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posted by martyb on Friday June 30 2017, @10:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the thank-you-captain-obvious dept.

Bryan Lunduke at Network World calls out what other mainstream media have been too timid, or bought out, to call out. He starts by pointing out that choosing Microsoft Windows for your organization should get you fired and that if you haven't already replaced Windows, across the board, you absolutely stink at your job.

There. Finally the topic is broached in mainstream media and a proper discussion can now start among decision makers who can arrange complete migrations to GNU/Linux, Chrome/Linux, one of the BSDs, or a combination of them.

As Microsoft security problems continue to escalate since even the pre-networked, MS-DOS days, managers and front-line grunts will find themselves increasingly culpable for selecting unviable software, such as Microsoft Windows. If they wish to pay big bucks for maintenance, there are plenty of companies around to participate in the money. Canonical, Red Hat, M:Tier are just a sampling.

[Ed. Note: I debated whether or not to run this story — in some respects it's just the Windows vs *nix argument all over again. Also, there are proprietary programs which are critical for certain industries which currently only run on Windows. On the other hand, gaining a mention like this in the more mainstream media, does that mean we are approaching an inflection point? Witness the increased displeasure with Windows 10's telemetry and the difficulty in completely blocking it. What programs do you use that are only available on Windows? What keeps you from moving to another OS? --martyb]


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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @10:29AM (50 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @10:29AM (#533365) Journal

    Just some additional info on the subject:
    German town Gummersbach says It has completed its switch to FOSS [soylentnews.org] (2014-10-09)
    German town Munich Reveals Preliminary Costs for a 'Return' to Windows [soylentnews.org] (2014-10-16)
    Turin, Italy plans to be all-FOSS by March 2016 [soylentnews.org] (2014-08-13)
    French Yvelines school completes switch to free software [soylentnews.org] (2016-04-25)

    So what are the obstacles in your face when trying to go FOSS ?

    • (Score: 2) by Webweasel on Friday June 30 2017, @11:35AM (12 children)

      by Webweasel (567) on Friday June 30 2017, @11:35AM (#533376) Homepage Journal

      I'm a gamer, so DirectX keeps me on Windows.

      --
      Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @11:44AM (2 children)

        by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @11:44AM (#533379) Journal

        What about SteamOS?
        OpenGL?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @05:57PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @05:57PM (#533585)

          I really hope it turns the big publishers' heads.

          All I use my Windows 8.1 install for is video games. I have updates turned off, and if it gets pwn3d, I just wipe and install again.

          The hundreds (thousands?) of games currently available for Linux on Steam are great and all. However, nobody I know is playing any of them at the moment. There's an MMORPG I use an English translation patch to play at the moment. Skyrim and Fallout 4 were both really good. I'm hoping to enjoy the Monster Hunter game coming to PC next year. All Windows-only.

          I can play Civ 4 with WINE under Linux. It runs four times as slowly as on Windows, which makes Caveman2Cosmos unplayable on the biggest maps. It can handle BtS with WINE decently.

          Star Citizen is the only game I'm interested in that might have a Linux release. (Assuming it has any release, lol.)

          I hope that changes. I really do. I am constantly irritated with dual-booting, but what else would I do?

          (Heaven forbid, I could read a book instead of playing video games! I assure you, that option is not on the table.)

          • (Score: 1) by jrial on Monday July 03 2017, @11:52PM

            by jrial (5162) on Monday July 03 2017, @11:52PM (#534612)

            I was in your situation back in the early 2000's, when I got fed up with dual booting and finally switched full-time to Linux. Didn't even have a console to get my gaming fix, so gaming for me became the occasional game that got a Linux release (the Quake games, Prey, and that was pretty much it).

            Now, with Steam, I have like, I don't know, 250 games or thereabouts in my collection. Most of them unplayed. Sure, they're mostly Indie stuff rather than AAA titles (Tomb Raider 2013 being the exception to the rule). Then again, as I've grown a bit older, I have come to appreciate the indie gaming scene a lot more than the constant rehashes the big studios keep pumping out.

            YMMV, and I'm not criticising your choices nor your taste in games. Just saying that for me, the gaming scene on Linux is pretty much more than what I need. But yes, sometimes this gem comes around that you would really love to play, but that just won't get a Linux port, so it's far from perfect yet.

            --
            Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by CoolHand on Friday June 30 2017, @11:51AM (2 children)

        by CoolHand (438) on Friday June 30 2017, @11:51AM (#533382) Journal
        hmmm... I have about 500 games on my homemade Steam Machine with SteamOS.. So, if you're not too picky of a gamer, there is a lot out there not holding to Windows. Once, I became an adult, I broke the cycle of having to have the newest fanciest game all time. I figured out its a lot cheaper on both hardware and software to have patience and wait a couple years to play games after they come out. Plus, I've learned to be happy with what I have on my platform of choice. About the only Windows game I play is Skyrim, and I play it through wine just fine..
        --
        Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by lx on Friday June 30 2017, @01:42PM (1 child)

          by lx (1915) on Friday June 30 2017, @01:42PM (#533421)

          Is this you? [xkcd.com]

          I shouldn't talk really. I still play (emulated) C64 games on a regular basis.

          • (Score: 2) by CoolHand on Tuesday July 11 2017, @12:42PM

            by CoolHand (438) on Tuesday July 11 2017, @12:42PM (#537561) Journal
            Yeah, thats pretty close to me.. :D except on a 2-3 year lag usually instead of 5...
            --
            Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @12:51PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @12:51PM (#533399)

        first, directX do not exist anymore... people still call it, but you only have direct3D, the other parts where replaced long ago

        now, many games are already released to linux, others being ported. If you do not have your game ported to linux, nag the producer/developer about it and point then to feral, aspyr, VP or even crossover to do the port

        Finally, many games do run well in wine, direct3d 11 is being added to wine and several of then already work. dx9 games mostly works and if you have a amd card, you can even use the "native" linux direct3d implementation, gallium nine over a patched wine.

