3 ms·

Found the programmer... You have an extremely skewed view of what "relevant software" is, if you believe this. The second you try and use a computer for anythi

by dTal 2y ago

Found the programmer... You have an extremely skewed view of what "relevant software" is, if you believe this. The second you try and use a computer for anything professional, besides nerd stuff and a few key "creative" areas that Apple has cultural cachet in like music production and graphic design, you are absolutely going to find yourself reliant on some completely entrenched "industry standard" piece of software that's been around for many decades and only runs on Microsoft Windows. Autodesk still sells 3ds Max for a couple grand, and it's Windows-only. Hell, even TurboTax only runs on Windows. And if you manage to dodge that, there's bound to be some critical piece of hardware that can only be controlled from a Windows computer. The biggest propaganda win that Microsoft pulled was getting nerds - the biggest loudmouths about software freedom - off their case. 90s style free software fanaticism is basically dead. Meanwhile the rest of the world is absolutely still locked in to Windows. Know how you can tell? Because Windows is now widely regarded as a pile of shit, riddled with adware even out of the box ("Candy Crush in the Start menu") and yet people still use it, because they have to. >E.g. today you can just ditch Windows and install Linux on that same old laptop and wouldn't lose anything important. I challenge you to try this with a nontechnical friend who uses a computer for work. They will be screaming at you to put it back like it was within the week. I say this as a die-hard Linux user.

chasd00 2y ago
> The biggest propaganda win that Microsoft pulled was getting nerds - the biggest loudmouths about software freedom - off their case it still amazes me how the newer generation of technical people see Microsoft as non-evil or, in some cases, even the good guy. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was re-convincing the world he doesn't exist. edit: wasn't the google motto "don't be evil" basically meant to mean don't be Microsoft?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- bongodongobob 2y ago
  Try easily finding admins and heldesk staff to manage your 1000+ org using something other than Active Directory and M365. MS absolutely owns this space.
int_19h 2y ago
Thing is, most people don't use a computer for "anything professional" these days beyond Outlook and maybe Office at work, plus LOBs which are almost always web apps these days. In fact, it increasingly feels like desktop itself is relegated to this kind of use, with smartphone becoming the primary computing device for most things.
- another2another 2y ago
  > plus LOBs which are almost always web apps these days. And this is where Linux won over MS - it wasn't on the desktop (which is still a mostly terrible experience to this day), but in the server room. Coupled with Java or Perl and OSS Databases (MySQL and Postgres), people began moving software off the desktop and onto websites. Better web browsers (something else MS tried to dominate and were rebuffed) also helped. This cut MS out of the loop on new popular web servers (apache), protocols, languages and infrastructure - probably deliberately. This then allowed alternative platforms like the new iPhone and later android to gain a niche which they've since expanded massively. I think people saw the monoculture that was developing around Windows (from days of XP onwards), and didn't like it, so actively sought to make their own path, Linux became was keystone there (could have been BSD though also...).
ThrowawayR2 2y ago
> "The biggest propaganda win that Microsoft pulled was getting nerds - the biggest loudmouths about software freedom - off their case." Microsoft didn't lift a finger. In the early years while they still had developer fanaticism behind it, the FOSS movement delivered Linux, which was an adequate substitute for Windows, but failed to deliver an adequate software ecosystem to compete with the Windows software ecosystem to jumpstart Linux desktop adoption. Excel and Active Directory are big examples but I'm sure people can come up with others. So users stayed where the software they needed was. FOSS momentum really began to falter once it became clear that none of the proposed business models that were based on being free and open, OSI style, were working and the money hungry beancounters started moving to faux open source licenses like shared source. But Microsoft had nothing to do with that either other than simply surviving long enough for it to happen. > "Because Windows is now widely regarded as a pile of shit..." People eat at McDonalds and drink coffee at Starbucks by the millions every day. It all might be shit but being consistent has a value of its own.

by dTal 2y ago

chasd00 2y ago

> The biggest propaganda win that Microsoft pulled was getting nerds - the biggest loudmouths about software freedom - off their case it still amazes me how the newer generation of technical people see Microsoft as non-evil or, in some cases, even the good guy. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was re-convincing the world he doesn't exist. edit: wasn't the google motto "don't be evil" basically meant to mean don't be Microsoft?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
bongodongobob 2y ago
Try easily finding admins and heldesk staff to manage your 1000+ org using something other than Active Directory and M365. MS absolutely owns this space.

int_19h 2y ago

Thing is, most people don't use a computer for "anything professional" these days beyond Outlook and maybe Office at work, plus LOBs which are almost always web apps these days. In fact, it increasingly feels like desktop itself is relegated to this kind of use, with smartphone becoming the primary computing device for most things.

another2another 2y ago
> plus LOBs which are almost always web apps these days. And this is where Linux won over MS - it wasn't on the desktop (which is still a mostly terrible experience to this day), but in the server room. Coupled with Java or Perl and OSS Databases (MySQL and Postgres), people began moving software off the desktop and onto websites. Better web browsers (something else MS tried to dominate and were rebuffed) also helped. This cut MS out of the loop on new popular web servers (apache), protocols, languages and infrastructure - probably deliberately. This then allowed alternative platforms like the new iPhone and later android to gain a niche which they've since expanded massively. I think people saw the monoculture that was developing around Windows (from days of XP onwards), and didn't like it, so actively sought to make their own path, Linux became was keystone there (could have been BSD though also...).

ThrowawayR2 2y ago

> "The biggest propaganda win that Microsoft pulled was getting nerds - the biggest loudmouths about software freedom - off their case." Microsoft didn't lift a finger. In the early years while they still had developer fanaticism behind it, the FOSS movement delivered Linux, which was an adequate substitute for Windows, but failed to deliver an adequate software ecosystem to compete with the Windows software ecosystem to jumpstart Linux desktop adoption. Excel and Active Directory are big examples but I'm sure people can come up with others. So users stayed where the software they needed was. FOSS momentum really began to falter once it became clear that none of the proposed business models that were based on being free and open, OSI style, were working and the money hungry beancounters started moving to faux open source licenses like shared source. But Microsoft had nothing to do with that either other than simply surviving long enough for it to happen. > "Because Windows is now widely regarded as a pile of shit..." People eat at McDonalds and drink coffee at Starbucks by the millions every day. It all might be shit but being consistent has a value of its own.