A national, open-source operating system could help reduce Canada’s dependence on the U.S. while improving security and saving a surprising amount of money.
On top of OpenBSD, I really don’t see why Canada needs a Windows replacement when open source replacements already exist? And we can already run NextCloud-AIO with EuroOffice on top.
The only things missing are AI and surveillance— and there’s a perfectly functional open source agentic tool that can run open models. And nobody really wants the surveillance.
My guess would be all kinds of proprietary tools that would need various degrees of rewriting which takes design, time, and money. It’s harder than normal software since, y’know, you could essentially destroy someone’s life.
Those proprietary tools mostly run on DOS, Windows XP, and in some cases Windows 7.
That’s a solved issue for the most part, between DOSBox, ReactOS, Bazzite and Linux with WINE. And for the most part, those tools can still run XP in offline mode; they’re never going to be upgraded to a modern OS anyway.
The Canadian government mostly moved to web-based systems a number of years ago anyway; it’s public servant computers that are mostly stuck with Windows — and they don’t need to be.
The bigger challenge is in how to get them off Google Chrome, since there’s a lot of stuff that requires Chrome (as opposed to Chromium) to run properly.
between DOSBox, ReactOS, Bazzite and Linux with WINE
Assuming it does work, how are you going to explain that to Joe Enduser that knows nothing about any of this? I actually don’t even know what ReactOS nor Bazzite are (though I’ve heard the names) and I’m a software engineer for a living and have linux on some of my systems. I think the helpdesk budget would certainly increase. I’m not sure how much of this is solvable with certain strict machine images.
ReactOS is essentially a ground-up reimplementation of Windows XP.
Joe Enduser doesn’t really know anything about Windows either, so the help desk shouldn’t have any issues.
Plus, as we already established, Joe Enduser will do just fine with Chrome wherever it’s running; those specialized OSes are for specialized tools run by specialists.
On top of OpenBSD, I really don’t see why Canada needs a Windows replacement when open source replacements already exist? And we can already run NextCloud-AIO with EuroOffice on top.
The only things missing are AI and surveillance— and there’s a perfectly functional open source agentic tool that can run open models. And nobody really wants the surveillance.
My guess would be all kinds of proprietary tools that would need various degrees of rewriting which takes design, time, and money. It’s harder than normal software since, y’know, you could essentially destroy someone’s life.
Those proprietary tools mostly run on DOS, Windows XP, and in some cases Windows 7.
That’s a solved issue for the most part, between DOSBox, ReactOS, Bazzite and Linux with WINE. And for the most part, those tools can still run XP in offline mode; they’re never going to be upgraded to a modern OS anyway.
The Canadian government mostly moved to web-based systems a number of years ago anyway; it’s public servant computers that are mostly stuck with Windows — and they don’t need to be.
The bigger challenge is in how to get them off Google Chrome, since there’s a lot of stuff that requires Chrome (as opposed to Chromium) to run properly.
Assuming it does work, how are you going to explain that to Joe Enduser that knows nothing about any of this? I actually don’t even know what ReactOS nor Bazzite are (though I’ve heard the names) and I’m a software engineer for a living and have linux on some of my systems. I think the helpdesk budget would certainly increase. I’m not sure how much of this is solvable with certain strict machine images.
ReactOS is essentially a ground-up reimplementation of Windows XP.
Joe Enduser doesn’t really know anything about Windows either, so the help desk shouldn’t have any issues.
Plus, as we already established, Joe Enduser will do just fine with Chrome wherever it’s running; those specialized OSes are for specialized tools run by specialists.
Ah, I see what you mean; I misunderstood. Interesting on ReactOS as well.