        Of course, better yet is to drop games that do not support linux and start using games that support linux... there are many good games out there that can give the same joy and fun times

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @05:50PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @05:50PM (#533582)

          I miss fighting games which are almost non-existant on Linux…

      • (Score: 2) by pendorbound on Friday June 30 2017, @02:15PM (2 children)

        by pendorbound (2688) on Friday June 30 2017, @02:15PM (#533445) Homepage

        Dual boot. Play your games in the toy operating system, use something more secure for everything else.

        • (Score: 2) by Geezer on Friday June 30 2017, @03:29PM (1 child)

          by Geezer (511) on Friday June 30 2017, @03:29PM (#533495)

          Bingo! I couldn't agree more. I have a bare-bones Win7 Pro install with ports and hosts locked down like a nun's twat for certain non-Steamable games. Systemd-free Slackware for everything else. Life is good.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @06:01PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @06:01PM (#533589)

            I really like Windows 8.1's start "menu" for what I use it for: games. It makes a really convenient UI for selecting which game I want to launch.

            I couldn't imagine doing any real work with Windows 8.1, though. Makes a good OS for an arcade cabinet, especially with a touchscreen.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday June 30 2017, @09:48PM

        Not for long it doesn't. Quite a lot of the bigger game makers are getting wood over Vulkan. I really don't expect to see many DX games going forward that aren't in some way financially tied to Microsoft.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 1) by ewk on Friday June 30 2017, @11:50AM (25 children)

      by ewk (5923) on Friday June 30 2017, @11:50AM (#533381)

      The wife and MS Office... :-)
      Only when LibreOffice or one of its cousins is 'layout-and-button-compatible' with MS Office (whatever version She is using at them moment), there will be a minimal chance in going FOSS in 'Casa EWK' :-)

      --
      I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @12:30PM (5 children)

        by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @12:30PM (#533393) Journal

        Update wife to LibreOffice?

        • (Score: 1) by ewk on Friday June 30 2017, @12:39PM (4 children)

          by ewk (5923) on Friday June 30 2017, @12:39PM (#533396)

          Maybe I did not explain it well enough... 'the wife and MS Office' has to be seen as one, indivisible unit :-)

          --
          I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
          • (Score: 3, Touché) by deimtee on Friday June 30 2017, @01:04PM (3 children)

            by deimtee (3272) on Friday June 30 2017, @01:04PM (#533403) Journal

            Update to Wife 2,0 ?

            --
            If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
            • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @01:19PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @01:19PM (#533408)

              2.0 sounds like your IQ

            • (Score: 1) by ewk on Friday June 30 2017, @01:39PM (1 child)

              by ewk (5923) on Friday June 30 2017, @01:39PM (#533419)

              Due to the lack of certainty regarding non-MS Office-compliance not an option I am willing to consider (at the moment :-) )

              --
              I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
              • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @05:07PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @05:07PM (#533557)

                The next Libreoffice convention [documentfoundation.org] is in October in Rome. Bring your A game.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @01:22PM (10 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @01:22PM (#533410)

        This.

        When I compiled our stats (league-wide girls' softball) using LibreOffice and saving to xlsx format, no one else could read them.

        • (Score: 1, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Friday June 30 2017, @02:28PM (9 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @02:28PM (#533456) Journal

          So - you saved to the wrong format. Don't blame that on Libreoffice. I guess it's not terribly dumb to save to the wrong format a time or two. Hell, I've done it. But, if you're smart enough to post here, you're smart enough to master the learning curve. Next time, save to a format that you're sure everyone can read. PDF works good.

          https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/28031/what-formats-does-the-libre-office-41-support/ [libreoffice.org]

          • (Score: 1) by insanumingenium on Friday June 30 2017, @03:35PM (8 children)

            by insanumingenium (4824) on Friday June 30 2017, @03:35PM (#533497) Journal

            You trollin?

            PDF is a display format, the answer to file format compatibility isn't to use a display format.

            Seriously, do you also recommend that people should only do crosswords in ink because the ink is easier to read than pencil?

            • (Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Friday June 30 2017, @03:45PM

              by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @03:45PM (#533504) Journal

              Just tossed PDF out there to see who was paying attention, really.

            • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday June 30 2017, @07:14PM (2 children)

              by tangomargarine (667) on Friday June 30 2017, @07:14PM (#533630)

              Do these people need the ability to edit the file? If not, nothing is wrong with PDF.

              Otherwise saving to old-school .xls instead of .xlsx probably would've worked fine as long as you aren't using any of the new whiz-bang shiny features that I seriously doubt would be necessary for a table of straight-up numbers. Hell, MS Office even claims to support .ods these days, although I haven't tried that.

              --
              "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
              • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday June 30 2017, @09:58PM (1 child)

                Do these people need the ability to edit the file? If not, nothing is wrong with PDF.

                There is always something wrong with PDF. Any document I cannot edit and control the layout of pisses me off.

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @10:33PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @10:33PM (#533742)

                  > Any document I cannot edit and control the layout of pisses me off.

                  It's just for people like you that we deliver our engineering reports in pdf format! If you want the report to look different or say something else, go do the work and write your own damn report, don't mess with what we wrote.

            • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @07:31PM (3 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @07:31PM (#533638)

              I have never understood the need to use an editable format to distribute documents to be read.

              In fact, it seems counterintuitive.

              -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

              • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday June 30 2017, @10:00PM (2 children)

                I knew you had some sick views but this one takes the cake. Now especially, you have no clue what screen size, resolution, or glasses prescription the person reading your document is using. Making a one-size-fits-none document is an epic dick move.

