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France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

techcrunch.com

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Re: France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

#501

Post by soiltype »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #470
1970-01-01 wrote: post #416

>The French government did not provide a specific timeline for the switchover, or which distributions it was considering. Do they realize they need to pick a LTS distro now? You can't mix and match distros without having a massive IT and user retraining budgets.

Why would you need any user retraining? All distros are basically identical. The only real difference is whether you spell "package manager" as apt, yum, or dnf.

This comment is completely out of touch with how typical office workers use their computers. "Package manager" is your feldspars. But it's even worse than that, because you don't train for the typical employee, you train for the least-technical employee lest they become completely useless overnight.

Re: France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

#502

Post by earthnail »

WaryByDesign wrote: post #485
LtWorf wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not aware of Microsoft's economic footprint in the Munich region, but I doubt it's significant. Perhaps be aware before explaining everyone how things really are?

[flagged]

I've never seen a user replace all their comments with

"[Yeah, if I'm just gonna be down-voted to oblivion regardless of my participation in the comments, good luck with your 'meaningful discussion'}"

making it impossible for others to read their original comments. If this now becomes a trend I feel like there may be a need to change the rules around editing.

Re: France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

#503

Post by frugalmail »

Any closed source, centralized system is going to be higher risk than an open source distributed system that can be independently verified and audited by multiple parties.

You just have to be willing to put in the investment to verify/review with parties that meet your needs.

Re: France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

#506

Post by 1970-01-01 »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #470
1970-01-01 wrote: post #416

>The French government did not provide a specific timeline for the switchover, or which distributions it was considering. Do they realize they need to pick a LTS distro now? You can't mix and match distros without having a massive IT and user retraining budgets.

Why would you need any user retraining? All distros are basically identical. The only real difference is whether you spell "package manager" as apt, yum, or dnf.

>All distros are basically identical.

Have you ever used the Linux OS??

Re: France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

#507

Post by zahlman »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #470
1970-01-01 wrote: post #416

>The French government did not provide a specific timeline for the switchover, or which distributions it was considering. Do they realize they need to pick a LTS distro now? You can't mix and match distros without having a massive IT and user retraining budgets.

Why would you need any user retraining? All distros are basically identical. The only real difference is whether you spell "package manager" as apt, yum, or dnf.

For people with a level of technical literacy that has them interested in posting on HN, sure. But for typical government workers? I imagine the differences are going to be pretty significant. They're not programmers or "devops" people.

We're talking about users who are going to do almost everything through the GUI, and who will associate the "distro" with the default choice of DE/WM/etc. stack in whichever flavour of whichever distro it is. Understanding what a "package manager" even is, will be the responsibility of "IT" specialists. Assuming they don't decide that only, say, Flatpak-installable software can be approved.

We're talking about massively bureaucratic institutions that have been steeped in Windows orthodoxy for decades. That's the administration policy they know, so it's what they will forcibly adapt to Linux.

You're going to need user retraining because the GUI has its own file manager program and no matter which one you choose (and they will choose exactly one) it is not Explorer. Because LibreOffice is not the Microsoft Office suite, and neither is any of its FOSS competitors. And so on and so forth. There's no telling what idiosyncrasies people depend on. In organizations like this I really doubt you can count on everyone being generically computer literate. I really doubt that generic computer literacy (as opposed to demonstrated competence with specific applications) was ever part of the hiring requirements.

Re: France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

#508

Post by yoyohello13 »

_blk wrote: post #451
1970-01-01 wrote: post #416

>The French government did not provide a specific timeline for the switchover, or which distributions it was considering. Do they realize they need to pick a LTS distro now? You can't mix and match distros without having a massive IT and user retraining budgets.

They likely don't. It's a purely political move not a technical move. With the average length of the French work week, this will take a while to implement anyway. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great thought but I don't think it's more than a short-sighted reaction. Munich unfortunately faltered after a few years.

> With the average length of the French work week, this will take a while to implement anyway.

35 instead of 40? I don't think an extra 5 hours a week is really going to move the needle in a meaningful way.

Re: France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

#509

Post by zahlman »

soiltype wrote: post #501
ErroneousBosh wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you need any user retraining? All distros are basically identical. The only real difference is whether you spell "package manager" as apt, yum, or dnf.

This comment is completely out of touch with how typical office workers use their computers. "Package manager" is your feldspars. But it's even worse than that, because you don't train for the typical employee, you train for the least-technical employee lest they become completely useless overnight.

> "Package manager" is your feldspars.

I hate that I understood this.

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