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Why doesn't Windows have an "expert mode"? (2003)
- firexcy 3y agoIf Windows could’ve been dialed back to be as not manipulative as it was at the time of the post’s writing (ie 2k & XP), I would be glad to hold the temptation to self-claim as an expert.
- xnzakg 3y agoTechnically "developer mode" in win10 is kind of a similar idea?
- xerox13ster 3y agoThis was DOS back in the day, no? TBH I wouldn't overly mind a version of Windows that really was just a terminal on top of the kernel, with the option to use the Windows shell or whatever other shell I want or build one if that's what I desired. Much like that most proselytized of Linux distros. It would still be Windows, but I would feel in control of it to some degree. But it would have to be something other than PowerShell, and I think that's a nonstarter for Microsoft.
- tw04 3y agoThey have that, it’s Windows server core. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/server-core/what-is-server-core https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administrat...
- userbinator 3y agoTBH I wouldn't overly mind a version of Windows that really was just a terminal on top of the kernel, with the option to use the Windows shell or whatever other shell I want or build one if that's what I desired. WinPE is literally that. A highly stripped-down version of Windows that boots to cmd.exe as a shell.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pjmlp 3y agoWindows Server Core.
- layer8 3y agoYou can configure Windows to boot into a custom shell: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell
- wongarsu 3y agoThe Windows kernel is genuinely great. I wouldn't mind if somebody managed to make a better shell that runs on top the commercial Windows kernel.
- charcircuit 3y agoA terminal does not make something expert mode. It just means that the software has an outdated user interface.
- BillyTheMage 3y agoCommand lines aren't outdated. They're still far more efficient than GUI for a wide range of tasks.
- charcircuit 3y agoNope. Even in some absolute worst case scenario that you could come up with you can build a command line into the GUI for an application.
- BillyTheMage 3y agoWhy would I want to use a shitty command line some developer who likes GUIs made when I could use the terminal which can be set up to my liking and my entire environment can be consistent? That's the whole problem with GUIs in general. You're relying on the developer to expose every little thing to you as buttons and widgets. How many times have you been sitting there stuck because there just wasn't a button for the thing you wanted to do? Also, you can't chain programs together with a GUI like you can with CLI. And your suggestion of using program-specific command lines ruins this as well.
- layer8 3y ago> I don’t know squat about Active Directory. Damn, if even Raymond Chen doesn’t understand AD…
- eurekin 3y agoBrings back old memory on a AD lab, where our professor was presented with "contact your local administrator" dialog upon closing some simple configuration dialog. He had set-up the AD himself and had no idea where it came from
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoAh yes, the good old < Contract your system administrator. > I am the system administrator!
- mtVessel 3y agoaka you are the brute squad!
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoYeah, I appreciate it in both ways I've said it: Both "I'm the sysadmin, I'm in charge here, shut up and do what I said", and also "yeah, I'm the sysadmin and I have no idea what you're trying to tell me". In both cases I'm a bit put out with the machine, but somewhat different tones. I guess there's also the "oh, right - sudo make me a sandwich", but that's less notable in my experience.
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoHe may have learned a bit in the last 20 years
- userbinator 3y agoAFAIK he worked mainly on the GUI side in Windows, so that's not really surprising.
- actuallyalys 3y agoI completely agree that there are different types of expertise, but I'd expect experts to know their own expertise and not touch parts of a hypothetical "expert mode" outside their particular expertise.
- ninth_ant 3y agoWhat you describe does not match my personal experience providing technical support, both professionally and socially. At all.
- BillyTheMage 3y agoTouching things outside of the arbitrary box others have placed them in is exactly how people become experts in the first place.
- RachelF 3y agoIt's called the registry. A very long linked list data structure designed to scare experts into using another OS. This process takes time as despair finally wins against hope.
- layer8 3y agoThe registry is not that different from a file system, actually. It even allows mounting other “file systems” (registry hives).
