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

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

#721

Post by TRiG_Ireland »

pragma_x wrote: post #585
alecsm wrote: post #565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux was created by an European. And there are many European distros. Even Canonical is European. But that's besides the point. The point is no company owns linux so you're not tied to big tech even if they are the biggest contributors to the kernel.

Moreover for the folks in the back row... We may see Canonical or other commercial Linux vendors come forward with a government or enterprise-flavored solution for all this. But the important thing to keep in mind is that they're not selling Linux per-se. As the GPL prohibits this, these companies sell support for their Linux distro instead. That revenue goes into improving Linux and maintaining their distro (e.g. Ub…

The GPL doesn't actually prohibit selling software. It's just hard to do because anyone you sell it to can redistribute it.

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

#722

Post by embedding-shape »

UK-Al05 wrote: post #718
embedding-shape wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes yeah, but clearly not in this case, if you took the time to actually read the article. You don't ask entire ministries and public operators to formulate a migration plan from Windows to Linux with a relatively short deadline just for negotiation purposes or just for the fun of it, you do that once you're committed to actually migrating. This is not just a pilot project or some local administration doing an…

I've seen multiple countries do exactly that, then quietly drop it after a few years. If it doesn't look serious that doesn't actually help negotiate.

> I've seen multiple countries do exactly that, then quietly drop it after a few years

I generally consider myself well read when it comes to Linux, Europe and governments, and I can't recall a single country that announced a country-wide requirement to produce a report for how to move to Linux, deadline ~6 months, what countries are you thinking about here?

I know in France, Germany and Spain have had a lot of local efforts through the years, but never at this sort of scope, so really interested what exactly you're talking about here.

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

#723

Post by pizza234 »

VertanaNinjai wrote: post #701
pizza234 wrote: post #683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because I would have to reboot into windows including any active applications I have? In a gaming-only setup, Windows requires virtually no maintenance. Plus gaming itself is a monotasking activity. I actually find it positive having to reboot, so I start with a gaming session, and I only play, and when I'm done I'm done. I get the appeal of everything-in-Linux (it was my setup) but it's also a hassle.

> In a gaming-only setup, Windows requires virtually no maintenance. This is not remotely true anymore with Windows updates automatically restarting computers, windows updates pushing breaking changes especially in regards to GPU drivers, and more anticheats requiring secure boot.

These points are not (all) technically correct; for example, Windows does not restart "automatically" - it gives multiple options (this is important for dual booting).

Besides that, the root discussion is having a dual boot vs a virtualized windows; maintenance applies the same to both, it doesn't disappear when virtualizing Windows - the different is (the value one places) to context switching.

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

#724

Post by pizza234 »

davkan wrote: post #696
pizza234 wrote: post #680

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used vfio in the past, and it's not true that setups like vfio or custom kernel/virtualization "just" work. For starters, custom setups need management. There are even latest generation GPUs whose drivers are not fully VFIO compatible. VFIO had a host of problems that are rarely mentioned, because VFIO "just" works: power management, card driver, compatibility, audio passthrough or maybe not, USB passthrough or may…

VFIO is in a significantly better place than it was 10 years ago though. Proper IOMMU groups are more common on motherboards, flashing gpu bios less necessary, etc. and most importantly the community is bigger and older so there is a more knowledge about parts compatibility and vfio setup. That said it’s almost entirely unnecessary with the state of Linux gaming now.

Better or not, even the latest generation AMD GPUs don't automatically guarantee a very stable VFIO, which makes the technology still immature.

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

#725

Post by davkan »

pizza234 wrote: post #724
davkan wrote: post #696

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VFIO is in a significantly better place than it was 10 years ago though. Proper IOMMU groups are more common on motherboards, flashing gpu bios less necessary, etc. and most importantly the community is bigger and older so there is a more knowledge about parts compatibility and vfio setup. That said it’s almost entirely unnecessary with the state of Linux gaming now.

Better or not, even the latest generation AMD GPUs don't automatically guarantee a very stable VFIO, which makes the technology still immature.

Sure, in 10 years we’ve gone from bleeding edge, with server/workstation motherboards being necessary, to immature, with having to do a little homework on which consumer hardware to buy. It’s not like VFIO is something for the general public anyway.

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

#726

Post by bcjdjsndon »

chocochunks wrote: post #340
bcjdjsndon wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Things run very well out of the box. > a good number of wheels, pedals, joysticks, VR headsets, and other wild and wacky input devices might not work that well or not at all > If a game has an aggressive anticheat, like Battlefield 6 or Valorant, it will not work and you can forget about it > Not sure about VR, but I know it was a bit dire 1-2 years ago The determination of the average Linux user to ignore the faul…

There's Windows games that don't work on Windows 11 but do on Linux (e.g., Red Alert 2). There's wacky gaming peripherals that work on Linux but not on Windows 11 (Try an OG Xbox controller for example). Hell, MS has even removed support for a bunch of VR headsets when they nixed support for Windows Mixed Reality. Why do Windows users ignore the faults of Windows?

> There's Windows games that don't work on Windows 11 but do on Linux (e.g., Red Alert 2).

What version of Linux and what distro? And which distro/versions DONT they work on? Such is the sad state of compatability in the Linux world, that I had to ask that question. I'm not touting windows by any means, and I'm actually considering Linux these days, but man is it a mess designed by autists like torvald who only care about coding, not actually using, linux

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

#727

Post by ekianjo »

fluoridation wrote: post #693
ekianjo wrote: post #667

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you dont need to run Windows all the time, I guess?

If you reboot you don't need to run Windows all the time, either.

Dualbooting is very dangerous with Windows having the nasty habit of making GRUB very unhappy now and then when it updates. Much safer to have Windows INSIDE a VM.

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

#728

Post by kgwxd »

ethbr1 wrote: post #296
kgwxd wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No alternative, you can't realistically fully control everything everyone does on every device in their possession. It was job security for useless control freaks, the products never should have existed.

Spoken like someone who has never provided computers to non-technical, minimum-wage users.

I absolutely have, which is how I know what I said is true. I know who gets blamed in that scenario too. The point of that job is to be the scapegoat when things go horribly wrong. And they will, because you can't realistically ever control a device in someone else's possession. The application level is where all expectations of control and liability should end.

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

#729

Post by robertlagrant »

dubcanada wrote: post #608
robertlagrant wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine the biggest thing they need to open up is Outlook.

Outlook has never been a requirement for work, you can very easily use any email client or outlook.com web app. Outlook is arguably the easiest to replace. Excel is the only thing holding Office 365 together. Word, Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint are all very easy to replace

Every organisation I've ever worked in, as an employee and a consultant, has used Outlook for email, meeting scheduling, and room booking, and the underlying Active Directory that manages employee logins, permissions, and how it all links to (Windows) device compliance via GPO.
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