By the way I have been using Debian on my own systems for a decade so I really don't have any love for the company who felt the need to put computer science back a few years.

I do not see how some people not being able to figure out that LibreOffice is an office suite proves Linux cannot easily replace Windows. It only proves: that some people are stupid, and; the municipal government failed to provide employees with the half-hour of training that would have helped the cerebrally-challenged.

I have to ask you Ardvark71 do you really expect that many people forced to accept ANY different OpSys would have zero complainers? Apparently of all those forced, only 2 officals are bitching and moaning. I think it is worthy of note that Munich reported that they did in fact save $11,000,000.00 yet these 2 ignore this fact and actually state a change back would have no cost. Both can't be true.

There is now almost no software for Windows that doesn't have a viable Linux alternative, at the very least in typical government office work. Example- There is nothing that Skype can do that alternatives, even Google Hangouts, can do as good or better. This doesn't even begin to mention the main reason governments in particular prefer Open Source Office apps which is they simply cannot be saddled with a simple text editor or word processor that becomes incompatible with itself every few years. Documents from well over 20 years ago must remain readable today and tomorrow.

Not at all. For me, the main point is that Linux has a ways to go before adoption can be a "seamless experience," meaning that transition from Windows isn't always full of the problems that I see on this forum, such as wireless adapters that almost always work in Windows but never in Linux, at least until the appropriate drivers/firmware are installed. And even that can be an adventure that would severely test the most skilled of contortionists.

I don't think folks in the community realize (or perhaps want to accept) that the majority of the population who use computers aren't interested in having to learn a command line language or code hacks to troubleshoot or install drivers (or other software) on their system. They are barely able to turn the computer on and do basic tasks, all of which require a GUI. They just want it to work, without a lot of fuss or problems. I think that's reasonable and I don't think Linux can provide that yet to the degree Windows can. I realize that a lack of OEM support is partially responsible, so what can the community do to obtain more of this support? But this is only a part of the problem...

If the community wants to keep the status quo in this respect, that's fine. Linux has grown and it's an excellent operating system in several ways. However, until some pressing issues are addressed, I don't think it can capture a significant percentage or even the majority of users (or market share.)

Regards...

How many people working in offices know how to trouble-shoot and install drivers with Windows? Those business have "IT" people to keep the computers running. In the article linked to above, the complaints were not about trouble-shooting. They were about a few people not being able to figure out LibreOffice Writer is a word processor.

That's true, I was considering individual home "end users" who don't have access to IT staff to help fix problems for free, unless they have tech savvy teenage son or daughter on hand.

Regards...

Microsoft software is malware: http://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malwa...rosoft.en.html

It's even worse than you thought.

https://youtu.be/y0vRwLyJi2M

Hey guys.

Think about the blessings that Linux has provided.

Linux has a learning curve, but it is well worth it.

:-)

I'm surprised that MS decided to let people know they will be heavily spied on when using windows 10 in their eula. MS is usually hush-hush about stuff like that. On youtube, there are many videos on disabling windows 10 updates and some privacy settings. But Ars techica did a test bed on a windows 10 system and disabled everything relating to updates and privacy and windows 10 was still communication to the windows servers.

I don't know if this is true, but if it is, it's a bad job from MS giving it's users a false sense of security.

I don't use windows 10, but an OS that does this is a violation of our privacy. People should protest or complain to there local congress office about this type of practice MS is doing. And, if our government don't listen or care, then I assumed the government ( aka NSA ) is one of the many trusted partners of MS.

I suspect that it is the private sector, not any agency of Government, that is truly behind this. Information like this is wonderful (ahem ...) "marketing data."

. . .

And this practice will blithely continue, until World War III breaks out "in the comfort of your own home." The enemy ... from half a world away, whose people the United States Government has been bombing for almost twenty un-declared years now "half a world away (it doesn't even make the news)" knows e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g about you, about the innermost dealings of your governments and companies, and even has u-n-f-e-t-t-e-r-e-d access to them.

How did this happen, you ask? Because you never considered that "Knowledge is Power," and that Power can be used for good or for ill. Power can be used for War, and War is never far away from the human psyche.

Furthermore, it happened because you sought to give this access to them. They promised to work for cheap, and to accept conditions of servitude, so that, among the (you pretend not even not to know how many) millions of people that you freely "imported" under the H-1B, L-1 and other non-immigrant visa programs you created, an unknowable number of enemy agents would be precisely where they needed to be. They smile congenially at you, like all the rest of them do.

But there's more: there's also "the happy little Cloud." Shut down your entire data-center and "move it off-shore," along with a copy of all your data, software, and processes, with a VPN connection back into your sanctum sanctum, shared in real time by the cheaper-labor people people that you trust. Why, "outsource everything" and let them take it away completely.

It's "the Capitalist's dream." It's what gave us indentured servants, coolies, slaves, and modern-day slaves (called "guest workers") who pick our cotton avocados. But, it has not yet mixed with "Knowledge is Power."

(And "non-immigrant enemy agents" is only one possible scenario. There are many others. "Create opportunity," and it will be exploited.)

The "knowledge" that can be gained, and that is unprotected, is as utterly-complete as anything could be. You could today look out the window at the occupants of Times Square, identify every single one of them by the emanations of their telephones, and "data mine" this to perfect knowledge (within 7 feet) of which side of the bed they sleep on in their houses. In fact, from ten thousand miles away, you know more about them than their lovers. (You even know who their lovers are.) You're not the NSA. You don't need to be the NSA. You're just data-mining publicly available information which was furnished to you.

They are: "the perfect targets." They'll never know what hit them. And, when they do know, their terror will be complete, and all the trillions of dollars spent on "national security" will be of no value. You can't run away from perfect knowledge of you, accumulated quietly over a period of years and now kept ... who knows where. There's no place to hide, even if the Internet was then completely turned-off.

The Internet presented us with "something that has never before existed in all of history." And we didn't know what to do with it. We admired the beautiful shine of the barrel of the gun that we eagerly pointed at our own heads.

My name is: Cassandra.

I understand, but the worst part of the eula is people are agreeing to give MS permission to access their files. If I were a MS windows user that would draw the line for me. That's like a stranger going through your house and checking what you have.

MS says windows 10 purpose is for their users well being. It seems like MS is treating their users like 5 year olds and they need supervision and monitoring from MS.

BTW, I've seen some videos that windows 7 and 8.x will have this snooping feature as well. MS would have to display a terms and service agreement for you to approve before doing this. Right?