Linux Grabs More Than 2% of Desktop Market Share (w3counter.com) 249
LichtSpektren writes: W3Counter's stats for June 2016 are in, and Linux desktop accounts for 2.48% of all web visits from tracked websites... (Android is counted separately from "Linux desktop.")
Meanwhile, NetMarketShare shows Linux with a 2.02% share of the desktop market. And StatCounter shows a more detailed breakdown of the top 7 operating systems, with Windows 7 at 42.02%, Windows 10 at 21.88%, OSX at 9.94%, Windows 8.1 at 8.66%, Windows XP at 6.5%, and another 4.06% for "Unknown" (which is roughly tied with "Other") -- beating Windows 8.0 at 3.52%. In May they also reported another thought-provoking statistic: that Firefox's browser usage had surpassed that of IE and Edge combined for the first time.
Meanwhile, NetMarketShare shows Linux with a 2.02% share of the desktop market. And StatCounter shows a more detailed breakdown of the top 7 operating systems, with Windows 7 at 42.02%, Windows 10 at 21.88%, OSX at 9.94%, Windows 8.1 at 8.66%, Windows XP at 6.5%, and another 4.06% for "Unknown" (which is roughly tied with "Other") -- beating Windows 8.0 at 3.52%. In May they also reported another thought-provoking statistic: that Firefox's browser usage had surpassed that of IE and Edge combined for the first time.
Go Donald! (Score:5, Funny)
So now I'm all confused. Is this due to Trump's influence, Brexit or Global Warming?
Re: (Score:2)
So now I'm all confused. Is this due to Trump's influence, Brexit or Global Warming?
Trump Warming to Brexit!
Re: (Score:2)
Systemd.
Windows 10 (Score:4, Funny)
Will make this the year of Linux on the Desktop.
Re: Windows 10 (Score:2)
It's likely there will sooner be more actual desktops running Linux than there are Linux desktops on computers, as per the IoT trends these days...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I see the MS Shill is back.
What a fucking tard.
Re: Windows 10 (Score:5, Informative)
I don't know what you'll take as "proof", nor why you demand it so, considering that the original comment provided none for its assertions either, but here's my take:
#1: Nonsequitor. Yes, SystemD is being forced on people in a way that many consider unacceptable. No, this won't affect Linux adoption to any measurable degree.
#2: That's an opinion that is not universal. Also, it ignores that there are many UIs that are not Gnome or KDE and are hard to distinguish from Windows. There is great variety here, people can select the UI that they get along best with.
#3: This is true, gaming support is terrible (although I think the reason he gives is very misleading). This is improving, but remains an issue. OTOH, I know many Linux gamers who run Windows in a VM for the games they can't run natively, and are happy with that.
#4: This is false. I've been using OpenOffice and Libre for many years in an office environment, exchanging files with MS Office users frequently, and this hasn't been as issue at all for years. It is true, however, that the open source versions of these sorts of applications do not work identically to the Office products and require relearning some habits. But that are equally functional and usable.
#5: While it is true that no security is perfect and there will always be breaches -- even in the Linux world -- I'm not sure how this truth decreases the chances of Linux adoption, given that it is at least equally true for all alternatives, including Windows.
#6: False. It is easier to get answers to questions about Linuxy things than for any other OS I use. Even if you're too timid to ask questions on expert and hobbyist sites, you can still pay cash money to get professional support.
#7: False. While that sort of thing does happen, it doesn't happen as frequently as he implies -- and when it does, it is generally not a large disruption. Personally, I've had just as much problem with this sort of thing in the Windows world as in the Linux world, so I don' t know how this is a differentiator.
#8: I honestly don't know what he's talking about here. This sort of thing happened a lot in the old days, but I can't remember it happening with any of my machines for a few years now.
#9: False.
#10: False, and an odd criticism. Most Linux users I know who have multiple machines run a single distro on all of them. The main distros support nearly everything, there is no need to have certain distros for certain kinds of machines.
#11: False. In the main distros, all telemetry in the OS and core utilities is optional, unlike Windows 10. It is also well documented and easy to disable. Naturally, if you're talking about applications written by random developers, it's up to the developer how this is handled -- but at least in Linux it's easy to simply firewall off any and all applications you don't trust.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And how is that related to auto-fixing tools? Running a live CD and using skill is exactly the opposite. I'm in agreement with the GP for all points except 9. On Linux the completely skill-less are outta luck if something goes pearshaped. There's no auto-rollback functionality. There's no magic recovery that will rebuild /boot.
