Linux Furs

I'm surprised no one has mentioned package managers yet. I feel like a barbarian when trying to install software on other OSs. Especially macs. I feel like mac software is collectively pulling a prank on me.

Whenever I try to help my newbie friends with computer issues I'll be like "uh just install croc and I can give you another command to run". But then I remember that installing software on a system without a package manager is pain. "Okay you have to go to this random github address, then download this specifically-named package, then extract that to a random directory that you'll never move it from, then you have to put that directory in your PATH variable." But wait, modifying your PATH variable needs its own set of instructions!

On a related note, if I could just give people on other OSs one-liners to fix all their problems it would fix all my problems. I could absolutely bang out a one-liner to fix your problem, but if we have to do it through the GUI then we gotta screenshare.

Honestly, and this will definitely be a bit abstract sounding, I miss my machine not getting in my way. On Mac, it's the small things that bug me... You can't use Delete to trash highlighted files, you can't use the arrow keys to cycle through viewed images in a folder, etc. The way MacOS handles software installtions bugs me too, it feels like it's rather difficult to ever fully delete software you've installed on the machine, at least using Disk Images from 3rd parties. On Windows, it feels like the OS is designed to get in your way, in particular when trying to tweak anything in the Settings it just becomes an absolute nightmare to deal with. MacOS at least does settings.... Better, I guess? Linux is hardly perfect here either, and really deep settings will need the terminal, but they are there for you if you want them.

The terminal.

Hot Corner.

Customizable everything

Being able to install a compiler without having to spin up WSL or fiddle with the crap that is visual studio and its associated software.

Also parts of the linux desktop stack that are really good like pipewire, it's a pain to have to use 3rd party software to achieve the same things on windows.

I miss my ability to break things by tinkering, strangely.

Being able to login while being offline. I can't stand the microsoft account bullsh*t. I just want to access to the machine that's in front of me, thanks.

Fast boot up times, computer not randomly locking up due to defender deciding to scan all the things and being able to run emacs as my window manager

Dragging windows by pressing super

How quite my laptop's fans are on ~~Windows and~~ Linux. Whenever I boot into a *BSD or Haiku the fans go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! OpenBSD would actually shutdown because the CPU got too hot.

The customization and tinkering for the most part. You can change stuff up in linux like puzzle pieces, change which things do which (like changing display server, init system, etc). Not only that, but changing the appearance on your desktop is a piece of cake on Linux. You can really make the desktop your own, something that I miss when I need to use windows for certain stuff.

Middle click paste for me. I use Windows for gaming, and it's always felt embarrassing when I select something, and then have to go back to it later to copy it for realzies.

Since I do a lot of retrocomputing: support for more than a few file systems. I'm not just talking about what's available out-of-the-box, but what's even available at all to find and install.

When i use Windows, i always miss neovim, such a nice editor...

It used to be multiple workspaces, but with Windows having that now, it's just the ease of install and use of build tools.

Part of this is the existence of package managers, and part of it is just how well they integrate with the operating system. Using the GNU Compiler Collection on Linux or Linux-like systems is just so much less of a rigamarole compared to getting any usable set-up on Windows.

Another thing I miss when I go to use Windows is the compose key. It's so much better integrated on Linux. Mac's solution to special characters meanwhile is fine. Windows' just isn't.

Finally, and this is the biggest one is little power user customizability tools (yes, I know Microsoft has things made for this, but they aren't installed and/or available out of the box). Customizability of the programs one uses everyday and the overall behaviour of one's computer is an absolute must, but I understand why Microsoft moved Windows away from that model. Most people don't want or need that.

Others have mentioned it too, but Linux just doesn't get in your way like many other OSes do.

Honestly GNOME and GTK. New GTK styling is wonderfully consistent and nice to look at, I like the overview panel and always try to trigger it in Windows, and I just love GNOME's workflow. It's closest to macOS but honestly macOS still feels kind of clunky in comparison to GNOME.

Also I always get the feeling when using proprietary operating systems that a computer isn't mine. There are things that you just literally cannot change by design for "security" in Windows and macOS, and I don't like that. I want my computer to stop a process when I tell it to stop. I also really dislike forced updates and I miss the ability to tell my computer what to do rather than it trying to tell me. Fucky-wucky error codes as well annoy the shit out of me, as well as baby talking your users. "We're getting everything ready for you :))))"

The commandline experience. I feel like I can do much more within the terminal on Linux than on Windows. Yes, PowerShell is really powerful and can do almost everything, but it's just clunky to use interactively. It's clearly designed for scripting.

Gparted

One thing that I didn't expect myself to miss is Zathura. Everything else always seems cluttered by comparison.