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Windows 12 being a subscription is a great thing actually.

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
... It means all you motherfuckers will have to put your money where your mouth is & switch to Linux. It also means software companies will have to make more software for Linux (and older Windows versions too) as the sudden jump in marketshare will make it unable to be ignored. Win Win situation for FOSS!!
 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
I thought the subscription rumor was shut down?
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I thought the subscription rumor was shut down?
Only with vague "probably won't be subscription", followed by "well if it is, there will still be a free tier with ads". Of course the whole thing is a rumor based on some beta source code so you should probably check your sodium levels consuming all those grains of salt.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Microsoft can’t rely on software auditing, so they do the whole subscription bit. It’s a possibility. It’s more money going into the Microsoft fortune.

If you think about it, Adobe does this and so lots of other places. They’re just guaranteeing their share in the end.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Win Win? More like Lin Lin, amiright?!?

giphy.gif
 

Spyxos

Member
... It means all you motherfuckers will have to put your money where your mouth is & switch to Linux. It also means software companies will have to make more software for Linux (and older Windows versions too) as the sudden jump in marketshare will make it unable to be ignored. Win Win situation for FOSS!!
I have tried Linux 2-3 times over the years. And no thank you.
 
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Sonik

Member
Linux users are the vegans of the IT landscape: they can’t stop telling other people they’re using it.

Shut up, dweeb.


Honestly most of the linux versions I've used aren't even that great if you want to just use the UI, they often feel like a pretty skin of a command based OS while Windows doesn't, I don't know how to explain it better. On the other hand Microsoft is a terrible fucking company that is both extremely greedy and pretty much a subsidiary of the NSA so yeah, I'd rather have Linux if gaming grows past the cancer that is called Windows nowadays.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Have you ever used Kubuntu? If you just need it for browsing and simple stuff like office or email programs it's often simpler than Windows. It's for the complicated settings and programs where the problems begin
KDE best DE. Can't decide if Gnome or cinnamon is second, they're both good for different reasons.
 

Laptop1991

Member
Doesn't surprise me in the least with Microsoft, hopefully a decent competitor will arise, although that's never happened so far, i've always said MS want's too much control and this proves it.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Well, for once all mobile interfaces changing over time have made people get used to adaptation which was always a problem for any other SO that was not Windows in the past, so well, maybe it would be easier somehow.

But I don't think they'll make it a subscription, MS doesn't only care about "money", they also care about marketshare, like if their users were some kind of political currency or some shit, they want the control and retain it and subscription based OS seems like painting your wait out of absolute dominance even if they get more money.
 

Roxkis_ii

Banned
I'm sitting on windows 11 until it's end of life then I'm likely just going to switch to a Mac.

Microsoft can suck a big one if they think I'm paying a sub for my is.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
Linux users are the vegans of the IT landscape: they can’t stop telling other people they’re using it.

Shut up, dweeb.

Have you met our lord and savior systemd already?

Mac takes all its innovative features from Linux, specifically KDE. (and then Windows implements those features 10 years later)

Mac OS is genuinely behind Linux in window management, something that sounds weird to say. Their latest proposal in that regard is stage manager which is an iPad feature… truly no one cares about Mac OS at Apple anymore.
 

Roxkis_ii

Banned
Mac takes all its innovative features from Linux, specifically KDE. (and then Windows implements those features 10 years later)

My wife bought an iMac and I was actually surprised how many steam games I could play on MacOS. Installing stuff is a little weird compared to windows, and upgrading even just the harddrive is actually crazy (you have to remove the screen) but if MS introduces a sub, I'll get used to it.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
My wife bought an iMac and I was actually surprised how many steam games I could play on MacOS. Installing stuff is a little weird compared to windows, and upgrading even just the harddrive is actually crazy (you have to remove the screen) but if MS introduces a sub, I'll get used to it.
don't you usually play on Playstation anyways? why would game compat matter to you?

Either way Mac is expensive and limiting. Many Linux distros offer a similar experience to MacOS but they aren't designed as retarded.
 

Blade2.0

Member
Microsoft can’t rely on software auditing, so they do the whole subscription bit. It’s a possibility. It’s more money going into the Microsoft fortune.

If you think about it, Adobe does this and so lots of other places. They’re just guaranteeing their share in the end.
Not if more people quit using it than subscribe.
 

Roxkis_ii

Banned
don't you usually play on Playstation anyways? why would game compat matter to you?

Either way Mac is expensive and limiting. Many Linux distros offer a similar experience to MacOS but they aren't designed as retarded.

I do mostly game on console, but I buy a lot of indie stuff off steam. It's just as I get older, I feel less and less enthusiastic about having to troubleshoot issues on my home computer, especially when it's likely to involve using a terminal ( or command line).

