A Future Without Windows Is A Dystopian Nightmare

[lcpiper]

There is no difference between school kids and workers when it comes to f'n up a company computer.



$200 utilitarian computer that I have no fears of messing up, versus $1500 work of art. Surprised???

Tablets are selling at great rates. It does not mean that a tablet is going to replace a desktop.



OK? Content creation and content consumption are two different things. I own a TV, that doesn't make me a movie director.......


Why is it so hard for most people to classify 2 different pieces of electronics differently, even though they appear very similar in nature?

Is journalism still taught in college??? I'm not that educated so I don't know what these upper members of society are enriching their lives with now-a-days.

I have to agree.

And to add to your comments, our software developers mostly work from Thin Clients meaning the box on their desk has nothing installed on it at all, their machines are all VMs, and they are locked down solid. If they need an app they put in a trouble ticket requesting the app and then we install it for them. And they can't change their desktop background either.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Ahh, the false alternative argument.

If Windows goes away all we have left is Chrome.

The truth is, Windows is getting more like chrome every day, and thank God we have other alternative operating systems

If anything Desktop Linux is the protector of open use of computing platforms, not Microsoft.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

I have to agree.

And to add to your comments, our software developers mostly work from Thin Clients meaning the box on their desk has nothing installed on it at all, their machines are all VMs, and they are locked down solid. If they need an app they put in a trouble ticket requesting the app and then we install it for them. And they can't change their desktop background either.

Wow. I have never seen anything like this in the software developmebt world. I. Other office applications, sure, but software developers usually demand to be able to control their build environments in order to do their job right, and even in environments where everyone else is locked down, software developers (and to a lesser extent electrical hardware developers) have always been the exception.

Personally I don't mind being locked down at work. It's not my computer,so I'm fine with that. It would have been nice if I had access to tweak clear type settings, and set manual IP addresses though.

 

[lcpiper]

Wow. I have never seen anything like this in the software developmebt world. I. Other office applications, sure, but software developers usually demand to be able to control their build environments in order to do their job right, and even in environments where everyone else is locked down, software developers (and to a lesser extent electrical hardware developers) have always been the exception.

Personally I don't mind being locked down at work. It's not my computer,so I'm fine with that. It would have been nice if I had access to tweak clear type settings, and set manual IP addresses though.

Part of the demands of doing development on a classified military network.

As an example, even as an admin, I am not supposed to use my admin account for my work unless I actually at that moment need those credentials and even then, I am supposed to do a "Run As.." whenever possible instead of actually logging in with the account.

As for the developer's boxes, they can ask for whatever they want as far as developer's tools is concerned, but the tool has to be on an approved list with a CON authorizing it's use on the network, and then we have to put it on for them.

There are many other restrictions as well, I won't go into them except to say that everything, every application, all storage media removable or otherwise is under controls. It's a pain at times.

 

[MrGuvernment]

Lol what a joke, using Windows as the example of an open platform. And yet Microsoft just forcefully removed the wifi sharing feature. Yes, I know it could be a security risk, but it should be a feature off by default that you can turn on if you want.

I take it this person hasn't heard of Linux? Maybe they would be singing a different tune if they knew what a truly open environment, like Linux or FreeBSD, was like.

Meanwhile I'm having fun gaming in Linux, figuring out cool new ways to improve my operating system. I cut like 20s off my boot time the other day just by looking for ways to do that. Can windows let you do that? Nope!

"systemd-analyze blame", such a cool function.

You can still turn it on if you want....

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Part of the demands of doing development on a classified military network.

As an example, even as an admin, I am not supposed to use my admin account for my work unless I actually at that moment need those credentials and even then, I am supposed to do a "Run As.." whenever possible instead of actually logging in with the account.

As for the developer's boxes, they can ask for whatever they want as far as developer's tools is concerned, but the tool has to be on an approved list with a CON authorizing it's use on the network, and then we have to put it on for them.

There are many other restrictions as well, I won't go into them except to say that everything, every application, all storage media removable or otherwise is under controls. It's a pain at times.

Jeez. Either you guys must have ungodly good ticket response times, or this must slow down development significantly.

 

[MrGuvernment]

Wow. I have never seen anything like this in the software developmebt world. I. Other office applications, sure, but software developers usually demand to be able to control their build environments in order to do their job right, and even in environments where everyone else is locked down, software developers (and to a lesser extent electrical hardware developers) have always been the exception.

Personally I don't mind being locked down at work. It's not my computer,so I'm fine with that. It would have been nice if I had access to tweak clear type settings, and set manual IP addresses though.

