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The original was posted on /r/talesfromtechsupport by /u/burning_bridges222 on 2025-11-07 22:29:24+00:00.

We are a Windows shop, so everything is all centered around Microsoft of course. The company I work for is primarily office workers, so day to day they are doing data entry, responding to emails, drafting documents and presentations. There is a small contingent of software developers that have a legitimate need for Linux, and they happily use it day to day - but they are our power users.

Lately, we’ve started to see a bit of a trend of general office workers asking to use Linux. I don’t know where they get their info from, but they generally tell me “it’s easier”, “it’s more private”. Sure, those are great points but I’m not sure how relevant they are to your everyday data entry person - especially when they’re company laptops. We have a general policy of enabling people with the tools they need, but it’s up to them to decide what that means.

Despite my cautions to these reasonably non technical folk, they insisted on a Ubuntu install on their XPS laptops. So, similar to the software devs, I provisioned AD, onboarded them and sent them on their merry way.

I’ve only setup 3 office workers with this setup so far, but my ticket queue now looks a little something like this:

• How do I open this document from my email?
• Help! I can’t install teams on my laptop
• Printer doesn’t work

Weirdly, Microsoft Office doesn’t run on these LINUX laptops.

Now, I’ve given them the usual spiel of using Office online, etc. Alas, my warnings fallen on deaf ears. A couple of managers have contacted the support heads and asked why we’ve broken these peoples laptops.

I think I need to draft a waiver for wannabe Linux users.

fml