Problems are less likely to happen due to what appears to be far less system-hosing bugs, but it doesn't change the fact that auto recovery in Windows is miles ahead of Linux. In much
Re: (Score:3)
Microsoft provides exactly that system called Windows PE. It can be standalone, live CD, or ... it's actually included as part of a standard Windows install and is precisely what fires up through the recovery system when you hosed your system and it's unable to boot.
Anyway remember we're talking autorecovery. Linux is miles behind on the auto bit any which way you cut it. Boot a hosed system and you're automatically presented with 4 options.
The first on a single click will rebuild the entire boot environmen
Re: (Score:2)
I agree with all of the above except for 8 and 9.
#8: The OSS world still suffers incredibly from stupid bizarre package naming. New users are somewhat insulated from this by distribution maintainers sorting the most popular software into "featured packages". But as soon as you step outside of that comfort zone it's confusing as heck. e.g. on Mint open up Software Utilities and type "office" into the search. Now admittedly if you click features applications "Libreoffice" is listed as a single meta package, b
Re: (Score:2)
Linux may be partly at fault : switching graphics card driver requires you to at least kill and restart Xorg, whereas Windows is amazingly able to switch graphics. Example : you install Windows 7 on a crappy laptop. It's stuck at 1024x768 and you growl a little. After wasting time waiting for Windows Update, you install the Intel graphics driver from Windows Update ; the screen blinks to black for a tenth of a second, then you can select 1440x900 and your 3D graphics is fast.
At least, the problem of Windows
Re: Windows 10 (Score:5, Insightful)
You may be trolling, but I'd like to answer a few of these:
1) I have to call bullshit on this. While some distros do indeed push systemd on you, that is a distribution-specific issue, and not a Linux one. There are at least two very mainstream systemd-free distributions of Linux. and both will remain so for the far forseeable future.
4) No argument about compatibility, my wife has griped about the same thing, but one could just as easily argue that the windows versions are inferior because they aren't compatible with open source alternatives. The notion of which is actually better depends on what a person happens to personally prefer, and is not based on objective and universal truth. Simply being adopted by fewer people does not make inferior by the same reasoning that suggesting the earth was not the center of the universe is not flawed either.
9) Three words: 'fsck -a /dev/sda1'. Some distros even come with an option at boot time to launch a recovery shell, but in a pinch you can always just boot from a usb recovery image or dvd. In my experience, recovery time on Linux in the event of a catastrophic failure is much faster (not to mention much less frequently needed in the first place) than it is on Windows.
And finally:
11) You are quite mistaken. First of all, not even all distributions require you to use X, let alone gnome, of which Bug Buddy is just a part. Secondly, only a very small amount of technical skill is required to block it.
The chief reason why Linux will probably not succeed on the desktop has nothing to do with any technical characteristics, merits, or lack thereof of the OS itself, but rather on the typical technical aptitude of computer users. Linux doesn't hold your hand the way that some other OS's might, and this can be intimidating for some people, but with the freedom that Linux gives to its users comes a great ability to control and customize your computer to behave exactly the way that you want.... in ways that Windows users probably cannot even imagine.
Re: (Score:2)
I know you're replying to a troll but frankly, regarding 9) :
9) Boot with an absolutely non-critical hard drive removed, then the boot process hangs. If you're unlucky, the graphical boot splash feature may even hide the line "Press S) to continue, M) for maintenance". I'm lucky to know to press S.
Maybe your system doesn't do that, but mine did with a major user-oriented distro. I tried adding "nofail" in the fstab options but it did the hang thing anyway.
A naive poweruser may also declare drives in the fst
Re: Windows 10 (Score:4, Insightful)
The chief reason why Linux will probably not succeed on the desktop has nothing to do with any technical characteristics, merits, or lack thereof of the OS itself, but rather on the typical technical aptitude of computer users. Linux doesn't hold your hand the way that some other OS's might, and this can be intimidating for some people, but with the freedom that Linux gives to its users comes a great ability to control and customize your computer to behave exactly the way that you want.... in ways that Windows users probably cannot even imagine.
Not so much to do with hand-holding than with marketing budgets and vendor binding. Installing and running Windows might be simpler than Linux, but not that much. Many distros have come a long way. The problem Linux faces is all the preinstalled machines. Buy an off-the-shelf desktop or laptop PC and it'll close to 100% likely be preinstalled with Windows.