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @02:17AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @02:17AM (#533797)

                  Reader gives you plenty of accessibility options.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @03:26AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @03:26AM (#533809)

                  Ever hear of HTML?
                  I can't think of of a device/OS that doesn't come with an app that will render that stuff.
                  Make the window as narrow as you want and it will adjust the presentation.

                  -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by number6x on Friday June 30 2017, @02:04PM (5 children)

        by number6x (903) on Friday June 30 2017, @02:04PM (#533437)

        If a new version of MS office comes out, and all the buttons, ribbons and everything else work differently, does she have the same reaction?

        Switching from MS Office to Libre Office is no more work than switching from one version of MS Office to another.

        • (Score: 1) by ewk on Friday June 30 2017, @02:20PM (3 children)

          by ewk (5923) on Friday June 30 2017, @02:20PM (#533448)

          "If a new version of MS office comes out, and all the buttons, ribbons and everything else work differently, does she have the same reaction?"

          No, somehow that seems to be no problem... Because it's still MS Office.
          I don't even try to understand it anymore. :-) But, probably because of the various office jobs she had, those different version she worked with are 'close enough' to not cause any problems.
          Which can be said for 99% of the users of MS Office... they only use about 10% of the functionality.

          "Switching from MS Office to Libre Office is no more work than switching from one version of MS Office to another. "

          You know that, I know that...

          --
          I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday June 30 2017, @10:02PM (2 children)

            Go full on OSS geek on her and change the branding in the LibreOffice source next time MS updates Office. Then start a pool on how long it takes her to figure out she's not using a MS product.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:05AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:05AM (#533859)

              The first time she opens a Word doc.
              Libreoffice works okay for most of its goals. The one part where it fails hard is compatability with Microsoft's office suite. It's not that you cannot open files, the problem is that they don't look like how they were intended (both MSOffice -> LO and LO -> MSOffice). Kind of a death sentence for a WYSIWYG editor.

              This doesn't matter if you don't need to open the"other side"'s documents. Otherwise, why risk a switch?
              Why put in effort to get worse interaction with (basically) the rest of the world?

            • (Score: 3, Funny) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday July 02 2017, @12:44PM

              by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Sunday July 02 2017, @12:44PM (#534151)

              Go full on OSS geek on her and change the branding in the LibreOffice source next time MS updates Office. Then start a pool on how long it takes her to figure out she's not using a MS product.

              I was thinking something along similar lines, not nearly as deep though. I had a user that refused to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox, despite a directive from corporate for everyone to do so. I simply changed the Firefox desktop icon on his PC from the Firefox standard to the big blue E. Next time I checked he was using Firefox and I never heard a complaint about it.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @07:34PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @07:34PM (#533639)

          Only Able to Use Windows? You're Fired [soylentnews.org]

          I really have to wonder about people with adaptability levels that are this low.

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @02:22PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @02:22PM (#533449)

        Funny thing is that MS Office isn't button and layout compatible with MS Office.

        We are a lot of people who still cannot find our way around the stupid ribbon.

      • (Score: 1) by noneof_theabove on Friday June 30 2017, @03:58PM

        by noneof_theabove (6189) on Friday June 30 2017, @03:58PM (#533517)

        Evidently you & wife1.0 live under a big flat rock just above the bedrock [alludes to Flintstones].
        An exact replica of the POS Ribbon Bar is an instant law suit.
        And finally do your homework - LibreOffice has a Ribbon Bar called the Notebookbar.
        It not bad if your are addicted to getting less screen real estate with play-school eye candy. [learn all the shorts cut keys and how to manipulate them]
        Duck it [screw google] for enable notebookbar [also called Ribbon Interface].
        From howtogeek.com
        1) open tools > options
        2) goto LibreOffice > Advanced Section
        3) Check “Enable experimental features (may be unstable)” then click “OK.”
        4) Restart LibreOffice
        5) On Menu Bar click View > Toolbar Layout > Notebookbar
        6) this can be toggled at will.

        I have not been on MS Office since OpenOffice 0.6
        The only reason for using MSO is high level commands in Spreadsheets, that Libre has more functions but not the "rocket science" ones [did I hear a legal snake grumbling]

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by mcgrew on Friday June 30 2017, @03:52PM (10 children)

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday June 30 2017, @03:52PM (#533511) Homepage Journal

      "I refuse to do business with anyone who treats me badly." -Sterling Ball, CEO of the Ernie Ball guitar string company. [cnet.com] Best strings made!

      Same reason I won't shop anywhere that cards me for beer (I'm sixty five, if you can't tell I'm old enough you're just making fun of me. Stop it!).

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
      • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday June 30 2017, @08:56PM (1 child)

        by jmorris (4844) on Friday June 30 2017, @08:56PM (#533688)

        Most places the law now says they have to card everyone. Allow discretion and somebody abuses it so "zero tolerance" is mandated. I'm a real "UNIX Graybeard" and I often get carded at Walmart buying a can of spray paint or an R rated BluRay. They usually apologize for the lunacy of it. At least they aren't scanning it yet. I hear some places do, why do you think every ID has a magstripe and a 2D barcode?

      • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Friday June 30 2017, @09:29PM (2 children)

        by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Friday June 30 2017, @09:29PM (#533707) Journal

        As JMorris pointed out some states just require you to not sell to minors, other states require you to check for ID. The cost of a liquor license in some places is such that it is foolish to do anything but blanket check everyone. I've worked the door at many a bar or live show and some owners mandate a check of everyone, and I just apologize to the greybeards and remind them of the 'old' days when they were young enough to warrant such a check. Besides if flashing your ID is such a hassle perhaps you should just stay home anyways.

