I promise this is a genuine question and not a Windows hit piece.

Every Windows computer I've ever had has slowly gotten laggier over time until my impatience has forced me to reinstall the OS to get the speed boost that comes with a fresh copy. In the schools I've worked in, computer labs and carts full of Windows machines have slowly sunsetted, becoming wholly unusable over time. I think Chromebooks have taken over education in part because they have a snappiness to them that sticks around for a long time, unlike the decay demonstrated by Windows computers.

In my current job, I was issued a Windows computer and a Chromebook at the same time, when I was hired. The Chromebook is still chugging along just fine, but the once fresh and quick Windows computer is now ramping down. I know it's not because of startup or background programs latching on over time because I don't have admin rights and thus can't install anything! I'm not a power user either. I really only ever run a browser with minimal tabs, along with the very occasional instance of office software and/or PDF reader. That's it. And what used to be instant and quick is now like... trudging... through... sludge...

Is there some fundamental design flaw in Windows? Am I finding a pattern where none exists? Do I not have enough experience with other OSes to know that this is true for them too? I'd love someone's insight on this topic.

Hi,

I’m usually just overthinking my note-taking setup with plaintext markdown notes, but recently I had to create and share (as PDF) some rich text documents as well. What I’m looking for:

• Collaborative editing to some extent (ideally real-time like Google Docs..)

• Rich text formatting

• Export as PDF (or even Word if possible)

• Web & mobile app (iOS)

I’m aware of Microsoft 365 with Word online and Google Docs. I really can’t stand Word online, it feels so super slow one can barely use it. I also feel the same about the application for macOS. It’s just this gigantic thing I don’t need. I want some headings, basic formatting, lists etc.

And then there’s Google Docs. It just feels wrong. It’s a weird editor, especially on mobile, it’s in this format I can’t grab, it feels like the files are not under my control.

I’m also aware of some self-hosted solutions like ONLYOFFICE and probably some NextCloud addon/solution. But these are things I don’t want either since it’s usually a hassle to install them, keep them up to date and take care of the data.

I’m just hoping that I’m missing out on something else available except the Microsoft and Google solutions.

At some point I just thought I might stick to Markdown files and export them as PDFs or even Word documents, but I don’t know about any reliable online collaboration solution for markdown docs either.