2019 will be the year of applications.
While I really like Linux and have made multiple tries to migrate my main machine to it - I stayed with Windows.

Honestly I do not even care about the OS any longer. It is the applications that I need to do my work that I care about.
An if these applications only exist for Windows - well then it is windows.
The OS does nothing useful for me - the application does.
To just name a few that I need: Outlook, Quicken, R-Studio and not to forget various Banking Apps.
Some of these on iOS or a MacOS - but only Windows supports them all.

don't panic !
Every now and then politician make suggestions. In this case it was the (acting) interior minister.
For it to become law it has to go thru parliament and it it would, the courts will be called.
There is already enough resistance to this from other political parties.
That is the great thing about democracy and independant jurisdiction: anyone can thow up ideas for debate and debate is good. In the end majority and courts decide

spot on !
and you can build a nice, searchable archive with Email which you can even host on your own PC. No cloud dependancy

my PC is a workhorse. Due to MS-Office it has to be Windows. I don't really care for 7, 8 or 10. The OS the foundation for the applications.
I do not need any of the fancy stuff - just a robust platform. So I stay on 7 until no longer supported.
And by then I hope that WINE is good enought to run MS Office under Linux - or better M$ has a Linux version - yes I would even pay for it

I have visited the US over a dozen times. what a beautiful country & great people.
I have so many friends there.
But now I will not go there any longer - until the administration behaves again as I expect in a civilized country.
I foresee the tourist numbers - and thus $$$ revenue dropping now.
what a shame - I hope I can visit this wonderful country again some day.
Greetings from myheart to all you americans that have made my many visists to enjoyable

That is exactly what will happen with the Internet of Things in a few years:
Lot's of expensive and well functioning machines connected to outdated software.

more and more "things" (cars, stereos, cameras etc) can only be operated with an iPhone or Android smartphone.
Volvo even plans to do away with car keys and open the car with the smartphone.
Cars and other hardware live longer than most techno-fads.
So how do you open your Volvo (which probably lasts 20+ years) when the smartphones of the future do not have the matching app any more ?
The McLaren story is a great example that we going the wrong direction.
A long living asset like a car shall not be dependant on short cycle electronics.

seems these hacks and leaks happen almost every day now.
I am convinced it can happen to ANY of us - any day.
So we must develop a reslience against these inevitables leaks.

Cars last much longer than smartphones.
50 years old Volvos are not uncommon in Europe.
iOS and Android will be gone by then - how will I open that car ?
I own a 66 Mustang - the keys still work just fine

I was in a very similar situation 2 years ago and installed a Grandstream GXV3140 (http://www.grandstream.com/products/ip-video-telephony/gxv3140) at the home of the target person.
To my knowledge the only hardware Skype phone on the market
I setup the Skype account such that only registered persons can call and set it to autoanswer.
It has worked since then without any problems.
The firmware update function can also be automated such that the phone checks and installs updates on a regular basis.
Sound and video Quality is good.
would do it again if I had to

I need to do my work that requires certain applications. And I want them to run on my PC because I do not want to use cloud services. I keep my data for years in local archice. For all this I do not really care on which OS it runs. It is the applications I want - and lets face it the most applications still exist for windows. And a program that ran fibe on Win95 back then still runs on Win7. Forget the Mac- changes OS every few years. Linux ? yes I would like to - but even with LTS versions I need to re-install the OS every 2-3 years. My XP ran fine for 8 years. Now you understabnd why I use Windows - it just does the job. All else is academical.

Ease of use is the key to the mass market.
Installing software:
Windows: run the installer - ready.
Linux: If I am lucky, I can use the packet manager. Id the desired software is not in te packet manager, I have to first decide which Linux I want the software for. RPM or a DEB package?
The installation will the tyoicall tell me that some library is missing or outdated.

Hardware drivers: Windows drivers come with pretty much any
product. Linux drivers ????

long term OS support: XP has been running for 10 years. Unless I chaned machines, I did SP's and patches but all my softeare stayed installed.
Linux: every 6 months or so I need to re-install. Ubunti LTS veresions give me 2 years - lately even 5. As said - XP had 10.

long term Application support:
Windows: When I changed from XP to 7 2 yrears ago, I could re-install all my trusted applications - no new expsense.
Linux: commercial packages typical wont run any more

So why on earth would I use Linux on my desktop ?

Don' t getme wrong - I like Linux - my server runs Linux and for special projects I use Linux as well - By for everyday work it's windows. I just works and causes me less pain.
Honestly I do not understand all these stories about unstable Windows. I have OS autoupdate and Secunia PSI autoupdate- Never had crashes - - its rock stable work horse

use http://www.clonespy.com/ and let it run some days/weeks
I have done this ecercise just last week for 120,000 files - ran one night on an old P4

yes - I like adminer so I can do some work from any PC in the company. but for serious work I prefer Navicat (www.navicat.org). Not free but just excellent. especially the many import/export formats

I am not really interested in the OS. I am interested in applications thtat privide value to me. A good email client (I prefer Outlook 2010, but Thundervird is also fine), an office applicauon (MS-Office or LibreOffice), Firefox, Banking Software, Tax Software etc.
I choose the OS that lets me run these apps reliably and where I can install them very easy.
And I want hardware (printer, webcam, Card Reader etc.) to be automatically recognized and just work.
If I take al these requirements, Windows is really the obvious choice for a workstation.
And BTW - I run SuSE on my servers.