Unless there were some type of strange quota, or unrealistic expectations, why was is a "problem"? It is a problem that there are very few male nurses, interior decorators, florists, payroll mangers, hairdressers, speech pathologists, or daycare workers?
>"GOP turned that into a dog whistle for white supremacy and/or troglodytism."
Um, no. Perhaps people like you are TRYING to turn it into that, and that would be most unfortunate. The 99.9+% of people flying an American flag are doing what they have done all along, for generations- believing in, supporting, and celebraing the principles of America... Things like freedom, equality, prosperity, the Constitution, etc. And that is most certainly not a message about "white supremacy and/or troglodytism."
>"The CCP has a more equitable distribution of salary and benefits than GB does."
Equity = trying to force equal outcomes. So, um, yeah, I imagine the CCP does (except for their ruling class, of course). And it is not usually a good thing, because that is done by taking from the productive and rewarding the unproductive with that which was taken. Or by lowering standards, which hurts most everyone as well. We can all argue how much of that is needed or acceptable, but wearing it as a badge of honor or supposed automatic goodness is disingenuous.
>"we have to get up to date with the increasing authoritarianism of the West"
It is authoritarianism, literally, that is used by the CCP/Socialists to have control over everything and maintain their power.
>"People don't know better" is a honestly bit insulting"
It wasn't meant to be insulting. But we (on Slashdot) are not the typical user, either. I deal with users of all types, all the time. And I can tell you that the majority don't know what an OS is, or that they even have a choice of OS on what they own.
>" If I am a customer for a $8K a year software license is a $100 Windows license really that big an ask for the customer?"
No, but it isn't just about price, it is about platform choice and everything that comes with it.
>"why open a whole new compatibility problem for a 3% market share that none of my customers are asking for?"
Which came first- the chicken or the egg? The age-old conundrum.
>"Also there the issue of let's say I want to port my giant CAD app to Linux? Which distro? Which installer package? There's a lot of variables with that."
Yes, but it is not that difficult to overcome. Porting/coding it is mostly a single investment/code base and will essentially work on any Linux. The packaging of it is easy, in comparison. You just have to follow some reasonable practices of using conservatively-available libraries, or include your own. Probably target a generic deb and rpm for the major distros, and also flatpak. I have used numerous commercial Linux packages for decades and they figured it out
Last I checked, they are still withholding their best pricing unless the vendor agrees to lots of conditions about pre-install types and numbers.
Yes, some vendors/manufacturers will let you recover the MS-Tax, but not on all models, and certainly never on anything sold in a physical store. And certainly not all vendors, either.
Well, it is not like Linux is magical. Like MS-Windows, or any OS, it will require a bit of configuration. But the last decade has seen so much improvement in Linux. You can expect to plug in your phone to a USB port and it "just work", your network printer will likely be find and "just work", your WiFi will very like "just work", etc.
I recommend Mint is primarily because it has a more friendly/sane set of defaults than Ubuntu, has native packages for important stuff (LibreOffice, Firefox, etc, with no forced SNAP crap), and yet still works with everything out there (like Ubuntu packages and howtos), and full flatpak support (if you are into that container stuff). The default Cinnamon desktop is not as flashy or complete as Plasma/KDE (which you can certainly install), but is fast and easy to understand and far less annoying than crappola like Gnome. Updates never break anything, and I even UPGRADED (in-place) to the newer Mint major versions without a single hiccup.
Just bought a new model of Lenovo laptop last year and loaded Mint and EVERYTHING- wifi, sound, screen rotation, suspend, trackpad, trackpoint, mic, webcam, F keys, USB, accelerated graphics, fingerprint sensor, charging controls, external monitor connection, "just worked." All I did was turn off fastboot/boot lock in the BIOS. Same thing on a Fujitsu (including touchscreen, SD card reader, second battery support, ethernet port). Linux has come a long way.
Also, despite what some think, Mint is not a "starter" or "novice" Linux, it serves just fine for most any role or user type. Just think of it as "Ubuntu done right."
>"Or maybe switch to Linux, when it stops sucking."
It stopped sucking many, many years ago.
It might not run the particular application YOU want, but that isn't Linux's fault. I have installed Linux hundreds of times on dozens and dozens of different brands/types of machines, and almost never have any problems; probably far less than people installing MS-Windows. It is rock solid, easily updated, under your complete control, easily customized to your own needs, with tons of easily installed open-source software, having excellent performance, and great security and flexibility. No forced crap, no tracking, no harassment, no limits on virtualizing or being virtualized, no user limits, no registration, no cloud dependencies, no forced obsolescence, no bogus "minimum hardware requirements", no update contracts. Being $free is just a bonus.
