What home user is going to start paying and budgeting for their monthly Microsoft bill - to pay for their Microsoft Word and Excel? Seriously? We have been giddy happy Debian Linux users for years now and have not missed Microsoft at all, except for the Win7 VM we run to run Desktop Quickbooks - another great natively running application that the developer would like to permanently replace with an inferior subscription product. I'm going to get ahead of the game and switch to GnuCash for 2019 and be done with Quickbooks too before they abandon me altogether (by abandoning their desktop product).
Sure. I suppose Dell, Texas Instruments, Lockheed Martin, and Bell Helicopter Textron are all renters too. And all the idiots building the F-16s and F-35s. And only a failed backwards state would produce the most wind power in the nation, would have towns called Silicon Hills (Austin) and the Silicon Prairie (Dallas), have three Carnegie Tier One Research institutions, and have the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions (Texas Medical Center), perform the most heart transplants in the world, be home to the largest airline in the United States, have the second highest GSP in the nation at nearly $2T, a 6.4% unemployment rate, the joint-highest number of Fortune 500 companies in it (along with California), be the number 1 state in ag revenue, leading the nation in the production of a list of products so long there isn't room on Slashdot to list them all, and the second highest population of millionaires in the nation.
I grew up in the Seattle area - home of Microsoft - using DOS and Windows and loved it, especially Windows 2000. We switched to Debian Linux at home years ago and haven't missed Windows. We run Windows 7 in a VM to run Quickbooks only until they require Windows 10 at which point we will ditch Quickbooks too. We are also switching away from Windows at work. I just received our new Synology NAS in the mail - The SBS 2011 server is being replaced by this Linux-based NAS that has more functionality (the kind that people actually want) at a fraction of the cost. Worker bees will run Linux - new System76 machines perhaps. LibreOffice, the GIMP, Inkscape, etc. - Linux software meets all of our needs here. We'll run Quickbooks on Windows in a VM if we have too until we switch away from it too. We are experimenting with LibreCAD for our 2D CAD needs. If it works, the CAD dept. will run Linux. If not, they may have to run Macs to have AutoCAD. We're ditching Microsoft for good though because of this nonsense.
We have been using Debian Linux at home for many years now and have not missed Windows. I run Windows 7 in a VM so I can run Quickbooks. That's all I need it for. I am getting more and more friends and family on Linux all the time, and it is working for them too. My uncle is an old Microsoft guy (former contractor) and now runs Linux Mint at home and at work and loves it. I got my teenage niece on Linux and she *never* calls me with problems. She called me once about how to hook up her printer. I told her to plug it in-she said "Oh, it says 'configuring printer'. Oh, hey! It's printing!" - and this was a random Canon inkjet printer. Just worked. I have my sister-in-law on Linux Mint now too.. She paid $45 for a perpetual license of Moneydance software and switched from abusive Quicken and she is off and running, downloading from her bank, etc. No issues. She's a professor in a community college in L.A. and runs Mint on her personal laptop. I got my cousin's wife on Linux Mint as well. She's been running it for a year now and I haven't had a *single* phone call for support. My mom's computer is next! I love instlalling Linux for people because *they don't call me for support ever*.:)
Chrome is spyware so it gets all of your web-browsing data, so there is an advantage to them. Edge probably is spyware like Chrome, I assume not having ever used it.
Someone needs to open a shelter for battered Windows users where they can begin to heal and realize that they don't have to stay in an abusive relationship.
And when the AutoCAD folks require SolidWorks, what will be your answer? It's only available for Windows at the moment.
We don't need that. If they do that, we'll start seriously evaluating other.dwg file format based alternatives like LibreCAD or something. Our furniture drawing needs are quite simple.
I will run Win 7 as a guest under Debian until the heat death of the universe. If I'm ever required to run software that will only run under Windows Managed Desktop, it too will run in a VM. I'm learning a lot about iptables these days.
Cracking up lol here. I run Windows 7 as a guest under Debian at home so I can continue bookkeeping with Quickbooks for now. I also have a Windows XP machine with a bunch of awesome, incredibly useful, perpetually licensed software installed to it that I use daily and keep backed up with CloneZilla.
At work, when Windows 7 goes EOL next April, we're switching from an SBS 2011 server to a Synology NAS (more functionality than SBS) and users will get Linux desktops, except for the CAD guys who will have to use Macs since they are stuck in that AutoCAD subscription racket.
As long as it continues to be a SaaS spyware product with forced updates/upgrades, and has an onerous, unacceptable privacy policy that claims the right to access all of my personal data, I don't care if they make it nicer than my favorite desktop Linux distro. I'll never use it.
