I’m liking the recent posts about switching to Linux. Some of my home machines run Linux, and I ran it on my main laptop for years (currently on Win10, preparing to return to Linux again).
That’s all fine and dandy but at work I am forced to use Windows, Office, Teams, and all that. Not just because of corpo policies but also because of the apps we need to use.
Even if it weren’t for those applications, or those policies, or if Wine was a serious option, I would still need to work with hundreds of other people in a Windows world, live-sharing Excel and so on.
I’m guessing that most people here just accept it. We use what we want at home, and use what the bossman wants at work. Or we’re lucky to work in a shop that allows Linux. Right?
Full Linux shop here. Love it…
Desktops, laptops, servers.
For those rare customer teams meets, we just do it in the browser.
</saltRub>
How big is your install base at work? Still wondering how to replace something like Active Directory, Group Policies and the like for centralized management akin to Windows based networks.
FreeIPA covers most scenarios. Kerberos, Dynamic DNS/DNS, LDAP.
GPO equivalency would need some config management tool. Ansible is what RH would suggest, but something with an agent would probably be better.
Debian at home. Red Hat at work. I have tried to talk them into better OS choices, but really I’m just glad to not be on Windows.
I am an electrical engineer, so even beyond Teams and MS Office, several of the engineering and CAD programs we use are not supported or only partially supported on Linux (i.e. hardcoded to only work on a specific version of Ubuntu, lol).
I have spoken to our IT guy, and he would be completely on board with using Linux, but even he acknowledges that there is no reasonable path to us doing so, so I just sort of accept it.
Professor here facing the same problem. I am bounded by administrative procedures with grandma school administrators.
I use Linux at home, of course. Debloated my Win11 machine at work but hope to use Linux instead everyday.
Yes, but maybe it’s not so bad. It creates a clear separation between work and play. Windows is for boring work and office stuff. Linux is the happy place at home.
The last several places I worked gave me a choice between Windows and Mac OS, so I picked Mac OS.
I have to use 11 at work. In a way I’m thankful because I’ve been exposed to how shit it is and it makes me appreciate Linux more. I can’t see them changing anytime soon as it seems like we’re getting more dependent on their shit.
I’m a MLOps engineer. Rules at my current company is that you need Windows or MacOS. According to the IT department it won’t work if you use Linux.
So I installed Linux anyway and everything is working perfectly. My manager don’t care that I use Linux but the IT department is not happy.
IT probably has tools to manage policy on Mac and Windows, but have not set anything up for Linux and as a result cannot manage your computer.
I’m allowed my own laptop cuz most of my work is ssh to a server and fix shit. You have to register your laptop on the network first though.
Office, Team: these can work via the browser if your company/organizations pay for the subscription. In fact, the web versions run much better than the standalone desktop ones for me.
Code editor, terminal, programing in general: These work much much better in linux. You open a terminal and you write commands to install stuff. Editors are even easier, i.e. nano, vim, vscode, emacs… etc. just pick your poisons…
Email: now I login to my exchange email using the browser. That works for 100% of the stuff I need to do: basic emails stuff, accept/decline meetings…etc. Unless you absolutely need to use Outlook, there should be no problems.
Now… the real problem lies in specialized software like CAD, CAE tools. I like Linux but there isnt a free CAD / CAE tool that is comparable to what the industries are using. In academic? absolutely you can use for research.
I recently got my Linux-laptop in a heavy MS-based company. It is enrolled via Intune and I can access all company resourcws an MS365 apps through Edge.
Apart from having to use Edge for all of that, it is a great experience compared to what I am used to.
But it took a while and a lot of complaining about being allowed to use more appropriate tools for our job. But the bottom line is: ask for it. Tell them why you need it. When they say no, try again later, document why your current setup fails and why getting a Linux-machinee would work. Maybe you will succeed. IT here has gone from “we don’t use open source” (actual quote) to giving us Linux-laptops and setting up Linux-servers on OT. They grow from this also.
That’s what shadow IT is for.
You try through the normal channels, explaining why, and if it’s not enough, you find a way to still be productive DESPITE the rules of the place. Then eventually you move on to a saner place.
Current workplace: Windows computers with all development being done in Linux VMs. Management and a few younger devs are pushing for WSL, while several older devs are demanding Linux-only laptops.
Previous workplaces: One more with Windows + Linux VMs. One with Windows + X remote desktop to development servers. One with Linux PCs.
I have been exclusively applying for jobs that promised Linux development though.
Nope: My lathe runs Linux.
We’re a Linux shop at my work. We do have a windows PC due to corporate policies…but everything we do on our windows PCs we could do from Linux.
Outlook? Website. Excel? Website. Jira? Website. Teams? Website. Nearly everything we do front end wise is all web based. Which, I know electron sucks, but from a “Linux as a main desktop environment”…I’m pretty damn happy with everything being web based nowadays. It’s all OS agnostic.
with so many Windows programs being just PWAs these days, running everything in a browser is really no different anymore.
I count myself as one of the lucky ones that isn’t forced to use Windows by the company I work for. We even have our internal (ubuntu-based) distro, and despite being passable proficient with Linux, I can count on having support if I ever need it.
That’s all fine and dandy but at work I am forced to use Windows, Office, Teams, and all that.
Yeah, me too. But all of those (except Windows of course) can be used on the browser
