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How do you know Linux is gaining steam outside of the usual circles? When you see writers like Jason Evangelho from Forbes switching over to Linux and writing about his experience.

He's been writing about Linux since early July, his reasoning for trying out Linux I'm sure will sound familiar to anyone who has used Windows often:

A few weeks ago during a time-sensitive 350GB file transfer, Windows 10 rebooted without warning. When the OS restarted I was greeted with an infuriating blue screen that had become all too familiar. No, not that infuriating blue screen. The one that declares "Working On Updates." It was, as they say, the last straw. After two decades of relying on Windows I finally decided it was time for the nuclear option.

He continues on to talk a little about his experience, including Linux Mint having an off day not finding a drive to install on. However, that didn't stop him, whereas I'm sure other writers would have then gone off on a rant he simply picked a different distribution (Ubuntu). Usually, when I see such writers on major news websites writing about Linux, it ends up coming across as a pretty disappointing read as if they've set themselves up not to like it. So it was incredibly refreshing to see him have a little patience to push through it. It's the same for anything that's new to you, if you're not prepared to learn a little—you will probably fail. 

The latest article, titled Gaming On Linux: 2 Ridiculous Myths And 2 Brutal Truths, features yours truly after we had a bit of a chat. We went over the usual points, most of which will be well-known to our regular readers and people who've been using Linux for a long time. Still, some of it felt important to actually get across to a wider audience. This is why I appreciate Evangelho's writing, because he reached out to people in the community for feedback and help. To make sure he actually understood various upsides and downsides of using Linux for work and play. Although, it's slightly amusing how I mentioned Wine a little and then along comes Valve with Steam Play.

It's really fantastic to see more people on major websites actually try Linux for themselves and have a positive experience. More like this please.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Arehandoro Sep 4, 2018
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: ArehandoroWould you mind providing a link for this, please? I'd like to create some "fireworks" back in the office tomorrow... xD

I've only got a German one...

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Behoerden-ignorieren-Sicherheitsbedenken-gegenueber-Windows-10-3971133.html

(If I find time I'll look for more.)

Thanks!

Time to practice my German :D (I wish my level could allow me to read the article lol)

P.S: I found this, are they related? https://borncity.com/win/2018/03/30/german-authorities-demands-microsoft-must-disable-windows-10-data-transfer/
WJMazepas Sep 4, 2018
You know, something i rarely see discussed with Linux, Wine and etc is how better linux is to play retro games. Not only old consoles, but old PC games as well.

I tried to play Evil Genius on my Windows 10 machine and it didnt wanted to work. No matter what i did.

On Linux with Wine on the other hand, was really easy. Just installed the game via Steam, installed the community patch and worked with no issues.

And is a much better alternative than building a retro pc.
Salvatos Sep 4, 2018
Quoting: Arehandoro
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: ArehandoroWould you mind providing a link for this, please? I'd like to create some "fireworks" back in the office tomorrow... xD

I've only got a German one...

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Behoerden-ignorieren-Sicherheitsbedenken-gegenueber-Windows-10-3971133.html

(If I find time I'll look for more.)

Thanks!

Time to practice my German :D (I wish my level could allow me to read the article lol)

P.S: I found this, are they related? https://borncity.com/win/2018/03/30/german-authorities-demands-microsoft-must-disable-windows-10-data-transfer/
It also made waves in France back in 2016, but I don't think anything concrete came out of it (of course):
QuoteMicrosoft's Windows 10 operating system collects "excessive" data on users, violates privacy laws in "numerous" ways and must be fixed within three months, France's national data privacy watchdog announced Wednesday.
Lakorta Sep 4, 2018
Quoting: Arehandoro
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: ArehandoroWould you mind providing a link for this, please? I'd like to create some "fireworks" back in the office tomorrow... xD

I've only got a German one...

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Behoerden-ignorieren-Sicherheitsbedenken-gegenueber-Windows-10-3971133.html

(If I find time I'll look for more.)

Thanks!

Time to practice my German :D (I wish my level could allow me to read the article lol)

P.S: I found this, are they related? https://borncity.com/win/2018/03/30/german-authorities-demands-microsoft-must-disable-windows-10-data-transfer/
I wouldn't be so optimistic. The German government is planning to replace a lot of Linux computers with Windows. The financial sector in one state of Germany is using Linux, unfortunately all other ones are using Windows and while the Linux one is developing crossplatform compatible software the Windows ones aren't so the Linux ones will be forced to switch to Windows.
German source: https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Linux-Aus-Niedersachsen-will-knapp-13-000-Rechner-auf-Windows-umstellen-4119380.html
Eike Sep 4, 2018
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Quoting: ArehandoroP.S: I found this, are they related? https://borncity.com/win/2018/03/30/german-authorities-demands-microsoft-must-disable-windows-10-data-transfer/

Yes, that matches! (They even cite Heise/c't, which I linked.)
melkemind Sep 4, 2018
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Quoting: ArehandoroI hear loud and wide how Forbes nowadays it's not what it used to be anymore*. Yet these articles are not only welcomed but also appreciated.

* Actually not that loud and not that wide, my comment was more of a southern hyperbole than an analysis on Forbes' articles xD

Well, it's true though. Anyone can write for Forbes now, and a lot of their articles are like content-farm clickbait. But a positive article about Linux is still great no matter where it's published, and we should definitely support such efforts.
Purple Library Guy Sep 5, 2018
Quoting: ArehandoroI hear loud and wide how Forbes nowadays it's not what it used to be anymore*.
Was it ever?
tonR Sep 5, 2018
Any positive coverage on Linux gaming is great! Nuff said..

You know what, right now mainstream gaming news/fans are complaining on Sony who doesn't want their Playstation platform crossplaying with Xbox for days, almost a week now.

At the same time, coverage on new Steam Play features for Linux gaming is like "one hit wonder" news. So, Any mainstream non-gaming media covers on Linux and Linux gaming is great news.

p/s: For some reasons, I a little bit agree with Sony doesn't allowed crossplay with any platform except PC (read: Win & Mac) and mobile devices. Hell, if crossplay is important, why so few games can crossplay-ing with Linux?
Purple Library Guy Sep 5, 2018
I don't know why, but there's something about this thread--I really like almost every single comment. Even the ones that are nominally disagreeing with each other, I like both perspectives.
Quoting: Mountain ManMy wife recently bought a new laptop with Windows preinstalled. I spent a couple of hours uninstalling all the junk software that it came with and configuring the OS so that she could use it.

I had another older computer that needed a fresh OS install, so I put KDE Neon on it. The whole process from start to finish took about 30-minutes, and it "just worked".

I hate Windows.

Couldn't you have just wiped the computer and installed Windows from scratch? The fresh installs don't have any of the manufacturers bloatware. I personally dislike the invasive data collection, having antivirus software, and miss the linux command line when I use Windows but it's stuff all non-linux users are completely accustomed with.

Anyway, the stuff Windows has historically beaten linux hands down on are actively being worked on so hopefully the linux desktop will eventually catch on. Honestly, the last things linux needs to really take off are more OEM's willing to preload it, support for apps that keep people constrained to windows like Office and the adobe suite, and maybe its own exclusive killer apps.
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