        More on topic I see no reason to NOT use a M$ desktop if you want to, though why most people would is beyond me, but using anything but a *nix firewall seems tremendously stupid to me.

        --
        For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
        • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday July 01 2017, @03:35PM (1 child)

          by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday July 01 2017, @03:35PM (#533922) Homepage Journal

          No, I simply stay away from stores like WalMart and County Market that are dumb enough to be disrespectful to their paying customers. If it were the law in Illinois I'd be writing nasty letters to my elected reps.

          --
          mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
          • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Monday July 03 2017, @06:41PM

            by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Monday July 03 2017, @06:41PM (#534533) Journal

            Here in AZ you are required to check ID for tobacco sales but not for alcohol. Stupid I know but that is the law and no matter how many nasty letters you write to your reps it is a moot point if they can't read.

            --
            For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
      • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday July 01 2017, @12:39AM (4 children)

        by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Saturday July 01 2017, @12:39AM (#533774)

        "I refuse to do business with anyone who treats me badly." -Sterling Ball, CEO of the Ernie Ball guitar string company...

        As I've said before, this is why buying microsoft WILL get you fired in my (as in I own it) business.

        Same reason I won't shop anywhere that cards me for beer (I'm sixty five, if you can't tell I'm old enough you're just making fun of me. Stop it!).

        Some palces here have to check and they often have a sign displayed which explains, apologises and suggests you take it as a compliment :)

        --
        It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
        • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday July 01 2017, @03:33PM (3 children)

          by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday July 01 2017, @03:33PM (#533919) Homepage Journal

          Some palces here have to check and they often have a sign displayed which explains, apologises and suggests you take it as a compliment :)

          It's a compliment at 30, an insult at twice that age. It's almost never the clerk's fault, so I always tell them to tell their idiotic managers that their stupidity cost them a customer. If they're checking geezers' IDs they should offer a senior discount so it's to make sure you're over whatever age the discount kicks in. Then it truly would be a compliment.

          That wording of the sign you mention sounds like something Trump would write.

          --
          mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
          • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday July 02 2017, @03:02AM (1 child)

            by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday July 02 2017, @03:02AM (#534061)

            ...If they're checking geezers' IDs they should offer a senior discount so it's to make sure you're over whatever age the discount kicks in...

            Not trolling but asking - is there a Senior's Card or equivalent in the US for exactly that reason?

            --
            It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
          • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Monday July 03 2017, @06:46PM

            by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Monday July 03 2017, @06:46PM (#534536) Journal

            Everywhere in AZ offers senior and/or military discounts. Half the state is made up of retired snowbirds, and more than 75% of the state is federal land.

            --
            For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @10:31AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @10:31AM (#533366)

    "the train scheduling database only works on Windows!" cried the railway IT person.
    yeah. well my parents lost half a day because your fucking windows infested computerized scheduling thingie got hacked http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/13/cyber-attack-hits-german-train-stations-hackers-target-deutsche/. [telegraph.co.uk]
    I would say you idiots need to go back to school and learn the meaning of "critical".
    otherwise you would have made your contractors write the application for linux/BSD whatever.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @10:35AM (6 children)

      by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @10:35AM (#533368) Journal

      The problem becomes. How to replace the malfunctioning IT person and perhaps his boss with one that will do a solution that works in BSD/Linux environment?

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by canopic jug on Friday June 30 2017, @01:14PM (2 children)

        by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @01:14PM (#533406) Journal

        That's a real problem. I've watched it grow and spread. There are fewer IT people today than two decades back, in absolute numbers. Many of those posing as IT and especially managers and executives are simply resellers of M$. When, not if, their crap fails to deliver, they just put their hands up and claim that nothing can be done until the Next Version is purchased and deployed. Usually that keeps them from even pretending to address the problems for a long time.

        We've been in that downward spiral a while and it's a real question about how to break out. You can't retool a poseur. First, the training isn't available anymore. Second, if there had been either ability or interest they would have learned on their own.

        But if we don't break out, we'll end up with nothing that works.

        --
        Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
        • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @02:43PM (1 child)

          by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @02:43PM (#533466) Journal

          Sounds like those business are ripe for some crushing competition?
          Would that be profitable?

          One way would be to offer something their inflexible IT system and their inability to handle it would put them at a disadvantage relative to any competition. Won't matter if they claim nothing can be done when customers take business elsewhere.

          • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday June 30 2017, @07:24PM

            by urza9814 (3954) on Friday June 30 2017, @07:24PM (#533636) Journal

            Sounds like those business are ripe for some crushing competition?
            Would that be profitable?

            One way would be to offer something their inflexible IT system and their inability to handle it would put them at a disadvantage relative to any competition. Won't matter if they claim nothing can be done when customers take business elsewhere.

            That works for IT-centric businesses, but it's not really a solution in general. There's far more to most businesses than just the software. You can't just come up with a great design for a ticking system and start your own airline and crush American and Delta. You *might* be able to come up with another design and sell it to those guys, but you've gotta beat whatever they've invested millions in and built up over decades, so that's a huge up-front investment if you're planning to develop that independently and sell it to them later. So then you're left with starting a consulting firm and trying to convince them that your new ideas are gong to be cheaper than Tata or Infosys or whoever, even when those guys already have a head start on understanding the rest of the business. So probably it would have to come from an established consulting brand, which gets you back to the original problem of needing to convince management at these large corporations to do things differently.

      • (Score: 1) by noneof_theabove on Friday June 30 2017, @04:01PM (2 children)

        by noneof_theabove (6189) on Friday June 30 2017, @04:01PM (#533519)

        NO !
        The problem pre-dates that back to MS stealing the education/schools from Apple [*nix, etc]
        Computer Science now days is nothing but "How To Use Microsoft".
        And how did that get there.
        MS bought them off resulting in "lock-in".

