Microsoft won't be issuing release notes for Windows 10 updates

[Maximilian]

people, Linux is not an alternative to Windows, no matter how you spin it, for 99% of the population. Even owning a OSX system marginalizes you, and if daddy Apple stopped controlling everything you do, you would be dead in the water.

ok, hyperbole there.

91% windows
7% mac users
1.7% linux

people don't buy computers to only use google and facebook; if that was all you could have, the private ownership of PCs would plummet. What drives pc sales are games, and the possibility of running countless software, from media creation to media consumption.

Linux is for professionals. It will never be a consumer level OS, no matter what you think.

Think im gonna go ahead and disagree there...

Im relatively new to linux and im finding it to be an awesome OS. I tried it in 2006. It sucked balls. I tried it again in 2010 with similar results. But its been on my server working flawlessly since 2013 and now its earned a permanant place on my laptop.

Gaming is good on linux too. All these games run native on linux. There are some really solid games in there, we're not talking lincity being the only decent game anymore. The games that dont run can be streamed easily from my windows desktop. I was surprised how flawless that was tbh... thats mainly down to valve but yeah. Linux today is more viable than ever. If you need photoshop/MSoffice or a specific game that you dont wanna stream then obviously its gotta be windows. Otherwise linux is a solid consumer OS.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah Linux has actually come a very long way. Heck last year I was struggling with getting triple monitors to work, it was just not very well supported. Now, it just works.

I only use my win7 machine for gaming now. In fact I could probably get away with blocking it completely from the internet, and then just whitelist any game server IPs I need.

To err on the side of caution I think it's safe to no longer trust ANY version of Windows because nothing stops MS from pushing these updates to even the no longer supported versions like XP. They did push them to 7/8 already.

I'm not even sure what enterprise are going to do about all this spy stuff. The average joe might not care about their own privacy (which I think is absurd, people don't realize what they're allowing companies/government to do) but corporations will care about it for sure.

I think if there was a Linux distribution geared towards enterprise where it has central management, concept of domain, central authentication, better file permission system like NTFS etc some companies would probably consider it. It would need to have support though, that's usually the biggest thing.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I'm not even sure what enterprise are going to do about all this spy stuff. The average joe might not care about their own privacy (which I think is absurd, people don't realize what they're allowing companies/government to do) but corporations will care about it for sure.

And this is why I don't think it is near as "bad" as people are making it out to be. Last thing MS would want is to get some big company (or several!) suing them for data breaches.

And I still don't know what people think MS would actually gain from having access to your stuff. Seriously, why would MS even care, really? What would they gain, aside from the ire of people?

 

[escrow4]

The private ownership of PCs *IS* plummeting. Most people are replacing them with tablets and smart phones now, which arn't exactly better because they are closed systems that probably have just as much spy crap as windows 10 but they don't care. For gaming they use consoles.

For enthusiasts who do want a PC and do care about privacy then Linux becomes worth the extra effort for some. It's sad it has to be that way but it seems these days if you want privacy you really have to compromise and work hard for it. Linux has come a long way though but there's still lot of things that don't make it fit for say, a corporate environment, due to lack of proper central management. Due to the open source nature of it some central management, better permission system etc could be coded in but they really should come up with something more plug and play. Basically something like AD but for Linux. (no not Samba, I mean something native)

Personally one thing I need to figure out is my phone as that is a pretty big privacy breach to own. Using android is not exactly the best thing as far as privacy goes. Google's entire business is about spying and collecting data. I wish there was more choice when it came to phones and that there was an open platform like PC where you can put Linux equivalent phone distro on it. There was one called the open moko but don't think it's updated anymore.

I'm surprised no other open source electronics enthusiasts have come up with a phone concept yet. Or at least I have not heard of any major ones.

I don't use my box for much more than porn nowadays (HA! read that out loud!) but Linux is just irritating. It still isn't like Windows at all. With Windows it works straight up drivers to programs but you are not tied down 4 life to the ecosystem like with Apple. It swings both ways (heh). I run Linux on a server and bleh not on a desktop. Too much effort.

 

[PliotronX]

I don't use my box for much more than porn nowadays (HA! read that out loud!) but Linux is just irritating. It still isn't like Windows at all. With Windows it works straight up drivers to programs but you are not tied down 4 life to the ecosystem like with Apple. It swings both ways (heh). I run Linux on a server and bleh not on a desktop. Too much effort.

How does that work? Server installs are usually CLI.