Re: (Score:2)
Installing and running Windows might be simpler than Linux
For the first time in ages, I had to install Windows (in a VM). My first thought was "huh wow this is nearly as easy as installing ubuntu". MS have come a long way in improving the ease of install, but it's still not quite as easy,.
What is better is what lets you communicate (Score:2)
4) [...] The notion of which is actually better depends on what a person happens to personally prefer, and is not based on objective and universal truth.
In a case of imperfect interoperability, such as that between LibreOffice and Microsoft Office, what is better depends on what lets you communicate with your suppliers, clients, collaborators, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
what is better depends on what lets you communicate with your [...] collaborators
.doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, etc are _not_ data exchange formats. You should be sending PDFs to outsiders.
Nor are PDFs designed to be editable. I mentioned "collaborators" in the sense of editing a document together. And no, in not all industries are the majority of employees inclined to learn LaTeX markup. So what's the alternative to an editable word processor document or an editable spreadsheet?
Re: (Score:2)
How about a text file?
Worrying about how something is formatted when you haven't even pinned down what the content is yet (since the need to edit it is obviously still there) is totally putting the cart before the horse.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry but a big no to number 9.
File system errors are a tiny tiny portion of what can go wrong with Linux, and you've just proven the point even with that. Recovery shell? fsck -a /dev/wtfisthisshit? No, that is well and truly an advanced and manual process, something which Linux is good at, but it's not "It looks like Windows didn't load correctly, do you want to: Startup repair, System Restore, System Image recovery, System Refresh or Restart my PC"
Linux is worlds behind in this regard.
Everything else the
Re: (Score:2)
The chief reason why Linux will probably not succeed on the desktop has nothing to do with any technical characteristics, merits, or lack thereof of the OS itself, but rather on the typical technical aptitude of computer users.
Actually, you inadvertently pointed out the real reason why Linux will never make if on the Desktop: Because Linux "Experts" hold nothing but contempt and derision for "clueless users". IOW those not card-carrying members of The Computer Preisthood.
Until that mindset changes, enjoy your little Toy Operating System. Nice hobby; and some really nice F/OSS Projects come out of the Linux Community; but until Linux has a more "nurturing" reputation, most people won't give it a second glance.
Re: (Score:2)
Your phrasing indicates that your attitudes towards Linux experts in general are no less snobbish than the very attitudes that you accuse them of having.
The saying about pointing out the speck in someone else's eye when you have a 2x4 in your own comes to mind.
Re: (Score:2)
Funny, not that many years ago you would have written, "You are a perfect example of why Linux has not rising above a 1% share."
More recently it would have been, "You are a perfect example of why Linux has not rising above a 1.5 % share."
Now you get to say, "You are a perfect example of why Linux has not rising above a 2% share."
Soon you will say, ""You are a perfect example of why Linux has not rising above a 2.5%
Re: Windows 10 (Score:5, Informative)
1) The whole Systemd thing is something that only, and I mean ONLY, affects hard core Linux geeks. The average Linux user, let alone someone coming anew to the system, won't even notice that "force" at all.
2) I agree, but so is the Windows 10 surface. Bluntly, given the choice between Win10 and Gnome... Before I answer, is shooting myself in the head an option?
3) Not really, the support for graphics cards is actually quite good. What stymies gaming is the lack of support for gaming hardware. Flight sticks? Steering wheels? Hell, even support for fancy mice sucks (ever tried using a high rez mouse? I dare you, it might work. Sometimes). You are right that some distros do a tapdance around proprietary drivers that borders on religious extremism, but there are quite a few that don't give a shit about petty crap like that. The problem is rather the support from gaming hardware manufacturers.
4) Nope. LibreOffice is actually easier to use and more approachable, mostly because they don't feel that urge to reinvent the user interface with every single incarnation. No need to relearn everything time and again.
5) The security is still superior to the situation on Windows. While MS itself is getting pretty good at finding and rooting out security concerns, there is lots of software that you "have to" use that is omnipresent on every system that is a security nightmare (Adobe, I'm looking your way!). This doesn't apply to Linux due to the way these programs are treated in the OS. I have to give you, though, that there are alternatives that lock down the OS so far that it's virtually impossible to get anything bad in. But also anything the OS maker doesn't want you to.
6) That's different to MS, Apple, Android... in what way exactly? Unless you're paying for premium support, you're usually left to fend for yourself, too. And that premium support is available for various Linux distributions, too.