Has any Linux destro gotten to the point where you can handles everything via gui, or will I still need recompile the kenral everytime my wifi stops working?
 

-Minsc-

Member
My computer is pretty Mint-y. I don't know how it compares to other Linux distributions but I'm content with Mint. Basically only use it for internet, email and Minetest.

Has any Linux destro gotten to the point where you can handles everything via gui, or will I still need recompile the kenral everytime my wifi stops working?
I do not know since my computer has no wireless. Seems pretty stable. I do all software updates via the GUI update manager. Whenever there's something like a kernel, graphics driver or security update I run a program from "the start menu' called timeshift to create a backup. Restoring from backup was easy via GUI as well.

I used to dual boot Mint and Windows. Always ran into a problem with the bootloader and had to type "exit" to boot. One day I formatted the drive and went solely Mint. Haven't had a problem in that area since.

If you have spare USB drive I recommend booting Mint (or another distribution) from it and give it a test.
 

ElRenoRaven

Member
Yea as others mentioned I'd just go Mac. This PC is starting to really show it's age anyway and I still play around with my ancient mac mini to this day, I really don't upgrade too often anyway. Hell this is an Alienware X51 and it's 1st gen so that should tell you how long I've had this one. In that time I've only upgraded ram and graphics card. Still it runs windows 11 like a champ and I can play most games on medium minus some of the very newest from the last couple years.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
I work in healthcare IT. The idea of an OS being beholden to a subscription is a non-starter. Talking desktop, device, server, whatever. We value security and stability (in every way the word stability means) above all due to the extremely complex and strict rules and laws we need to abide by. I can only imagine that most governmental groups are of the same mindset.

That said, there's always Macs. The cost of training personnel isn't as high as many think (most users barely know how to operate a computer, rather they focus on the software / apps that they have to use for their jobs). A transition to Mac would mostly incur costs on the hardware, and that can be negotiated with Apple when you're talking massive volume, education, government, healthcare....

Linux on the desktop is another non starter. Too many issues with effective administration at large scale, across complex environments.

Any who, if Microsoft was crazy enough to make their desktop OS subscription based, I'd just buy a Mac and call it a day. I am fine with Macs, and for work I connect to various virtualized desktops anyway so my OS is moot.
 

bitbydeath

Gold Member
Apple puts a lot of care into everything they do, compare OS update notes for example.

Apple uses HTML5, lots of images etc.

Windows on the other hand is like reading a .txt file.
 

Zathalus

Member
Even if it happens the amount of consumers that will switch to Linux is miniscule. Linux still has a number of issues that prevent it from being a significant player in the mainstream consumer market.

Most corporations will see the subscription thing as a plus, so don't count on mass adoption there either
 

JCK75

Member
Linux is great when you have a build for specific hardware such as the Steam Deck.. I'm extremely content with it..
I've installed various builds on my desktop from time to time only to find the experience janky, busted and far more trouble than it's worth.
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
Sorry. Mrs Miggins, 76, widow and lives on her own with her cat uses a laptop to send emails to her daughter in Australia and check her gas and electricity meter readings isn't going to be able to install linux.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Sorry. Mrs Miggins, 76, widow and lives on her own with her cat uses a laptop to send emails to her daughter in Australia and check her gas and electricity meter readings isn't going to be able to install linux.
Maybe not, but for her use case a Chromebook (with it's low introductory price and no monthly subscription) would fit the bill perfectly.

Linux on the desktop is another non starter. Too many issues with effective administration at large scale, across complex environments.
I work in healthcare IT as well, but I think this is untrue. There are a huge host of tools available to effectively administer a large scale complex environment that is entirely Linux. The largest EMR app out there (Epic) works entirely on Linux and usually requires users to jump through hoops with Citrix or similar to get it to run in Windows. Users can be managed with LDAP, authentication can be done with Radius, Linux based DNS and DHCP daemons can easily replace their Windows / Active Directory counterparts. Onlyoffice or LibreOffice can work for an office suite, assuming you still need one in 2023 and you aren't already just using the web versions of O365 or Google (of which Linux has application containers for).

For health care specifically, Linux typically provides easier server-side redundancies / clustering and better patching which means less downtime or shorter maintenance windows. Having a device running medical equipment that could unexpectedly restart in the middle of the night for an unplanned Windows Update (even though your GPO and WSUS tells it not to) would introduce a lot of unneeded stress. I will concede that the biggest issue presently would be driver availability for all of the myriad of special equipment that's unique to the medical field not being available in Linux. However, if enough people switched to Linux that problem would eventually self correct.

Presently at least, Microsoft is cheaper overall and easier to manage with most things being consolidated into AD and a few extra tools. Most sysadmins don't know how to effectively manage a similar non-Windows environment. There would need to be massive retraining in the sysadmin side of the house (WAY more than the user side) to iron out those "issues with effective administration".
 
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