LD s1e8 “Veritas”
I use Linux on all my devices. Have done so for years. But hot take: the Windows PC that is issued to me by work, and managed by the IT department, is actually not that bad. Basically every major complaint that people tend to have about Windows is already mitigated for me by Global Policy stuff and whatnot that IT configures. I get updates that are only LTS type releases, and am provided with ample warning so it never interrupts my work or anything.
But on my personal devices? I would hate to go back to actually managing a Windows PC for myself. Fedora is just simple.
If you know the group policy that will make my fans stop for the first time since I was forced to upgrade to 11, I will be forever in your debt. I do have admin privileges to the AD despite being pretty clueless to all things microsoft.
I have no idea
I do have admin privileges to the AD despite being pretty clueless to all things microsoft.
I think I might know where your companies AD/GPO issues stem from.
(Not blaming you specifically; just your company’s general security posture)
I have all the keys to all the things and the delegation authority to farm out what I don’t know enough about. I’m not going to go lick the mains, but I have they the key to the building’s electrical cage.
I have all the keys to all the things
The last three jobs I had were like this. I’m a web developer with an interest in IT, so after a few months I always get to manage all of the IT. 🥹
Pros:
- I can sneak in OSS and Linux into the infrastructure, slowly but surely replacing all of the proprietary shit
- good salary
- four-day work week
Cons:
- having to play babysitter for basically everybody
- when something breaks during my vacation, well, there goes the vacation
- nobody notices how much work I actually do (until something breaks)
Group Policy and Windows Server Update Services fix a huge amount of issues in corporate domains. If you know PowerShell and Active Directory, a windows fleet is easy to manage. Linux has nothing like the above except for auth through LDAP.
To be completely fair, a competent Linux enterprise desktop team would force regular kernel and package updates on the users, too. Keeping up to date is crucial to network security and y’all have all kinds of juicy stuff on your work machines, regardless of the underlying operating system.
It’s not the concept of updating that’s the problem; it’s that Windows’s process gets in the way of your work and doesn’t make its status clear. You can be stuck on 90% for thirty minutes, and all you can do is wait with fingers crosses.
When updating on Linux, it’s usually dead clear what it’s updating and very forthcoming about any errors that have come up. Also, I can usually still at least check my e-mail while updating my Linux packages, if not most of what I usually do, and just restart when it’s convenient.
I didn’t take into account this nuance. I agree.
In MS defense, I haven’t seen a blue screen for at least 8 years, maybe longer.
Back in the XP days, it was constant.
As someone who works at a help desk, the main “blue screen” I see these days is the computer asking for a Bitlocker key after an update, upon which I have to direct them through their Microsoft account.
I’ve also seen my fair share of crapped out installs that just needed a reinstall, as well as the occasional issue with Realtek 8852.
