Shamelessly ripped from this Lifehacker comment…
I find it funny that people like to say Windows 7 is just a couple minor interface tweaks and others say it looks like KDE 4.
In the event that both are true, the Vista look and feel predate the KDE4. So really, aren’t you all saying that KDE copied Windows?
Either way I maintain that both statements are wrong and are simply the attempts of linux users to convince themselves there really is a reason to use linux. I know because I used to be one of them.
Two things.
KDE sucks and I hate it. Windows 7 is actually rather nice. Linux has become a pain to use.
Okay… Three things. But anyway.
I’ve always disliked KDE since the first time I’ve tried to use it. Yes, FIRST time. I’ve given it many attempts, but it never got me anywhere other than to that conclusion. It defines bloated and busy, and tries its best to emulate Windows in almost every way possible while its userbase berrates it any chance possible. I’ve always been a Gnome and XFCE fan, but never a big snob about it like the whole KDE community seems to be. Oh well.
I wiped out the XP installation off of my laptop and replaced it with Windows 7 build 7077. I like it! It feels much lighter than Vista did (something I also tried out many times but never liked.) Other than having trouble getting my video drivers installed (ATI’s fault, not Windows) its ran very well so far. No blue screen of death when my network switch loses link with my computer or anything. The updates to the task bar are really neat. Aero doesn’t seem like a burden anymore, and I don’t mind its look as much as I used to. Build 7077 is supposed to be very similar, if not the same as the RC1 release, so I’m not feeling very regretful that I installed a few days ago, even though the RC1 was just leaked today! Haha. I haven’t played any games on it yet, since I’m not playing WoW anymore, so I haven’t been able to give it a FULL
Over the years it seems like Linux has become a pain to use. When I was younger and just starting to get into it everything seemed so cool and fun. I guess it is still cool, but it’s not all that fun anymore. It just takes too long to get things set up and running smoothly. Significant improvements have been made over the years but its still too much of a time sink. I was suprised to find that the GUI for configuring multiple monitor desktops actually worked for once, and even moreso that the CompizFusion desktop effects worked with that multi-monitor setup. But… for some reason, the desktop would randomly freeze at any given moment whenever Compiz was running. The computer was still running in the background, but nothing responded on the screen! I had to turn that off to get a reliable desktop back, but even then, the multi-monitor setup was fussing things up. There was a giant non-usable space below my main monitors screen, so maximising windows would send them way past my visable workspace. Awesome.
On top of that, my Creative Xfi USB 5.1 sound card barely worked. When I say that I mean the sound would come out in stereo only and it was all poppy, scratchy, and uneaven. The volume knob on the card didn’t work, either. The built-in sound on my laptop was way too low, even at the highest volume setting, and when you set it to that highest volume setting things would get distorted! Assorted applications were set to use different sound-servers, so some apps wouldn’t even produce sound. My Razer mouse would move on its own whenever it wants. Webcam never worked. Samba file sharing was flaky. Synergy server didn’t work right. Need I go on?
Don’t get me wrong, I still love Linux. I still have many fond memories of my adventures with Slackware and Gentoo. My jBox will probably always be the coolest thing I’ve ever built, and I’m looking at updating it one of these days. Part of the fun, though, was learning about the operating system and how to solve the problems that would come up. Now I’m installing Ubuntu and every solution to all the problems is “open up a terminal and paste these apt-get commands.” I’m not learning anything, and the operating system has changed so much over the years that all the stuff I did learn is basically useless now.
Call me lazy. Call me cynical. I just want my computer to work without putting a bunch of time into it. Linux is great as a server, but not on the desktop.
And no, I’m not a fan of OSX either. 
