[Skybird]

Libre Office is a split from Open Office, and Open Office roots back in Star Office by Sun Microsystems. And Star Office was was no split from Microsoft Office Suite, but a competing rival product to it. It based on a very early text editor named Star Printer or Star Writer, that was I think as early as in the 80s. It never had any link to Word, or Office Suite by MS. The open document format stems from this lineage, its no Microsoft format. The early founders came form Germany, btw.

There were so many simply factual wrong claims raised in Catfish's post that I got confused on where to start and then decided to just not care getting started at all.

Indeed the Paruis police has installed - in free time of the officers! - Linux, aga8inst the will of the French interior minsitry. Since years the altter demands the Paris polcie to move back to Micorosft, but the Paris flics just do not care, because Linux works safer and more stable for them. that has the French interior minister (before Macron) fuming since long. But the Paris police ignores him. Since I think three or four years. LOL

In many German towns and cities, indeed Linux is beign maintained, partially for overt ten years already. Amongst them my hometown where I live.

Munich however illustrates how Microsoft all too often tries to play the game. Munich also was on Linux, since years, but then the local government or mayor changed and the new boss in town is a close friend of Microsoft. Big MS told him they would move some representation center into Munich if he woudl force the public services to switch back to Windows - which they do not want at all. So he gave the order, simply that, and ran into stiff resistance. There were at least two oublic heairng by now where the guy tried to give practical arugmwents of why Windows is better for munich. He gailed. He claimed the poublic office workers want it, and they immediately rejected it. He claimed sdecurity soncerns,a nd was proiven wrong piont for point. He had no arguments that were valid. But Microsoft'S model is to cash in hilariously expensive yearly license fees, becaseu th software is no more bought, but just leased, these fees can reach easily into the millions. The mayor in Munich wna ts to waste oubkic tax money to give MS the wanted license fees to get a pointless Microsoft office into the city, all that at the cost and expense of the tax payer. I call that fraudulent conversion.

In some cities they have converted back to Windows indeed in the past years, however. sometimes indeed due to workers having problems with handling software. But that is due to incomepetent political administratoin that did not care fopr gettign staff trained comoetently. Where such training was invested into, usually Linux is preferred and works better - and muczh cheaper.

However, sometimes indeed certain specialsied software needed is not avialable under Linux. The old vulnerability of it: compatability. This is however not the general case in public administration.

And Catfish, get yourself some info on what the difference is between just polling consumers on a sample basis, and monitoring complete network traffic loads to come to empirical conclusions about market shares. Its not the same.

In the US, I recently have read, schools and universities by now have tipped the flood. No longer micorosft devices get ordered or donated predominantly, but Google and Apple devices.

Professional It admins hate Wujndows 10. I read two Engish and three German tech blogs frequently, more or less frequently at least, and the audfience as well as tghe authors are profesuisonals needing to know this stuff for thewir living. Catfish, realise it: they hate it. Many more working hours to maintain it, to repair all the things Microsoft breakes, to work around the many issues. MS cannot make money with Windows anymore, and if they could, they would just dump it and leave it behind. So they cut funding, fired any good people wokring on and knowing Windows since half their lives, and made others fleeing Microsoft voluntarily. A massive drain of experience and knoweldge, related to Windows. No wonder the patching is a mess. IT admins seem to try in significant numbers to convince their employers NOT to switch to Windows 10. And the boss of MS, Nadalla, just a short time ago inficated that they were wrong in their claimed rates of custoimerd adopting W10, in a recent interview the number he most naturally mentioned was by one third lower, than before. They have just lost one third of their global Windows 10 users? Wowh.

How the tide is shifting, Robbins has shown some weeks ago with a link to some statistics showuijgn that the number of Wiundows devices per one single Appole device sold, has drmataically dropped. It still is severla times as high as the sales by aplles, yes. But it has dropped by over one half, and this in relatively short time. And that has its own message. The new bully on the block for operation systems, is Android. The future ofor producers hwo create their own hardware for their own software, beliongs to Google, and Apple. Microsoft - is busy in cloud computing and server business (where again Linux already dominates, and with Novell a third contender comes in as well). Windows is no longer a core business, so is Office.

Today i have read that MS works on a new Windows, named Andromeda. I heard of this for the first time today. It again holds a message, ebcasue originally W10 was meant to be the last orioginal Windows that Microsoft woudl ever develope, and then constantly uodates in the way of the scheme they have tried to establish by now, they said so already before W8 was released. And some weeks ago they gave up their resistence to Linux, which before they fought against right to the bone, they say they now want to support it and assist development for Linux as best as they can. LOL Now they try to embrace it to death, but meet extremely cool reaction by the Linux com munity of course. Both pieces of info tell me that they have admitted the failure of W10, and their defeat by Linux in general. Hell, even MS headquarters in Redmont are said to run Linux!

Its Windowsdämmerung, plain and simple. It will die on for more years to come, but it dies. And this new Andromeda - we will see. To me it is an emergency reaction born out of despair. I do not b eleiove thnat the past will come back, so if somethign good comes from it, then due to it beign somethign totally new, but not an old Windows in new clothings. After the terribly bad experiences of the past two years however I will be so on my guard however , that they will find it almost impossible to befriend with me again. These two years really have blown it for them. And I learned that I only need Windows anymore to play some games.