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Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

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Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#281

So, I'm going to chip in with a different perspective from that of some other commentators on here. The overwhelming majority of computers in the entire world, used by our entire species, have windows as their OS. While I applaud the use of alternatives to windows and it's apps, universities teach it because it is what their graduates will use in the real world. Governments use it because while it has it's flaws, it…

> The overwhelming majority of computers in the entire world, used by our entire species, have windows as their OS

The majority of computers in the world run Linux. Windows only has majority share in the desktop space .

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're talking about running a few mail server, network shares, and an office suite (LibreOffice if you want). Any university's in-house IT department should be able to pull that off, and it's exactly what many did for a very long time.

This. Not long ago, every organization had their own email server. It's only in the last 10-15 years or so that gullible IT managers drank the cloud kool-aid.

When I started doing cloud there were two options at my old company: AWS or Azure. I went for Azure.

Now I do m365 consulting and some Azure and I feel terrible. First of all those are terrible products, they lock you in heavily, they are overly complex. I would love if we started selling sovereign cloud solutions, open desk etc and I think our customers would be interested too. But we don't.

I'm actually thinking about starting my own business.

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#283
post #278
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will Microsoft or the US government stop anyone from using those Linux contributions now that they've been contributed? They're GPL licenced. They're open source. They're freely available. They're sanction proof.

The point is using Microsoft stuff, instead of alternatives, not what Microsoft can do.

No, the point is precisely what Microsoft can do. This is all about sovereignty of the computers you use, the software you use, and control of your data.

But I'm glad to see you concede the point.

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#284
post #277
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Proton represents Valve's failure No, it represents a market opportunity. WINE (a European led project) effectively makes Win32 and DirectX into Linux APIs. It works well for games. You can bring those games to Linux with less effort. And Valve can offer SteamOS (based on Arch Linux, also a European led project) for less cost. You don't need Visual Studio. JetBrains has nice, cross-platform IDEs and they're a Europ…

Now go see how many game studios use JetBrains. As for Proton, don't build castles on foreign kingdoms => OS/2 "runs Windows better", Netbooks. Lets see how long Valve manages to keep their castle up.

> don't build castles on foreign kingdoms

Microsoft is a foreign kingdom to Europe. That's part of the problem.

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#285
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've gone without Microsoft products for many years now. It's SOOOOO much better.

I ditch Windows in 1996 and went Linux. Really SOOOOO much better. :D

You'd have to pay me to use windows and office, which is exactly what's been happening at work, essentially.

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often the rule is that one gets the vote in local elections after living for some time, but only citizens can vote in national elections (Parlament, President). This makes sense. If you want to fully participate in a society, you should integrate and become a citizen.

I personally believe that voting should be based on residency, not citizenship. If you live in the country you can vote. If you don’t live in the country you can’t vote. Simple. No taxation without representation.

Vulnerable.

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#287
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just the UI ,as you can see with Blender it goes toe-to-toe with the paying big suites like Maya and Autodesk, a legacy of its dvelopment being proprietary.Comparad to GIMP et al difference is stark. Most of those UI/usability changes are market specific, like in my post Corel has speciaized to cater to lawyers so their workflow reflets that. LibrOffice and the others are highlygeneric , even MO as bloated as it…

You're talking about business workflows, and that makes sense. But this article is about universities, they have far less Microsoft-specific document editing workflows, compared to established enterprises. At least, that was my experience when I was a part-time teacher at a university - LibreOffice did the job just fine for me. And although other professors used MS Office, none of them did anything fancy (they didn't…

Yeah for faculty i guess the basic featureset would suffice. For the students however its basically a immersion in the tools/workflows that they would encounter post graduation. Knda the way the propreity software is heavily subsidised to get it into schools , and even allowing to some extent piracy.

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#288

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The executive can't bypass the courts with an executive order, unless you've seen something I haven't. The reason Congress doesn't do anything is because it ceased to be a functioning body sometime around the AUMF. Congresspeople realized that doing anything other than what the donors paid for is fraught with risk. Better to watch things being done and complain about it. The UK went the same way, concentrating all po…

> The reason Congress doesn't do anything is because it ceased to be a functioning body sometime around the AUMF. That was kind of my point, I just didn't want to write an essay about it. Congress does nothing therefore the only tangible change happens from one guy signing whatever he wants to sign into the law, effectively reducing three branches of government down to one. That said, I sure can point to for example…

> people that have absolutely nothing in common

they have a lot in common.

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#289
I read quite a lot of bashing of various national and transnational European institutions for relying so much on US tech. But what about YOU, european? gmail, facebook, instagram, twitter, whatsapp, macbook, iphone, uber, steam etc etc are all working fine for you?

Re: Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?

#290
post #284
post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now go see how many game studios use JetBrains. As for Proton, don't build castles on foreign kingdoms => OS/2 "runs Windows better", Netbooks. Lets see how long Valve manages to keep their castle up.

> don't build castles on foreign kingdoms Microsoft is a foreign kingdom to Europe. That's part of the problem.

Which is why I listed several Microsoft dependent technologies that Europe kingdom guards have to stop the merchants from Microsoft kingdom trade at the borders.

Without wagons carrying Windows game boxes, there is nothing at the SteamOS theater to play, and then the actors have to actually come up with their own original plays.

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