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About 2-2.5 months ago I got tired of Windows 10's shenanigans and went full time Linux (Ubuntu MATE) on my personal laptop. Also installed a new SSD so my boot

About 2-2.5 months ago I got tired of Windows 10's shenanigans and went full time Linux (Ubuntu MATE) on my personal laptop. Also installed a new SSD so my boot times are less than 15 seconds from cold to ready desktop including entering a password. So far I've been able to figure out everything I need. I may have to do our taxes on my wife's computer, unless the tax software will run under wine. Although I suppose I could run a VM with Win 10 just to do the taxes.

gvb 10y ago
> VM with Win 10 just to do the taxes. That's what I've been doing for quite a few years now (WinXP, then Win7) and it works well. Catching up on Windows updates once a year takes almost as long as doing my taxes. :-O The other alternative is to do your taxes online, but that is a Really Bad Idea IMHO.
- r00fus 10y ago
  Why is doing your taxes online so bad?
  - gvb 10y ago
    An large amount of very sensitive information from a huge number of people is stored "in the cloud" making it a big target for hackers[1]. In addition, the attack surface of a company providing tax services on the internet is huge compared to a powered down VM on a machine that I know is physically secure and (IMHO) well secured against hackers. [1] In a famous apocryphal story, Willie Sutton was asked by reporter Mitch Ohnstad why he robbed banks. According to Ohnstad, he replied, "Because that's where the money is." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Sutton#Sutton.27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Sutton#Sutton.27s_law
  - pmoriarty 10y ago
    I don't want some company or its employees (or possible people/companies they give/sell/leak information to) to have total knowledge of my finances. Maybe I'm fighting a losing battle, but I still value my privacy.
- gnud 10y ago
  Don't live in the US, so doing my taxes is no reason to stick with Windows =)
deathanatos 10y ago
TurboTax's online tax software has worked well for me for several years under Linux. (Just saying that Windows isn't required for taxes…)

gvb 10y ago

> VM with Win 10 just to do the taxes. That's what I've been doing for quite a few years now (WinXP, then Win7) and it works well. Catching up on Windows updates once a year takes almost as long as doing my taxes. :-O The other alternative is to do your taxes online, but that is a Really Bad Idea IMHO.

r00fus 10y ago
Why is doing your taxes online so bad?
- gvb 10y ago
  An large amount of very sensitive information from a huge number of people is stored "in the cloud" making it a big target for hackers[1]. In addition, the attack surface of a company providing tax services on the internet is huge compared to a powered down VM on a machine that I know is physically secure and (IMHO) well secured against hackers. [1] In a famous apocryphal story, Willie Sutton was asked by reporter Mitch Ohnstad why he robbed banks. According to Ohnstad, he replied, "Because that's where the money is." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Sutton#Sutton.27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Sutton#Sutton.27s_law
- pmoriarty 10y ago
  I don't want some company or its employees (or possible people/companies they give/sell/leak information to) to have total knowledge of my finances. Maybe I'm fighting a losing battle, but I still value my privacy.
gnud 10y ago
Don't live in the US, so doing my taxes is no reason to stick with Windows =)

deathanatos 10y ago

TurboTax's online tax software has worked well for me for several years under Linux. (Just saying that Windows isn't required for taxes…)