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Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

arstechnica.com

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Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

#31

Post by pippy »

4bpp wrote: post #9

Google 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…

He'll be getting paid by MS to position himself in supporting windows. Even in medium organisations you'll be shocked by the freebies and goodies you'll get by supporting their infrastructure.

Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

#33

Post by vacri »

bane wrote: post #13

The problem ultimately is that any Linux distribution turns what are usually normal user-level issues into sys-admin issues.

The problem really is that for those of us who grew up with windows, we encountered all the oddities and breakages gradually over time. Then when we switch to linux, we encounter all the new oddities all at once, and have a preconceived idea of how an operating system should work and even look like.

Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

#34

Post by MichaelApproved »

truantbuick wrote: post #29

I'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?

At the bottom of HN is a search box you could use to find old articles. I searched for "Munich" and found the article as the top post.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7720219

Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

#35

Post by ronwl »

egor83 wrote: post #19
4bpp wrote: post #9

Google 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.

Linux Mint with Cinnamon?

I think its good enough since I've managed to convert at least 42 user from Windows to that. Its been almost 2years and they still stick with that.

Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

#36

Post by adamfeldman »

truantbuick wrote: post #29

I'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?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7720219

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8002194

http://hn.algolia.com/#!/story/forever/prefix/0/munich

Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

#38

Post by vacri »

lostcolony wrote: post #6

Doesn'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…

I'll take "fix things on my own machine" above "try and figure out if today's random shareware is safe to download from this site". I googled just as much in my windows days as I do now in my linux days, but it was for different things.

"...I would never, ever want to have to walk (elderly neighbor who has asked me for tech support help in the past) through this".

Having worked in support, there's nothing magical about Windows that makes tech naifs work well with it. Windows still needs experienced people to fix it for you.

Out of curiosity, what was the software you had to chmod for? Was it the kind of software that a tech naif would be interested in?

Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

#39

Post by dang »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #21

Better link (Ars Technica, English): arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/linux-on-the-desktop-pioneer-munich-now-considering-a-switch-back-to-windows/

Thanks. We changed to that from https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr....

Re: Linux-on-the-desktop pioneer Munich now considering a switch back to Windows

#40

Post by sanderjd »

pistle wrote: post #20
_delirium wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried Windows recently? I haven't taken the plunge to move my relatives to Linux yet, but my experiences supporting relatives trying to use some mixture of Vista, Win7, and Win8 are extremely bad. I feel there was a period when many "normal" people did figure out Windows 95/98/XP and it could be taken as a default graphical computer interface. But the experience they gained has bitrotted as Microsoft has cha…

All my relatives use Win7 or Win8 and the Win8 ones are the happiest, love OneDrive, etc. etc. My sister then switched their phones over to Lumia 1020s because of Win8 and bought a Yoga 2 Pro. Her comment: "Wait. So what's all the fuss about? I love how this stuff all just works together and it's pretty much exactly like Win7." I guess I should just be proud of the genius that is my sister who figured it all out on h…

Interesting. My anecdotes are different. Windows 7 and Win Phone made sense, while Windows 8 was a nightmare. I guess YMMV.
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