I think, at this stage, I am finally convinced that FreeBSD is not ready for all desktop users.

[kpedersen]

Windows 10 is a requirement

I am going to go ahead and suggest that Windows 10 is never a requirement. Yes, it may be enforced by your specific department. Yes, the decision makers can be incompetent idiots and force people to use it due to their lack of knowledge of alternatives. However when you look into it, Windows 10 is never a requirement any more than fluffy wallpaper or a toilet brush with a little bear face on the handle.

Disappointingly I understand the above statement means very little when you are stuck with it. I have a couple of laptops provided by my employers which are still in the box. I just take my good ol' ratty X240 ThinkPad into work instead until their laptops are supported. The trick is to not be attracted to new shiny equipment.

If you need to test on Windows, then VMs are very useful. Especially if you work in the tech sector. Much work is using VMs anyway so running a VM on FreeBSD vs running a VM on Windows make so very little difference.

 

[TerabyteForever]

If you didn't make it, it is not a perfect thing for you. This rule is valid everywhere in life. If a thing is there, it is because of the audience behind it. That thing (which is FreeBSD in this case) fits the requests of the audience then, so they use it.

It is all about expectations. For example; I wanted a stable operating system for daily, and wanted to try something new -by getting out of my comfort zone-, so installed FreeBSD. Yes, dealing with packages or configs may be a little bit boring, but I love to do so.

 

[drhowarddrfine]

phalange I worked for manufacturing companies half my life and not once was the subject of "forced obsolescence" ever brought up or considered.

 

[Alain De Vos]

Your gsm fullfills forced obsolescence as any Windows O.S. installation.
Some freebsd versions are EOL.

 

[drhowarddrfine]

Alain De Vos

Not the same thing. It's one thing when things need to be upgraded due to technology changes. It's another to intentionally design obsolescence into the product.

 

[Alain De Vos]

True that.

 

[phalange]

phalange I worked for manufacturing companies half my life and not once was the subject of "forced obsolescence" ever brought up or considered.

Are you seriously arguing that companies like Apple and Google don't actively implement policies that result in hardware turnover? That's not tenable.

Moreover Tim Cook doesn't need to outline obsolencense strategies to every rank-and-file employee. And yet the actions of the organization lead to it. What do you think the right-to-repair fight is about? Clearly maintaining iPhones forever is financially problematic for Apple.

 

[Alain De Vos]

Android has special updates to make your phone slower over time ...

 

[mer]

Android has special updates to make your phone slower over time ...

The trick is use a phone old enough that they won't push updates to.

 

[drhowarddrfine]

Are you seriously arguing that companies like Apple and Google don't actively implement policies that result in hardware turnover?

I guarantee that they do not. If you have proof otherwise, please provide it.

 

[drhowarddrfine]

Android has special updates to make your phone slower over time ...

It also has updates that lets these same companies watch you without your knowing it, continuously, in order to steal money from your bank account.

 

[phalange]

I guarantee that they do not. If you have proof otherwise, please provide it.

It's been studied and documented for 100 years. It's objective reality.

Planned obsolescence - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I've heard the anti-consumer pro-business rhetoric that disclaims planned obsolescence ad nauseam. Very predictable. You don't have the cards to "guarantee" anything and I'm quite sure you know it.

Planned Obsolescence: Apple Is Not The Only Culprit

Apple just got smacked with a class action lawsuit after the tech giant admitted it slowed down older iPhones. This act is also known as planned obsolescence.

www.forbes.com

Apple investigated by France for 'planned obsolescence'

Prosecutors will look into claims of "planned obsolescence" in iPhones, which is illegal in France.

www.bbc.com

Apple to pay $3.4M in Chile to settle planned obsolescence lawsuit | AppleInsider

Apple has agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle a lawsuit in Chile that accused the company of iPhone planned obsolescence.

appleinsider.com

Apple and Samsung fined for deliberately slowing down phones

Italian investigation found software updates ‘significantly reduced performance’, hastening new purchases

www.theguardian.com

Planned obsolescence: the outrage of our electronic waste mountain

Unrepairable phones and laptops are a serious problem in our throwaway society. But the pushback is building - and the coronavirus crisis has added more pressure for change

www.theguardian.com

 

[Alain De Vos]

You don't need to be Einstein to know if let's say the lifespan/use of a smartphone would be the same as for instance a car, 20 years.
The sales numbers and revenues of the smartphone company's would decrease.

