Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wine to run Office on Linux?
Only old versions of Office work on Wine, unfortunately
Office 2007 was the peak and it’s been all downhill since then.
Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
151–160 of 514 posts
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#152Yeah, I just got a msg the other day from someone who's saying "Windows 11 won't work on my computer, what should I do?" .. I'm suggesting they try Linux. All they do is browse the web and play card games. Linux has way the hell more games than Windows comes with, and it doesn't bundle ads with its games either!
It's kind of primitive but AisleRiot is my favorite solitaire application. It's simple, it's lightweight, it's either included with or easy to install into any distro. I play FreeCell on there all the time.
nice, thanks, I'll take a look!
Oh, yeah, this is absolutely perfect. Thanks again, that's amazing! It was really the only thing I wasn't sure about upfront for the person I'm thinking of. So awesome :D
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#153I should mention that ubuntu phones home a lot.
I like the fact that it has done a lot for the linux ecosystem, but there are a few things:
- it has a privacy policy
- it forces updates
- their hardwired package ubuntu-advantage-tools cannot be uninstalled without breaking the os
- motd has telemetry and nags
- can't disable snaps
- whoopsie uploads crashes to canonical
now, this is different from windows because the os is mostly open source, but it is important to know not all linux distros are the same
(note that because the source is generally open, you can probably figure out how to "fix" most of these problems, but not easily and they are moving targets)
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple has never really tried to compete for the corporate desktop. It’s too low margin for them.
This. Google and Microsoft are the two juggernauts in this arena, Apple products live on the periphery of the corporate cloud ecosystem.
Based on the corporate IT emails I receive from time to time, it also sounds like Apple enterprise management controls are weak to non-existent. A few times a year, there is a blast sent out to not upgrade your corporate iphone/mac because of some incompatibility. In the Windows world, IT would just hold back the patch without requiring N users to do the right thing.
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
Make sure libreoffice is included, and ublock origin. Show them how much faster it is, with fewer ads, and no subscription to Microsoft required just to write a document. The business customers might want to know that databases are a lot cheaper on Linux, especially for small business. Literally spoke to an automation company the other week that told me "we have to delete a bunch of stuff every time the database gets…
I can't imagine trying to replace MS word with libreoffice for businesses. I respect the project and the complexity of the task, but it's just not there for even light professional use. As an example, I recently submitted a manuscript following standard format [0] with libreoffice. Nothing difficult, just basic professional functionality. The only way to do it involved editing global default page styles (because cust…
What exactly did you have to change?
FWIW I'm not trying to interrogate you, I'm just trying to understand your perspective. From mine I just checked their checklist [1] and it's unclear to me what on that list you're suggesting required advanced features in Libre Office to achieve.
[1] - https://www.shunn.net/format/2024/01/a_brief_manuscript_form...
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Choose the right distro and automate updates of possible. Mint is the softest landing for Windows users. But they never ever ever ever update anything on their own. Ever. Forever.
Yea I need to think of a good way to automate updates..
`unattended-upgrades` package on Debian handles this well.
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Draw.io is my go-to tool on any platform now. I did an entire bachelors and masters using it for all my diagrams. I like OmniGraffle but personally I didn't think it was worth it when draw.io was free anyway. Like I don't feel it was $150-$250 better than draw.io, especially since it's not cross platform.
Have you ever tried Excalidraw? It doesn’t have as many features but with the keyboard shortcuts you can whip up diagrams so fast. It’s just so nice to draw in.
We use Excalidraw at work. I have a friend who uses it for everything.
I've played with it, and it seems pretty ok; the only reason I haven't used it much is because draw.io has been good enough, but I really should give it more of a test drive before I draw any conclusions.
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're going to do this, set them up with something they can get commercial support for. IMO, if a user's needs can be met with a Chromebook, Linux + a browser + email + Zoom/or whatever would suit them well. I think you're going to have a hard sell if they rely on Office or other Windows-only software, and although well meaning, it might be doing them a disservice if they can't run the software they're accustomed…
What are the arguments for Office at the small business or individual level, as opposed to Libre Office? For most users, they'll be able to reacclimate in a matter of hours to near 100% competence. And they now are in an ecosystem that won't constantly try to squeeze you for rent. I think this is even more true in the era of LLMs, because on the rare difference somebody might get hung up on - there's no longer real n…
> What are the arguments for Office at the small business or individual level, as opposed to Libre Office?
You have to open and edit documents you get from outside of the office. Clients regularly send me spreadsheets that don't work in Libreoffice, for example.
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#159This will only work if the customers have a considerable amount of experience with computers already. For the vast majority of people, Linux is going to present insurmountable challenges which will only lead to serious frustration. I say this as someone who uses Linux daily. It's simply not ready for mass exposure. The second a layman wants to do anything remotely custom with it, they are going to struggle.
I will hazard that the modal computer user in 2025 has never installed anything on their desktop computer. Almost everything is done through the browser these days - unfortunately.
Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There is also a real potential for abusing TPMs or cryptographic co-processors to enforce remote attestation. People here REALLY need to start understanding this issue. Remote Attestation is the kind of tech that if abused will end free computing over night.
Remote attestation is already here with Play Protect/Integrity on Android, and Microsoft's Pluton co-processor enables the same thing
See also:
- Private Access Token [0]
- Web Environment Integrity [1]
among other proposals.