Umm, it’s not rocket science to do that without resorting to a potentially pejorative term. Simply refer to the OS by its proper noun, ‘Windows’, with a capital ‘W’, and use ‘windows’, with a lower case ‘w’ when referring to a GUI element on any OS.
Or even, always refer to the OS as ‘MS Windows’. Or go completely over the top and use ‘Microsoft Windows®’.
Must everyone be so overly sensitive?
Every OS has good point and bad points. (Otherwise, there would only be one.) I now have years of experience as a user and beta tester in each of the major OSes our project supports. And there isn’t one that does not deserve some criticism along with the appreciation.
(Keep in mind the corollary to Clarke’s third law: “Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.”)
So, please just roll your eyes, shake your head and move on. That’s the most energy or attention that “talking smack about the competitors” deserves.
Tips: You differentiate between windows and Windows with the lower case “w” vs upper case “W” in English.
When you write “Windoze”, “Linsux”, “MacShite” and then add “(not meant negatively)”, the combination becomes more negative, not less.
In English, this is a form of paralipsis — saying something negative while simultaneously denying it. Psychologically, people always trust the word choice over the disclaimer, so the parenthesis actually reinforces the negative tone. When you use the phrase “Windoze”, it is typically a sign of trying to set your identity marker to the Linux community (not meant negatively).
If the intention truly is neutral, the neutral form is simply “Windows”. Any altered nickname carries a built-in attitude, and the disclaimer only highlights it (I won’t even mention how obvious this is).
And I even know this without the assistance of AI/LLM.
And for your comment on the reactions:
The issue here is not “over-sensitivity”, but the rhetorical structure of your wording.
Dismissing feedback as sensitivity is a form of tone policing — shifting the focus from the language used to the audience’s reaction. It avoids addressing the actual point being raised.
Bringing up general OS pros and cons also does not respond to the criticism.
No one objected to evaluating operating systems; the concern was the terminology.
Using a pejorative nickname and then telling others to “roll your eyes and move on” is a classic deflection: it reframes the discussion instead of engaging with it.
This is also a typical form of straw-man argumentation, where the response targets a position that was never actually stated.
If the goal is genuine technical discussion, neutral terminology is the correct way to address a multi-platform forum, not by using negative nicknames to try to make some kind of community identifier for yourself.
Best regards,
A Norwegian.
Note: translated, polished and grammar-checked by AI/LLM (of course).
I did not claim the tone was neutral. You were right, I did say ‘neutral’. I meant that it was not hateful. Merely an expression of annoyance… mostly that annoyance is that branding is getting in the way of terminology. (But not nearly so profane as a ‘sux’ or a ‘shite’)
And capitalization is not a good indicator anymore. People are not nearly so consistent in using it or recognizing it. (Except for the nearly-universal interpretation of ALL CAPS BEING AGGRESSIVE when applied to more than a single word.)
I am just saying ‘take a chill pill’! It is not worth flame war.
(And since I mostly use Windows, I can assure you that Gramps is far FAR slower on a comparable hardware than a Fedora 37 box… at least until Fedora gets to 95% memory use and should do memory swapping. But instead slows to a speed where a crawl would be a massive improvement.)
and you did it again, when you get criticts, you split the posts so that you can hide the critic!
Instead you should edit your post and write it correct!