7) Quite the opposite. You can, today, have full support for any kind of ancient hardware that you could think of. Yes, you can actually install a current distribution on hardware from 10+ years ago and it will run. I wouldn't recommend trying that with a current Windows version. Likewise, you can run pretty much all ancient software on a current distribution. Again, I have a lot of Windows software here that keeps me from shifting versions due to incompatibility.
8) Wow, getting ad hominem already? Isn't that usually left to later in the discussion? Anyway. Again, no. There are indeed different packages dealing with the same problem, though. It's called competition. I know, an alien concept to someone who has been indoctrinated by MS, but look it up if you find the time. It's considered a good thing. At least if you're into capitalism.
9) Yes, Windows has a lot of tools that are actually pretty good at FUBARing a slightly misconfigured system without even bothering to ask you. Especially if you dare to install something next to Windows. That God complex ("Thou shalt not have any OS besides me!") really pisses me off.
10) Windows was pretty good at fragmenting, too. How many Windows XP versions did exist? 20? More? And that were all from the same company, and $deity help you if you picked the wrong one, because you made your choice, for good or ill. Worse than a marriage, actually. With Linux, you can at least try out a few before you settle down without spending a dime. And if you don't know which one to get, there is PLENTY of webpages dedicated to nothing but helping you finding the right one for your particular needs.
11) That is just a blatant outright lie. No idea why you thought you could possibly get away with it on /., or maybe you thought nobody would read that far, but no later than here it's obvious you're trolling. Actually, if I only had read your whole drivel to the end before starting to reply... but I'm so not going to delete this now.
Re: (Score:2)
the support for graphics cards is actually quite good. What stymies gaming is the lack of support for gaming hardware. Flight sticks? Steering wheels?
Flightsticks are no problem. Outliers like my stickworks f22 pro aren't expected to work... it doesn't work on new versions of windows either. Steering wheels are a problem, although most of the logi wheels are supposed to work now and in practice they own basically the whole market anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Like what? I'm surprised because some of our enterprise software built for Windows 7 works on 10, even though it crashes on 8.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Windows 10 (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason people say "open up bash and type" is because a textual interface is easier to explain vocally or in a textual medium like a website. Text is far more clear, you read out the instructions and they read back the output, they don't need to understand the output or interpret it, just read it. Compare that to a gui where you have to explain and describe and rely on both sides of the conversation understanding the way things have been described.
You could usually achieve the same result through a gui, only doing so would take twice as long to explain.
I've also seen many many cases of windows problems where "just open regedit and..." or something similar was the proposed solution, even very recently people have been proposing such hacks as the way to get rid of the windows 10 nagware - how is this better than the idea of opening a bash shell?
While i agree that linux in its current form is unsuitable for the average user, windows is even less suitable. Both systems can be limped along by users who have no idea what they're doing, but both are dangerous and can easily be broken by such users. General purpose computers are specialist tools designed by geeks for geeks, putting such systems in the hands of users who don't understand how to use them properly results in an epidemic of malware, fraud and other crime.
Users are better off with games consoles, chromebooks and ipads etc.
Re: (Score:2)
But with game consoles, chromebooks and ipads you run some risks too, like ipad can't read or write a picture to/from a USB drive, Chromebook can't print etc. (whereas linux may be unable to scan but at least able to print and the scanner/printer combo still does copies)
Re: (Score:2)
As a Linux admin friend told me, right before giving up on Linux on the desktop for a Macbook (which he loves BTW)
Wow! You're giving props to OS X?!? My how you've grown!
;-)
Sorry, couldn't resist...
Re: Windows 10 (Score:2)
If the user can't install Linux on it then they won't use it irrespective of whose fault it is. My Wi-Fi dongle doesn't work out of the box on the latest Ubuntu without having to follow a set of arcane (to the average user) instructions. This may be the fault of TP Link but it means I don't get to use 5 Ghz Wi-Fi on it which is kind of a problem in an apartment block. A compatibility layer for Windows drivers would be nice but there's no such thing as far as I know.
Re: (Score:2)
If you're crazy enough or don't mind the waste you could set up a Windows VM with USB 2.0 support, give it the dongle and install router or proxy software on it. Or an ethernet bridge.
Well, a smartphone can be used as a ghetto wifi card in the same way, if it "tethers" over USB.
