Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely. And then one could start wondering if the direction might reverse.
to europe? hardly. maybe to east asia ...
France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
101–110 of 325 posts
Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
The demonym for France is "French," so it's not wrong (even if it doesn't sound right.)
It's not completely wrong, it will be understood, but it is ungrammatical and a clear marker that the speaker is not native, similar to getting adjectives in the 'wrong' order ('a big tasty sandwich' sounds more natural to a native speaker than 'a tasty big sandwich', even though the latter makes sense and will be understood). Demonyms for historical neighbours of England have irregular forms when speaking of a parti…
> but wouldn't say 'a Thai', 'a Swedish', 'a Sudanese'
You also don't say 'a Japanese' but that is an extremely common error with Japanese English speakers when they are first learning.
I am looking for a citation, but I seem to recall the casual rule of thumb is something to do with the ending of the nationality (so '-ish', '-ese','-ch' etc. you can't put 'a' in front). I think the more formal explanation likely centers around rules relating to indefinite articles.
Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#103This sounds interesting on paper but I wonder how likely it is they actually pull it off. Even putting aside the logistics of installing new oses across a bunch of workstations, migrating from legacy Active Directory domains is something even small enterprises struggle with.
Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
The demonym for France is "French," so it's not wrong (even if it doesn't sound right.)
It's not completely wrong, it will be understood, but it is ungrammatical and a clear marker that the speaker is not native, similar to getting adjectives in the 'wrong' order ('a big tasty sandwich' sounds more natural to a native speaker than 'a tasty big sandwich', even though the latter makes sense and will be understood). Demonyms for historical neighbours of England have irregular forms when speaking of a parti…
As a Welshman, I’d say North/South Walian are more common among the populace!
Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
"As a French" ne veut rien dire en anglais. Il faut rajouter man, person ou quelquechose. Frenchman, French person, French citizen.
Nor "Frenchie" while we're on the topic. It sounds really weird. It's also commonly used to refer to a french bulldog !
I would think of using 'Frenchie' to refer to a person as being affectionate banter. Like 'Yank' for Americans or 'Canuck' for Canadians. It's not incorrect, but would be inappropriate outside of an informal context.
French people have 'rosbif' to refer to the English and Australians have 'pom' or 'pommie'. You wouldn't call the prime minister that at a diplomatic event, but it's not offensive to call your friends that.
Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the UK two decades ago (admittedly not the shortest time) I heard plenty of terrible words and treatment of Pakistanis (which seemed to be used as a good enough bucket for all brown skinned people) and people with red hair. A general disdain for Continentals was a little more subdued. When I was younger France was famous for it's poor treatment of foreigners and non-francophiles. Consider all the politics and ange…
> There are many examples and some of them are not without basis but while things have gotten less stabby-stabby there's some fairly brutal attitudes and behaviors. Yeah, I won't claim that everyone is treated equally or even fairly in Europe, and some places are absolutely worse than others, in many different ways. I'd still claim we no longer do "expulsions" of entire ethnoreligious groups anymore in the 21st centu…
I agree things have improved but the GP to my first post set context to:
> Europe's treatment of perceived outsiders
You seemed to be picking a rather narrow slice of the scope.
Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
"As a French" ne veut rien dire en anglais. Il faut rajouter man, person ou quelquechose. Frenchman, French person, French citizen.
Pedantry attracts dislike. One may be right to state something, yet wrong to call it out in public.
> Pedantry attracts dislike. One may be right to state something, yet wrong to call it out in public.
Ironically most French people I know would be perfectly receptive and happy to receive corrections in grammar, English or otherwise.
The French tend to be particularly pedantic about the teaching of their own grammar. Most native French speakers are quite used to being swiftly and firmly corrected on grammar from an early age.
Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#108The chain of facts makes me sad:
1. The French government announces its digital agency is to write a plan, by the end of the year, so that France could reduce its extra-European dependencies. The communiqué is wrapped up with minor facts (e.g. the digital agency is to switch to Linux on dozens of computers) and big promises from Ministers.
2. Various news sites state that "France is ditching Windows", at least in their titles.
3. On new aggregators, most people react to the titles. Some do read the articles. Very few realize it's about promises to act toward a vague goal, with an unknown calendar, and many political uncertainties.
I would have hoped for more cautious reactions. It's not a leading act, not a reason to be proud, not a example to follow. It's just words.
The French government already made similar promises in the past. Sometimes, it did happen, like the Gendarmerie (rural police) switching to a Linux distribution. Sometimes, it didn't, like the pact signed by the Army Ministry with Microsoft in 2022: many clauses are still secret, even the prices.
Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Astroturfing around this is getting suspicious. It's perfectly possible for people to be passionate about the subject.
I've never met a real human that was passionate about what OS a government worker in some local French commune uses, but it's the hottest topic on HN behind AI
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Re: France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Okay, and what value would that provide? I'm not interested in games.
The value is that you can have an effective tool to learn something new. I'm not quite sure I understand your question.
Okay, I don't think it would be all that effective and I don't see how it could be.
I learn things by doing them, not by playing guessing games.