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361 points robenkleene | 6 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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MintelIE ◴[] No.23285409[source]
Why don't companies come out and tell people what they're doing these days? Telemetry is getting to the point where people such as doctors and lawyers might be violating the law by using a modern computer. And people in the defense industry? Doesn't Apple employ thousands of forns? Who's audited their datasystems and ensured that this stuff stays private?

Much easier and better to just stop using it all and move to a system like Linux or BSD. 99% of people do everything in a browser these days anyhow.

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FpUser ◴[] No.23285613[source]
>"99% of people do everything in a browser these days anyhow."

This exaggeration is clearly absurd.

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1. MintelIE ◴[] No.23285633[source]
Are you certain about this? I think I was being conservative.

It's easy for us tech nerds in our little gadget bubbles to suppose that everybody is like us. But most people are simple browser users, and Office 365 and Google Docs have all but killed off office software on the desktop for many users.

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2. jeremyjh ◴[] No.23285869[source]
> Office 365 and Google Docs have all but killed off office software on the desktop for many users.

That hasn't been my experience at all. While those tools are definitely used - especially for collaboration - most people on my company's Office 365 subscription are downloading and using the full products for their daily work. This is true in both very large companies and the (non-tech) startup I work at now.

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3. kgraves ◴[] No.23285944[source]
> But most people are simple browser users, and Office 365 and Google Docs have all but killed off office software on the desktop for many users.

In reality, I see most people use desktop software instead of the browser (without using the internet in some cases) to do their work. (Think CAD, Adobe, DAW software, Excel, video production software) even on mobile/tablets Office can be used where no internet connection is available.

I seriously doubt that users would spend all their time in a browser window other than for consumption purposes like social media and video sites. The idea of 99% of people doing everything in the browser seems questionable to me and some data about this would be helpful here.

Apart from the computer science department, I also doubt that people would find it easier to go to Linux, BSD or the other galaxy of distros.

4. abjKT26nO8 ◴[] No.23286064[source]
On the contrary, it's easy in our tech bubble to assume that everybody else uses a computer just for mail, netflix and spreadsheets, when in reality most people have niche needs. It's just that there are many niches. E.g. I know people from scientific circles who use CAS software I've never even heard of, my sister is an architect and needs to use CAD software. YouTube video authors often use advanced video editing software. Musicians use audio editing software. Publishers use Adobe InDesign. Then there are gamers. This "not geek => mainly spreadsheet user" stereotype is really strange.

And basically everybody, whom I know personally, complains about the UX of anything web-based, so don't even think about putting CAD, CAS or InDesign into the browser.

5. dathinab ◴[] No.23286344[source]
Honestly my experience with collaboration with Office 365 last year was pretty beer bad. At least for sight technical cases people they are many better solutions.
6. perl4ever ◴[] No.23287026[source]
I work in an office that mostly uses Office, but doesn't use the web version for everything. Microsoft never fully implements everything when they make a substitute, so you're always faced with a case-by-case choice as to which one. And the software people use includes things that aren't part of the basic apps, like Project, PowerPoint, Visio, I don't know what else.