From The Document Foundation (folks behind LibreOffice). I think most of us are already on board with this. I've been using LibreOffice for years, and I can't imagine going back to MS Office (even Excel, the only one of the MS apps I ever had fondness for). This piece also links to End of 10, a good site to send to folks with older computers who might not realize they could still get years of use out of them.
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21 sats \ 2 replies \ @optimism 16 Jun
I was visiting a buddy in Europe recently and he - and he claims many like him - have been doing this recently from a standpoint of no longer using US Big Tech products as appetite for both Trump's (though mostly: Vance's) perceived hostility towards Europeans, and US big tech being the main beneficiary of this behavior. He was the biggest fan of "just using MS products, because it's easy" in the past.
I still hope that this can evolve into something more agnostic to nationalism and less divisive. Just use the best product, and don't use cloud services if you don't need to; although switching from outlook to proton is a good move for privacy (allegedly, as I haven't reviewed server-side code), you're still relying on an online service for critical communications.
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 16 Jun
Yeah, I get not supporting a specific company or product because of the company's actions, but not supporting an entire country's products (especially when most companies really don't just come from one country). But if it gets people to try the product, and then realize that it's just as easy (or easier in some cases) after learning the differences (LibreOffice Writer is hardly Emacs), that's a win.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism 16 Jun
Nationalism breeds hate. It sucks so bad to see this happening. Everything is set sharp based on where someone was born. Fuck that, it's moronic.
Hopefully! I've spent years and years of my life developing FOSS software. It would be good if benefits more people. They don't need to be slaves to corporate extortion in the form of license fees anymore. We're way past that.
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0 sats \ 5 replies \ @Scoresby 16 Jun
In a way this is similar to getting to switch to self custody (from an exchange or even just to start using bitcoin). There's so much inertia they will put up with horrible behavior on the part of their providers because it is just easier than making such a change. Frog boiling in a pot of water.
I suspect most people won't come to Linux, despite great tools like the End of 10 website.
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17 sats \ 2 replies \ @xz 16 Jun
I was thinking about why MS Windows now offers a virtualization environment but macOS still doesn't have that natively. I think Apple must have cornered a large percentage of potential Linux users, whereas MS Windows is not gaining many at all.
I think there will be huge upside growth in Linux users, but this is a trajectory that'll take time. I think we must be changing in terms of basic computer literacy. Just my feeling.
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53 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 16 Jun
Apple's Unix underpinnings have definitely helped it nab a bunch of Unix/Linux folks. Pretty sure they'll never snag @siggy47, though!
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38 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 16 Jun
Aha! I'm a committed linux/Libre Office guy. It's been about 2 1/2 years.
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102 sats \ 1 reply \ @Norbert 16 Jun
In my mind there's definitely a parallel to bitcoin self custody. Use LibreOffice, and nobody can take it away from you. Your file is on your own system, and nobody knows it's there. You open the file and edit it, and it's nobody's business but yours. There is no tracking, no censorship. Even if your internet provider cuts you off, you can still work on your files.
I realize this is all rather absurdly banal, but this is one of the thousands of faces of digital self-sovereignty.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby 16 Jun
I completely agree. It feels like the whole world is heading toward the smartphone model of computing. PCs are "personal" no longer; they are just access points to someone else's computer, database, drive, whatever.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Emi 16 Jun outlawed
stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB 16 Jun
I use libreoffice and boy it is clunky and buggy for me. I def do miss the mircosoft products. But I don’t use them as much
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @030e0dca83 16 Jun
My homie has used Linux since 2007 and all the way tells me how good it is. As an old windows user I was sceptical a out it, until one day in 2021 I installed Ubuntu as my second os. Since that day Linux has become my primary os
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