From the Windows 11 Start menu, I can type 'control panel' and get to the "Adjust your computer's settings" window, which appears to not have been updated since Windows Vista. Going to an icon 'view by' and then into Sound will bring up an old-fashioned window that duplicates the functionality of the Windows 11 Settings.

If I want to reformat or repartition a drive, I have to go into System Tools / Computer Management / Disk Management, which brings up a UI that I don't think has changed since Windows NT. Device Manager seems to be from that era, too.

One of the biggest problems with Windows, as I see it, is that each new version only updates the UI of some apps but not others, ending up in a messy, inconsistent interface. I don't understand why the old ways of doing things have been kept around for so long, unless they really didn't want to scare off people who are used to the way things work and won't be able to figure out the new UI.

I gave Cinnamon a try shortly after your comment (I wiped my MBA's drive as I didn't have anything interesting on it under Kubuntu). I've got to say, I am impressed with it; it's a clean and friendly experience, and I haven't had any of the glitches I had under Kubuntu 25.04. Thanks for the recommendation!

I remain a little bit salty that even the most popular Linux distributions are still hit and miss; I'm wondering why it is that Mint Cinnamon can be so smooth while Kubuntu has so many rough edges. But at least it seems there's hope.

Well, what did you mean by "hardware that is explicitly not designed to run [Linux]" versus "parts that are designed/properly supported for Linux"? Every component in this laptop is recognized and supported by Linux, and yet the number of glitches make it rough to use. An Intel Mac is just a PC with a more specific set of components, and Linux has drivers for them.

I thought you were referring to hardware components which have been specifically advertised as supporting Linux (for example, some network cards say they work with Linux). These components are generally few and far between; it would be rare to find an older Windows PC that has Linux drivers for all of its components unless someone built it from parts for that purpose. Many Dells and HPs and Lenovos have some proprietary components.

Thank you for that! This may be the nudge I needed to try Mint; I didn't think it was very different (under the hood) from Ubuntu but I've heard good things. I'll go with the Cinnamon variant as that seems to be the most 'standard', but please do let me know if one of the other variants has been running smoothly for you.

Nobody has said that macOS is a good alternative for older PCs.

Meanwhile, people (like the person to whom I was originally replying, above) HAVE said that older PCs âoecould run Linux just fine.â Thank you for helping me refute that.

Now Iâ(TM)m curious, why is Ubuntu a dumpster fire and how is Puppy Linux so much faster?

Why should I try Puppy Linux? I find it hard to believe that Puppy Linux would be better supported, and would have fewer glitches on various PCs, than Ubuntu and its flavors.

I'm tired of hearing that Linux is a great alternative for older PCs. I recently installed Kubuntu onto a MacBook Air (2011) and:

* the current version's installer (25.04) hangs on boot, so I had to install a previous version and upgrade (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/2105402)
* it takes 20 seconds to wake from sleep (like https://askubuntu.com/questions/1434722/macbook-takes-20-seconds-to-wake-up)
* wifi occasionally drops out for a minute or two then comes back; I'm trying to update the BCM43224/brcmsmac driver but it won't install because it's looking for a domain that no longer exists (I saw a bug logged on this but I can't find it now)
* I get Qt errors displayed on the desktop when I log in, something about environment variables; the solutions I found didn't work
* any apps I install through the Discover app give me an error saying the installation failed, when it actually succeeded

This is similar to my experiences having installed Linux onto many PCs from 5-15 years old. Most of the experience is great, but it's those last few glitches that make it a pain to actually try to use Linux. And given that it's developed and supported by the community, the only way I can get these fixed is to research them, file a bug, and find other people affected by the problems. That's more than I have time to do - I only want to use it.

The icing on the sh*t cake is LI sending out anniversary posts every year for your job. I'm sure I can turn that off if I wade through enough of dumb ads and redundant settings, but it reflects the fubar nature of its transition the last few years.

Prodigy is an excellent story ... with a caveat. Just like Star Trek: Discovery, the first few episodes are difficult to watch and have turned a lot of people away from the series before it gets great.

It answers the question "what if you put a Star Wars character into a Star Trek universe?" So it opens with a hotshot kid who bends all the rules so he can escape the mining colony where he's held prisoner. And he thinks he can do everything himself, and that he's cool and awesome. He's insufferable and all the other characters basically can't stand him.

By episode 5, he's gotten his tail handed to him a few times too many, so that's the point where he bucks up and accepts that he's part of a team ... and from there, the series beautifully goes into the principles of Star Trek, strength through diversity, boldly going, &c.

S1 is on Netflix right now, with S2 coming to it later this year. For anyone who's curious about it, I recommend watching it up through episode 6 "Kobayashi", which is a love letter from the writers to the fans. That should be enough to know whether it's to your liking.

I'm a veteran of the browser wars. I remember when Microsoft tried to snuff out its competition by including a fully-featured Internet Explorer with Windows, and justified this by saying that users wanted all the features of a best-in-class app.

I always wondered (sarcastically) why this didn't extend to their word processor, too. Why not include a fully-featured Microsoft Word with Windows?

Maybe now's the time to do that.

In 1998, Apple had recently purchased NeXT announced that Mac OS X would be built atop BSD Unix. There was talk about the potential benefits of Microsoft doing something similar with Windows, making the GUI a component on top of Linux.

I still think that would have been a good move. Microsoft would have benefited from getting a stable and proven multitasking OS (something which was only realized around the time of Windows 7, I'd say) with a broad set of drivers, and Linux would have gotten improvements it needed to provide better support to desktop GUIs.

Agree! And yes, the number of infinite string constructions is large! It's the enumeration of infinity that kills. :D

Thank for making me feel less alone today b/c others get it fully (and well expressed btw). I feel a new wave of sadness when all the mindless seals clap when some Zuck or Gates or Cook character champions UBI.

Yep! Also the same Apple which refused to give the iOS source code to the Chinese government.

I don't mind Apple abiding by Chinese laws to make its hardware and software available in China. I am glad it hasn't bowed to pressure to make its hardware and software modifiable by China.