The reality of it is most people do NOT need full access, they just think they do, All access is usually enabled for people to be able to do their jobs, the problem is these people with "i need full access" are often the ones that compromise the networks. You should know what tools you need to do your job and thus they will be provided, presumed the licencing is legit. I have had to redo my old dev's computers so many times because they run out and download every other pluging they think they need eventually hosing their computers entirely. I then forced them to create a VM locally to run their test environment in cause i got sick of them having a day of down time every couple weeks cause they wanted to try something new...

It should not affect dev time at all, because again your Dev's should know the tools they need and already have them installed or plan their projects and know what it is they need

 

[ChadD]

I'm on a flavor of Linux right now (Lubuntu 14.04) and for daily average use its pretty much the same as windows. The main thing I needed to install was the nvidia proprietary driver. That gave me 3d acceleration and the ability to easily configure multiple monitor desktops. When I boot up it shows 250MB of memory being used and 0% CPU. I've installed Steam, Transmission, Minecraft etc. And when I want to play older windows games, I dont even bother with wine, I use Virtualbox, and it works perfectly. Under Virtualbox with Windows XP I can play just about any game (including DOSBOX ones) mostly flawlessly, Diablo 2, HoMM, Quake 1-3, even Doom 3.

Linux can be made into a pretty solid desktop OS.

You can run DOSBOX native in Linux... just saying.
Hit your config file, and switch the render to opengl and you can setup a good 4:3 aspect ratio. DOSBOX runs great compiled for Linux.

 

[Ordeith]

He's not wrong.

Google offers a world free of privacy and enslaved to advertising. If this is a world you can support and encourage, by all means use Google's products with eyes open. The rest of us should probably look for solutions elsewhere.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

The reality of it is most people do NOT need full access, they just think they do, All access is usually enabled for people to be able to do their jobs, the problem is these people with "i need full access" are often the ones that compromise the networks. You should know what tools you need to do your job and thus they will be provided, presumed the licencing is legit. I have had to redo my old dev's computers so many times because they run out and download every other pluging they think they need eventually hosing their computers entirely. I then forced them to create a VM locally to run their test environment in cause i got sick of them having a day of down time every couple weeks cause they wanted to try something new...

It should not affect dev time at all, because again your Dev's should know the tools they need and already have them installed or plan their projects and know what it is they need

Well, if you have ever worked in a complex project, you know requirements, tools and the embedded hardware platform change so dynamically as to be dizzying. Your build environment is not just something you can install at project inception and leave it that way for the duration of the project. You need to make changes over time, sometimes daily. if you have to wait 24-48 hours for a ticket to be resolved every time you need to make a change, there will be significant project timeline impact.

Now, for my role as a mechanical/manufacturing/QA engineer, I'm mostly fine with a locked down machine. I rarely need things changed, and the ticket system works for me, but from what I understand of Software/Hardware development, that's not necessarily the case.

There are idiots in every field, but most of the software guys I've worked with have had solid heads on their shoulders, and maintained good practices from a machine management perspective.

 

[lcpiper]

Jeez. Either you guys must have ungodly good ticket response times, or this must slow down development significantly.

LOL, if you think it through some Z, this is software development managed by the Government/Military inside a Government/Military facility.

Why do you think I have so much time to spend on the [H] ?

 

[westrock2000]

LOL, if you think it through some Z, this is software development managed by the Government/Military inside a Government/Military facility.

Why do you think I have so much time to spend on the [H] ?

I thought the whole reason the "tab" was invented for browsers was to be the modern equivalent of the "boss button"......so that ALL of humanity could be liberated from boring work....I always have at least 1 tab with boring work related content on it.....something with a graph or table usually.

 

[lcpiper]

I thought the whole reason the "tab" was invented for browsers was to be the modern equivalent of the "boss button"......so that ALL of humanity could be liberated from boring work....I always have at least 1 tab with boring work related content on it.....something with a graph or table usually.

I find the local Sharepoint site as a perfect cover myself.

 

[darkeen]

The nice thing about chromebooks is that they run linux pretty much without issue.

 

[lcpiper]

The nice thing about chromebooks is that they run linux pretty much without issue.

True, but they also run nothing at all without a network connection.

They give and they take away.

 

[rat]

My expanding into Linux and OSX has been more of a wet dream. Good stuff.

Only my streaming server gaming rig is left on Windows now.

Same here. My desktop is Windows 7 out of necessity... Games and Adobe. When I bought a dedicated Linux machine, my opinion on using it completely changed. I wanted a little learning project and it ended up being the most wonderful setup I ever maintained. Hunting down exe installers or typing apt-get install (package)? Heh, no argument. The worst fear is having to find what package to install instead of wondering if the download link or the program itself is shady.

