German authorities are waking up to a Windows 7 headache, with approximately €800,000 required in order to keep the elderly software supported a little longer.
Microsoft had long been warning users, both enterprises and individuals, that the end of support was nigh - 14 January - and made available various ways of keeping those updates flowing.
Alternatively there is always the option of a migration to Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) with three years of free-ish support (because, y'know, you still have to pay for those Azure resources).
Finally, customers that had ponied up the cash for an E5 subscription could also be entitled to an extra year of Windows 7 security updates, through to 2021 (assuming the subscription stays active).
Blighty's very own NHS is an example of just such an organisation, having splashed the cash for some E5 goodness.
The position in which the German government now finds itself might raise a wry smile somewhere in Seattle.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by barbara hudson on Saturday January 25 2020, @05:23AM (1 child)
Fortunately Shuttleworth never thought of that - he would have completely ruined the BSD reputation with his Duffy colour schemes and awful UI.
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(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday January 25 2020, @07:45AM
Yeah, but OSX also sucked all the air out of its own room, because to use it, you have to agree to pay four times market value for mediocre hardware with a nice coat of shiny. Same effect from the other direction -- its own model self-limits its market penetration.
Agreed on BSD vs GPL licenses. BSD is freedom; GPL is coercion. GPL's promise of software utopia is functionally identical to Marx's promise of the workers' paradise. It doesn't ensure liberty; it's just envy writ large.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.