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Microsoft Dependency Has Risks

(blog.miloslavhomer.cz)
152 points ArcHound | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.249s | source
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firesteelrain ◴[] No.44381913[source]
For most businesses, the cost and difficulty of shifting away from Microsoft outweigh the benefits
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smaudet ◴[] No.44381985[source]
Maybe.

Some things go deep, true. However most businesses don't use most of Microsoft products - even the ones that do, the usage of the more complicated products is far more minuscule than imagined by e.g. CFOs, etc.

The real thing keeping many "in the fold" as it were would be authentication services.

Which are overcomplicated and probably easier to manage without...

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okanat ◴[] No.44382259[source]
It really depends on the size of the business. With smaller businesses it is easy to use alternatives. However any business beyond 1000 employees will give in to shareholder pressure and adopt distrust as its core value.

Microsoft Active Directory has excellent tooling for middle-management-heavy businesses. For better or for worse it provides the most integrated solution to reduce a desktop PC to a perfect thing for repetitive, boring, soul crushing office work. No other software solution comes close.

While I like Windows as a desktop platform, the reasons that it was designed as it is are very clear. To make cheapest laptops as dystopian as possible, you need systems that can run the same boring software for decades. Not for the good for the environment but for profits.

Windows provides all APIs to deeply integrate with Active Directory and MS Office. All engineering, accounting and finance software are deeply integrated with them. They literally run entire countries. I have seen engineering software that used Visio diagrams for designing factory pipelines. It is near impossible to pull the bigger businesses and governments out of this trap without completely upending entire sectors worth trillions. I think only very determined regimes like China can pull it off.

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andyferris ◴[] No.44382444[source]
Out of curiosity, how hard would it be to copy Active Directory in an open source project (like how Excel is copied by LibreOffice)?

Like if orgs need this capability why is there no good open source solution?

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1. Spooky23 ◴[] No.44382889[source]
It’s been done for years. You can also always pirate windows if there’s a trade embargo.

The problem is that the modern approach is to run Entra directory in the cloud.