A few days ago Mr. Pablinux commented on his beginnings in Linux. he made me remember a section that I wrote in another blog called precisely Windows is easy and Linux is hard.
The joke was that he chose examples to the contrary. There were quite a few things that Microsoft didn't want the user to do and that's why it made them difficult or outright prevented them.
These are some examples. Since this is a reminiscence post and not a technical one, we will apologize for not being accurate with the data.
Windows is easy and Linux is hard
The laser printer
The thing about HP with Linux is more for a psychiatry blog than for a technology one.
Their printers always had excellent support for Linux, but neither on its official website nor in its promotional material nor in the instruction manual did they recognize it.
A Google search was required to find the developer page. And that, if you wanted to use the scanner or the wireless connection.
A few years ago when I was still using a printer I bought a laser. In Ubuntu 12.04, if I had settled for the usb connection I would have been able to print by now. To configure the network I had to install Hplipg-ui from the repositories.
In Windows I had to go to the official page, download the drivers, install, connect the printer and reboot.
Access data from another partition
At least since 2006 when I use Linux, There have never been any major problems accessing a Windows partition from Linux. However, if you wanted to do it from Windows to a Linux one, you needed to install a special program.he. The funny thing is that in one of the Windows developer previews, I think version 8, it was possible for a short time.
With the change in attitude (Necessity has the face of a heretic) from Microsoft toIt looked like Windows Subsystem for Linux, (Something like WINE in reverse), it is a compatibility layer that allows you to run Linux distributions on Windows.
WSL2 allows working with EXT4 partitions, however, it has a restriction. It will only work with partitions that are not on the same drive as Windows.
There are solutions from third-party providers that allow access to a partition located on the same disk. Some of them are; linuxreader (Free and paid version), OR ext2fsd (Open source but not updated since 2017)
Installation on an external drive
One of the first things I clarify when I explain how to install a Linux distribution is that installing on a flash drive is not the same as installing from a flash drive. Linux can be installed from any known storage media and installed on any known storage media (as long as it has write permission.
The same does not happen with Windows. Until a few years ago, there wasn't even a graphical tool to create installation media on a flash drive, you had to resort to the command prompt tool or use third-party software.
This has changed, but if you need to install Windows on an external disk you will have to resort to a tool call WinToUSB It has a free version with limited features and a paid version.
Which one it is hardest?
As they said in a Mafalda cartoon, everything is good for something, but nothing is good for everything. Originally Windows and Linux were aimed at different audiences.
The creation of a desktop for Linux was a collateral development and quite resisted. They even told the creator of KDE that if he wanted a graphical interface, he should buy a Mac. Extending its adoption to common users was somewhat late and not widely supported.
On the other hand, Windows was created to be used by non-professional users, for this Microsoft needed to make it as easy as possible while restricting the use of alternatives from competitors.
It is precisely these different approaches that in principle make some things are easier and others more complex in each of the operating systems.
To this we must add that each of us is naturally good at some things while others require more effort.
I miss the comment about the printers, in my case I never had those problems to install and configure any printer (as long as it was supported, obviously) and I never needed to install the hplip gui, the CUPS interface or the administration utility is enough for me of printers from the writing environment. In fact, I always saw the management of printers and printing with CUPS as a strong point in GNU/Linux, and for more than 10 years, it seems to me, it's practically just plug and play, no downloading drivers and then having to install them with the following, following…
PS.: With respect to network printers, you only need a browser to access the configuration, and CUPS usually detects them, so once a network printer is installed in CUPS it can be configured from it.
My printers may be getting mixed up. In Linux it was always easier to have them running anyway.
"Originally Windows and Linux were aimed at different audiences."
"Extending its adoption (of Linux) to common users was a bit late and not widely supported."
Excellent sentences that summarize the differences between these two OS.
I would add that, as of today, there are some GNU/Linux users who gladly wish it was NOT easy for everyone to use.
Greetings and thanks for the note.
Thanks for your comment. I agree with the users.
When I have been forced to use Windows for work I have suffered because I feel that I have no control over the system, with GNU/Linux I know that I can change everything whenever I want and with Windows I cannot even control when the system is updated .
At my last job where you had to use Windows it was common for someone not to show up at online meetings because their system was being updated and that usually takes a long time.
Something similar happened in another company where Macs were used.