References to subscription 'edition,' 'type,' and 'status' found in a test build of Windows.
[A]n INI configuration file in the Windows Canary channel, discovered by German website Deskmodder, includes references to a "Subscription Edition," "Subscription Type," and a "subscription status."
When someone says this, it's a recurring joke, but when I've read your comment, it's the first time I actually think it may happen.
Well, I don't expect a takeover at all, but perhaps I envision something like this year's Reddit migration: I imagine some individuals or companies won't stand for it and switch to Linux.
So maybe in one year Linux on desktop will go from 2% global installations, to 3% or 4% which would be a colossal uptake!
(I admit I've not checked the current percentage of Linux installations, it was 2% years ago, but maybe it's already higher)
There are many AD alternatives already, like Zentyal and FreeIPA or even Samba. But you'll never see any existing organization (certainly not medium or large ones) making a switch to a complete Linux environment, because then you'll have to deal with users - and no one wants to deal with users. I remember when back in the day our old company tried to roll out Office 2007 with the new ribbon interface - there was such a strong resistance from users that we had to cancel the rollout halfway and downgrade them back to Office 2003. Now imagine the kind of hell that would break out if you were to suddenly replace Windows with Linux...
Just say its for security and privacy reasons and make these users sign a statement saying if they won't agree then they will be held responsible for any breach or hack and see how easily it gets deployed.
End of the day it all comes down to the decision makers and most of them in IT are spineless bunch because I think most of their life they have spent time doing customer service.
It's an interesting thing when companies will gladly take all routes possible to make their employees miserable just to pinch a few extra coins of profit out but when a truly money saving action is available it will not be rolled out because of "fear" of people complaining about minor details.
Because it's not a real cost savings when everything is figured in...like hiring/training help desk staff to support Linux, or management signing off on risks (or even spending the project time on quantifying those risks).
Enterprise IT is far more complex than most people realize. Sometimes the upfront cost difference is quickly lost in a sea of predictable (or unpredictable) down-stream costs.
Above all, pushing changes with unknown/unvetted risks will be met with a lot of resistance - because risk usually comes with hard to predict costs, in IT terms and in downtime, lost productivity, exposure to legal issues, etc.