What potential issues come with switching to Linux

I was just preparing a print for the boss, who was rushing out the door for an appointment. Then windows forced an update. It shut down, and the boss had to leave without the print. Windows was in the process of installing its update for an hour, when I was unable to work, while Microsoft forced some updates, and forced the install of some new apps. Also, lost about 20 minutes of unsaved work in BricsCAD. I know it gave me a warning that it was going to restart, but since I was working, that warning window was accidentally dismissed, as I was clicking and typing elsewhere.

Needless to say, we are not happy with Microsoft and the way it thinks it owns our computer and can do what it wants with it. Our small office also uses Office 360, and am having problems with it also. For some unknown reason the OneDrive is no longer syncing. This caused more than a little confusion and issues with people getting files that were outdated.

So, what can I expect if our office were to say, enough with Microsoft? I know all our apps have Linux equivalents. But, the other issue is that we do like the ability to use cloud storage, and have access to our e-mails across devices.

-Joe

Comments

  • Per Gogstad
    edited September 2019

    I have Windows 10 and office 365 and never see the problem you have. Even the two accounts of OneDrive for Business, OneDrive private plus Dropbox, Google Drive and iCloud on the same computer are working fine for me. My Windows will only suggest a restart but never enforce it. I also have BricsCAD V19, V20 Beta and Shape V19 on the same laptop. But i am not a very heavy user of BricsCAD.

  • There are many days I don't see windows and yet not feeling locked up. That may be a bit joking but it feels good.

    An internet server (Debian) handles things like e-mail, vpn to shared data and exchange like functionality. A corporate server (Ubuntu server) handles mostly files and connectivity. Server management is partly outsourced, we are handy but we also know where our expertise ends. Our current infrastructure was set up in 2010 and there are only minor issues from time to time.

    Local Xubuntu workstations is where most of the work is done, a few macOS and Windows systems are connected too and some Windows virtual machines are used for testing with Linux as host. I am very happy that BricsCAD is available under Linux but my experience so far is also that it is a bit less stable than under Windows, could be just my configuration and it really feels good that Bricsys solves bugs in no time.

    And for almost every application there is a proper alternative. But... It is not a one night change, it needs careful planning and testing. You may gain some money on licensing but loose some for system management. Corporate knowledge is imho mandatory, getting familiar with Linux will cost time and money. The beauty is that you can almost start anywhere, whether it is a workstation or a samba server, and slowly reshape internal IT.

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