This is good news, no doubt, and long overdue.. I mean, cumon, really? Microsoft Silverlight required? What was up with that anyway? We still won't resubscribe after the "Dear White People" debacle though. We're getting our streaming stuff elsewhere.
Even 'flagship' software like Evolution is inexplicably lacking so much polish, that you start to wonder why you bothered to install Linux in the first place.
So yeah... having seen computer history unfold over the last few decades, it honestly seems like things are getting worse, without any sign of that trend changing.
Evolution has always been buggy. Use Thunderbird or the KDE PIM suite. (Kmail, Kontact, Korganizer, etc).
They seem to think a $4000 computer is a disposable appliance like a toaster, and if you don't like it... well......
This is true, and well said.
Use Linux, and have complete control of the OS, but the level of maintenance and knowledge required (even today in 2017), is still several levels beyond any other OS, with no guarantees that even basic functionality that you take for granted in other systems will work. While improving, general driver support is still dubious, and you may as well forget about using the latest shiny if it uses a new chipset. Desktop software ubiquitous in other OSes flat out don't exist, and the OSS equivalents are... lets be honest here... crap. Even 'flagship' software like Evolution is inexplicably lacking so much polish, that you start to wonder why you bothered to install Linux in the first place.
So yeah... having seen computer history unfold over the last few decades, it honestly seems like things are getting worse, without any sign of that trend changing.
This is not true. I have been running Linux for years now (mostly Debian and derivatives) and there is virtually no maintenance involved. Knowledge? I have one of my co-workers running an Ubuntu laptop from System76 and he does everything he needs with no problems. I have my sister and niece on a laptop running Debian with LXDE and they have no trouble. Both of these people called me last week asking "How do I hook up my printer on this Linux thing?" I said, plug it in and off you go. Both of them did and were amazed at how easy it was. The one was a wireless printer. It just found it and set it up automatically. So far, there hasn't been a single thing either has not been able to do easily... although I did have to help my co-worker install some streaming media codecs.. but even Windows users run into stuff like that.
I have this problem on my 6s (1 year old phone). We went to the "Genius Bar" at the Apple store and were told "Sorry, bud." [Can't help you] That's an exact quote. It was then I realized that Apple products aren't for me. With an Apple product, if something is wrong, they will tell you what they're going to do about it, and that's the end of it. No consumer repairable or upgradable anything on them. As a long-time tinkerer and nerd, this sort of arrangement is not for me. Even to replace the battery on an iPhone, you have to pay a "Genius" at the Apple store $80 to do it for you and they have to take your phone apart to do it.
Other complaints: iTunes. What in the world? I can't just copy mp3 files on to my phone and listen to them? I have to "Import" them into iTunes and sync my phone on a Windows or Macintosh computer? Or how about no SD card slot? What kind of digital camera device has no removable media capability? Now on the latest iPhone they have removed the last standard piece of hardware on it: the headphones jack. But don't worry, you can buy new Apple wireless headphones for $160.00. This snotty little expensive eco-system is for the birds. Next phone will be Android where I have native compatibility with my Linux PC at home, an SD card slot, standard file formats and hardware/jacks, and way less expensive. Many Android phones have serviceable/upgradable parts too.
As far as I can see, Microsoft products are beginning to be regarded as legacy software that you can't get rid of yet.
I agree. After using Microsoft products for 30 years, we are moving away from them at home and at work. And Linux does almost everything we need. Quickbooks and AutoCAD are two things that are making it hard to make a clean break. At home, I'm running Quickbooks 2009 on an early-2000s era Windows XP computer for now - simply because to me, Intuit Quickbooks Pro for Windows is the ultimate accounting software for home/SMB. This could be run in a VM on Linux but my old PC needs a job. I am investigating switching to GnuCash at home to solve this dependency problem. At work, the CAD engineers will get Macs when its time to upgrade their machines. Its just a different set of evils there with Apple but at least we won't have to contend with the Windows 10 subscription model, telemetry, onerous privacy policy, forced updates and upgrades and constant UI changes, et al ad nauseum.
Microsoft is saying that their own SUPPORTED operating system is insecure.Why should we trust that their new one is not? (credit to Dataless on Spiceworks today for this thought).
Slashdot Mirror
This is a test of the internet kill switch system. Do not panic. This is only a test.
Yay! A trendy new free app to help me give all my personal data to someone else so I can start renting it back from them!
