this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024
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Once the government switched to Linux en-masse, Microsoft will have no leverage whatsoever, no solution they can possibly propose will beat free software.
LibreOffice is totally adequate for most government jobs.
It's not like there's no precedent, Germany's government already switched to Linux
The only possible way to generate money is through the use of online document editing services, but Google Docs pretty much cornered the market here.
I just want to clarify that a german state switched. Not Germany.
And, IIRC, it's just a trial to see if it will work.
Edit: I should have read the article linked in a comment above...
So, it seems the trial may be over and they are migrating for good.
I'm honestly surprised the us govt hasn't developed their own pos locked downed Linux os.
It seems the baddies are way ahead of the curve:
https://itsfoss.com/linux-national-os/
LTT had a video on using North Korea linux
"Baddies"
Blue Star OS?
Blue stripe os
Back in 2000, there was something like that for the kernel with SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux). Which continues to live in various distributions' kernels. Not a full O/S though, and not generally regarded as a PoS.
I always found it to be a real PITA... It felt like a parallel system to file permissions, which meant I had two things to configure instead of one and I never really saw the purpose. It seemed like it could be more granular than the default, but if it did anything more than that I never learned about it
Granted, I'm a dev, not an admin. I go back and configure the firewall after I shut it off because it was in my way... Eventually
Even if libre office didn't offer those features, I'd be willing to bet the gov could donate 1/100 what they pay Microsoft in a year to have them implemented.
seriously. or just say "America's gift to the world" and wave their dicks around over in house programmers adding it.
Just for the record : Schleswig-Holstein is only one of Germany’s 16 states. Let's hope the rest of Germany will follow.
France is here a better example. The Gendarmerie has its own distribution based on Ubuntu called GendBuntu. The state developed Tchap, a messaging system based on matrix. And many are looking to Linux to simply cut the cost like the french army.
Side note: The app Fedilab has its package name based on the french government open source projects (fr.gouv.etalab.mastodon).
Unfortunately, LibreOffice is still garbage. Microsoft it miles ahead in its apps compared to the Linux equivalent. There isn't even a good OneNote alternative on Linux.
What is specifically broken or missing from LibreOffice?
As for OneNote alternatives, this one does a pretty good job: https://xournalpp.github.io/
Many things. The biggest issue, I'd say, is the unability to create tables in Calc. This severely limits productivity.
And I use both OneNote and Xournal++, and the latter isn't really a replacement to the former, save for a few features.
Nah, Office 97 was the last decent one, Office 2003 is trash due to app menus all messed up. LibreOffice is modelled after Office 97.
They can also just use Office online. That should be good enough to get people to switch without a huge disruption in efficiency.
You underestimate how much people rely on Excel macros.
Yeah, but there are alternatives, so it at least provides a smaller change than completely switching to something else.
Yeah but years of macros over macros that keep the business running won't be easily ported to a new solution.
Sure, and being forced to redo it is probably a good thing in the long run.
Maybe they'll get a developer to build it into a reusable product instead of relying on Jim in accounting to fix the macros to get it working after an update. Or maybe they'll realize they could get the same result with a pivot table and clever formulas.
I agree with you, but nothing is more permanent than temporary solutions.
Your response is the rational one, but rarely the one taken.
It works and the new solution would cost time and money, we can't have that.
Yeah, this is government, not a nice FOSS project. :)