Better link (Ars Technica, English): arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/linux-on-the-desktop-pioneer-munich-now-considering-a-switch-back-to-windows/
Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
21–30 of 51 posts
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#22So far, it seems that people have missed the (to my mind) crucial statement that Microsoft is relocating its German headquarters to Munich. Could that have anything to do with the switch?
Well, it's not like it was far away before.
Old location: http://osm.org/go/0JBO8dB-?m=
New location: http://osm.org/go/0JBKuNE-?m=
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#23I'm sure many will say that the failure is the exact implementation of Linux, or miscalculated expectations, or incompetent sysops, or, or... They're all right. But it's also exactly the problem with Linux in a corporate environment. For better and worse, Microsoft have made Windows a single, predictable entity. While we developers see the myriad of Linux options out there as the result of freedom, customers see them…
I don't entirely disagree with you, I get what you're saying. But I definitely don't see Windows as being tightly focussed nor a single predictable entity. The differences, nuances, and upgrade paths between 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8 are as fragmented and confusing as possible. Linux isn't any better, this is true. But I don't buy that it's because of singular vision that Microsoft continues to dominate. Today Appl…
Apple has zero corporate presence because as far as I can tell, they don't really try. We tried setting up some Apple TVs at my work to use as an AirPlay target during presentations. But Bonjour can't cross subnets (or something similar), so we couldn't do it. And Apple were absolutely uninterested in providing support.
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#24Doesn't surprise me really. Despite the advances of some of the more popular distros, Linux still appeals to the power user, not to the casual user. I was reminded of that just recently when I was having to do some googling, sudo apt-get some libraries, and chmod some stuff, just to use a piece of fairly popular software, on Mint, one of the more approachable distros. I was struck by the thought "...I would never, ev…
The painful thing about this is it's trivial to fix this.
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#25Google Translate butchers the article badly, but https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr... suggests that this is more of a personal ambition of the vice-mayor and the city council is positioning itself firmly against any move back to Windows. Ultimately, it is more surprising that things even managed to remain this peaceful so far. Windows holds a huge home advantage simply by being the operatin…
Makes me wonder - why hasn't anyone made a Linux desktop environments that tries to mimic Windows look and behaviour as much as possible? IP/patent issues maybe? There would be a huge market for something like that, as this situation shows.
Check out Linspire (formerly Lindows): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linspire
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#26Google Translate butchers the article badly, but https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr... suggests that this is more of a personal ambition of the vice-mayor and the city council is positioning itself firmly against any move back to Windows. Ultimately, it is more surprising that things even managed to remain this peaceful so far. Windows holds a huge home advantage simply by being the operatin…
As one of those computer-literate relatives / offspring, I can't help but feel like I'm contributing to the problem by helping them "fix" their windows computers. So I've stopped doing it. I've explained politely but firmly that I'll be happy to help them transition to a Linux or Mac desktop because I use those in my daily life and am familiar with them, but I'm not helping them with their Windows 8 PC. I do not use…
>As one of those computer-literate relatives / offspring, I can't help but feel like I'm contributing to the problem by helping them "fix" their windows computers.
So I've stopped doing it.
This happened to me after I switched to mac. Not on purpose, I just stopped knowing how to troubleshoot.
Recently, my parents had to upgrade their old XP computer. They bought a mac. They were worried about learning Windows 8 without support.
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#27Google Translate butchers the article badly, but https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr... suggests that this is more of a personal ambition of the vice-mayor and the city council is positioning itself firmly against any move back to Windows. Ultimately, it is more surprising that things even managed to remain this peaceful so far. Windows holds a huge home advantage simply by being the operatin…
Makes me wonder - why hasn't anyone made a Linux desktop environments that tries to mimic Windows look and behaviour as much as possible? IP/patent issues maybe? There would be a huge market for something like that, as this situation shows.
There has been, like PCLinuxOS. The problem is that it's not just the interface keeping people off GNU/Linux, it's everything else, like software and hardware support.
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#28Google Translate butchers the article badly, but https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr... suggests that this is more of a personal ambition of the vice-mayor and the city council is positioning itself firmly against any move back to Windows. Ultimately, it is more surprising that things even managed to remain this peaceful so far. Windows holds a huge home advantage simply by being the operatin…
Makes me wonder - why hasn't anyone made a Linux desktop environments that tries to mimic Windows look and behaviour as much as possible? IP/patent issues maybe? There would be a huge market for something like that, as this situation shows.
I think this is an unstated (stated?) goal of Kubuntu, and there are some guides floating around to make it look even more like Windows.
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#29I'm sure I saw a HN link a month or two ago touting the great success of Munich's Linux move. Can anybody find it?
Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
As one of those computer-literate relatives / offspring, I can't help but feel like I'm contributing to the problem by helping them "fix" their windows computers. So I've stopped doing it. I've explained politely but firmly that I'll be happy to help them transition to a Linux or Mac desktop because I use those in my daily life and am familiar with them, but I'm not helping them with their Windows 8 PC. I do not use…
>As one of those computer-literate relatives / offspring, I can't help but feel like I'm contributing to the problem by helping them "fix" their windows computers. So I've stopped doing it. This happened to me after I switched to mac. Not on purpose, I just stopped knowing how to troubleshoot. Recently, my parents had to upgrade their old XP computer. They bought a mac. They were worried about learning Windows 8 with…
This had been one of the nice upsides of swapping to *nix. I can now claim ignorance of Windows problems.