You don't download shell scripts from github for windows. You download batch scripts and exes from random file hosting sites, and they don't even fix your problem.

Idk, installing Linux was pretty easy 10 years ago too. Can't comment about anything earlier than that though.

Linux is honestly great, literally the only things holding it back is programs supporting it. I'm painfully tied to a select few windows programs for work and hobbies, Wine tries its best but programs need to start supporting linux before proper adoption can kick off.

I think the biggest shift in the last 20 years is troubleshooting in Linux and windows.

20 years ago and I had to troubleshoot issues and Linux. It genuinely required a good bit of computer knowledge to get it done. Sometimes hours of work to figure out how to get a webcam to work Or how to fix grub?

Windows back then used to be so easy. And there was usually something that would do a quick fix.

However, now and I run across a windows issue. It's a nightmare. I can put hours of work into trying to fix a driver issue or an issue with updates and get nowhere. Then go to reinstall the operating system and have to spend more hours just to get it installed.

Now in Linux, not only do I rarely have issues but also fixing those issues are pretty straightforward. And if I can't fix it a reinstall takes minutes and I'm back up and running in no time.

I remember 2014 being pretty easy to install Linux. Windows 7 and 10 were also pretty easy then.

Maybe Linux is 10 years ahead. Let's give our windows users some insight about their future:

Don't remove the French language pack with sudo!

Last week I installed Windows 11 on a new laptop that came with FreeDOS installed. It was a really dreadful experience, I never thought it was this bad.

• The windows 11 installer couldn't find any hhd partitions or hard drive, while FreeDOS could. After googling for a while I had to download an Intel Rapid Something driver from the manufacturer's website and load it up when installing windows 11.

• After installing Windows it required an internet connection to proceed but I assume the wi-fi drivers were not installed. USB tethering didn't seem to be working either so I had to continue the setup elsewhere, where I had physical access to the router.

• I had to skip a lot of things throughout the installer, which kinda shocked me. Office 365 and even games, before I even booted the actual OS.

• Fully updating Windows took 2 hours. Fresh ISO, gigabit Ethernet connection, nvme HDD. Damn.

Pretty miserable experience and completely impossible to an unexperienced user.

Windows 9x was extremely time consuming to install with multiple reboots and before that it was all config files. Out of the box 95 couldn't play media, connect to the internet (thanks trumpet), even access a cd. Normies bought machines pre-installed and got help when the system shit itself. Before there were scripted alternatives large scale Windows deployments were all imaged because of the hours it took to set up a single machine swapping floppies and writing to spinning rust. You had to reboot numerous times and use third party drivers and apps for everything. I recently installed a disposable Win 10 to do a firmware upgrade and Microsoft have come a long way though having to disconnect the Internet to get a local login is very dark.

Oh how the turn tables

I tried to help my brother, who is a computer scientist to install windows 11 on his new am5 motherboard build. Am5 was really new and even with our combined knowledge it took all day of fucking with it to find a way to get windows 11 to recognize the m2 ssd. We had to load it with an older driver from the manufactures website and we had to do some kind of shenanigans to get the installer to actually recognize the files. Iirc this was a gigabyte motherboard, a reputable brand.

This was when am5 was newer so it's kind of understandable I guess, but I also installed arch for troubleshooting purposes that day and it only took 30 minutes 🤷

It took me two hours from the moment I started popping my laptop case open to add a new SSD to first boot on Linux. And figuring out how to disable secure boot on Acer's fancy ass BIOS was what took most of the time.

Windows is only for games; macOS and Linux are for work. Once they catch up, it will be bye-bye Windows.

Back in 1997 I was like "Ooh, Debian is mildly easy to install (compared to Slackware). Just need to engage my brain a few times maybe."

(The first Slackware guide I read in 1996 had an ominous warning about getting the ModeLines right in XFree86 or the monitor will catch fire. This, fortunately, was a little bit of exaggeration. Over/under refresh frequency protection was already a thing.)

Now? "Oh no I fucked up my password shit and can't login. I'll need 5 more minutes to completely reinstall this Raspberry Pi image. I should have engaged my brain!"

Shit, we've gotten to the point that your average desk jockey can probably install freaking FreeBSD on the first try. If that's not a good sign I don't know what is.

Windows was never that easy. You forgot, waiting for a hour and retrying steps

2012's debian (I think it was 6, which was my first one) was pretty straight forward to install even for a newbie