this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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There are still use cases for windows. We have a predominately Linux environment (server and desktop), and a development team that build 80% of our operational software. That team are not fans of windows, but come across quite a few use cases where they have to use it because a 3rd party program won't run on Linux; or an external connection requires a windows service; or there is no comparable product available on Linux (MS Excel is the one thing keeping me on windows). Even ignorance plays a part, because end users can still have had limited access to technology over their lives and in Australia that usually means windows computers in schools. I deal with staff in their 20's and 30's who know nothing of how technology works outside of "push that button and the thing happens", if that button is a different colour, or shape, or location, shift is over, go home - they don't care why it's changed and definitely don't want to learn a new way to do it. We're somewhere between American data cowboys and the GDPR when it comes to data safety in Australia, which MS can be BS at and the integration burns more of our teams time than it should, but it's still a necessary evil - even if it's just when dealing with customers and vendors
If excel is keeping you on Linux, you're doing it wrong. The problem here is undoubtedly ignorance and nothing else.
If it's another program, wine made immense progresses these last years. You want to check about it.
Now, if you're saying Linux is not ready out of the box, that's true, but neither is Windows. Not if you have any important need. Windows is good for a customer, not for a company.
BTW Linux changed in the last ten years. It's not the neckbeard system it used to be.
Now that I have a work laptop, I've installed Linux on my home computer and it was simple and runs fantastically - actual results may vary as I work in IT and have grown up with a high tech involved family. However, the hill I'm happy to die on, is the fact that using Excel above a basic level in business, where information needs to be shared with non-technical staff cannot be replicated in Linux, and that Excel is still the best product to do this.
This is wrong about excel. Most thing excel do can be done with libreoffice. People are lazy to learn and convert their documents, and Microsoft does everything possible to make this harder.
Now you're showing your ignorance - your statement is empirically false.
Maybe you don't know what empirically means? Your ignorance is not a proof for anything. I know what I can do with libreoffice, and I am very mediocre with it. I've never seen an excel document that couldn't be done with libreoffice.
And I wrote most things that can be done with excel. Now, if you want something that can be debated, I posit that anything that can't be done in libreoffice calc but can be in excel is not worth doing in excel.