A fellow AHK user here too.

Frankly, I never had this kind of problems under Linux.

For simple reason that on Linux virtual desktops are standard feature since early days, and allow you to manage any number of applications, spread any number of desktops.

Better yet, they allowed since early days to have literally a direct keyboard shortcut to the desired application (or combination of applications): a shortcut to switch to the virtual desktop where the application is running. (For which Win-<n> is really a poor substitute.)

On Windows, you have everything packed on single screen, into a single task bar. Anything helping to manage this mess helps. But on Linux, the problems the tricks solve often have better solutions or simply non-existent.

But sure as hell, AHK on Linux would have been nice. But I mostly use it on Windows to "fix" the "broken" applications. E.g. I can play/pause VLC with a mouse click on the video, something I would definitely miss after the move to Linux. (But it is not all that bad. There are also GUI automation tools under Linux: Autokey (an attempt to reimplement the AHK on Linux), wmctrl, xdotool.)

From security perspective, the small code base is an advantage of its own.

Support for limited subset of encryption protocols is also a benefit of its own. E.g. OpenSSL still supports MD5 hashes and would happily use them if one forgets to blacklist them.

Man, I do Unix (and shells) for something like 15 years now. Before that 5 years Windows.

From all your words I can see that you simple failed to grasp what Unix shell is.

Which is the whole point of the suckage of the PowerShell.

And the quirky syntax, as if they wanted to make sure that the developers would suffer just like they did with VB.

I did actually handled PowerShell, though stupid security policies make it a non-starter in enterprise and limit its usefulness to developer workstations. You can't run PS1 files out of box == Universally useless.

Otherwise, I have failed to see anything new in the PowerShell beside the retarded reinvention of the "host VB".

They had a clean start - a rare and real chance to do it right - and they still have came up with that atrocity.

And even at the VB emulation, the Perl with Win32::OLE beats PowerShell handily. Because it is real programming language and the Win32::OLE gives pretty much unlimited access to every Windows capability.

LOL. Heard. Tried. Dismissed it. Definitely a tool for VB aficionados.

Anyone comparing a Unix shell to PowerShell is either illiterate or hasn't mastered the Unix shell. (Especially Bash, which not only Turing complete (aka "real programming language") but in recent version even supports the associative arrays. IMO redundant, but nice.)

It's not the look of the user interface. It is about how the different user interfaces change what information is accessible via them.

Even your PowerShell, for example, when working with files, as retarded as that whole idea is, provides much much more meta data to crunch compared to the GUI of the (file) Explorer. But PowerShell, no matter how hard you try, can't display the thumbnails of the image files.

Not so fast.

Under Linux, a terminal with the standard shell is immensely powerful tool.

On Windows there is simply no alternative. And if you use the huge big name tool - PhotoShop or Visual Studio - then the OS is useless to you anyway, since Windows provides only bare/no tools for the specialized tasks. And the big tools tend to eventually reimplement huge chunks of the OS inside of them, making the user often oblivious to the OS.

On Linux, you (can) have bunch of command line tools. And you can do (and automate) one hell out of literally any specialized (or generic) task using the same OS interface: the shell.

Taking DTP as an example, one of the first times I have seen Linux outside my office was a publishing agency. They had used the GIMP scripting interface from the command line to automate processing of the huge batches from the photoshoots. (PhotoShop gained the batch capabilities much much later.)

Under Windows, it might be true that seeing the OS means you are doing something wrong or inefficiently. But under Linux, the OS is a huge bonus.

Nah. Win10 looks like the modern GNOME3 desktop: beatiful as a hand-drawn picture, but just as useful.

DTP was always a branch on its own. Most of the time you just start PhotoShop/etc, and pretty much never switch to another application. I'm not sure how Win8 could have improved (or changed) your workflow, because you rarely see the OS anyway.

In a way, it is similar to the Internet surfing workflow. The only time you see or use the OS is to start the browser. After that, everything is done inside the browser, which is largely OS independent and can be used to the same effect under literally any OS.

Welcome addition. Who knows, probably Win20 would finally allow users to configure system keyboard shortcuts. Then it would be almost at parity with Linux of 15 years ago.

Interfaces are dumbed down for touch UI. That's the main problem.

Application are also getting increasingly dumber and dumber. Because from perspective of some, if you can't make feature "beautiful" for the touch UI, then there is no point in providing the feature.

The modern OSes, including Win10, as if competing who can make a bigger clusterfuck out of the UI.

Some say it is because of the touchscreen support. But in my experience it sucks even more with the touchscreen. Unless you play movies or listen to music. Because even moderately involved browsing (say going through the bug tracking) is already rather tedious.

At least under Linux, I can replace the UI with something user-friendly like Xfce or LXDE. Useless with touchscreen - but fully usable with the mouse and not fucked up.

And even at that - legal boring stories: USA company comes to another market and ignores the local laws; but drat, USA can't bomb it to ruin provisionally, because unfortunately they are both members of the NATO. Oh tragedy.

Oh please. Business intelligence is one of the oldest types of software in existence.

That's basically how/why the computers were commercialized. Otherwise they would have stayed a toy of scientists and a tool of military.

Why the hell Uber/etc are on /. front page at all?

I do not see any relevance to - or deep profound effect on- IT/etc.

The Uber - and its failing outside USA - are so non-news.

Tried SC, tried FA.

Was somewhat disappointed, and in a sentimental rush came back to the original - TA (and TA Kingdoms) - which are still are fantastic games even by modern standards.

P.S. Also, proportional unit sizes suck.

I'm not sure in what kind of barbaric anarchy you are living to give you that perspective, but you can't be more wrong.

Again, Germany is highly individualistic. Respect for privacy is very high here. What you say is simply fictitious because most neighbors have no idea what other neighbors doing, because they do not poke nose in others affairs - not without an invitation.

But yes, if you do openly something illegal, just like in any other country, you would be reported to authorities. That's because law (which is the same literally all around the world) makes you an accomplice if you do not report crime.

If you were ever convicted in Germany, that might explain your sentiment.

Germany is highly individualistic. Yet, if you put individual over society, than it simply means that there is no cohesive society. And the society is there to deal with global problems of which there were plenty in recent times.

Mafia? Organized international crime syndicates? Fit your requirements perfectly.