I use Ubuntu for my main machine and have for a few years. Whenever I have to do anything with Windows - helping my gf set something up or get a game running or something - I am shocked at how bad the experience is. Constant pop-ups and advertisements for Microsoft services. Neverending McAfee ads. The user experience is just so bad. It sucks that you can't pay more for a version that isn't the Spirit/Ryan Airlines equivalent of an operating system.
I use Windows for my main machine and have for a few years. Whenever I have to do anything with Ubuntu - helping my friend set something up or get a program running or something - I am shocked at how bad the experience is. Constant terminal commands and lack of intuitive GUI. Never-ending updates and dependencies. The user experience is just so bad. It sucks that you can't pay more for a version that isn't the hostel backpacker equivalent of an operating system.
Bad? Depends what version of windows you are running..
eg enterprise 11 (or even better 10 LTSC) with custom group policies + uninstall the apps you don't need, there are no ads.<p>btw I am on linux now, mainly because I can't tolerate the 'white-flash' bug of the chrome browser on windows (windows on 'dark contrast' mode) otherwise I would stay on 10 LTSC, linux has issues as well, eg there are times right click does not work on chrome after suspend/resume, or firefox's tooltips annoyingly pop over windows that are over firefox, or crap like you can't drag drop opened archives into gnome's file manager or the 'save as' from chrome is out of focus, seriously, I think both linux/windowze nowadays are problematic one way or other, if you ask me, probably devs rushing to deliver something for the 'show' not focusing on functionality.
With help from the internet and a little effort, you can remove those popups, McAfee ads, etc. When I set up a PC for somebody, I always take care of that stuff. After you get rid of the crap, it's a fairly usable OS. And, of course, the apps -- much larger selection, plus titles that have never been written for Linux or Mac, due to the size of the user base.
I use to run linux with windows in a vm, windows is so stable now and nice tools, that I run windows with WSL. I find it extremely stable, except I do reboot it for the monthly security updates. WSL+Windows Terminal is great, and I have anaconda setup for AI projects using cuda. And then I can run steam games when I'm not working.<p>Other than replacing the taskbar in win10/11, theres not much that I dislike about windows. Its fast, runs everything, I have linux tools everywhere, everything works.<p>I never get pop ups, not sure why I'm what I'm doing differently, I am running pro, maybe thats why?
I am using Ubuntu right now and have used it off and on alongside Windows the past few years.<p>Ubuntu is pretty bad, and my favorite setup was Windows with WSL used for software development. I got the best of both worlds that way. It was a real computer, with a real OS, but also good for dev.<p>I have not had an experience in recent memory where I got ads in Windows for McAfee or anything else. I had 0 popups within the past like 5 years for sure, if not decade. Sounds like your GF is installing weird crap that installs bloatware.<p>Here is a non-exhausitve list of all the problems that I have experienced since using a spare Linux machine I had as my main and only computer for the past several months (my Windows computer is out of commission):<p>Multiple ways to install software and not all of them auto-update properly.<p>My second monitor occasionally freezes for no reason (I'm just a lucky Linux user that it even works).<p>I can't use it with my wide MSI monitor, so I have a useless ~250+ USD monitor in my closet right now.<p>Docking station I have--which worked perfectly well with Windows computer--needs to be in some weird tilted position, like an old TV antenna, to work properly.<p>Randomly having to copy and paste commands from the internet to install things. The process of installing most things on this computer--whether a command line tool or just consumer GUI software--is just bad and fraught. Recently had an issue with Discord where I originally installed it via Snap, but that version didn't update automatically an update ago. Instead, the Discord client downloaded the .deb of the latest version from me, which I then had to manually run a command to install. Then I ended up with 2 separate Discord clients on my computer. Neither are auto-updating to the latest version, so I just use Discord in my browser now instead of trying to deal with that.<p>Honestly, this has actually been the least fraught episode of using Ubuntu I have experienced since I first started to use it ~9 years ago. At least this time, dual monitors worked out of the box, for example.<p>Windows is a perfectly usable OS, esp if you're coming from Ubuntu, which tries to have a GUI experience on par with Mac and Windows anyways.<p>It is definitely Ubuntu that feels like a toy OS to me as far as most day-to-day use is concerned.
Microsoft priorities are AI and Cloud. Priorities defines where a company put their resources and what they focus on and what they don't. People who say that they have been using Windows and it is nice/fine are the one who knows how to do a clean install and use some debloat tool from github or use gpedit to make it work for them. For other folks that are not technically inclined they will have to suffer through whatever Microsoft/OEM vendors offers. So if you really want to make it more bearable, be ready to learn about all these tools/tweaks and be ready for the next Windows update :)<p>NOTE: No OS is perfect and they all have their own flaws. It depends on what you can tolerate and what you cannot.
On my work machine, one reliable annoyance is an app that requires a button to be clicked, and a reminder from the message bar on the right <i>covering up</i> the button with a notification that you need to click it. So you always have to dismiss the notification before getting on with things. Steve Jobs seeing something like that would have caused a minor earthquake and it would have been fixed. In Microsoft-land, you get the impression nobody cares about GUI stupidity, at least any more.