Comment on Microsoft just changed where your Word documents live — here’s why it matters
TommySoda@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoYou’d be surprised how many people actually need that. My boss is one of them and I constantly have to explain to him why shit like this is bad for us. We’re currently in the process of upgrading all our PCs to Windows 11 and I’m trying to convince him to let me install Linux on all the computers that don’t meet the hardware requirements. Fortunately we use an older version of Microsoft Office that doesn’t come with all the bullshit, but there will eventually be a day where we will have to “upgrade” that too. And because of this, I’m also trying to convince him to switch to something like LibreOffice.
Uploading all of our shit to OneDrive is not only a bad idea because we have our own secure servers in house, but it’s also a bad idea because we deal with a lot of files that could get us sued if it was leaked online. We don’t even let our servers connect to the internet for that very purpose. And it’s not a matter of if, but when windows starts uploading all of our shit to OneDrive it will be a complete disaster. And I’m sure there are a lot of guys doing IT at various other companies all trying to explain to their boss the same thing I am while they ignore the issue.
JustARegularNerd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I’ve worked in business IT before, so I have a (very small) bit of background I can probably share from your bosses side.
If you’re not recommending a distro that has a support contract (e.g. Red Hat), what you’re creating is a bus situation - if you get hit by a bus, who is going to maintain the Linux terminals when they go down? Would that contract cover supporting LibreOffice? How will normal staff be able to figure out how to use Linux, and will there be a measurable increase in productivity from them, or will they be slow to adjust?
Regarding OneDrive (or more realistically, SharePoint and Microsoft 365), Microsoft has a service level agreement for this. I can’t read it on my phone because it’s in docx format, but I dare say that it does have some coverage for if data is leaked, otherwise most enterprises wouldn’t even touch it.
Your boss likely doesn’t have concern in that aspect because of the SLA assurance, and thus it makes more financial sense to move completely over to M365 and away from on premise servers that require constant maintenance, upkeep and power costs.
I’m not sure of the business size you’re in, but I’d hazard a guess that its a small business if your boss is in a position to potentially change out the existing IT infrastructure. You’re facing an uphill battle in convincing your boss to move to Linux because the desktop support for it is limited and likely expensive, and the alternative is to keep you and probably hire other Linux technicians to maintain those Linux systems when they go down.