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What kind of an assumption is this. Most people need an operating system they are comfortable doing their daily work, not just a browser and a notepad. Jesus ch

What kind of an assumption is this. Most people need an operating system they are comfortable doing their daily work, not just a browser and a notepad. Jesus christ, not all non-devs work only in office.

KingMachiavelli 7y ago
> Most people need an operating system they are comfortable doing their daily work. True, and Windows is very entrenched partly due to Office and legacy software depending on it. Chromebooks and Mac OS seem to be adopted without to much hindrance from a UI perspective. i.e How much more populate would Chromebooks be if they ran the full desktop Office suite? > not all non-devs work only in office. Certainly not all but a lot of jobs, particularly in management consist mostly of emails, meetings, spreadsheets, word documents + a few web apps. Also, lets not forget about all the jobs where the computer isn't really part of the job at all; it's just a tool to communicate (email) and for document production/consumption. These machines are basically kiosks that Microsoft has milking licenses out of for Windows + Office + 365 Storage. Some businesses can switch to Google but many rely on existing Excel spreadsheets elsewhere in their organization so there is a lot of momentum to switch away from non-desktop spreadsheet and document applications.
- ClumsyPilot 7y ago
  I disagree with this 'legacy software's moniker, all the most productive software falls into this category. Look at the Autodesk Suite, Adobe Suite, Enterprise Architect, blender3D, Unity game engine, a traditional IDE like Jetbrains or VisualStudio. They have waay more power than the their web-based or, worse yet, electron competitors.
  - KingMachiavelli 7y ago
    I was only referring to software that's still tied to Windows out of legacy/inertia. I'm not saying all desktop applications are legacy. But It's appropriate because if those application were going to be rewritten today, there is no way they would tie them exclusively to the Win32 API. Blender, Jetbrains IDE's, and even VSCode (pretty sure Unity is multiplatform too) are all working just fine with multiplatform and aren't dependent on any particular OS. If you've ever had to deal with Autodesk like software, it's a mess of old code and poor practices. It's a nightmare getting that kind of software working for Enterprise/Educational environments. Just looking at the Enterprise Architect site brings me back to the days when software used to come on actual disks in large, book-like boxes. Yes, the software is useful and has yet to be replaced by something more modern, whether web based or at least multi-platform. But that's why it's entrenched in many businesses and Microsoft is riding on the back of that by making sure it's tied to their platform.
    - ClumsyPilot 7y ago
      I agree in principle, i really want most software to be multi-platform. However I cannot ignore the reality that multi-platform software is fraught with peril, either for the developer (QT and the like) or for the user (electron). Each platform moves, introduces updates, removes support and features (looking at you, OsX!). For some people the choice is: single platform, or no software at all.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
Yeah, it's a common sentiment by people who are completely out of touch with how people work outside of dev.
mekoka 7y ago
You're also making the assumption that Linux would be difficult to use outside of Office to non-devs. I challenge the assertion that a distro like Ubuntu in 2019 is any harder to use than Windows nowadays. Would you make the same assertion about something like Windows XP? Ubuntu has almost 20 years on Windows XP. What have people used their current OS for that is so different from what they did with XP? I think that there's validity in the argument that the availability of a solid suite of key professional software (e.g. Office, email client, Internet browser) would influence the adoption of Linux by organizations. Love it or hate it, nothing compares to MS Office on any platform by far, unfortunately it's also one of the last few of those key professional app that's not available on Linux.

KingMachiavelli 7y ago

> Most people need an operating system they are comfortable doing their daily work. True, and Windows is very entrenched partly due to Office and legacy software depending on it. Chromebooks and Mac OS seem to be adopted without to much hindrance from a UI perspective. i.e How much more populate would Chromebooks be if they ran the full desktop Office suite? > not all non-devs work only in office. Certainly not all but a lot of jobs, particularly in management consist mostly of emails, meetings, spreadsheets, word documents + a few web apps. Also, lets not forget about all the jobs where the computer isn't really part of the job at all; it's just a tool to communicate (email) and for document production/consumption. These machines are basically kiosks that Microsoft has milking licenses out of for Windows + Office + 365 Storage. Some businesses can switch to Google but many rely on existing Excel spreadsheets elsewhere in their organization so there is a lot of momentum to switch away from non-desktop spreadsheet and document applications.

ClumsyPilot 7y ago
I disagree with this 'legacy software's moniker, all the most productive software falls into this category. Look at the Autodesk Suite, Adobe Suite, Enterprise Architect, blender3D, Unity game engine, a traditional IDE like Jetbrains or VisualStudio. They have waay more power than the their web-based or, worse yet, electron competitors.
- KingMachiavelli 7y ago
  I was only referring to software that's still tied to Windows out of legacy/inertia. I'm not saying all desktop applications are legacy. But It's appropriate because if those application were going to be rewritten today, there is no way they would tie them exclusively to the Win32 API. Blender, Jetbrains IDE's, and even VSCode (pretty sure Unity is multiplatform too) are all working just fine with multiplatform and aren't dependent on any particular OS. If you've ever had to deal with Autodesk like software, it's a mess of old code and poor practices. It's a nightmare getting that kind of software working for Enterprise/Educational environments. Just looking at the Enterprise Architect site brings me back to the days when software used to come on actual disks in large, book-like boxes. Yes, the software is useful and has yet to be replaced by something more modern, whether web based or at least multi-platform. But that's why it's entrenched in many businesses and Microsoft is riding on the back of that by making sure it's tied to their platform.
  - ClumsyPilot 7y ago
    I agree in principle, i really want most software to be multi-platform. However I cannot ignore the reality that multi-platform software is fraught with peril, either for the developer (QT and the like) or for the user (electron). Each platform moves, introduces updates, removes support and features (looking at you, OsX!). For some people the choice is: single platform, or no software at all.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago

Yeah, it's a common sentiment by people who are completely out of touch with how people work outside of dev.

mekoka 7y ago

You're also making the assumption that Linux would be difficult to use outside of Office to non-devs. I challenge the assertion that a distro like Ubuntu in 2019 is any harder to use than Windows nowadays. Would you make the same assertion about something like Windows XP? Ubuntu has almost 20 years on Windows XP. What have people used their current OS for that is so different from what they did with XP? I think that there's validity in the argument that the availability of a solid suite of key professional software (e.g. Office, email client, Internet browser) would influence the adoption of Linux by organizations. Love it or hate it, nothing compares to MS Office on any platform by far, unfortunately it's also one of the last few of those key professional app that's not available on Linux.