happening.
I've used both Windows and Linux, and can say that I like and hate both, but for different reasons.
Actually, I stuck with GNOME2 for as long as I could. But then it got to feel like I was running Windows 3.11 in amongst Windows 7 contemporaries. Combined with the fact that I was writing OSX software, it made sense to buy a MacBook and virtualise all the OSes I was running, so Windows and my ancient comfortable version of Linux have their VMs still running.
You're right though - it's impossible to change the UI on OSX (other than grey or blue for the buttons, that is all, and now with a "dark" menubar which I like) and Windows is limited. I too keep my proper Windows dualboot partition for playing games (hurray for Homeworld Remastered this month eh!).
I think once we've been exposed to other OSes and use them daily for different things (I used to maintain racks of Linux and Windows servers of differing ages, some ancient machines along with new), the differences sort of fade and the rabid fanboyism for each OS gets wearisome. They each have their faults, their good points, and are all useful for getting stuff done, each with differing or potentially irritating approaches for doing that!
I myself sigh using Windows 8/8.1 and find Explorer under Windows 7 to be irritating compared to the XP one but that's just me and I should get used to it. It will be interesting to see what Windows 10 brings.
Looks interesting! Hopefully it doesn't cause instability? I know in Obj-C you can link in low-level but such hackery isn't always rewarded with stability.
I used to have the same "that upgrade DIDN'T make my life easier" with every new version of Fedora that I installed, until GNOME3, which completely removed any trace of productivity that I had.
I then ditched desktop Linux.
I don't think people enjoy new versions of anything (look at the backlash to Lion since Snow Leopard), there are still vocal complaints about Yosemite in OSX land.
My parents like Windows.
My brother likes Windows.
I use it daily and find it tolerable, like you.
But I think it would be naive to say that nobody likes Windows, don't you? Try giving any of my family or my wife my MacBook and see how angry they get in a short space of time.