I study math at uni and I was shocked realizing all my teachers use ubuntu on both their laptop and work desktop
Why?
Probably because Windows is best suited for games and cookie-cutter corporate applications while basically every supercomputer, cluster, etc. runs Linux. Professors aren’t usually running games or cookie-cutter business software so why not? If your one-off, experimental research code is going to ultimately be run on a more powerful system running Linux, why write it on Windows and waste time debugging once you try to run it for real?
But like you could run games on Linux. https://protondb.com
Cool story
It’s outrageous! You must start a crusade to make them see the error of their ways and start using Arch!
I don’t get how people manage to spend so much time keeping arch running. I used it on my laptop for a few years and it just worked?? It was like the easiest to maintain distribution I’ve used other than immutable ones. The only real problems I ever had were accidentally interrupting pacman during a kernel update and not having a kernel, but that was always a like 2 minute fix
it’s kinda the fire-and-forget of OSes. you just press the update/upgrade button when the unattended-upgrade didn’t catch all and it just works for free and forever.
So it has auto updates enabled? Windows, macOS and a ton of other Linux distros do that as well.
I think it’s moreso that Ubuntu is (one of the) most used desktop Linux OSes, so a lot of corporations and individuals who like to play safe just go with that
You think it is the most used because it is the most used? There must be a reason for that!
Windows, macOS and a ton of other Linux distros do that as well.
First of all, windows and macOS are not for free. They cost extra money, sometimes hidden in the PC cost when pre-installed. When they do a major update, like Win10 to 11, you are at their mercy, if your license can be used to upgrade. Often it can, but sometimes your PC is not “Windows 11 ready” or so and then you get updates for your old system for a few more years until they drop you like a hot potato and throw you to the malware wolves.
Additionally, in Windows the automatic updates are just for the OS itself and some apps from its store. A few apps like Chrome and FF install their own extra update service on top. A lot of other programs check for updates individually or some not at all and often you have to download and run their installer for every update. Idk how it is in macOS tho. Haven’t used it in years.
Yes, a ton of other Linux distros also have background unattended-upgrade or similar. However, the people who choose Ubuntu over those are usually looking for a quick solution that almost always just installs without problems. They usyally don’t have time or patience for any complications, however small. So they choose the fire-and-forget Linux and additionally have greater chances to find a fix or help in the super rare case it doesn’t work, because the bigger user base increases the likelyhood someone else is familiar or has infos regarding that exotic issue.
macOS is mostly the same as Windows in terms of updating Applications.
The App Store is more prevalent than Microsoft Store, but you can still download an executable for most programs from the browser. Installing is a bit different since you drop the file into the app folder instead of actually having an installation executable.
Then there is homebrew, which is an unofficial package manager, which I am using for everything, if available (which is almost all the time)
From my perspective, if used for work, automatic security updates should be mandatory. Linux is damn impressive with live patch. With thousands or even tens of thousands of endpoints, it’s negligent to not patch.
Features? Don’t care. But security updates are essential in a large organisation.
The worst part of the Linux fan base is the users who hate forced updates, and also don’t believe in AV. Ok on your home network that’s not very risky compared to a corp network with a million student and staff personal information often with byo devices only a network segment away and APT groups targeting you because they know your reputation is worth something to ransom.
if used for work…Features? Don’t care.
Most organizations care about maintaining document compatibility, especially formatting, and that usually means Office365. Microsoft is notorious for publishing a standard and then ignoring their own standard, making it exceedingly difficult to use other office suites.
I’ve heard OnlyOffice does the best at maintaining compatibility.
I agree, this doesn’t explain why Ubuntu would be any better than other OSes that also auto update by default…
Not only did my math master’s thesis adviser use Linux, he read his email from a command line program and wrote his papers in plain TeX, considering LaTeX a new fangled tool he didn’t need.
my whole university email server was accessed via telnet. So everyone used tty for email.
I think there may have been a gui or mail app that you coud point to it, but no one did. There was about a million(trillian?) gui’s people used for icq messaging though.
Wait what? Telnet? I am guessing cybersecurity is not one of the classes available at your school.