 

[sweenish]

JFYI Elementary OS and Kubuntu are sights for sore eyes.

Elementary is pretty but not complete.

I'd recommend going fedora-based, it's overall an easier experience. *.rpm's are nice and nearly always readily available. *.deb's, less so. Korora with Cinnamon is nice. Or KDE, or MATE, or whatever. They have an option for whatever major DE you want.

If looks aren't a high priority, CentOS is a rock.

 

[sweenish]

Think im gonna go ahead and disagree there...

Im relatively new to linux and im finding it to be an awesome OS. I tried it in 2006. It sucked balls. I tried it again in 2010 with similar results. But its been on my server working flawlessly since 2013 and now its earned a permanant place on my laptop.

Gaming is good on linux too. All these games run native on linux. There are some really solid games in there, we're not talking lincity being the only decent game anymore. The games that dont run can be streamed easily from my windows desktop. I was surprised how flawless that was tbh... thats mainly down to valve but yeah. Linux today is more viable than ever. If you need photoshop/MSoffice or a specific game that you dont wanna stream then obviously its gotta be windows. Otherwise linux is a solid consumer OS.

Disagrees, counters with Windows desktop for missing software.

Checks out.

It's leagues better than it was, that's for sure. Obviously still not a full replacement by your own admission.

 

[PliotronX]

Elementary is pretty but not complete.

I'd recommend going fedora-based, it's overall an easier experience. *.rpm's are nice and nearly always readily available. *.deb's, less so. Korora with Cinnamon is nice. Or KDE, or MATE, or whatever. They have an option for whatever major DE you want.

If looks aren't a high priority, CentOS is a rock.

True, it's got some ways to go. I never thought I'd see the day when Linux would come out of the box looking better than Windows though. I totally forgot about that side of the Linux, OpenSUSE is my fav but CentOS is more efficient and has a crazy long support life cycle.

 

[Maximilian]

Disagrees, counters with Windows desktop for missing software.

Checks out.

It's leagues better than it was, that's for sure. Obviously still not a full replacement by your own admission.

Like I said those games in the pic are linux native, they dont need a windows PC. I just thought the streaming was a really cool feature, I never knew it existed when I installed linux. This laptop has a HD4400 in it so im not planning on gaming much. Maybe if im away somewhere ill plug in a mouse and play prison architect but thats all.

I guess that streaming is the same technology thats gonna let me play my PC games on the big screen TV downstairs when steam link comes out. Which will be awesome :awe: Anyways this is getting off topic.

 

[sweenish]

True, it's got some ways to go. I never thought I'd see the day when Linux would come out of the box looking better than Windows though. I totally forgot about that side of the Linux, OpenSUSE is my fav but CentOS is more efficient and has a crazy long support life cycle.

Definitely. If someone wanted to poke around some distros, I'd mention elementary every time.

But if someone is seriously wanting to switch away from Windows, elementary just isn't there yet in my opinion. Zorin is an Ubuntu-based distro specifically designed to ease the transition, it's also pretty darn good.

I'd probably still point at a fedora-based distro, first.

 

[escrow4]

How does that work? Server installs are usually CLI.

I only persevered with the CLI install on the server because its free and most of it was scripts I dug up.

 

[bbhaag]

So you took the time to learn the terminal and the time to dig up the scripts to make your server work properly but somehow the desktop is too much trouble?

Honestly I find that hard to believe. I currently use Mint Cinnamon and rarely open the terminal. Most of its gui just like other OS's I use.

 

[escrow4]

So you took the time to learn the terminal and the time to dig up the scripts to make your server work properly but somehow the desktop is too much trouble?

Honestly I find that hard to believe. I currently use Mint Cinnamon and rarely open the terminal. Most of its gui just like other OS's I use.

Seeing as the box is in a terminal across a couple of continents, yes. :sneaky:

 

[bbhaag]

So you took the time to learn how to access a terminal across multiple continents but learning how to....Oh hell with it.....I don't care.

 

[ultimatebob]

To be honest, the descriptions of most of the security updates for Windows 7 or higher are so vague that you really couldn't be certain what they fixed as an end user. They all say something along the lines of this in the Windows Update console:

"This update resolves several security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. Please install this update to insure the security of your computer."

Huh? What's not even remotely useful description for an IT person. I want to know exactly what the problem is, so I know which systems really need patching NOW and which can wait.

Something tells me that this new "We're not going to tell you what we're doing do your computer. Just Trust Us." policy isn't going to fly with corporate IT departments.