Never understood why Windows' explorer hides extension by default. Does MS fear it would confuse their users?
this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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Yes, they think their users will be confused by and accidentally remove extensions. To be fair that might happen sometimes but it's nowhere near worth it
They already have a confirmation box when you try to change the extension. And could just as easily move it into another column where it's harder to change (explorer was like this once, a long time ago).
And yet, they keep hiding the on the rationale that it confuses the users. The most common thing on explorer is some user being confused because they can't understand what clicking on a file is supposed to do, but that's not an argument for showing them...
So, yeah, that's the surface-level explanation. But there's a deeper reason.
You seriously underestimate the stupidity of 80% of windows users. They could put multiple warnings and people would still click past them without reading then bitch to their IT team when they break something.
Yes, do as I say!
Gotta recycle this:
They already have a confirmation box when you try to change the extension
I think you overestimate the average users willingness to read anything. Only thing they know is how to bitch about things not working even when they were told exactly why it's not working/what they did (wrong)
Classic ticket.
"It's broken, it doesn't work",
"what happened?",
"I ran it like the instructions said, and it didn't do anything",
"was there an error message?",
"I don't know. Something popped up, but it was in the way so I closed it",
"Do it again, don't close the error message, and tell me what it says"
Or my mom.
Me: Don't just click OK without reading the message first.
Mom: Don't click OK. Got it.
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Don't forget: Files have execute permissions by default!
Windows moment 🤗
What do you mean? linkin_park_-_numb.mp3 clearly has an extension, it's all the other files that don't!
At a conference recently, one person accidentally sent the organizer a pdf of their presentation with their notes underneath each slide, instead of the presentation itself, but it was super confusing because the file was "presentation.pptx.pdf" which of course got displayed by windows as "presentation.pptx". The person who decided to hide extensions by default must be so proud of pulling off such a wide reaching prank
I'm literally trying to get into Linux and one of the first things was installing software, which involves copying and running random bits of code from whatever website has the highest search result. I would say a lot of software is running code you have no idea what it does.
Those are just tutorials showing how to install something. Typing flatpak install firefox is one and the same as going into the app store, searching for Firefox and clicking "install". Tutorial websites would just show terminal as it's more universal.
If they ask you to actually download some file there is something very wrong.
I often see people overwhelmed by universality of some things. Instead of searching "How to install Firefox on Linux?" what should be learned is "How to install software on Linux?" and, unless met with something badly ported, never do the search again.
But what my meme is about is Windows-only style of having some file and by default having no idea if that's going to run in some program or be a program.
I ask this with full sincerity - are you unaware of the package manager?
He has a point tho. The amount of copy pasting random shit from the internet into the console is way too comon if you go down the rabbit hole on some issues with the system and find a solution on some abandoned by god itself linux forum. To be fair its usualy just a comand that does shit for you in 5 seconds so you dont have to use gui buuut it does happen and i can tell what this stuff does but the average user likley dosent . Alghtough it might be less common today. Its been quite a long time since i last broke my system.
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One time I struggled debugging a program on a clean Windows machine. For some reason it seemed like it couldn’t find a JSON file that’s obviously in the system. I could even open the file on my own and view its contents.
Turns out after much frustration that the file was actually a json.txt file. I didn’t notice because the extension was hidden, so I only saw .json and thought it was fine.
It's not like I want to defend windows, but If it needs admin permission you usually can't start it without confirmation.
Here's the problem. So many legitimate things need elevation, and often multiple times in a single install. Guess what most Windows users do, when they see an elevation prompt. What do you reckon?
Honestly I don't think it's that bad. I have to use sudo just as often on linux as I have to accept the elevation box on win. Win11 has some serious issues but UAC is harmless.
Sudo is very different. You need to explicity enter your password. It may be cached for a short time and I'd argue that's actually better.
If I'm installing something, it asks for my password once but can then raise to root multiple times that's fine.
If I'm installing something and it asks for elevation three times, for example it needs to Install multiple drivers. It generates an automatic click when installing for many unexperienced users. It's dangerous imo.
It can't really be compared to Sudo.
Sudo is just clicking "ok" with extra steps, thus making adding and removing programs more annoying, thus meaning the common user will probably just be logged in as root all the time. I challenge you to change my mind.
That's exactely what happened in my mind when I was getting started with Linux (kind of), although it's arguably a habit that comes from using Windows where people don't really think about OS users and permissions
As a Linux beginner who has a couple of false starts into it being my daily driver I'll say that there are two stumbling blocks left for me. Permissions "issues" is the bigger problem and some programs not being as fleshed out is the other.
So you think a person that would turn off UAC wouldn't just put NOPASSWD in the sudoers? I doubt that. And even if they had to enter their pwd... Wouldn't that just be annoying for the casual user instead of increasing security? I doubt they would be like "Oh I have to enter my pwd now, that really makes me think twice about whatever I was going to do with sudo."
Can confirm, have borked my sysyem this way
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Winget is their standard packaging solution
The rest is accurate but it’s user error
Winget wasn't a thing until 2020, and they at least partially stole it from an open-source project AppGet
Are you saying the meme is no longer relevant?
Are you saying any sort of majority of PC software is now delivered via winget?
'Standard' in this context is referring to the frequency/popularity of use, especially among the people for whom file extensions would be confusing.
Those people would do all the same on Linux
They'd find it rather difficult to just download programs from random websites and run them, considering the file will not be marked executable by default and they can't just "download and double-click".
Yea... Exactly... Thanks for providing evidence for me.
People going out and downloading random crap from shady websites clogging up their windows install with malware are not going to spend any amount of time troubleshooting why the random crap they downloaded doesn't do anything when they double-click it. They likely won't even know what to search for to find the solution to their "problem".
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