Linux

In an enterprise imaged Windows laptop they and you probably wouldn't have superuser privileges in order to keep yourselves from doing stuff like deleting core Windows dependencies. Maybe they give you full administrative access at your company but if you deleted the Program Files folder to save time you'd be blamed by pretty much everyone.

You guys obviously have root privileges or else you wouldn't have been able to delete the system's core Python2 installation. And frankly you must have literally manually deleted it because the package manager would have told you what havoc you were about to enact and made you tell it to do it anyway.

But what's even weird to me is that most python devs I know, including myself use python virtual environments (venv) to use different versions and package bloat control from something like pip but keep it all nice and neat.

If you wanted python3 to be the default you have to change the PATH in Windows or if you don't know what you are doing I guess reinstall whichever python with a .MSI an hope it does it for you.

Meanwhile, in Linux you can just use the alternatives utility to literally pick your preferred versions and it takes care of the paths for you.

And with the HDMI issue? You must not be using the same graphics drivers and someone is using proprietary graphics drivers (won't have the issues you've described) and the other is using open source versions (you'll have the issues you've described) because companies are shitty about their proprietary closed standards.

Which brings up another point. You say you all use the same laptop model and OS but you don't all use the same drivers? There's no baseline? There's no control?

This sounds like a Hell of your own making. This is why users in general should never have full administrative privileges and they should be tailored down to just what you need. Epecially if they haven't yet learned the basics of the OS they are using because they are at best a danger to themselves and at worst a vulnerable laptop inside the network.

We exclusively use Windows on our user's devices (over 10k devices!) and don't have to support anything else. We end up with problems like those all the time.

• occasionally all installations become blocked no matter what means or which user, requiring reimaging to resolve.
• DisplayPort connections mysteriously failing and requiring reboots of the device and sometimes also the dock or monitor. Sometimes we even have to swap the cable out, even though the cable will continue to work in another setup just fine.
• using a different brand of dock than the ones we have at our hotelling stations and disconnecting for any length of time causes wifi to fail until reboot
• wifi at the office mysteriously stops working as you move around the building, requiring restart

None of our Linux test devices experience any of this.

If you were having issues why did you stay on Linux? It sounds like you were constantly fighting it. It is best not to waste work time trying something new.

That uninstalling python2 bit reminds me of stories of users deleting their system32 folder to free up disk space.

Or how about the fact that 4k only works at 30fps over HDMI, but it works fine over DisplayPort or Thunderbolt3

Blame HDMI forum for that. They objected to AMD releasing open source driver for HDMI 2.0+ that lets you do higher modes like 4k60 or 5k etc due to patent reasons. DisplayPort folks on the other hand, had no objections. DP is quite a superior technology too, so if you could, use it instead of HDMI please.

Why?

It makes no sense for a government/military to use a proprietary system made in another country when there's a very strong movement inside of said government for an open system. They have incredibly smart people at SUSE, Manjaro and KDE right on the inside and you are telling me they can't do better than hitting subscribe on Office365?

Assume the EU and US have a conflict, now the EU is stuck with an entire ecosystem made in the US. Assuming they don't already have all your internal data, they can just get it with a single click.