Recent events have had me thinking a lot more about which tools we will be allowed to use in the workplace.
It was difficult to undo the damage that using Windows for most of my life affected my perception of computers.
Using Linux has widened my perspective on technology in general and made it a lot more fun to explore low level and systems programming.
Do many of you get to use Linux tools at work? How would you feel about more small establishments and local shops using software that gives them more control?
I’d imagine payment software, and a whole slough of other services are now sold as SaaSes when historically they did not need to be digitized or have an unnecessary middle man.
Just a little Tuesday thought for discussion. Hope you all are doing well.
-G
My work issues Windows or Apple laptops, your choice. But we’re not an IT/CS company really, at least not my division. 99% of the time we are just accessing web-based apps for paperwork/inventory management.
I use Linux at home but I don’t really care too much about using Windows for work. Not (truly) my computer, not my problem to manage.
I think there are perceptions of a lack of security/reliability with Linux desktop and the programs associated. Enterprise companies want to use enterprise products. Raytheon wants to use Solidworks, not some FOSS project maintained by 7 people in Romania. Whether or not this perception is well-founded, I don’t know. Again, not my problem.
That makes a lot of sense from a company’s standpoint. Not really the best for reliability when you think of business scale support…
Interesting that most computing activities are reduced to a web front end (is this the correct term?) and the web browser becomes the OS for the usual user.
At my previous job, we were issued several devices, on which I just used to access the services the company wanted our department to use. Much of the software would take minutes to load… Updates nearly every day… Usually when you were presenting in a conference room.
The frustration derived from all those times where the computer would freeze just because the OS was using so many resources radicalized me a bit more towards Linux. :)