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The state of Schleswig-Holstein is consistently relying on open source

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597 points doener | 5 comments | 07 Dec 25 13:21 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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GnarfGnarf ◴[07 Dec 25 13:48 UTC] No.46181666[source]▶
I'm a Windows/macOS developer, but I strongly feel that all national governments need to convert to Linux, for strategic sovereignty. I'm sure Microsoft, under orders from the U.S. government, could disable all computers in any country or organization, at the flick of a switch.

Imagine how Open Source Software could improve if a consortium of nations put their money and resources into commissioning bug fixes and enhancements, which would be of collective benefit.

Apart from a few niche cases, the needs of most government bureaucracies would be well served by currently available OSS word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and graphics software.

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rocqua ◴[07 Dec 25 15:11 UTC] No.46182235[source]▶
I doubt that Microsoft has a kill switch. Though through automatic updates they still have pretty strong sabotage capabilities.

But the OS is not where Microsofts power lies. Its in exchange (almost everywhere cloud managed, including for many governments) and SharePoint, with a small amount of teams, where Microsoft is truly a scary prospect for sovereignty.

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1. codedokode ◴[07 Dec 25 15:16 UTC] No.46182277[source]▶
They have the kill switch, it is called a "cloud account". Nowadays you need a valid cloud (MS-controlled) account to log into your computer.
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2. Aperocky ◴[07 Dec 25 19:16 UTC] No.46184224[source]▶
Haven't used Windows in almost a decade, has it gotten that bad?

I can't log on to a windows computer if the cloud account don't exist? What if there's no internet?

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3. 1718627440 ◴[07 Dec 25 19:31 UTC] No.46184343[source]▶
> What if there's no internet?

Surely that is something only criminal would say.

4. d3Xt3r ◴[07 Dec 25 19:37 UTC] No.46184412[source]▶
It caches your credentials so you can still login offline. But you do need to be online when you're logging into your PC for the first time, post-install.

There are some unofficial hacks to bypass the online account requirement, but MS have been actively stamping these out. Now the current situation isn't like it's impossible to bypass this, mind you (as far as I'm aware there's at least a couple of workarounds), but normal users won't know/care and will end up just creating an online account.

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5. sirjaz ◴[07 Dec 25 22:07 UTC] No.46185696{3}[source]▶
If you have pro or enterprise you can still setup a local account. It is home edition that is the issue