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Friday June 30 2017, @04:24PM

          by Nerdfest (80) on Friday June 30 2017, @04:24PM (#533536)

          If Apple had won the education battle outright, we'd be in far worse shape with respect to lock-in.

        • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @09:01PM

          by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @09:01PM (#533694) Journal

          Any Computer Science curriculum that is mostly "How To Use Microsoft" will considered to have a negative value. At least from my point of view. Anyway "How to use.." is not a university course but rather plain training (for monkeys).

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by aclarke on Friday June 30 2017, @10:34AM (8 children)

    by aclarke (2049) on Friday June 30 2017, @10:34AM (#533367) Homepage

    Where I used to work we were a small team. We all ran whatever we wanted, and all of us had Macs. It wasn't a conspiracy; we didn't only hire Mac users. That's just what happened. We deployed on Linux so for those of us developing, Macs worked well. Sales/management/business development, etc. all used Macs.

    We got bought out last year by a company that mostly runs .NET on Windows. I wouldn't choose to do this, but it is what it is. I'm not a developer any more, and my Mac finally died. I could have gone either way and truly would have taken whatever was more convenient for IT, but they're shipping me another Mac.

    For me, the showstopper is Visio. I could use LucidChart, and maybe I will. Or maybe I'll just spin up VMware Fusion for Visio, which gives me nice access to Visual Studio too when I need to look at source code.

    For me though, I prefer to develop on a Mac and deploy on Linux. Mac OS is Posix-compliant UNIX with fully supported tooling, wrapped in a nice package. The only problem is that Apple is ruining the hardware as fast as they can and I can't really get it from anyone else. I really don't care how thin my laptop is or how small my desktop is, but I do care if I can upgrade the RAM or not.

    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday June 30 2017, @02:28PM (7 children)

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Friday June 30 2017, @02:28PM (#533455) Journal

      I know a few die hard Mac fans are slowly coming to realize that Apple isn't all it's cracked up to be. One super die hard Apple fan boy I know runs a web dev business and maintains some very high end sites. All of his employees are on Macbooks or Mac mini's. He was livid when he couldn't get his 3-4 year old mac mini's repaired. You know, the ones that allows you to upgrade stuff. Now he is stuck at a crossroad where he no longer wants their hardware but won't let go of OS X. I joked and said he should upgrade to Linux on mini systems and he balked at the idea "I'm not running that u-butt-too (Ubuntu) nonsense. I put it on a netbook and all it did was crash and run slow." I then reminded him that most netbooks were built using that awful Cedarview Atom that had close to no Linux graphics support because of the proprietary Power VR GPU. His response was along the lines of "This is why I stick with Apple. I know my hardware will always work." Some people just don't get it or do not want to get it.

      • (Score: 1, Troll) by Grishnakh on Friday June 30 2017, @02:49PM (4 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday June 30 2017, @02:49PM (#533469)

        Basically, Apple hardware is like a tax on the stupid.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Friday June 30 2017, @04:48PM (1 child)

          by LoRdTAW (3755) on Friday June 30 2017, @04:48PM (#533551) Journal

          Their hardware is really nicely designed. OS X is a decent OS from a user perspective but closed source Unix is a dead end in the long run. I wouldn't touch Apple with a 10 au pole.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @07:47PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @07:47PM (#533649)

            Perhaps, but is it necessary to have that (non-upgradeable stuff) in order to do what is being discussed?
            Hackintosh [google.com]

            -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by aclarke on Friday June 30 2017, @08:58PM (1 child)

          by aclarke (2049) on Friday June 30 2017, @08:58PM (#533692) Homepage

          Or, a tax on people who value their time and would rather spend it being productive than screwing around trying to get things to work.

          I don't like working in Windows (see article) and I like working in Linux/Unix. Back before switching there were times where I spent days where I could have been billing, screwing around trying to get hardware to work properly. At one point after spending something like two days rebuilding a bunch of hardware, disk arrays, messing about with drivers, etc. I realized I could have just bought a Mac with the billable time I'd wasted trying to save money. So I went and bought a Mac. A decade or so later, I haven't regretted that decision.

          I know my way around Linux very, very well. My current product is deployed on Linux. I've been using Linux since 1997, with HP/UX and Solaris before that. I know the value of my time, and where I want to spend it. It's not that I can't build a computer, but I'd rather spend my time building something else at this point.

          All that being said, I'm working on a 2012 quad core i7 Mac Mini at the moment that is literally irreplaceable from Apple. The laptop that finally died was a 2012 quad core i7 15" MacBook Pro. When I look at Apple hardware now, I feel like I'm holding my breath waiting for the stink of their current product offerings to blow over. Much as I don't want to run Linux or Windows at home, I don't think I could bring myself to buy a new Apple laptop right now. Work's paying for my next one though so that's how I'm getting around this dilemma.

          • (Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Saturday July 01 2017, @05:05AM

            by linuxrocks123 (2557) on Saturday July 01 2017, @05:05AM (#533822) Journal

            Or, a tax on people who value their time and would rather spend it being productive than screwing around trying to get things to work.

            Whenever someone makes this argument, I have to wonder when the last time they actually tried running Linux was. I support multiple nontechnical users (family members, friends) who use Linux full-time. I support three machines for them in total, not counting ones primarily used by me and not counting the MythTV boxes. They're not constantly futzing around with the hardware constantly, and neither am I -- supporting them takes almost none of my time.

            Are there problems? Sure, but the problems are rare. Meanwhile, talking students through installing Alice (toy programming environment from www.alice.org) or Chrome Remote Desktop so I can help them with some problem is often very frustrating. And the Mac students tend to have more trouble than the Windows students installing Alice, actually, because of MacOS's "we're only going to let you install software if Friend Computer has given it clearance" policy. The Windows students only need to figure out how to unzip a file.

            And getting a little off-topic, the single most important concept almost none of my non-tech students understand is files. My non-tech students almost universally have no clue whatsoever how files work. I say, "don't try to open the file from your web browser", and they don't know what that means. They don't know what it means to open a file from a web browser, or, alternatively, not to do that. From my interactions helping them, many of them don't understand that downloading and opening files are separate concepts.

            And this is important, because Alice doesn't register file associations, so they think they can't download Alice files, because they try to open them from the web browser and it doesn't work, and they then have no idea what to do. I tell them what they need to do is run the Alice executable and open the file from the program's open dialog box, but they often need to see it actually done before they understand what that means.

            So yeah: non-tech users really need dedicated training in the basic concepts of the file system. If they could get that down, I think they'd have a lot fewer problems when something marginally unexpected but not erroneous happens. They'd also be able to backup their machines like everyone always tells them to. I have some slides on files ... maybe I'll make it an actual part of the class next semester, like with homeworks and all. Hey, wait, it's summer: this is going on my todo list.

            I just taught a basic computer usage class as an online class. There's a painful bootstrapping problem with teaching students how to use a computer in a class where they need to use a computer to access the materials.

      • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:31AM (1 child)

        by TheRaven (270) on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:31AM (#533865) Journal

        He was livid when he couldn't get his 3-4 year old mac mini's repaired

        Why couldn't he? I needed a new battery for my 6-year-old MBP recently. When I logged a support request with Apple, they called me back and told me that the Apple Store probably wouldn't be able to handle it and offered to give me a list of authorised repair centres locally that could. I decided that was too much faff and did it myself.

        --
        sudo mod me up
        • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Saturday July 01 2017, @02:48PM

          by LoRdTAW (3755) on Saturday July 01 2017, @02:48PM (#533912) Journal

          From what I remember, the motherboard was bad and Apple wouldn't fix it. He could replace it but the newer mini's have soldered RAM but he refuses to buy one because of that.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @10:42AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @10:42AM (#533370)

    Nobody needs the recent ransomware attacks to make that argument - in fact it is distracting from the core problem. It is common sense, that software from an American company can not be trusted with personal data or infrastructure.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @07:18PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @07:18PM (#533633)

      That's because there's Linux ransomware too: https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/06/web-host-agrees-to-pay-1m-after-its-hit-by-linux-targeting-ransomware/ [arstechnica.com]

      Yeah they didn't apply updates, but neither did most of the affected Windows users.

      Once you have the same amount of noob users there's no big difference in security in practice. The Mac bunch are starting to get an increase in malware. Will take them a while to be as huge targets, but ransomware authors might start thinking that Mac users are more willing to pay for stuff... Currently whether it's Windows, Mac or Linux; once you run the wrong thing or your browser/doc viewer gets pwned, your docs, photos and other data can be accessed by the payload/malware which could be ransomware.

      There's stuff like AppArmor for Linux but is it enabled by default and restrictive enough to protect against ransomware?

      Windows might even become more secure for normal users than competing OSes if they succeed in this: https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/29/15892658/microsoft-windows-10-controlled-folders-feature [theverge.com]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @08:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @08:01PM (#533658)

        ...FOR SEVEN YEARS.

        If you're going to offer software as a service, the very least you should be doing is
        - keep the software updated
        - sandbox the apps
        - install and configure SELinux/AppArmor

        Those Korean schlubs are complete nitwits.
        It didn't matter at all what brand they were using.
        It was only a matter of time before they got pwned.

        This points to the reason that a professional license is required in order to be allowed to do a lot of jobs in a lot of places.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Friday June 30 2017, @09:39PM

      by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Friday June 30 2017, @09:39PM (#533715) Journal

      To consider either crApple, or M$ an 'American' corporation is naïve at best. Large corporations are extra-national, taking advantage of whatever nationality makes them the most money or saves them the biggest dollars. Just as any OSS project is supported by a very international group of volunteers.

      --
      For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
    • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:33AM

      by TheRaven (270) on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:33AM (#533866) Journal
      It has nothing to do with it being an American company, it has to do with a lack of a second source. No critical infrastructure should rely on products provided by a single vendor. If you can't get a drop-in replacement from a second company, then you're sitting on a ticking time bomb.
      --
      sudo mod me up
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @10:48AM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @10:48AM (#533372)

    in some respects it's just the Windows vs *nix argument all over again.

    There was an argument?

    I thought the consensus was, Windows is used in businesses only for two reasons: 1) Windows-only critical software, and 2) suits prefer to buy software with support from a "real company" like Microsoft, since free software makes them uncomfortable even if you pay for support a la RedHat.

    I have yet to meet someone who uses Windows because they like it; it's either lack of knowledge about alternatives, laziness to switch (<- that's me), or usage of Windows-only software (well, usually games).

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @11:39AM (5 children)

      by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @11:39AM (#533377) Journal

      The lack of business software on BSD/Linux is something that may put up obstacles.

      Maybe Wine or VMs can mitigate it.

      • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday June 30 2017, @03:56PM (2 children)

        by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday June 30 2017, @03:56PM (#533515) Homepage Journal

        I don't know, Libre Office is a pretty solid program. Write is BETTER than Word, and Calc is almost as good as Excel.

        And Powerpoint is a stupid waste of time and resources. Nobody really needs that piece of shit (they used it a lot where I worked).

        --
        mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @08:19AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @08:19AM (#533850)

          MS Office is far, far more advanced than anything the open source world has. Well, advanced in terms of end-user features and usability (compared to LaTex being more advanced technically). Sure, LibreOffice is the same when considering student-level usage but it sucks at business scale usage. Where's the document encryption and security controls? Change traceability? 3rd party plug-in integration? Sharepoint support? Advanced graphing capabilities? Seamless embedded documents? Etc... Libre has similar features, but none of them are as good. Even the grammar and spelling support isn't as good let alone managing complex styles or imported data.

