this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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I'm under no illusions that Linux is a viable alternative for everyone, but if you're just using your computer as a web terminal and light gaming system, a decent Linux system + Steam makes for a very usable option these days.
I have exactly one computer in my house that has Windows on it. It was provided by my employer, and I turn it on maybe once every two weeks or so, for special-purpose activities that can't be done on my Linux laptop. And most of the time, for most activities my Linux laptop is the clearly superior performer - it's not even close, despite their similar hardware specs.
I don't think everyone should - or can - switch. But if you've got an old beater laptop gathering dust, try popping Ubuntu or something on it, see how it performs. See if it's something you could legitimately switch to full or part time.
If everyone swapped to Linux, how quickly do you think it'd be as viable as Windows?
The problem with Linux as a desktop is that all the money and investment goes into server use cases. There really aren’t many companies investing into the desktop. I think Valve might he the only big company with a major interest in it, but they’re mostly focusing on their own closed ecosystem. It’s the classic chicken and egg problem.
So if magically we see desktop usage go up, investment will go up, and we’ll see much more momentum.
Regarding viability though, I think that’s not going to be solved with more investment. The problem is the millions of people making trillions of documents in MS Office. Microsoft goes out of their way to make it extremely difficult for competitors to achieve 100% compatibility. Unless that changes through regulation or something (since it’s clearly anticompetitive), I don’t think the hypothetical linux desktop wave will survive very long.
Adobe, Autodesk, and a few others are also at fault for not supporting linux, but that’s a different issue. They’ll go where the money is, and if Linux usage goes up, they’ll have to support it or risk losing their strong market positions.
It’s all an annoying chicken and egg problem.
Yep. I've worked with LibreOffice, it's not bad -- but it's not MS Office. Especially Excel, but even MS Word is better depending on your usage and how much you rely on things like VB macros. I'm in the process of trying out Linux distros to eventually move all of my machines over to Linux, but even then I fully expect to be running MS Office in a virtual machine on at least one of them.
Fortunately, I like the older versions of MS Office and I don't mind the extra setup, so it won't be a problem for me. But for anyone needing the latest iterations of MS Office, it's difficult to do on Linux from what I've seen so far, and maybe impossible for a total beginner without help.
Whats the latest working "old" version of MsOffice on linux these days?
Depends on what method you're using to try to run it. This article from January 2023 is a good overview:
https://itsfoss.com/use-microsoft-office-linux/
Didn't some municipality in Germany run Linux on all their desktops but had to stop, not because any fault with Linux but because of compatibility? The money saved on licenses was lost on having to find ways to integrate with other municipalities and problems when others had problems with their documents etc.
Munich. Staff were happy with it, compatibility had nothing to do with it, and it definitely had nothing to do with the Mayor rubbing Microsoft's back for moving their German headquarters back to Munich. Perish the thought.
They're more or less in the process of rolling back the rollback, though.
Getting Berlaymont switched over would be the big get. Those people are writing memos advocating for the adoption of free software solutions and open document standards using MS Office.
I remember reading someone responsible for the project saying something along the lines of hassle to send data to others. It could be another project or I could be wrong.
office.com is does all the document stuff basically at this point too. You don't really NEED to install office anymore.
Yeah I just use the web version of Office on the rare chance I need it, which is almost never.
Maya runs on Linux. They'd lose tons and tons of customers if they pulled support. The rule of thumb is "if it started on IRIX then now the main platform is Linux".
Would be much easier to switch to Linux if it had viable alternatives to the most commonly used software, I feel.
Unfortunately, Gimp still sucks monkey balls compared to Photoshop, and Libre Office, although close, is not MS Office.
Personally I've ever only used Gimp even when I was on Windows. I wonder what gimp could possibly even do better to compete with photoshop. There's also krita of course which is very popular but I've never tried it, gimp has just been everything I've ever needed from a drawing program.
Non-destructive editing is sorely missing, a.k.a. layer effects. Adding shadows and outlines in Gimp is a chore, and if you dare edit the layer you added a shadow to, you need to repeat the process again.
5 years for personal, 20 years for professional
Ummm... I'm thinking more like two years for personal, and now for professional. I'm a professional, using Linux as my daily driver.
The software has to be developed and then it has to be adopted
You can find companies running XP still just to avoid upgrading their embedded system