3 ms·

Things running the browser makes Linux really practical for all my “office/outlook” tasks. The web as a stable platform seems to enable cross platform work. Wh

Things running the browser makes Linux really practical for all my “office/outlook” tasks. The web as a stable platform seems to enable cross platform work. When I worked at a hpux shop we had to go to a separate machine use some Citrix thing to log onto windows NT to use internet explorer to do our time cards… we’ve come a long way. Libre office works quite well (especially for csvs) I’m on popos (Ubuntu varriant) and it really works reliably.

gspencley 2y ago
We can't know for sure, but I suspect this is the reason that Linux use has grown so much according to StatCounter over the past couple of years. I'm also starting to think that, for the very first time, Linux is now the "stable" option. Microsoft and Apple, being businesses, are constantly trend-chasing as the tech industry loves to do. I'm not averse to new features, but I want to be able to evaluate new things and choose whether or not to use them on my own terms. When cloud became popular, suddenly the operating system was updated to require accounts when none existed before, iCloud and OneDrive were "in your face" and you didn't necessarily ask for this. Then there's things like Ads in the Windows Start Menu. With Linux, the trend-chasing just isn't there. You might have a software update introduce a bug, that risk can't go away no matter what system you're on, but you're not going to have your user experience change in ways that you didn't expect or want because the vendor decided so. Of course, with SaaS apps that happens routinely at the application-level. But at least our desktop environments and user experience with respects to the OS can stay the way we're used to and like. Even with games, which is the typical use-case for sticking with Windows, Steam is growing the number of available titles for Linux and I'm increasingly impressed. Not every game I want is available on Linux of course but it is trending in a positive direction.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
_fat_santa 2y ago
> When I worked at a hpux shop we had to go to a separate machine use some Citrix thing to log onto windows NT to use internet explorer to do our time cards… we’ve come a long way. Completely off topic but I'm working on a time tracking app now and these types of stories always give me a chuckle.

gspencley 2y ago

We can't know for sure, but I suspect this is the reason that Linux use has grown so much according to StatCounter over the past couple of years. I'm also starting to think that, for the very first time, Linux is now the "stable" option. Microsoft and Apple, being businesses, are constantly trend-chasing as the tech industry loves to do. I'm not averse to new features, but I want to be able to evaluate new things and choose whether or not to use them on my own terms. When cloud became popular, suddenly the operating system was updated to require accounts when none existed before, iCloud and OneDrive were "in your face" and you didn't necessarily ask for this. Then there's things like Ads in the Windows Start Menu. With Linux, the trend-chasing just isn't there. You might have a software update introduce a bug, that risk can't go away no matter what system you're on, but you're not going to have your user experience change in ways that you didn't expect or want because the vendor decided so. Of course, with SaaS apps that happens routinely at the application-level. But at least our desktop environments and user experience with respects to the OS can stay the way we're used to and like. Even with games, which is the typical use-case for sticking with Windows, Steam is growing the number of available titles for Linux and I'm increasingly impressed. Not every game I want is available on Linux of course but it is trending in a positive direction.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

_fat_santa 2y ago

> When I worked at a hpux shop we had to go to a separate machine use some Citrix thing to log onto windows NT to use internet explorer to do our time cards… we’ve come a long way. Completely off topic but I'm working on a time tracking app now and these types of stories always give me a chuckle.