
You may think, “Hey, didn’t you claim to be a Mac/Windows IT guy.” Yeah, that’s my day job. “How can you do your job if you are using Linux?”
Good question. I don’t have just one computer. I still have a laptop with Windows 11. Works just fine. I still have a Mac laptop. I haven’t given them away, I don’t use them. Is it wasteful to keep them? Not when your income depends on being able to use a computer to help others fix their computers.
The truth is that the kind of computer you use doesn’t matter anymore and hasn’t mattered for a very long time. People are slow to change but employees are pulling away from Windows/Mac. I see that professionally. When an employee has the choice between a Windows 11 PC and a Mac, they choose a Mac most often. When they work in a company that uses Linux for their desktop as increasingly more companies are doing, they start to wonder if they can use it at home. I am not trying to change the world, just ride the wave that is happening.
I have been using Microsoft Online with Linux for a long time with no serious issues. It works better than it does with Mac/Windows. Fewer error messages, less crashing, and faster performance. Everything works great. I use all of the Microsoft Online features like Teams, Outlook, Word, etc and they work. I have to give props to Microsoft that they are doing their applications better in the cloud than on the desktop. Lately, their apps have dived quality. Outlook seems to be as painful as an app and has been for decades. I know because I supported it and I had to deal with the pain with my users as well.
Don’t misunderstand. I am not telling you to use Linux. I am sharing what I am using. I am also tired of paying for forced upgrade cycles that are just sales in Mac/Windows. The argument is that security is the reason to upgrade. Yet even with upgraded systems, we don’t have security. Security is very important. Don’t get me wrong. We should always do the highest level of security we can. However, when fully patched systems are breached, it can’t be the only reason that we upgrade.
We find out in the security community that some security hacks have happened for years, and with systems that we thought were secure. It is clear that forcing end users to upgrade for “security” is at best a dishonest argument. There are so many security holes that the best an individual can do is to use something obscure that no one has an interest in hacking like Kali Linux. Realistically no one is going to do that for the average person.
I used Mac originally because it was so beautiful and capable and because it was less popular it wasn’t a target like Windows. Now Linux is also a target but far less than Windows/Mac. That is changing as it grows. Security by obscurity is a difficult road to follow and impossible for the average person.
One day things like Microsoft 365 won’t be proprietary. I don’t see that happening for several decades. Until then, staying as non-proprietary as possible is probably the most fair and helpful thing we can do in technology.