Going from Windows to Linux then back to windows sucks.
found an old unused laptop in my office the week i got the job. that week, i nuked it and installed deb12. i’ve since installed an inventory server in a virtual machine, and i’m afraid to break everything so i guess it’s gonna run deb12 for the forseeable future.
I don’t work at an office, but at a bicycle workshop. We just have the one computer at the frontdesk to register sales and new memberships (we’re a non-profit association). So the PC doesn’t have TPM 2.0 so I convinced the board to install linux on it, since it’s a security risk to keep using Windows after it’s going to be discontinued. But that wasn’t easy ! Especially because one of the board member is an Apple fanboy and keep saying things like: “If it’s free, it’s probably not very good”. :[
Especially because one of the board member is an Apple fanboy and keep saying things like: “If it’s free, it’s probably not very good”. :[
Thanks for ruining my evening, as this made me unnecessarily angry.
Ah… Sorry
“If it’s free, it’s probably not very good”
That’s so funny to me. I used linux a long time ago but at some point I decided I didn’t want to have computer-as-hobby anymore so I got a Mac. And to be fair it did serve me well as intended for a few years. But over time, despite my intentions, I slowly started installing more free software, getting comfortable with the command line (I’d always been a GUI-only linux user), and trying to recreate certain aspects of the Linux experience that I missed.
The unfree of Mac OS led to so much frustration. I was constantly running up against Apple’s antagonism towards libre software — despite the underlying BSD/unix skeleton. Being unfree was really not very good at all. Eventually I was forced to the conclusion that I would be better off with linux. And the Apple hardware was end-of-lifed with no more OS support so I had to chose. In fairness to Apple, it did allow me to very slowly transition to linuxy ways. To some extent the contradictions and problems of Mac OS led me to learning the command line and all kinds of other things. If I stayed on Linux the whole time, perhaps I never would have had the motivation to get over my distrust of terminals. And if for some reason I had chosen Windows instead of Mac OS as my non-hobby computer, I doubt I would have gotten into any of it. I would probably just hate computers like so many people I know.
1000x happier this way. I’m even back to computer-as-hobby. Which to be clear is no longer required to run linux. Just my nature.
As to your board member, if it makes him feel better, I’ll sell him a USB key with Linux on it for as much as he wants to pay me. So it will give the feeling of being valuable to him.
In the words of Jamie Zawinski, “Linux is only free if your time has no value.”
Is not really relevant any more. OpenSUSE has been rock solid for 8 years. NixOS, just fill in config and it all just works
+++ for NixOS. I run it across an average daily fleet of 40k systems. We’re automotive, and nix is used everywhere.
I started unplugging the Ethernet cable when I leave for work so IT can’t do any behind the scenes when I’m away.
It’s not your computer, why do you care?
All that’s going to do is make you an annoyance and potentially end up with you being called into a special meeting.
Your work computer likely contains personally identifiable information. Microsoft very likely has a significant profile on what you do at work and could conceivably link that to your other identities outside of work.
Are they actually doing that? It’s hard to say. Microsoft does have relationships with data brokers like Snowflake Inc. and SCUBA plus its own internal capabilities like Xandr Inc.
Cross pollination is more than possible when employees use personsal devices to login to work accounts. Most of the people that I work with login to Slack on their personal device using Microsoft Entra SSO.
I’ve had Linux on my work desktop for the past twenty years.
Me too, I have also refused job offers to places that don’t allow Linux on the workstations.
Yea but what distro ? Yes you will be judged!
Debian, of course.
youll need to update your work desktop for the first time soon
I got to update my WSL on my work machine to Debian 13. Very exciting.
Yes, the company OS policy doesn’t specify which OS to use as long as it actively supported and the security tooling can be installed.
I reckon the latter part might be the problem for a lot of people.
A lot of enterprise security software has a Linux version, because a lot of servers run Linux, and they need to have the software for compliance. There is no shortage in that space.
Small company, I’m friends with IT dude so he told me I could do it as long as I didn’t go to him for tech support. He then came to me asking for help installing linux on his machine. LMAO
Uno reverse
I didn’t need to.
Once I had to write a utility and made sure it works on other OSes except GNU/Linux. The CTO asked in review why doing so? I explained, he said no, make it Linux only, if somebody needs to use it, they will have to install Linux then use it.
Something I appreciate about that place till this day.
I started unplugging the Ethernet cable when I leave for work so IT can’t do any behind the scenes when I’m away.
Speaking as an IT guy, don’t do this. Its not your computer, and it’s our job to manage it. If you don’t like the company’s policies go work somewhere else. This is how you get my boss to call your boss into a meeting.
