The problem: our desire for convenience

Bring on the downvotes, but: When it comes to tools like computers, convenience is synonymous with productivity. People aren't unreasonably demanding to have their hands held, they want to get stuff done. We need to stop acting like ~~convenience~~ productivity is just one of many concerns. It is the primary concern.

Freedom is nice but to most people it's only important if it helps us do the things we want to do.

Not sure why this author is spreading "paid software is convenient and just works" rhetoric. Simply isn't the case. You just get addicted to trying to solve your problems with money.

The "windows just works" claim is stupid. Especially the statement the author makes on how you just double click an icon and it just works everytime and if ever there is an issue, someone else will eventually fix it.

If the XML standard is overly complex, does that mean it'll be a bigger pain for MS employees to maintain? Sounds like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.

microsoft is a dirty bastard

I mean, they could just really suck at writing good software. Isn't some sort of rule of thumb law to never attribute to malicious intent what can just as easily be explained by stupidity?

Disappointing Fox news version of Windows' take of something somebody at Libre once said about Windows' domination of markets.

This read like basics. Was hoping for more info on how unusable XML was fot LibreOffice or if it wasn't (unusable to OSS versions). Obviously, OSS is better for enough reasons that a few in the EU are switching government computers from Windows to Linux.

Yes, corporate & proprietary schtick is lame & crippling. Old news. Guess it needs to be yelled until we research start taking about (marketing) FOSS Solutions.

There are people for whom this is news? Cheesus chroist

The comment about convenience trumping almost everything else reminded me of this old post (wasn't originally on The Urban Dictionary but they have it now under the definition of Linux).

If Operating Systems Ran The Airlines

When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plane leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, "You had to do what with the seat?"

I remember when Microsoft first attempted to prevent the standardisation of Open Document Format (used by LibreOffice and others) and then bullied its way into getting approval for own OOXML standard. Already back then, supporters of FOSS warned that Microsoft would use the overly complicated OOXML to maintain its stranglehold on users of Office-like software.:

Whenever applicable and possible, standards should build upon previous standardisation efforts and not depend on proprietary, vendor-specific technologies. Albeit, MS-OOXML neglects various standards and uses its own vendor-specific formats instead. This puts a substantial burden on all vendors to fully implement MS-OOXML. It seems questionable how any third party could ever implement them equally well, especially when a standard comes with 6000 pages of specifications without serving its minimalistic purpose.

Shit, I've been right about microsoft for thirty-plus years and it doesn't make a damned bit of difference.

They are. A. MONOPOLY. They have never "fought fair", and it wouldn't ever occur to them to do so. Their heart is all BOGU.

I think the point about convenience is more about familiarity than Windows being inherently easier. Speaking as someone who switched from Linux to Windows previously, I found the change very difficult as a lot of the FOSS software I was using didn't have Windows versions. I had a nightmare trying to read one of my LUKS-encrypted drives on Windows. I was practically using WSL for everything. That's not that Windows is inherently harder than Linux; it's just that I was used to Linux and the FOSS ecosystem, just as some are used to Windows and their proprietary ecosystem.

If your hardware isn't working properly, you have to find drivers that run on Linux; if the developer never made Linux-compatible drivers, you have to figure something else out.

Most drivers come pre-installed with the Linux kernel or your distro—I never had to manually install any drivers for my current hardware. Compared to Windows where you will have to go out of your way to install graphics drivers for NVIDIA or AMD depending on your graphics card, if you want to make the most out of your card's capabilities.

Installers made for Windows don't need any special TLC; you double-click them and they work.

See, I think if you've used Linux for any length of time you'd quickly find the system of package managers way easier than the system of having to hunt down an .exe on the internet, guess whether or not it's a legit copy or if it's malware, and manually manage updates for all the different software you have installed.

I agree that people stay on Windows out of convenience, but it's not convenience as in Windows is inherently easier, but it's convenience as in you're used to the way things work on Windows. Because in my perspective, things do "just work" on Linux, and that's because I'm used to the way things work here.

I don't buy the argument that windows just works or that it's somehow better or more stable. The reality is we all have grown to learn about computers specifically using windows and it's been a steep learning curve. We have gotten familiar with its specificities and its sporadic misbehavior and accepted that as the norm. And people prefer what they are used to even if it's suboptimal because they would rather not learn something else from scratch, even if in the long run it could be better.

Put any person who has zero computer experience in front of a windows computer or Linux computer and I doubt they would say the windows computer just works and the Linux one doesn't.

Anyone who thinks this is new, please read this, this and this.

And there's also this. It's a topic since shortly after the standardization of the Open Document Format 2006. MS then feared to lose whole governments as customers, so they (pseudo)standardized their own format, with a whole bunch of traps (in the format) and abuses of market power.

The thing with "just works" in monopolies is that it eventually stops working. I already have terrible excel bugs all the time on my work computer. Left clicking a cell sometimes just selects half a dozen adjancent cells. You vlick something and all of a sudden the rendering just goes completely haywire... You have two larger tables open and it just crashes...

Things will only get worse from this, until the global economy will loose trillions to being stuck with Microsoft.

Moved to LibreOffice. No regrets. Thank you, Microsoft!