          And you're ignoring the two biggest: Access and Outlook. Despite Access' shittyness, it's still best for non-programs to whip up their custom tools in the least amount of time. Forget about code quality, business users want tools which let them get their job done better and faster. Software always plays a support role, it is never an end onto itself.

          Outlook/Exchange has nothing close to it. It is way more than just an email client. Encryption, email polls, secretary features (multiple people accessing the same account as one), calendars integrated with booking rooms and resources (you can buy wireless door displays which say who has booked that room and when), recalling emails the receiver hasn't viewed yet, seeing out of office messages before sending an email, etc...

          And that's all ignoring the support community, tons of books, tons of tutorials, etc... of Microsoft products. If you want to replace Office, you need to be better on all those points and be better enough that it's worth the risk of changing. I don't like Microsoft, but despite their security concerns, the make very produce tools once you learn how to use them. The open source world just says "they suck" and never bothers to learn the features which makes putting up with the front facing suckiness worth it.

        • (Score: 3, Funny) by TheRaven on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:37AM

          by TheRaven (270) on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:37AM (#533868) Journal
          LibreOffice is now an office suite that is better in almost every respect than Microsoft Office 97.
          --
          sudo mod me up
      • (Score: 2) by stormreaver on Friday June 30 2017, @05:02PM (1 child)

        by stormreaver (5101) on Friday June 30 2017, @05:02PM (#533555)

        The lack of business software on BSD/Linux is something that may put up obstacles.

        When Windows becomes seen as career suicide, all that software will quickly be ported to Linux (and possibly BSD).

        • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @08:57PM

          by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @08:57PM (#533691) Journal

          Catch is that the ecosystem has to reach that point. Perhaps more M$-malware can fix that..

    • (Score: 1) by jb on Friday June 30 2017, @11:45AM (4 children)

      by jb (338) on Friday June 30 2017, @11:45AM (#533380)

      There was an argument?

      Yes there was. For about two decades (now almost three, if you still count the argument as not yet settled), since the very first day a Windows salesman first conned a prospect into taking Microsoft's toy operating system seriously.

      ...and 2) suits prefer to buy software with support from a "real company" like Microsoft, since free software makes them uncomfortable even if you pay for support a la RedHat.

      For most of that time, *nix in business was something that came from major players like DEC, Sun, HP or IBM, often on support contracts with prices that make Microsoft's look cheap, but most of the time actually delivered real support.

      And even leaving that aside, in the modern world there are plenty of independent companies around (not just OS vendors) who will gladly sell you robust support contracts for FOSS Unix or Unix-like systems such as *BSD or GNU/Linux. Most companies are too miserly to pay for real support. But those who do often get better support than they would from large software vendors at any price (and always better than what, if anything, they'd get from large software vendors at the same price).

      That's an obsolete argument that, with respect to FOSS OSes, ceased to have any merit at around the turn of the century, and with respect to the various closed Unix flavours was never true back then (but might be now following more recent rounds of mergers & acquisitions...).

      As for "Windows-only critical software", that's pretty much a contradiction in terms. If it's really critical, you audit it before deploying. If you can't audit the platform, you can't audit anything that runs on it either. If it doesn't warrant an audit, then it's not "critical software".

      I agree with TFA and would go further -- if someone deploys unauditable software in a setting where a software error might cause loss of life, not only should that person lose his job, but he should also be charged with negligent manslaughter (if the risk eventuates), or at the very least reckless endangerment (if it doesn't).

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday June 30 2017, @12:15PM (3 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @12:15PM (#533389) Journal

        For about two decades (now almost three, if you still count the argument as not yet settled), since the very first day a Windows salesman first conned a prospect into taking Microsoft's toy operating system seriously.

        I'm grateful to that one salesman for one thing and one thing only: it helped made from IBM-PC an open (hardware) standard [wikipedia.org] thus an OEM friendly one, therefore cheap and affordable.

        Without it, I doubt Mac or HP or DEC would have lowered the prices enough on their stuff. Without MS, perhaps other companies would have popped on the market to fill the same niche (eg Wang labs?), but I see nothing to indicate they'd have been more ethical.

        Here's the IBM "portable computer" 5 years before PC [wikipedia.org] - introductory price of $9000 in the mid '70-ies - you'd need a small truck to "port" in between places.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 3, Informative) by Lester on Friday June 30 2017, @01:30PM (1 child)

          by Lester (6231) on Friday June 30 2017, @01:30PM (#533415) Journal

          There were other systems like Commodore Amiga of CPM.

          The reasons why PC won domestic market are debatable, but I don't think Microsoft created the domestic market. Nevertheless, I will never deny y that Microsoft played a main role. On the other hand, it later destroyed competence and abused of users.

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday June 30 2017, @02:41PM

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @02:41PM (#533463) Journal

            "I don't think Microsoft created the domestic market"

            Debatable. There were all those others, creating and/or finding niche markets. Microsoft took advantage of a business relationship with IBM, if you'll recall, to get their Windows OS going. And, at the same time, mercilessly crushing most of the opposition. There came a point when Microsoft was calling all the shots with the OEM's. "You'll sell our product exclusively, or you won't sell our product at all!"

            Microsoft probably had as much to do with creating the market for PC's as all other players combined.

            Of course, their methods were despicable. Digital Research is still a sore spot, after all these years. MS knew that they couldn't their Windows very efficeintly without 32 bit disk access. That disk access was holding up the release of Windows 95. DR succeeded where everyone else faile - they got 32 bit disk access. And, MS leaned on DR, created a bit of code to inform Windows that it couldn't run on anything that wasn't Microsoft DOS, and the rest is history.

        • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @02:55PM

          by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @02:55PM (#533472) Journal

          DYSEAC [wikipedia.org] predates the IBM-PC with 27 years (1954). And that really needed a truck. But it was portable ;-)

          What got x86 IBM-PC going was that IBM had a solid standing with technologically clueless executive people. So IBM got the x86-ISA-IBM-PC sold. And Microsoft enhanced DOS so it could ride along. So executives decided to buy PC+Windows and once that happened they wanted to exchange files.. *slam-lockin*.

          The problem stems from incompetent people in control of resources.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @03:22PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @03:22PM (#533492)

      As a developer I prefer the win32 api over 5000+ individual libs.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @08:28AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @08:28AM (#533851)

        As an end user, I hate every time a new program says I need a different .Net or VBA version installed. Programs should be fully self-contained, which is exactly what the original definition of object oriented meant. It meant if you exchanged a document, the program to view and edit the document were embedded within the document itself. It is one self contained object. Anyone who had a file had the software to view and edit that file. Sadly people applied OO at the code level rather than at the application level.

        Phone apps and security concerns are slowly, slowly pushing us back towards that definition, but sadly it's more for vendor lock-in than end-user usability.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday June 30 2017, @11:39AM (9 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @11:39AM (#533378) Journal

    Just from curiosity: who the heck is Bryan Lunduke? How much weight his word has?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 4, Informative) by Fnord666 on Friday June 30 2017, @12:06PM (3 children)

      by Fnord666 (652) on Friday June 30 2017, @12:06PM (#533385) Homepage

      Just from curiosity: who the heck is Bryan Lunduke? How much weight his word has?

      From his byline:

      Bryan is a writer and works as the Social Media Marketing Manager of SUSE. On this blog, he seeks to highlight the coolest things happening in the Linux world.

      So no bias at all. Then again it is marked as an opinion piece.

      • (Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Friday June 30 2017, @01:03PM (2 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @01:03PM (#533402) Journal

        Ah... I recalled where I encountered the name - "Pulling a Lunduke"

        Warning: this links to the green site [slashdot.org]
        Comment copy/pasted here, links not preserved:

        1. Last May [lunduke.com], this guy announced he would GPL his stuff once he gets $4,000 in monthly donations.
        2. Eight days later [lunduke.com], he received a total of $4,000 in one-time donations and released his code under the GPL.
        3. About a month later [lunduke.com], he discovered that one-time donations and recurring donations are not the same thing.
        4. Apparently until today, he is whining around how bad this all is and that open source is evil.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @03:00PM (1 child)

          by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @03:00PM (#533476) Journal

          discovered that one-time donations and recurring donations are not the same thing

          How clueless can people be?? *doh* ;-)
          Especially the thing about expecting recurring money transfers without any agreement.

          Btw, what is "his stuff" ?

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday June 30 2017, @09:21PM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @09:21PM (#533704) Journal

            Bryan Lunduke - clue.. not found, Retry? Abort?

            Ignore.

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @12:30PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @12:30PM (#533394)

      Search for: linux sucks videos

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @12:55PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @12:55PM (#533400)

        Don't forget Bryan's "Windows is awesome" video.

    • (Score: 2) by canopic jug on Friday June 30 2017, @01:19PM (1 child)

      by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 30 2017, @01:19PM (#533409) Journal

      It's news that Network World and IDG have published it. Yes, IDG which has been anti-Linux and anti-FOSS in general for ages. Maybe their publication of that position is a one-off for now, but I hope not. Either way it is in a position to get the attention of those that are used to giving and receiving a steady stream of praise for M$

      --
      Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @03:03PM

        by kaszz (4211) on Friday June 30 2017, @03:03PM (#533479) Journal

        Maybe IDG is undermined by other news sources? And this is their do-or-die?

    • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday June 30 2017, @05:25PM

      by captain normal (2205) on Friday June 30 2017, @05:25PM (#533570)

      And is Net Work World really mainstream media?

      --
      When life isn't going right, go left.
  • (Score: 2) by KritonK on Friday June 30 2017, @01:23PM (4 children)

    by KritonK (465) on Friday June 30 2017, @01:23PM (#533411)

    What programs do you use that are only available on Windows?

    More to the point, what programs do you use that are only available on Windows, do not run under Wine, and for which there are no ports or alternatives for your platform of choice?

    What keeps you from moving to another OS?

    Nothing. I switched to using Linux full time a couple of years ago, and I've never looked back.

    • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Friday June 30 2017, @03:42PM (2 children)

      More to the point, what programs do you use that are only available on Windows, do not run under Wine, and for which there are no ports or alternatives for your platform of choice?

      Microsoft Project [wikipedia.org]. The day someone can point out a *reasonable* facsimile for same on a FOSS OS will be a very happy day for me!

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by KritonK on Friday June 30 2017, @07:14PM (1 child)

        by KritonK (465) on Friday June 30 2017, @07:14PM (#533631)

        Microsoft Project 2007, 2010, and 2013 run well [codeweavers.com] under Wine on Linux (though not so well on MacOS) so, if you can live without the 2016 version, you might want to give it a try.

        • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Friday June 30 2017, @08:16PM

          Microsoft Project 2007, 2010, and 2013 run well [codeweavers.com] under Wine on Linux (though not so well on MacOS) so, if you can live without the 2016 version, you might want to give it a try.

          Thanks!

          I'll check it out.

          --
          No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @04:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @04:27PM (#533537)

      I have 2 Windows rigs set up for gaming, and a dual boot Windows/Linux that boots into Linux for everything else. Why? Linux for security and no telemetry, and Windows only because the game catalog hasn't caught up to Linux yet. Even then the Winboxes are locked down as far as possible with Spybot Anti-Beacon.

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