If you want to see Linux not suck, probably start with Mint:
https://linuxmint.com/download...
>"Microsoft is not under any real antitrust surveillance."
Based on what they continue to do, almost forcing hardware vendors to include MS-Windows on all their boxes, they should be.
>"That's what the "Download Ubuntu" button is for."
Actually, it is what THIS button is for:
https://linuxmint.com/download...
Anyway, how much more abuse are MS-Windows "customers" willing to take?
>"Microsoft seem to make several reasonable points about a piece of software in a measured way."
That was my take as well. A reasonable and valid argument as why to not use it. So used to FUD from them, that it is easy to jump to a wrong conclusion....
>"It's 2024 - people still use Windows? Why?"
1) Because it "comes with the computer"
2) Because people don't know any better
3) Because it is what many know
4) Because some businesses force it on everyone
5) Because, sometimes, it is needed for certain applications
That said, all my computers run only Linux, have for decades, and will likely continue to do so (plus hundreds of machines I am responsible for). And probably way more than half of MS-Windows machines out there could run Linux and do what the users need, just fine. The SNAFU's with MS-WIn 11 artificial hardware "requirements" will likely open more opportunity for Linux on millions of otherwise perfectly suitable machines that will, otherwise, end up in landfills.
Better questions is to ask are: Why do certain popular commercial software vendors not support Linux? Why do we allow a near-monopoly (MS) to essentially force manufacturers to include their OS on most, if not all, of their computers? How much more abuse will MS-Windows customers tolerate before jumping ship?
>"Disables biometric authentication on an iPhone."
And on Android starts an emergency services call.
So on Android, simply turn off the phone. Any reboot always requires the non-biometric unlock.
Or go into settings and choose "show lockdown option" which puts a button on your lockscreen (and power button menu) that instantly disables all biometrics and lockscreen notifications.
>"Biometrics: Credentials that can be stolen off your body"
If DNA or fingerprints, they are "credentials" that can be stolen off anything you have touched or been around, and for a loooong time. They are pretty bad overall methods for confirming who you are if you care about abuse or security. And in the case of DNA, it *really* invades privacy, by its nature.
If you must use biometrics, the only reasonable one I have seen so far is deep vein palm scan. You are not leaving that data all over the place, is difficult to illicitly obtain, and it has live-sensing built-in. Plus it is fast, simple, accurate, easy and cheap.
>"It does not seem that capping charging on linux laptop is a generic thing. Is it?"
TLP can manage battery life and restrict charging to whatever ranges wanted.
See https://linrunner.de/tlp/usage... control through
>"I also don't see that option on my android phone."
Unfortunately, it entirely depends on your brand of phone and version of Android. Recent Samsungs all support it, both on phones and tablets (but for some reason, not watches). On Samsung, it is called "Protect battery" and is hard-coded to 85% only.
>"I don't understand this obsession in the media about how quickly people can charge their EVs."
Two reasons: Long distance travel, and for those who can't charge at home. And those are both valid. But for other times, slow would be fine, if it is better for the batteries.
>"If we're genuinely interested in conserving finite natural resources,[...], we really need to look more systematically at how we get from A to B on a daily basis"
I think we need to look at how we produce energy, primarily. The solution will most likely need to be nuclear fission or fusion. The current thought of covering the planet in [expensive and life-limited] solar panels and windmills and using tons of low-life batteries isn't going to cut it. Also, transportation is just 36% of energy usage, and a whopping 65% of our electric power is lost in conversion and transmission.
>"The way we typically do it nowadays, private cars that take up massive amounts of space & require huge amounts of infrastructure & bureaucracy [...]"
Alas, we are spoiled by this, and trying to force people to do something else is likely to fail (and has failed). I admit, I am spoiled as well. I want to get into my vehicle how and when I want, with storage, and go directly and quickly to where I want to go, in peace, comfort, and silence, and return back the same way. It really is a miracle, and incredibly wasteful, and I love it.
>"There's a plethora of alternatives that are more efficient & convenient"
Efficient, yes. Convenient for most use cases and areas, no.
The moon is made of green cheese. -- John Heywood
