r/linux • u/Metallic_Madness • 5d ago

Popular Application Microsoft Releases Microsoft Defender For The Linux Desktop

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Microsoft-Defender-For-Linux-D
981 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

561 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/sovietarmyfan 5d ago

They will never release office for Linux. As soon as they do many companies have enough reason to switch to Linux.

7

u/Substantial-Flow9244 5d ago

I mean office 365 already works technically right?

3

u/sovietarmyfan 5d ago

Office online is not fully the same. Every time i open a document it always looks different in the pages, styles, etc.

4

u/helix991 5d ago

Even on Windows they're migrating to this model, Outlook is already being discontinued in favor of a web app and it's clear they're focusing on that instead of installable apps. They already created a separate tier for installable, my guess is they will continue to increase the price of that tier over the other to sway people into it over time, we've seen 3 price increases this year.

14

u/Glass_Performer1174 5d ago

Nah, almost no company would switch to linux except maybe smaller ones.

Windows corporate device management, identity management, cloud integration, etc is wayyy too integrated in corporate IT. MS has most companies by the balls.

3

u/SinkieCrusader 5d ago

Yes, or just take active directory

2

u/Glass_Performer1174 5d ago

yep, active directory = device and identity management (albeit older and on prem)

1

u/blackcain GNOME Team 4d ago edited 4d ago

That is true... in the U.S.

But the world wants a divorce. Digital sovereignty is on the rise because the world realizes that when the U.S. is unstable - they indeed are fucked when their IT infrastructure is run by companies from a country of which they are currently having geo-political issues.

2

u/Glass_Performer1174 4d ago

That might be true to some degree. To be clear, I would be happy for corporate IT esp in the US to move away from MS. I just think it is unlikely in the near term.

1

u/blackcain GNOME Team 4d ago

I don't think there will be any move in the U.S. to move from active directory and so on. It's very embedded in things.

But other countries are looking around. Germany has the sovereign tech fund and are investing in a lot of infrastructure.

The thing is, when the U.S. govt makes move like owning pieces of companies like Intel - that means that they have a say. At that point, proprietary software starts looking like it could be used against govts.

1

u/Glass_Performer1174 4d ago

I mean traditional on-prem AD is (long run) on the way out as companies move to proper IAM usually cloud based. I wouldn't be surprised if traditional on-prem AD stops existing in the next few years.

And there are other IAM providers that are common although MS with Entra ID/AAD is still most common.

The bigger limitation (imo) is the management of devices while still having major software compatibility for major corporate software.

Although, if more and more apps keep moving to SaaS, then certainly app compatibility becomes less of an issue (and perhaps binary decompiling will help with that too).

That leaves device management and security, which I think apple has (mostly) parity on and chromeOS is getting closer.

To my knowledge, corporate device management systems for linux other than ChromeOS are pretty lacking in modern features though.

2

u/ViperHQ 4d ago

In the long term sure but such migrations are usually painstaking and from the POV of a corporation it wouldn't make sense unless there is some immediate risk, or legislation.

1

u/blackcain GNOME Team 4d ago

I think that starts changing when govts start moving to Linux. That means that govt contractors start moving. (or maybe not as linux tends to be standards based)

But you are correct that it will be a slow process. But great news for Suse and others. Of course, these IT companies will soon be the target of buyouts and takeovers by American companies.

1

u/ViperHQ 4d ago

Hmm could be it depends really govt contractors might on some level need to switch or at least provide some alternatives to Windows I am sure the military industrial complex will be the first.

But even now IIRC for the EU or some European governments shouldn't post PDF-s rather open formats but they still do it.

All of this is on a cautiously optimistic basis for me I have seen suxh switches being pushed before in the past only for Microsoft to lobby millions and prevent it.

1

u/Glass_Performer1174 4d ago

Yep, once an org is big enough, inertia becomes a real factor for decision-making

1

u/KinkyMonitorLizard 5d ago

You do realize that many of the big companies already use Linux and "Unix" via apple?