That and things stay exactly as how you left them. Install Linux on a new computer, copy over your home folder and reboot. Done. Everything is back to the way it was before. INCLUDING the data in installed apps like browsers (sessions and history)...

Yeah, it takes a fair bit more know how and tenacity to get everything fully set up how you want it but you don't even have to go that far to get a good desktop experience with linux anymore. It's just all there waiting for you to lift the hood.

I have Win10 on a laptop and it's been a total exercise in frustration. Half of what I used to configure before when doing a new Windows installation is now completely gone. ALL Window decoration is white. Blinding to the eyes in the night even at lowest brightness. So I'm definitely missing the UI DE configuration capabilities of Linux. Even if you sometimes had to use a terminal and edit some files.

 

[westrock2000]

The nice thing about chromebooks is that they run linux pretty much without issue.

I haven't looked at the state of affairs for about a year, but it seemed back then there was the possibility of inadvertently reseting it back to Chrome easily since it had to be in some developer mode in order to run Linux. I think there were also some issues with power management, and honestly I love how long this thing lasts.

I pretty much only use it for surfing file sharing sites, I put a 128GB SSD in it and it's all good for me. Acts a buffer between the internet and my real computers.

 

[daglesj]

There are those that just want a computer that works, doesn't nag and require heavy maintenance.

That's not Windows.

 

[daglesj]

True, but they also run nothing at all without a network connection.

They give and they take away.

Most people wont use any computer with out a internet connection. Plus most of us live in the first world and have decent internet. Have done for over 15 years. If I don't have internet nowadays its because I choose not to.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

I haven't looked at the state of affairs for about a year, but it seemed back then there was the possibility of inadvertently reseting it back to Chrome easily since it had to be in some developer mode in order to run Linux. I think there were also some issues with power management, and honestly I love how long this thing lasts.

I pretty much only use it for surfing file sharing sites, I put a 128GB SSD in it and it's all good for me. Acts a buffer between the internet and my real computers.

I've run an Asus Chromebox as an htpc with Linux/Kodi for some time now, no risk of reverting at all.

Once you hack it and get SeaBios installed it's just like any other PC.

 

[lcpiper]

Most people wont use any computer with out a internet connection. Plus most of us live in the first world and have decent internet. Have done for over 15 years. If I don't have internet nowadays its because I choose not to.

Even today, many hotels have terrible internet service. In such a hotel a traditional laptop is still useful where a chromebook is completely inoperable. This is precisely the reason I played Diablo2 for so long, because it could be played without an internet connection.

Don't get me wrong here, I am not running the chromebook down. But it does have a limitation that a traditional laptop does not and I am just pointing that out.

Now if you are talking about a hacked chromebook with a non-standard OS then this could be a different situation.

 

[MrGuvernment]

Well, if you have ever worked in a complex project, you know requirements, tools and the embedded hardware platform change so dynamically as to be dizzying. Your build environment is not just something you can install at project inception and leave it that way for the duration of the project. You need to make changes over time, sometimes daily. if you have to wait 24-48 hours for a ticket to be resolved every time you need to make a change, there will be significant project timeline impact.

Now, for my role as a mechanical/manufacturing/QA engineer, I'm mostly fine with a locked down machine. I rarely need things changed, and the ticket system works for me, but from what I understand of Software/Hardware development, that's not necessarily the case.

There are idiots in every field, but most of the software guys I've worked with have had solid heads on their shoulders, and maintained good practices from a machine management perspective.

I would be curious just how many tools would change and be completely new to a project beside the major ones, Visual studio, or AutoCAD suites et cetera that need to be installed, at least from my experience with .net developers, webmaster, asp coders, php guru's (was the manager of 10 of them over several years) they all have a core set of tools they always use, outside of that, it was more some new plugin or small little add-on app they might want or try...With that, a project is not a place to be "playing" with a new tool, this is why you have isolated dev environments, sandboxes that are completely separate from any main workstation or production environment. Fire up a VM and go nuts, break it all you want, but your main primary workstation that makes us money, you don't get to dick around in...

I can say most of my past teams were great and i let them have local admin, but always some exception, they would simply ask if they could try something or let me know, having a PXE server with custom images for our Devs with the tools they needed already done eventually meant they could be back up in under 20mins with the core apps they used.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

Windows 8/10 is a dystopian nightmare. They took the best desktop OS ever made, stripped out features, and loaded it up with data mining, ads, and a crappy attempt at copying Apple's already unappealing 'flat' GUI from iOS.

Microsoft seems dead set on making Windows as successful as their phone OS.