I would personally like to see good defaults (I don't understand the big icons on taskbar nor any forced integration with any Microsoft markets), workspaces (more than 2) and flexible customization of visuals (not just transparency, colours and fonts) and some kind of a package manager for programs (at least set a standard/options for new installations of third-party programs to bind their update servers with a windows package manager). Perhaps a selection of normal user vs power user on installation would be welcome.
I know I'm describing Linux desktop environments, but I have problems with drivers and hardware managers on Linux distros (with my T420) and I don't think the desktop environments are polished as much as Windowses and Mac OS's are. It feels like I have to put that extra effort in just to get things set up correctly. (I've used Gnome, Xfce and awesome)
> drivers and hardware managers on Linux distros (with my T420)
Care to elaborate? My lappy is a T410 and my roommates a T520. Neither of us have any hardware/driver issues.
As far as the UI goes, I somewhat agree. However when I use a TMW I am not looking for polish, I am looking for efficiency. That's why I only use a TMW on my work computer.
At home I run cinnamon. Looking to poke around KDE 5.1 once it is released but honestly I spend so little time in the UI of the OS it hardly matters any more as I spend most of my time in the UI of an app/website.
As an example, I didn't fire up MS word or VI to post this comment so UI polish is just that, polish.
>It feels like I have to put that extra effort in just to get things set up correctly.
And it should. Depending on what flavor of Linux you go with, you will have different defaults chosen for your OS.
From the developers perspective however they are just trying to not restrict you or your choices so that you can customize the environment to your liking. The trade-off is time and effort of that customization. This can be very overwhelming or feel unnecessary. Additionally some people find that the defaults "just work" for them.
Hopefully you give another *nix distro a spin in the future.
https://chocolatey.org/ - apt-get for Windows, basically. It's not as capable as its Linux brethren, but it's perfectly usable, and it takes a lot of pain out of setting up a Windows box. "cinst GoogleChrome" is as painless as you'd expect.
I know I'm describing Linux desktop environments, but I have problems with drivers and hardware managers on Linux distros (with my T420) and I don't think the desktop environments are polished as much as Windowses and Mac OS's are. It feels like I have to put that extra effort in just to get things set up correctly. (I've used Gnome, Xfce and awesome)