Specifically I know about some of these USB dongles, the cheap TP Link ones that do one channel of 802.11n. (not ac)
The linux support they give is an archive and "build this and use this on Ubuntu 14.04 with linux 3.16 kernel"
Re: (Score:2)
Now I remember that USB crash with a particular flash drive. Or the semi-failed (at times) ethernet, which is in my case unimportant given the available PCI slots to plug in a 15-year-old NIC if needed.
I get your grief but this motherboard nearly 10-year-old is unkillable. It was when full ATX low end without graphics was still common.
Even if all on-board hardware save for PS/2 ports were to fail I could still find a way to use it anyway. The PC was inspired by S-100 and Apple II.
Re: (Score:2)
Hell, there's even the Intel automatic driver upgrading wizard, or many 3rd party auto-upgrading driver wizards. The task was to install Intel's IDE/SATA controller driver on an older, slow as shit laptop.
The auto-upgrader wizards are good for grinding the hard drive and showing a blue bar, but they didn't do anything. Manual installation of driver downloaded from web site (made slightly hard by wizardy web pages) worked and made drive reads 10MB/s faster.
Linux Users use Adblockers (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Linux Users use Adblockers (Score:5, Informative)
Linux on mobile platforms (Android) was underrepresented because of this. A lot of Android users deliberately modified their user agent string to report a desktop browser, so they would get the desktop version of websites instead of crippled mobile versions.
Re: (Score:2)
Linux on mobile platforms (Android) was underrepresented because of this. A lot of Android users deliberately modified their user agent string to report a desktop browser, so they would get the desktop version of websites instead of crippled mobile versions.
I doubt that Android users who actually did such would amount to any significant amount. Most users probably don't know such a thing is possible let alone be able to do something like that. Unless there's a browser that has a nice shiny button that does it for them, they wouldn't be doing that. There are a lot of tech savvy Android users, but Android is also the platform of the masses and they're generally tech illiterate to the point that if you asked them what mobile OS they were running they're just as l
Re: (Score:2)
Depends. Is there an app that does it for them?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
These types of stats are gathered using the user agent string [wikipedia.org] in a http request, not from ads.
I spoof my User Agent string to make my machines look like Windows running Firefox, to get around those idiotic websites that insist on altering behavior according to your browser or OS, so I'm pretty sure that my machines were not correctly counted.
Re: (Score:2)
(On my desktop as well as mobile devices)
Re: (Score:2)
Thereby encouraging websites to continue to think that Linux doesn't matter.
Have you tried not spoofing your user agent? I don't and I don't see any issues other than the need for plugins that are not available under Linux.
Re: (Score:3)
Linux on mobile platforms (Android) was underrepresented because of this. A lot of Android users deliberately modified their user agent string to report a desktop browser, so they would get the desktop version of websites instead of crippled mobile versions.
By a Lot you mean a tiny percentage of technical users that care.
Re:Linux Users use Adblockers (Score:5, Interesting)
That's true, but similar story: a higher percentage of Linux users are probably using tools like umatrix which spoof the user agent string to fight "browser fingerprint" style tracking.
I used to think that was true and possibly actually significant; but, over the past two years, as I've seen more "desktop Linux" use among our grad students, I've also started seeing a lot of pretty clueless Linux users.
I realize that (and this next statement) are purely anecdotal; but most of the people I know who are knowledgable Linux users don't use Linux as their desktop OS.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The people I know who are knowledgeable about Linux actually use it. The ones who aren't knowledgeable tend not to know about it.
I don't know what the numbers are, but I know a few people who indeed are knowledgeable on Linux but use Windows or OS X on their desktop. The core reason is that they don't feel strongly about the OS they use so will just run whatever is most convenient. They might use Linux on severs or clusters for high-power work but don't use it on their laptop. They might want to avoid the temptation of having an OS they fiddle with and waste time on when they can get their work done on Windows/Mac. They may develop s
Re: (Score:2)
...I would assume Linux has the largest group of users with adblockers...
And I would figure you'd be wrong, as you provide no substantiation whatsoever.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't disagree but examples make the case better.
Yay Linux! (Score:2)
I've been using Linux exclusively for closing in on 20 years now -- when I decided that DOS wasn't going to cut it in the brave new world of the Internet I tried Windows 98 for about two months. Decided that wasn't my thing and switched to Red Hat Linux and never left. (Though I use Centos rather than Red Hat's branded offering.)
I see a plus and a minus here. The plus: Linux may become better supported, easier to find in stores like Staples, and so on.
