2 ms·

> I don't think when you install an operating system, it should install an office productivity software suite such as Microsoft Office or Libre Office by defaul

> I don't think when you install an operating system, it should install an office productivity software suite such as Microsoft Office or Libre Office by default. I don't see why not (apart from the Microsoft example which would be monopoly abuse). If I install a standard Linux desktop distribution (rather than a server oriented one) then I'd be quite happy to have LibreOffice or Gnumeric etc. installed. Office tools are used so frequently that it makes sense to include them along with e.g. photo editing tools.

wongarsu 2y ago
And even ignoring OneNote and trial version of MS Office in more recent Windows versions, Windows has always shipped with WordPad. Microsoft's vision in the 90s was that the operating system should come with basic productivity tools like a plain text editor (notepad), a rich text editor suitable for writing letters (wordpad), a graphics editor (paint), software for sending and receiving fax and scanning documents (Windows Fax and Scan), along with a media player, a web browser and some games. You could be productive in the office with just a plain Windows install.
hakfoo 2y ago
I find it weird if a distribution doesn't have it. At the end of the day, a big selling point for FOSS products is always going to be the free-beer aspect. Bits are free, take as many as you want. But there's also the appeal of centralized management through the distribution. Even if it's technically an opt-in checkbox during the installer, it's convenient that 95% of your software comes from a central source with a single standard way to get updates. I'd expect this is even more exciting at scale-- if you're managing 5,000 desktops, the FOSS answer is "have a cron job run apt-get update;apt-get upgrade a few times a month" and the Windows answer is "here's an aftermarket tool, and you're probably going to have to script a bunch of individual installers and deal with licensing gimmicks to make them all properly launch."

wongarsu 2y ago

And even ignoring OneNote and trial version of MS Office in more recent Windows versions, Windows has always shipped with WordPad. Microsoft's vision in the 90s was that the operating system should come with basic productivity tools like a plain text editor (notepad), a rich text editor suitable for writing letters (wordpad), a graphics editor (paint), software for sending and receiving fax and scanning documents (Windows Fax and Scan), along with a media player, a web browser and some games. You could be productive in the office with just a plain Windows install.

hakfoo 2y ago

I find it weird if a distribution doesn't have it. At the end of the day, a big selling point for FOSS products is always going to be the free-beer aspect. Bits are free, take as many as you want. But there's also the appeal of centralized management through the distribution. Even if it's technically an opt-in checkbox during the installer, it's convenient that 95% of your software comes from a central source with a single standard way to get updates. I'd expect this is even more exciting at scale-- if you're managing 5,000 desktops, the FOSS answer is "have a cron job run apt-get update;apt-get upgrade a few times a month" and the Windows answer is "here's an aftermarket tool, and you're probably going to have to script a bunch of individual installers and deal with licensing gimmicks to make them all properly launch."