Thoughts and ideas on people and technology.
June 10, 2024
“The year of Linux on the desktop” has been a running joke in the tech space for a while. Every time a game studio announces Linux support, or a major security vulnerability is found in one of the incumbent operating systems, tech publications and forums fly with the question of whether it’s “finally” time for Linux to take over as the de-facto desktop OS.
The current flurry of Tweets (I don’t care, I will die on this hill) are brought to us by a new Windows feature Microsoft has named “Recall”. This shiny new toy supposedly leverages AI to remember everything you’re doing on your computer and “help” you with it later. It does this, in part, by taking a screenshot every 5 seconds and keeping all the information it finds in a database on your computer. This includes sensitive information such as passwords and credit cards. After all, what use is this tool if it can remember everything?
The problem, as you’ve probably already imagined, is that it stores everything, which makes for the potential of attackers being able to access everything.
Microsoft has since changed their plans from making Recall opt-out to opt-in, but it will still be installed by default. The risk is still present; attackers could theoretically turn it on and access its database at a later date, after all of your tasty data has been vacuumed up and nicely packaged for them.
And so. Is it time for Linux on the desktop? While I’d love to say yes, I have to say no. Or is it maybe? In the office I say no. Microsoft Office still reigns supreme and their web version leaves much to be desired. Between that and most employers (and employees) being unable or unwilling to invest in the mountain of dedicated training it would take to learn a new set of systems, the trade-off won’t happen. It’ll be much easier to either have I.T. disable Recall as completely as possible, or simply live with the security risks.
At home there’s a greater chance. Those with existing concerns about being monitored may be willing to switch. Linux Mint is simple and more than feature-complete for the average home user who spends most of their time in a browser. Add a Windows theme pack for the heavily visual users and you’re ready. They’ll still need you to help them with the switch though.
While it probably isn’t time for Linux on the desktop, it’s comforting to know there are options. I recommend having a Linux-on-the-desktop elevator pitch in your back pocket for when your aunt or your C-level asks you about it. And if you haven’t already, play around with something like Mint on a VM or spare laptop to give yourself some familiarity.
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