This looks to be the answer - at least for now. And, yes looking-glass is beyond cool - especially as it makes the non-availability of the GPU on the host system a non-issue. As far as Windows licenses, I bought a Win10 license a month or so ago for around $10 (and am running it on my new PC min spite of it having everything needed for W11).
Time for me to start learning about KVM/Qemu. I’m more of a CentOS guy, but Debian/Ubuntu is fine - and probably has a lot more users in spite of RedHat.
The issue with TPM is the same as with IPv6. If you’re using an easy-to-track device, then you are easy to track. The motherboard I’m using has TPM 2.0 as a plug-in device, which suggests swapability. I haven’t enabled it.
I don’t think your first point is up to date. Roll on to 2026 and it’s clearly not about price any more. Even banks and wealthy corporations are ditching Windows en masse for Linux. Personally, I have come to so despise Windows that I am considering alternatives to my fully paid and long-time PL and CorelDraw if I can’t take them with me to Linux.
Don’t count on Windows retaining its dominance. Even banks and wealthy corporations are ditching Windows for Linux. There is a mass exodus that could see the dam wall break.
Surely with all that history and background experience you can see the same writing on the wall for Windows? It’s all very well being a dominant player but when you poop in public in your adult diaper and alienate for most faithful allies, you’re on your way out. For every bit of magnetism that applications everything provides there is now the polar opposite repulsion. Major banks and corporations are ditching Windows en masse. Application developers are taking note. Most notable are those who provide some way of running Windows apps in Linux. E.g: Wine … and now there’s a far better concept in Winboat which is just getting started.
Which is why many are now switching to the industrial strength and security that macOS provides, without losing the ability to read and edit those old MS Office documents.
As you obviously haven’t yet tried macOS, you wouldn’t be aware of how simple it is to install an app - just copy it from a DMG into the apps folder. And to uninstall it - simply drag it to the trash.
Are you really sure that Apple doesn’t collect private data? Is the source code open so that the manufacturer’s statements can be verified?
The main uncertainty among Windows users lies in their mistrust of the manufacturer. To my knowledge, Apple is not different from Microsoft in this respect.
Linux is different: the code is open and verifiable. In the Linux world, no one has any interest in collecting private data.
My experience has been that Apple only collects the data that you allow it to collect.
But, if you look for the times when governments have tried to access users’ data, Apple’s reply has always been an absolute and inviolable no.
It is well known that Apple themselves have put themselves in the position of not being able to see anything on your device or even on their servers in your account.
Yes, you get an iCloud account and storage but you are not obliged to make use of it.
I don’t even get promotional material.
Never trust your neighbour until you have your input/output interface under your control. MS offers a lot of switches to meet individual security needs, but no one (except MS) knows if they really work. The output data is encrypted, which makes tracing impossible. Switching from MS to Apple may be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Linux would be a possible option.
I’m very curious about this and the actual numbers. What is your source data?
IT of the financial services I worked for had replaced their NetWare, Solaris and most of the 3090 based services by Linux where possible and Windows where necessary. There were thousands of servers, virtual in most cases.
Businesses usually go for a commercial Linux distribution like RHEL in order to standardize operations and reduce cost. Now, a few years later, I suppose that most business software is available for Linux, be it as an app or an (software)appliance.
I’d not compare business Linux to what private users mostly do. There are many dialects of Linux that scare away developers - and having users build apps from source code looks even scarier imo.
Thanks for elaborating your experiences.
But I’m more curious about the data source that “corporations are ditching Windows en masse for Linux.”
Not necessarily even disputing it, just want to know who’s saying that and where that information is coming from, because I have yet to see a workstation at any major company (granted, my experience with major companies is not overwhelming) using a linux distro.
That being said, I’m in the US and it might be that “companies ditching Windows” is much less prevalent here.
Business: Linux is on servers. Desktop is still mostly Windows.
Making apps for Linux desktops is making apps for a dedicated and very small population, and I’d doubt that anyone in that group would be willing to spend three figured license fees for software.
Data sources are often compiled and €€€€€. Occasionally, we hear about administrations or smaller companies thinking about switching. In many cases, this means loss of investment and new investment in engineering - and unless there is a foreseeable roi, plans usually go back to the drawer.
A quick search delivered this: Linux Desktop Market Share (Yearly Trends)
In the point 1. - i not write anything about price. But about the real paying user base (under Linux) for DxO PhotoLab.
It’s hard to keep up with the exodus nowadays since Microsoft went incontinent in its adult diaper and alienated its allies. Linux crossed the 5% threshold in the United States in July last year already. Countries like India are over 16%. Multiple large corporations and banks as well as several European countries are making the shift.
Talk about a paying user base is talk about price. People are ditching Windows even though it costs them. Even banks and large corporations are leaving for Linux. I’m a long-time paid DxO user and I so badly want out of Windows that I’m prepared to make the shift to Linux and start looking at DxO alternatives.
You are 100% on target Joanna. I’ve known more than a few little birdies over the past 15 years and they confirm privacy is a core value. The message is constantly drilled home via HR business employee trainings, amongst the other trainings.
I too almost never receive promotions from Apple, nor advertising, nor targeted ads from third parties gleaned from my use of Apple devices.
I’m not counting on anything. I’m just saying it’ll take something major to unseat a 71% market share by any significant margin.
Banks do not make up a huge proportion of the user base, so that’s hardly a strong marker. Yes, they’re traditionally very conservative, but they also tend to have a lot of money to make change when they really want to. Where I suspect Windows will hold its place is with the millions of organisations that will not change either through sheer apathy or because it would be too costly and time consuming to change.
I just read the other day that there are quite a few government departments who are still using software that will only run on Windows XP.
I was first alerted to this by a YouTube tech security channel detailing the Win11 fallout . I can’t find it now but there was also a Medium article by Arnold Gunter. I’ll see if I can find it again. I’ll post some other links here too.
Banks switching their employees to Linux include Deutsche Bank, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley.
Belgium is in the process of making a similar move: