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Cake day: March 30th, 2024

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  • Broken@lemmy.mltoLinux@lemmy.mlReplace Windows, Excel needed
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    2 months ago

    There is no Excel alternative. It sucks, bit its the reality. I run a VM specifically for a couple windows apps and 90% of that is excel.

    I use version 2019 and manipulated the installer to only install excel and none of the other office suite apps.

    You can also do the same in a docker container instead of VM (winboat) if that’s more your jam.

    If you want more info on any of that I’d be glad to give you more details.




  • Disclaimer, I did not watch the video other than the intro.

    I intend to scrub through it, but its very long for an basics video. Maybe this should be broken up into a series.

    Looking at the topics, it seems odd to including gaming for Grandma. Again, if it was a series you could do an offshoot gaming focused video for non grandma.

    Though to be constructive and positive, I love your intent here. When you know nothing about Linux there’s a lot of information to process and understand (even for non grandmas). You cover a lot of important topics and how to get going.


  • The problem with tech support in general is that people want to have a trusted source. If you are successful in your endeavour, then you are that source. Therefore you will be called for everything. Absolutely everything.

    Suddenly all people forget how to search online themselves or to actually look at the problem before reaching out. Not even a turn it off and on again mentality. You are now their source and will do everything for them.

    Then it degrades from there. Problems become vague descriptions of “acting funny” and you spend far too much time trying to get accurate descriptions and scenarios to understand the problem before even being able to try to troubleshoot it.

    All this jaded negativity is just me making a point that reasonable charges won’t get you very far. You will need to charge more to cover the time (yours or help) and then you will be deemed too expensive and people won’t call.


  • while you’re probably looking for some very tangible reasons in a bullet list of how its better, there’s really one foundational reason and everything else is a distant second.

    Linux (mint or otherwise) is your OS that you use on your hardware. Period. It’s not going to tell you how to use it, what is allowed, what is right, or anything of that nature. It’s yours. Have at it.


  • I’m another vote for mint. Coming from a windows environment its very similar in feel. Get use to how Linux works then you can always change to another distro if you want.

    Also FYI, many distros can be loaded from a USB stick to test out. If you like it, you install. If you don’t, you move on to another. Mint does this, so you can test it without commiting to it, and just get a feel for the UI.

    Honestly, it’s about learning how Linux works. Its a different mentality than Windows (or Mac). Learn the file structure, file permissions, how things update, etc. Nothing is crazy (and it’s better in so many ways) but you don’t really learn that stuff until you start using it.


  • I’ll be the black sheep and say I actually quite like using windows at work. Not really enjoyment per say, but the software suites and accessibility is different in the business world, which is primarily built around Microsoft. Not that you can’t do most of it with Linux and that Linux would do some things better, but I don’t really have an issue with most of it.

    Would I choose it for my home use? Definitely not. But I’d think that fitting a Linux cog in a Microsoft machine would create more negatives than positives. This is all subjective of course, and depending on you job, company, industry this could wildly not apply.

    Don’t get me wrong, I hate Microsoft. But their ecosystem isn’t all bad.



  • It’s my opinion that most people think of all the technology as it were 15 years ago. Apple was innovative, Google wasn’t evil, Windows worked well, and Linux was not as accessible as it is today.

    I had two bouts with Linux in the distant past, and neither time did I think Linux was anything worth pursuing. Not that it was bad, I just didn’t see a benefit over the alternatives. In fact the alternatives had all the benefits in my mind.

    When I switched a year ago, I was blown away how far it had come as far as being accessible. Now I can’t imagine using Windows as my primary OS ever again.



  • Yeah, I always bring this up because it’s what I dealt with. Mind you, it was amplified because I set up a media server right away and got seriously confused.

    What? Permissions don’t get inherited? OK fine, so how do you set permissions? This site says 755 and this site says drwxr-xr-x. Can’t I just get a straight answer?

    It’s a fundamental functioning difference between the OS’s that not a lot of people talk about when talking about switching.

    Even my Windows machine that is set up with an admin/user structure (as God intended) doesn’t give me any fuss with file access.



  • I switched to Linux about a year ago. I was a windows power user and now I’m a Linux noob, but couldn’t be happier.

    I hate to say it, but there’s still reasoning to have Windows. I use a VM with ameliorated windows running for the few things I can’t get away from.

    For others, I tell them my story. Most people I talk to won’t or can’t make the switch, which I’m respectful of. To those that would benefit, I recommend at the minimum O&O Shutup but highly recommend ameliorated. This has been more welcomed.

    People won’t care until they have a reason to care. I’ll still be around when they do.