What home user is going to start paying and budgeting for their monthly Microsoft bill - to pay for their Microsoft Word and Excel? Seriously? We have been giddy happy Debian Linux users for years now and have not missed Microsoft at all, except for the Win7 VM we run to run Desktop Quickbooks - another great natively running application that the developer would like to permanently replace with an inferior subscription product. I'm going to get ahead of the game and switch to GnuCash for 2019 and be done with Quickbooks too before they abandon me altogether (by abandoning their desktop product).
Sure. I suppose Dell, Texas Instruments, Lockheed Martin, and Bell Helicopter Textron are all renters too. And all the idiots building the F-16s and F-35s. And only a failed backwards state would produce the most wind power in the nation, would have towns called Silicon Hills (Austin) and the Silicon Prairie (Dallas), have three Carnegie Tier One Research institutions, and have the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions (Texas Medical Center), perform the most heart transplants in the world, be home to the largest airline in the United States, have the second highest GSP in the nation at nearly $2T, a 6.4% unemployment rate, the joint-highest number of Fortune 500 companies in it (along with California), be the number 1 state in ag revenue, leading the nation in the production of a list of products so long there isn't room on Slashdot to list them all, and the second highest population of millionaires in the nation.
I was born in California and have lived there for many years. If that's what your civilized future looks like, you can have it.
Right, Texas, home of NASA, is inhabited by a bunch of stupid dinosaurs.
This will contribute to the further Californication of Texas.
I grew up in the Seattle area - home of Microsoft - using DOS and Windows and loved it, especially Windows 2000. We switched to Debian Linux at home years ago and haven't missed Windows. We run Windows 7 in a VM to run Quickbooks only until they require Windows 10 at which point we will ditch Quickbooks too. We are also switching away from Windows at work. I just received our new Synology NAS in the mail - The SBS 2011 server is being replaced by this Linux-based NAS that has more functionality (the kind that people actually want) at a fraction of the cost. Worker bees will run Linux - new System76 machines perhaps. LibreOffice, the GIMP, Inkscape, etc. - Linux software meets all of our needs here. We'll run Quickbooks on Windows in a VM if we have too until we switch away from it too. We are experimenting with LibreCAD for our 2D CAD needs. If it works, the CAD dept. will run Linux. If not, they may have to run Macs to have AutoCAD. We're ditching Microsoft for good though because of this nonsense.
It's just another way the world was better in the 1980s.
We have been using Debian Linux at home for many years now and have not missed Windows. I run Windows 7 in a VM so I can run Quickbooks. That's all I need it for. I am getting more and more friends and family on Linux all the time, and it is working for them too. My uncle is an old Microsoft guy (former contractor) and now runs Linux Mint at home and at work and loves it. I got my teenage niece on Linux and she *never* calls me with problems. She called me once about how to hook up her printer. I told her to plug it in-she said "Oh, it says 'configuring printer'. Oh, hey! It's printing!" - and this was a random Canon inkjet printer. Just worked. I have my sister-in-law on Linux Mint now too.. She paid $45 for a perpetual license of Moneydance software and switched from abusive Quicken and she is off and running, downloading from her bank, etc. No issues. She's a professor in a community college in L.A. and runs Mint on her personal laptop. I got my cousin's wife on Linux Mint as well. She's been running it for a year now and I haven't had a *single* phone call for support. My mom's computer is next! I love instlalling Linux for people because *they don't call me for support ever*. :)
Chrome is spyware so it gets all of your web-browsing data, so there is an advantage to them. Edge probably is spyware like Chrome, I assume not having ever used it.
Someone needs to open a shelter for battered Windows users where they can begin to heal and realize that they don't have to stay in an abusive relationship.
This is just more planned obsolescence PR--another nudge to go buy new chips. I'm still not buying new chips.
And when the AutoCAD folks require SolidWorks, what will be your answer? It's only available for Windows at the moment.
We don't need that. If they do that, we'll start seriously evaluating other .dwg file format based alternatives like LibreCAD or something. Our furniture drawing needs are quite simple.
I will run Win 7 as a guest under Debian until the heat death of the universe. If I'm ever required to run software that will only run under Windows Managed Desktop, it too will run in a VM. I'm learning a lot about iptables these days.
Cracking up lol here. I run Windows 7 as a guest under Debian at home so I can continue bookkeeping with Quickbooks for now. I also have a Windows XP machine with a bunch of awesome, incredibly useful, perpetually licensed software installed to it that I use daily and keep backed up with CloneZilla. At work, when Windows 7 goes EOL next April, we're switching from an SBS 2011 server to a Synology NAS (more functionality than SBS) and users will get Linux desktops, except for the CAD guys who will have to use Macs since they are stuck in that AutoCAD subscription racket.
What ever will I do without CLI emojis? And Candy Crush!?!?