- ratsmack 3y agoAnd over time, it becomes a huge garbage dump that slowly degrades the performance of the computer.
- Zuider 3y agoBut the festering garbage is entangled with essential material so that attempting to take out the trash can brick the OS.
- poisonborz 3y agoThis makes little sense without saying what an "expert mode" is. What is "geek settings turned on?". You can already configure ~everything and more via the windows registry or gpedit.msc. There are thousands of "expert settings" apps and special iso-s for anyone wanting more user friendly tweaking. Any OS that is enterprise-ready does not need any "I'm geek" checkbox.
- mcpackieh 3y ago> What is "geek settings turned on?". Not hiding file extensions. The worst setting Windows ever had, ostensibly intended for the benefit of noobs but I never understood why.
- HenryBemis 3y agoYMMV - The reverse for me. I hate it when I don't see the extension. And you'd think that a file named File.xls.scr with the icon of the Excel would be seen by a user, but it doesn't.
- layer8 3y agoI think the argument is rather to make Windows simpler (because it’s supposedly too complicated for many non-geeky users), but to retain an “expert mode” for the more “advanced” functions, or a slider as described.
- meiraleal 3y agoBecause MS makes more money out of users than competitors/power users
- eth0up 3y ago[flagged]
- anonymouskimmer 3y agoI asked for basically the opposite of this for MS Office products. I use Excel for specific purposes, and it would really make it more usable if I could easily hide a bunch of features (especially alternate click context menus that I accidentally engage during the middle of a huge select or copy-paste sequence, requiring me to start over). While still having those unused features available via some drop-down menu.
- YaBa 3y agoHe's wrong. We do need an expert mode, at least to remove UAC in a simple way and allow us to mess around at will. Let's see, UAC is nice for your grandmother who might click on something that it shouldn't, yet, we, advanced users are constantly annoyed by those cof,cof "security" features who get in the way when doing something. Yet, your grandmother will eventually get ransomware or malware despite the UAC and other features, so, what's the point!??! At the moment I just remember UAC, but there are plenty of features that we want to turn off with a simple button and we can't, unless we play around with the registry or 3rd party apps. And this is why power users love Linux, we can do whatever we want, if we break it, it's fine and we can learn with it. At this rate, your computer will no longer be "your" computer, Microsoft will own it and you will like it.
- malfist 3y agoAnother example, for the love of God, let me disable windows defender without jumping through a bunch of hoops or installing another antivirus.
- RunSet 3y agohttps://www.sordum.org/9480/defender-control-v2-1/ https://www.sordum.org/9480/defender-control-v2-1/
- mschuster91 3y ago> Let's see, UAC is nice for your grandmother who might click on something that it shouldn't, yet, we, advanced users are constantly annoyed by those cof,cof "security" features who get in the way when doing something. Even for us power users, we might hit some drive-by exploit, a friend might send us something that got wormed or whatever. And now, unless that malware comes with a UAC bypass/privilege escalation exploit which is worth millions of dollars, we get an unexpected UAC prompt and have a chance to stop a minute and actually notice that something is Not Right.
- dist-epoch 3y agoUnfortunately as more and more software is installed only for the user (in AppData), the malware can just infect a binary from there (Chrome, Discord, VS Code, ....)
- Hydraulix989 3y agoThe expert mode is "Linux"
- meatjuice 3y agoA batch file that turns on all the "geeky features" will do
- alexeiz 3y agoThis is what I find the most annoying thing about Windows. Without the expert mode when you have a problem there is no easy way to figure out what is wrong. You google for the symptoms of the problem and all kinds of suggestions and "recipes" turn up. You quickly realize that nobody known anything either. Instead of getting to the root of the problem and applying a precise fix, you have to resort to trying all those "recipes" one by one hoping that you stumble across the one that fixes your problem. So, by not having an "expert" mode in Windows, Microsoft made Windows neither newbie-friendly nor expert-friendly.