Convince?
Im a software dev. If you don’t use linux or macos youre a weirdo
I’m a huge fan of yours.
If you use macos but are deploying to Linux, you’re also a weirdo.
+10 masochism points if you’re using docker on MacOS as well
Wait, docker exists for mac?
Some software branded as Docker for Mac exists for Mac.
Obviously Docker uses Linux kernel constructs not available on other platforms so on Mac (and Windows) they embed an entire Linux VM and attempt to integrate it with the host system storage, networking and resources.
This works about as well as it sounds, I/O performance in particular is terrible and trying to share folders between the host and the VM (to for example mount the code you’re working on) is super slow and annoying
“But Macs are the best for development, they’re so user friendly” - not even close lol
that’s not entirely true for windows. windows does have containers natively, and there is a native docker engine for windows that runs native software
they also support containerd and some other runtimes
in certainly not an advocate for windows, but it does exist if you’re a complete masochist
As an engineer, yes. I managed to get a pilot program off the ground at my last company. As a recently public company with a lot of IT debt, the biggest challenge was around making those devices compliant with security and IT processes, and easy for IT to provision and monitor.
It helped that I made an effort to build good connections into IT and IT leadership. The clincher was a clear proposed timeline, a commitment that it would not require any additional workload from IT, and that we wouldn’t expand it without their sign off.
Unfortunately, layoffs meant I couldn’t roll it out beyond the initial group, and when a second round of layoffs came around I took the opportunity to leave. I haven’t been looking much yet, but “allows Linux” is one of the criteria I’m measuring companies against.
Not so much convinced as in that I always just installed Linux, period, and then proceeded to do everything I was told I wasn’t going to be able to do on linux
What magical company do you work in that gives you UEFI access on your work computer? Mine’s so locked down.
The smb server is Linux, my desktop is Linux.
The office workers use a debloated Windows 11.
I installed pihole at the same time as the server swapped from Windows to Linux, so now they believe the Linux server magically sped up the Internet.
Any suggestions on what to give people for debloated windows?
I used this: https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat
Yes, but it was a huge corp that literally had it’s own linux community within the corp.
I didn’t convince anyone, I just did it.
As soon as microsoft announced the recall feature I was like nope this I aint consenting to that even at work. I put Nixos/Gnome on my work laptop and haven’t looked back. Everytime I help someone on their windows 11 laptop it feels like a snails pace.
I wish I could convince our workplace to switch to linux. I feel like Nixos would be PERFECT for the workplace, you could just deploy like a standard config and add more apps if needed.
It would make all the software requests super easy. (given they were FOSS ofc. Even most windows apps work using Wine or Proton tbh.) I don’t use any closed source apps on my laptop, but others could.
So much horrible advice in this thread.
The machine the company issues you isn’t yours, it’s theirs. Wiping out their image and installing another OS is a fantastic way to get fired. If you handle any PII, HIPAA, or PCI data it’s also a fantastic way to get sued or charged with a crime.
I work IT at a college. I don’t really keep any important data on my device. It’s all either on OneDrive or Teams, which is OneDrive, or maybe a Share.
I’m not too worried about it.
It may be their computer, but it’s my time I’m spending on it. And if I’m going to be doing that it’s not going to be on Windows.
I don’t want Microsoft hearing my voice or collecting any biometric data. I don’t want anything to do with them. They can screw right off. If my job doesn’t value that/me, then bye.
it’s my time I’m spending on it.
You are being paid for that time. If you sell something it is no longer yours.
Where this doesn’t work is the entire Finance department.
They need proper Excel, full of all the proper Excel shenanigans. Some of them will also have VBA macros and random plugins too that they rely on
It’s definitely doable. There’s plenty of companies and governments in Europe that have made the switch to open source away from Microsoft.
This is true, here is a brief list: https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/who-uses-libreoffice/
But I’m sure it is a massive project you would need to have sufficient motivation at all levels. Not at all a trivial project.
I am curious how these changes feel on-the-ground to the affected workers who had no personal interest in linux or free software.
To me it’s the opposite, my boss (and owner of the company) is frustrated that we cannot install linux due to some technical requirements. It is possible to change that, but this will require reshaping of the entire work process
Usually it’s some proprietary or commercial app unavailable for Linux. I have a fairly powerful workstation and ran Windows on a VM with GPU pass thru for those use cases, but at some point I upgraded my MacBook and use that for most work. The Linux machine effectively operates as a server. I haven’t used Windows for work in many months and recently removed a GPU to save power and heat.