But it will also become a bigger target for the bad
Re:Yay Linux! (Score:4, Insightful)
Linux is hardly "obscure". It's not widely used on desktops, but it's the dominant operating system for Internet servers. That makes it a plenty big target for attackers already.
Re: (Score:2)
While there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, you would expect those in charge of internet servers to be better aware of risks to avoid than the average home user.
Re: (Score:2)
Meanwhile... (Score:5, Informative)
. Come on whiplash, you can do better. I, and probably most others on here use ad blockers. I happen to be on mobile with no block, and I'm assaulted.
. I admire some of the changes since dice, but this? I have been a member, under varying names since 96 or 97. It may be time to head to ars or soylent news.
Re: (Score:2)
...auto play video ads on /. cause it to fall below 2% readership in the tech news sector.
. Come on whiplash, you can do better. I, and probably most others on here use ad blockers. I happen to be on mobile with no block, and I'm assaulted.
. I admire some of the changes since dice, but this? I have been a member, under varying names since 96 or 97. It may be time to head to ars or soylent news.
To add to this... They didn't really remove auto-refresh, and going to the next page of stories on Mobile Safari, for some bizarre reason, leaves you at the bottom of the new page, rather than the top.
Starting to think all the sweet talk from whiplash was just pillow talk. Sigh.
desktop computers still sell? (Score:2)
Could the new 'prominence' of Linux be because normal people don't use desktop computers any more? Only senior citizens still using their grandson's hand-me-up, some hard core gamers and Linux geeks still use them. And confess- how many of you are still using a green screen CRT monitor?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Odd, because I support hundreds of users (all under the age of 60, with the exception of some of the C-levels) who use desktops every day. For that matter, we are moving people back to desktops over laptops.
Call me when it gets a serious MS Office contender (Score:2)
While I congratulate Linux and its 'army', it will not be useful for me unless it gets a credible MS Office contender. I mean, this potential replacement should have good documentation and a [native] programmable language. Think VBA for Office apps.
Re: (Score:2)
MSoffice 2007 runs in WINE just fine.
No part of the EULA insists it be installed on a windows machine.
Office is not denied to you on Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
Does it run in Ubuntu 12.04's Wine?
That's the main, or only objection I have. I suppose most people have the "apt-get install" version of Wine and not quite the freshest and latest, thus one may read reports of "Game X works perfectly" and not witness the same result.
Re: (Score:3)
Does it run in Ubuntu 12.04's Wine?
I use Wine in Xubuntu 14.04, and it runs most of what I've thrown at it. What's blocking the LTS to LTS dist-upgrade for you?
Re: (Score:2)
There's also the winePPA you can enable in Ubuntu. That gives you bleeding edge WINE builds, with all manner of fancy new features. Even if he insists on using ubuntu 12.04, adding the PPA will give him "very very recent" Wine.
The thing to be aware of-- you WILL need to run WineTricks and install the MSCore Fonts package. Office does not compromise on that. It DEMANDS real Tahoma, and real Arial.
Re: (Score:2)
As a serious question, what's wrong with the existing options? What can you do in Office that I cannot do in Open Office, KOffice (or whatever they're calling that group now), Office365 (webapp), WordPerfect, or even Pages on OS X? I ask because I don't know of anything - every thing I need to do works just fine no matter where I do it (Okay, WP and Office have some compatibility issues, but even then I only send people PDFs).
Re: (Score:2)
Think VBA for Office apps.
No thanks, I just ate. Use a CMS to build apps, don't use an office suite. Posterity will thank you.
Re: (Score:2)
My current laptop is Windows 8.0 (Score:2)
I bought if off ebay last year, when my Windows XP laptop failed. Windows 8.0 with no shell modifications.
I have fun showing people how horrible the interface is.
I'm going to upgrade the hard drive to a solid state drive soon, and then upgrade the OS to 8.1. This will be after Microsoft stops tying to hijack it to Windows10 - Spyware Edition.
Re: (Score:2)
I was just about to ask why people were still on 8.0. It's unsupported now and pretty buggy.
Windows 8.1 + Classic Shell and you have as close to current Windows as you can get w/o the spyware.
Re: (Score:2)
I completely agree. I just need to have the extra cash to get the SSD first. I want to keep the current hard drive as a backup to original state if need be. I don't know if upgrading to 8.1 will mess up that plan.
Plus, right now I still get to show people why version 8.0 was so despised. Most never saw it because they didn't buy a new computer when it was standard.
Re: (Score:2)
You need to get a life.