As long as it continues to be a SaaS spyware product with forced updates/upgrades, and has an onerous, unacceptable privacy policy that claims the right to access all of my personal data, I don't care if they make it nicer than my favorite desktop Linux distro. I'll never use it.
We're switching everything to Linux--Mac where we are locked in to applications. We're not signing up for cloud anything. I hate this stupid trend.
This is good news, no doubt, and long overdue.. I mean, cumon, really? Microsoft Silverlight required? What was up with that anyway? We still won't resubscribe after the "Dear White People" debacle though. We're getting our streaming stuff elsewhere.
Even 'flagship' software like Evolution is inexplicably lacking so much polish, that you start to wonder why you bothered to install Linux in the first place.
So yeah... having seen computer history unfold over the last few decades, it honestly seems like things are getting worse, without any sign of that trend changing.
Evolution has always been buggy. Use Thunderbird or the KDE PIM suite. (Kmail, Kontact, Korganizer, etc).
They seem to think a $4000 computer is a disposable appliance like a toaster, and if you don't like it... well......
This is true, and well said.
Use Linux, and have complete control of the OS, but the level of maintenance and knowledge required (even today in 2017), is still several levels beyond any other OS, with no guarantees that even basic functionality that you take for granted in other systems will work. While improving, general driver support is still dubious, and you may as well forget about using the latest shiny if it uses a new chipset. Desktop software ubiquitous in other OSes flat out don't exist, and the OSS equivalents are... lets be honest here... crap. Even 'flagship' software like Evolution is inexplicably lacking so much polish, that you start to wonder why you bothered to install Linux in the first place.
So yeah... having seen computer history unfold over the last few decades, it honestly seems like things are getting worse, without any sign of that trend changing.
This is not true. I have been running Linux for years now (mostly Debian and derivatives) and there is virtually no maintenance involved. Knowledge? I have one of my co-workers running an Ubuntu laptop from System76 and he does everything he needs with no problems. I have my sister and niece on a laptop running Debian with LXDE and they have no trouble. Both of these people called me last week asking "How do I hook up my printer on this Linux thing?" I said, plug it in and off you go. Both of them did and were amazed at how easy it was. The one was a wireless printer. It just found it and set it up automatically. So far, there hasn't been a single thing either has not been able to do easily... although I did have to help my co-worker install some streaming media codecs.. but even Windows users run into stuff like that.
So nice of them to give us 3 days and no more to accept the updates and reboot! Microsoft: "All your computers are belong to us"
I have this problem on my 6s (1 year old phone). We went to the "Genius Bar" at the Apple store and were told "Sorry, bud." [Can't help you] That's an exact quote. It was then I realized that Apple products aren't for me. With an Apple product, if something is wrong, they will tell you what they're going to do about it, and that's the end of it. No consumer repairable or upgradable anything on them. As a long-time tinkerer and nerd, this sort of arrangement is not for me. Even to replace the battery on an iPhone, you have to pay a "Genius" at the Apple store $80 to do it for you and they have to take your phone apart to do it. Other complaints: iTunes. What in the world? I can't just copy mp3 files on to my phone and listen to them? I have to "Import" them into iTunes and sync my phone on a Windows or Macintosh computer? Or how about no SD card slot? What kind of digital camera device has no removable media capability? Now on the latest iPhone they have removed the last standard piece of hardware on it: the headphones jack. But don't worry, you can buy new Apple wireless headphones for $160.00. This snotty little expensive eco-system is for the birds. Next phone will be Android where I have native compatibility with my Linux PC at home, an SD card slot, standard file formats and hardware/jacks, and way less expensive. Many Android phones have serviceable/upgradable parts too.
As far as I can see, Microsoft products are beginning to be regarded as legacy software that you can't get rid of yet.
I agree. After using Microsoft products for 30 years, we are moving away from them at home and at work. And Linux does almost everything we need. Quickbooks and AutoCAD are two things that are making it hard to make a clean break. At home, I'm running Quickbooks 2009 on an early-2000s era Windows XP computer for now - simply because to me, Intuit Quickbooks Pro for Windows is the ultimate accounting software for home/SMB. This could be run in a VM on Linux but my old PC needs a job. I am investigating switching to GnuCash at home to solve this dependency problem. At work, the CAD engineers will get Macs when its time to upgrade their machines. Its just a different set of evils there with Apple but at least we won't have to contend with the Windows 10 subscription model, telemetry, onerous privacy policy, forced updates and upgrades and constant UI changes, et al ad nauseum.
Microsoft is saying that their own SUPPORTED operating system is insecure.Why should we trust that their new one is not? (credit to Dataless on Spiceworks today for this thought).