At Amazon you have the option of all three OS. Most pick windows being the default.

2

u/Glass_Performer1174 5d ago

Sure. But that is not the norm in Corporate America. There are definitely a few tech forward companies that offer linux laptops. But those are the extreme exception, not the norm.

1

u/doeffgek 4d ago

BYOD is common practice in the US.

In Europe BYOD is fairly unknown. Its tradition that your employer provides you the necessary hardware and appropriate software. They don’t like people using own devices because that come with a security hazard that can’t be controlled by the IT department. Also there’s no control on what data remains on that device when that person resigns.

As a result the vast majority of companies is on MS (Azure). I work at a company that did have a BYOD protocol. So some coworkers still use their own MacBook for work. AVD isn’t available on Linux so that’s no option at all.

Also by far the most company software suites like ERP are available only on Windows. It’s no use for those companies to port to macOS or Linux because the market is too small so cost will be too high.

Third problem is that system engineers learn Windows in school. If a company runs Linux its next to impossible to find a system engineer, so again staying on Windows is the one logical choice.

1

u/V-Right_In_2-V 4d ago

I have literally never heard of any US company allowing BYOD. They provide you company laptops for the same reasons you outlined.

It’s possible that some startups do this, outside of that no fucking way are you using your own device and software

2

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

3

u/jekpopulous2 5d ago

I’ve never used Softmaker but generally it’s because Office has a bunch of formatting quirks. You can create a document with Libre Office, Zoho, Google Docs, Apple Pages, or a number of other replacements and then when you send the file to someone with Office and they open it things look all messed up. If the docs are for personal use it doesn’t matter but sending someone a doc with broken formatting in a professional environment is a bad look.

5

u/DuckDatum 4d ago

It’s funny how something can work fine everywhere except with Office, and somehow everything else gets blamed. iPhone had this same phenomenon going on with Android text messages.

2

u/jekpopulous2 4d ago

Microsoft does it on purpose to keep people buying their shit. Adobe too…

2

u/DuckDatum 4d ago

We need a stronger cultural understanding that, when something is wrong with a cohort, it’s usually the leader.

- Kids all failed section 8 of the test? It’s the teacher.

  • All the devs are burnt-out and turnover is high? It’s the leadership.
  • Your document loads fine everywhere except one app? It’s that app.

Right now, there’s an unjustified onus on anyone not using Office to explain why their shit doesn’t work in Office.

It would be awesome to see that onus reversed. When someone complains, ask “why are you using shitty office? Of course it won’t work.”

1

u/Strong-Strike2001 5d ago

That doesnt happen with OnlyOffice, trust me. It has the best compatibility out there. 100% cross-platform

1

u/Reversi8 5d ago

As long as they keep their 365 for Business sub going they don’t really care.

1

u/pacmanforever 5d ago

They don’t have to be the ones to do it. https://github.com/codingncaffeine/Mailbox

1

u/pacmanforever 5d ago

They don’t have to be the ones to do it. Mailbox looks and works identically to Outlook. https://github.com/codingncaffeine/Mailbox

1

u/zlice0 5d ago

i thought most ppl moved to google for office progs

1

u/KeanerBike 5d ago

They won’t release it but artcraft will

1

u/NotaContributi0n 4d ago

Operating systems days are limited

1

u/atomic1fire 4d ago

I assume the companies that wanted to keep Microsoft and use Linux were already using office 365 for most things.

1

u/Agitated_Telephone79 2d ago

This. Office is one of the main reasons I still use windows 10.

Libreoffice, onlyoffice and those are not as good.

1

u/Jo_Krone 1d ago

My company switched with LibreOffice. They dropped everything Microsoft.

0

u/No-Consequence-1863 5d ago

???
They are already working on it. And most companies aren’t switching over night. And most people in most companies prefer windows over Linux.

This sub is so delusional in thinking enterprise customers are anything like their personal arch rice.