Says an anonymous coward on Slashdot. On a Saturday night. On a holiday weekend.
Re: (Score:2)
Process Hacker? How does it compare to Process Explorer? [microsoft.com]
2017 will be the year of linux on desktop! (Score:2)
I mean seriously... M$ is doing a great job on that... check here:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/... [hanselman.com]
That's W3Schools, but at the non-tech end (Score:4, Informative)
On my (unfortunately quite neglected) gardening website, for 2016 I see:
Windows 40.55%
iOS 26.24%
Android 17.12%
Mac 12.40%
Linux 1.52%
Chrome 38.31%
Safari 30.31%
Firefox 12.60%
IE 10.30%
Edge 3.62%
I found it rather funny that I got four hits from a Nintendo Wii.
Re: (Score:3)
On my (unfortunately quite neglected) gardening website, for 2016 I see:
Windows 40.55% iOS 26.24% Android 17.12% Mac 12.40% Linux 1.52%
Chrome 38.31% Safari 30.31% Firefox 12.60% IE 10.30% Edge 3.62%
I found it rather funny that I got four hits from a Nintendo Wii.
I've gotten hits from wacky devices too, such as a PS3, a PSP, some Windows 95 IE user, and what I believe was a Blackberry of some sort. It's really neat to see what people still browse with! Though I don't think my website would even display correctly in a version of IE that runs on Windows 95...
Re: (Score:3)
Thanks for these stats. Considering how widespread neglected gardening is, these figures are probably a meaningful sample.
I remember... (Score:2)
back when it was MacOS hovering around 2% market share.
I preferred counter culture (Score:4, Insightful)
So basically, Mac users can make fun of us now? How humiliating.
Re: (Score:2)
So basically, Mac users can make fun of us now? How humiliating.
Surprised? Lot of us jumped ship from Linux at the Gnome Desktop 3 fiasco. =/
Re: (Score:2)
What counts as Linux (Score:2)
"Ready for the desktop" (Score:2)
Who remembers that big push related to Linux .... back in 1995 !?
Linux was at 2% in 2004, and 1% in 2009! (Score:3, Informative)
What makes this even less impressive is that Linux was at 2% back in 2004, as reported by /. way back then [slashdot.org]. Although I do suppose that is better than 2009, when /. reported that Linux reached 1% "for the first time" [slashdot.org].
Re:Linux was at 2% in 2004, and 1% in 2009! (Score:5, Informative)
What makes this even less impressive is that Linux was at 2% back in 2004, as reported by /. way back then. Although I do suppose that is better than 2009, when /. reported that Linux reached 1% "for the first time".
To be fair, the first story from 2004 you posted doesn't claim 2% active market share -- in fact the summary states they are waiting for those numbers -- but rather that 2% of NEW PCs were using Linux when they reached the user's desk. That's a rather different stat, and even if true, one would expect that stat to be greater than actual active market share if the market share is growing. That stat also wouldn't take into account how many people LATER installed a different OS on a machine that originally was purchased with Linux (or, conversely, how many people installed Linux on a machine purchased with a different OS).
And the second story you linked to is actually trying to measure active market share (like the present story), which was apparently at 1% in 2009 and now appears at 2%.
There's probably a margin of error in any of these measurements, but I don't think this constitutes the oscillation you think it does, because these measurements were taken in very different ways.
Re: (Score:2)
Also, the numbers at Netmarketshare sometimes have weird fluctuations.
Windows XP, for instance, dipped to 13,57% in Nov. 2014, then recovered to 19.15% until Feb. 2015. After that it finally started losing market share again, as expected from an old system without support.
Considering that, I won't celebrate the Year Of Linux On The Desktop yet, even if it is tempting ;-)
I won't ever celebrate that even if it does happen.
I never did quite understand why some folks even care. I picked every aspect of my life, from career to hobbies to computer Operating system because that's what I thought was interesting or what worked for me.
Then again, I don't drive a Toyota Corolla, or find Kim Kardashian remotely attractive, two on the most popular list
Re: (Score:2)
... Linux hits 20% or more of the desktop market
Anything taking 2% of any market is not news
News is anything that is interesting. By your criterion, self-driving cars are not news.
2%, which is much smaller than the margin of error
So there could be zero Linux users then. Oh, wait ........
Re: (Score:3)
A fair point, which I think also implies the growth may be coming almost entirely from the less-developed world.
A more interesting stat is the dominance of Chrome over all other browsers and the fact that *Safari* is ahead of Firefox???