 

[Beastie7]

You can only support old hardware for so long. As technology improves there's a lot of technical baggage involved with supporting old hardware. I can still install macOS Catalina on a 2008 Macbook, but the software is way ahead of the hardware used to provide the experience. It's just a pain in the ass to get installed; that's the gap Apple fills. FreeBSD is a horizontal platform anyway so you guys are fighting in the air for no reason.

 

[Beastie7]

Oh, and Apple has a ginormous wallet too; which is ripe for "lawsuits". Thank Steve Jobs.

 

[Alain De Vos]

Do not forget company's have a responsibility to make profit in order to make the shareholders very happy.

https://trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/armin-ds9-publicty.jpg

 

[drhowarddrfine]

phalange Look closely and you will see none of those are "planned" as in "we'll intentionally build this new product so it will fall apart in a certain period of time."
At least that's what I'm talking about. I have a feeling it's not what you are talking about.

 

[blackhole]

Windows 8/10 came about after Windows 7 made love with Powerpoint behind the recycle bins...

People lie to themselves and pretend it's a fantastic GUI, because the GUI is all that matters to most, whereas in fact it's an utter mess and mishmash of the Windows Vista/7 style and Powerpoint style UI elements. Linux was once critiqued as "fragmented" - Windows 10 is an utter mess of poor UI implementation that makes the gnome project actually look sane.

"Ready for [the|your] desktop" or not - FreeBSD is a piece of art by comparison.

I've also recently discovered that good quality beer is "not yet ready" for "all" beer drinkers - most unfortunate... I suppose I'll have to drink it myself.

 

[Cath O'Deray]

I am going to go ahead and suggest that Windows 10 is never a requirement.

I frequently manage computer objects in Active Directory; use Quick Assist; and so on. Windows 10 is a requirement.

 

[kpedersen]

I frequently manage computer objects in Active Directory; use Quick Assist; and so on. Windows 10 is a requirement.

I am fairly sure Active Directory can be managed via Windows NT 4.x

Quick Assist is Microsoft's self deprecated version of Windows Remote Assistant right? This is one of those choices where because you decide to use it, that is the only reason why your users must then also use Windows 10. If you keep with Windows Remote Assistant, your users will thank you for it. What do you use for the macOS guys?

 

[Alain De Vos]

To use feature C of Microsoft you must have feature B of Microsoft. To have feature B of Microsoft you must have feature A of Microsoft.
Feature A of Microsoft works incompatible with opensource specification and works best with feature C of Microsoft.
This is a simple trick of Vendor Lock-in.

 

[kpedersen]

This is a simple trick of Vendor Lock-in.

Yes this is so true. A recent project I have seen it with was HoloLens 1. The API requires some UWP code which requires C++/cx extensions which requires Microsoft's shite compiler toolchain.

We did not engage with that mess and now Microsoft for HoloLens 2 has dropped UWP, dropped C++/cx. Our foresight now gives us a lot of sway with the client going forward.

Just say "no" to scummy businesses kids.

(To Microsoft's defence; *all* VR related companies seem to be absolute dirt).

 

[Cath O'Deray]

… Quick Assist is Microsoft's self deprecated …

No. It's integral to Windows 10.

Quick Assist is much more user-friendly than what was integral to Windows 7.

Solve PC problems over a remote connection

… What do you use for the macOS guys?

Microsoft Teams on Windows 10.

 

[kpedersen]

No. It's integral to Windows 10.

By integral to Windows 10, you really just mean that Microsoft doesn't provide a binary for any other platform but Windows 10 right?

Microsoft Teams on Windows 10.

Sounds like you really could make a business case! Start along the lines of

"To ensure a consistent workflow for our users, rather than utilising different software per platform, it could be a useful innovation to standardise on Microsoft Teams for all platforms when providing remote support".

... and now, you can use the MS Teams web client on Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD.
IT support uses that where I work. It is actually fairly satisfactory.

 

[Cath O'Deray]

By integral to Windows 10, you really just mean that Microsoft doesn't provide a binary for any other platform but Windows 10 right?

Wrong.

"To ensure a consistent workflow for our users, rather than utilising different software per platform, it could be a useful innovation to standardise on Microsoft Teams for all platforms when providing remote support".

No, Microsoft Teams screen sharing remote control is far less useful than Microsoft Quick Assist.