This sounds like a problem with your organization. I use windows at the hospital where I work, and we don't run into these kinds of issues. Yeah it is rife with other issues like goading you into using microsoft edge, one drive, and more, but updates are handled by IT.
this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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Then come up with a better alternative to office 365.
Windows isn't keeping Microsoft around. Its their office software. (and azure)
what makes their office software so much better than, say, libreoffice? i don't work an office job, and haven't had the misfortune of running windows since i dropped windows 7, but when i did switch, the programs seemed basically the same. office software seemed like a solved problem by then. what new features has microsoft added and convinced people they need that foss options don't have?
They are extremely integrated into the rest of the ecosystem and are insanely pervasive among 9-5 desk jockies. They aren't gonna relearn a spreadsheet software especially when it doesn't have all the same features as the thing they have been using for 20 years. Not to mention they dont actually give a shit about how much their company is paying for it. The majority of these people dont know what FOSS is and are just using computers because that's what pays their rent.
Libre office is very far from being a drop in replacement for 365 and will most definitely never replace it. At the end of the day its all about userbase. Why do people still use twitter and Instagram even though there are FOSS alternatives that may be even better? Because that's what everyone else uses and most people just dont care.
Good question. I wish I had a better answer than what I'm about to say.
It just is.
I'm a diehard anti-Windows, Linux-lovin', FOSS crusader myself, but if Microsoft released a copy of MS Office for Linux (as a one-time-purchase), I would buy it today.
For most tasks, you're right, there's not much you can't do in LibreOffice. But the interface is clunkier. Excel makes it easier to make good-looking spreadsheets. And as much as it hurts me to say, looks matter when dealing with nontechnical folks.
Plus there are some things that are just more intuitive in Excel, like certain kinds of charts and graphs. There are some advanced features of Excel that don't even exist in LibreOffice. Like chart styles and certain team collaboration features.
Compatibility is... okay... For the most part, but having it all guaranteed by a bunch of paid devs would be really nice.
There is a more detailed list here
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Actually staff and commercial vendors are keeping Windows. Plus no one gets fired for choosing MS products. That IT staff are all Windows certified means Windows will always be the answer. That users are similarly trained and need certain Windows software will mean they demand it too.
I'd be so bold as to say about 90% of windows business users are only using it for office/excel/outlook
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I've been pretty lucky that I've been able to use Linux on my work laptop the past 3 jobs in a row. It really helps that we use Linux production in and when I tell them that I haven't used Windows in nearly a decade, they're usually willing to let me work with Linux.
funny how with sooooo many updates, Windows are still very vulnerable. You buy a Windows PC, you better equip Antivirus software too; it is like bread and butter. On Linux and also Mac, you never need to worry about these things.
Why would someone work on hacking Linux when it's 2% of the market share?
Also, this is just false....
On Linux and also Mac, you never need to worry about these things.
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Most hacks interact with Linux because its in almost every corporate environment. People can still get scammed on Linux on their personal device too since rdp clients are compatible and a common method used. Linux Desktop is 4% market share (according to steam surveys?) but server infrastructure is largely Linux based, from firewalls to Web servers to database infrastructure. Most people host some form of Linux environment and lots of ransomware actors have Linux specific encryptors.
Think of it this way: if the environment you just hacked has their corporate SQL database with all of their trade secrets sitting on Linux infra, and you're a ransomware actor, you're not going to give up and go hack someone else. Well, not if you're any good I guess.
The Linux community is better at finding and detecting this stuff due to more people looking at it and open source making it available etc. It's attack surface (software that could be attacked) is still huge and the danger comes from outdated versions and misconfigurations just like anything else.
Patch often, install from trusted sources, have backups. That's really all you can do. Every environment has vulnerabilities. They sit at desks and push keys on the keyboard.
People still install antivirus? It's not 2005 anymore.
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Come work at Meta, we have Fedora Linux laptops :)
Edit: Maybe we should crowd source a list of companies that let you use Linux. I've worked at startups and straight up told the CEO "I'm installing Linux" and that has worked, but corporate companies you can't get away with that
Does using fedora help manipulate teenage girls into eating disorders or is that an unrelated team?
Unrelated :P
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Fuck Windows and Microsoft really.
🙏🙏🙏 testify, brother.
Hey you can't just assume someone on a pro-linux rant on Lemmy is a man....
Jk
I'm happy my company basically issued a ban on Windows without pre-authorization. We're entirely a macOS and Linux shop.
I feel your pain. Aside from being slow as balls despite modern hardware, my Windows PC has a habit of occasionally locking up when I RIGHT CLICK on something T_T
Then it takes several minutes of no start menu/task bar, no trackpad gestures, no file explorer, etc before everything goes back to normal... for a few seconds before explorer crashes again. The only solution is a reboot.
I'm genuinely scared of doing anything on this machine.
Some governments outside the US either already have or are ditching Windows for Linux.
The differences in sheer speed and responsiveness is something FOSS alternatives need much more publicity about. When the requirements for one product are "help the user do what they want" and the requirements for another product are "synergize the KPIs of these 53 stakeholders in our trillion dollar conglomerate, monetize our market position in every way possible, and check the minimum viable checkboxes to keep end users engaged with the brand" it shows!
Windows to Linux is of course the most significant and worthwhile. As I like to describe it, even using the most full-featured distros out there (Linux Mint Cinnamon gang represent!) any flavor of Linux is like greased lightning compared with windows. And I mean Windows 10, not even 11.
A few weeks ago I turned on an old secondary desktop PC that had been powered off for a month. It had numerous updates, everything except installing a new named version. Even the kernel. I decided to time it. From the time I opened the software update GUI -- including typing in my password, letting it download, letting it install, getting the "yo, reboot when you're ready," etc -- it was done in 5 minutes. And those were 5 minutes where the computer was totally usable. Running the current version of the full featured Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.1 on a PC from 2011!
My favorite recent example is the switch from Plex to Jellyfin. Now granted, fully self-hosting means more IT admin type stuff for me so that family members and I can securely connect remotely. But god damn if every single app I have tried doesn't feel like warp speed compared with the Plex versions. Did you know that watching my media using the WebOS app on my LG TV does not have to be dog shit slow? And don't even get me started on phone apps like Finamp. (it really whips the jelly's ass?)