Safari has monopoly on iOS (Score:3)
Safari is the only browser allowed to run on iOS. Browsers from the App Store are either wrappers around WebKit, which is the same engine used by Safari, or (in the case of Opera Mini) remote desktop to a browser running elsewhere.
Re: (Score:2)
Both Chrome and Firefox are available on iOS. Apple's restriction is that browsers must use WebKit. This was not a problem for Chrome, but Firefox had to be repackaged with WebKit.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2... [arstechnica.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Browsers from the App Store are either wrappers around WebKit, which is the same engine used by Safari
Apple's restriction is that browsers must use WebKit.
That's what I said.
Both Chrome and Firefox are available on iOS.
But are they counted as Chrome hits and Firefox hits, or are they counted as Safari hits because they use WebKit?
And just to make sure I'm up to date with the latest changes to iOS, has Apple started to let the user change the default browser? Or do users end up back in Safari when they follow an HTTPS or HTTP link from within a native app?
[The WebKit requirement] was not a problem for Chrome
I thought Chrome for all platforms except iOS had switched from WebKit to Blink, a fork of WebKit. Or is there still a lot of upstream code sharing fro
Re: (Score:2)
However this is desktop share. They fail to report mobile devices. That means Linux is growing market share in a shrinking market. It is the Linux users are now switching off as fast as Windows and Mac. The percent is a dangerous way to use math to lie to the public about the truth.
Re: (Score:2)
66% of all mobile devices use the Linux kernel: https://www.netmarketshare.com... [netmarketshare.com]
Yes, Android is not GNU/Linux, but ChromeOS (which counts as "Linux" on the desktop as well), isn't really GNU/Linux either. Yes, it contains more GNU/Linux components than Android, but its too different from a real GNU/Linux OS to count one, especially because of its DRM and limited functionality to "HTML apps only".
Re: (Score:3)
Because a lot of Linux think Steam is an evil DRM overlord trying to lock Linux users in. So they choose to use GOG and other places.
Re: (Score:3)
So I wasn't the only one noticing that little tidbit.
To think: They pretty much bombarded every single user of Windows 7 and 8 with "OH LOOKY IT IS FREEEEEEE!" spam over and over and over and over, even went as far as trying to trick people into switching over, and STILL only about a third of the users (and that's even assuming that every single Win10 installation is a switch and none have simply had no choice because their new system came with Win10 and no other option) made the move.
This speaks volumes o
Re: (Score:2)
What the fuck are you talking about? There have been serious attempts made, such as Ubuntu/Linux Mint and SteamOS. Linux distros can't just be made as drop-in replacements for Windows, they need developer and hardware support. Fortunately it seems as if support is gathering now, especially with Valve backing their own Linux which is aimed at gaming.
There's the real problem "Their own Linux" There's just too many of the things.
That said I just recently installed Kubuntu on an old Tower.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"Desktop" in operating system usage share metrics includes both the desktop and laptop form factors. Convertible tablets that run a desktop operating system, such as Transformer Book, Surface Pro, and Surface 3, are also included in desktop OS usage share.
So are desktops declining in favor of laptops, or are they declining in favor of tablets that run a smartphone operating system?
Re:Windows 10 (Score:5, Funny)
Don't feel bad. I used Debian 0.9 when that was a thing. I dowloaded it over a 2400 baud modem onto a stack of floppies, haha!
No, seriously, I actually did that. I also got X to work on a Hercules Graphics Card, and if you even know what that is, you're old.
Re: (Score:2)
Never played with Hercules, but I have done CGA...
Re: (Score:2)
Don't feel bad. I used SLS when Debian even didn't existed yet. Hell, I heard that Slackware born as a fork from SLS! (Kernel 0.99 or 0.98 I think, all was statically linked yet, IIRC)
I had to import it on CD-ROM, spent some serious money on it (more than a Windows 3.11 license fee).
Happily, however, I had an EGA card around so I could us X in full blown 16 colors. :-D
Re: (Score:2)
No, seriously, I actually did that. I also got X to work on a Hercules Graphics Card, and if you even know what that is, you're old.
My first computer was an Apple IIe with an 80 column text card, does that count? :)
It did have the 64K ram upgrade to 128K, that was expensive, but it was needed for some programs... and... I was lucky, I had the Disk II Duo, so I had TWO 5.25" floppy drives!!!
Yes, I'm old, but not THAT old, I was a kid back then. :)