Will Businesses Make 2021 The Year of the Linux Desktop? (techrepublic.com) 214
Writing for TechRepublic, open source advocate Jack Wallen predicts 2021 will be a year where open source technology dominates the world of big data even more than 2021 (with a big role predicted for SUSE). But he also sees businesses cutting costs by switching to open source solutions — including a big move to Linux on enterprise desktops, thanks to enterprise-ready options now available from System76, Lenovo, and Dell:
This will have the added benefit of even more companies jumping into the mix and offering more and more desktops and laptops, all powered by Linux and open source technology.
One added bonus for this movement is that System76 will finally gain the recognition they've deserved for so many years. Linux on the desktop would not be where it is today, had it not been for their stalwart support for open source technology. Year after year, System76 has proved that high-quality, business-class systems, powered by Linux, can be produced at a level befitting the enterprise.
That success within the realm of business will start trickling down to consumers. As more and more people start using Linux at their place of business, they'll begin seeing the benefits of the open source operating system and desire to adopt it for their home computers. I suspect that by the end of 2021, we'll see Linux desktop market share to finally break the 10% bubble. It may not sound like much, but given how Linux has hovered around 2% and maxed out at 5%, that 10% figure is like a dream come true.
That's only the tip of the iceberg. Although Linux will max out at around 10% by the end of the year, it will lead to continued growth over the coming years.
One added bonus for this movement is that System76 will finally gain the recognition they've deserved for so many years. Linux on the desktop would not be where it is today, had it not been for their stalwart support for open source technology. Year after year, System76 has proved that high-quality, business-class systems, powered by Linux, can be produced at a level befitting the enterprise.
That success within the realm of business will start trickling down to consumers. As more and more people start using Linux at their place of business, they'll begin seeing the benefits of the open source operating system and desire to adopt it for their home computers. I suspect that by the end of 2021, we'll see Linux desktop market share to finally break the 10% bubble. It may not sound like much, but given how Linux has hovered around 2% and maxed out at 5%, that 10% figure is like a dream come true.
That's only the tip of the iceberg. Although Linux will max out at around 10% by the end of the year, it will lead to continued growth over the coming years.
Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Insightful)
Every year in the last decade was declared by someone on Slashdot a year of the Linux Desktop. So sure, it will be, just like every one of the the last 10 years.
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Insightful)
I was being sarcastic. Lack of standardization, cross-compatibility and backwards compatibility and the primary reasons Linux will never win the consumer desktop. Linux is the bleeding edge of technology, great to borrow from, to start a project on, not so well suited as a desktop operating system to run arbitrary applications for the general public. Linux is very well suited to dedicated solutions like a web server, IoT device, embedded system, etc - anything which considers a specific Linux build part of the product, and usually ships with it. Now, if the desktop paradigm disappears as you say, and a thin client paradigm takes over, I can absolutely see Linux dominating the thin clients, but most customers will not know or care.
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Linux is the bleeding edge of technology...
Yes, a bleeding edge that's only 50+ years old. At least that was when "Bell Labs" (Remember them? RIP) started developing UNIX, the OS which it apes.
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Funny)
Dammit guys, stop sharpening the edges of your laptops!
Next year in Jersusalem (Score:4, Interesting)
Is a traditional toast of the diaspora. Just as expat Tibetans say they will return when the Dali Lama returns. It's aspiration not a plan. And over the years developed a poignant quality since of course it reminds you of something that will never happen but leaves a feeling of a small hole in your soul you want to ignore but know is there.
But I hear Duke Nukem is coming to the linux desktop next year.
And by the way, probably should have said this first, what the fuck is a linux desktop anyhow. I certainly do have a desktop on my linux computer.
Let's own this meme and flip the script (Score:3)
From now on we should have a prize for the Linux Desktop of the Year. Flip the script.
Neophobia v Neophilia v Neomania (Score:3)
Pretty good FP, but there's still something 'rotten in Denmark' (of Slashdot) when you feel that you have to immediately clarify you were being sarcastic. Part of the TL;DR thing?
But my initial and obvious reaction to the story was "Not that again." Enough with flogging the dead horse.
My latest theory (of the week or hour?) is that perverse motivations block the wider adoption of Linux and OSS. These motivations involve how most people feel about new things. Most people basically dislike change, putting the
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Interesting)
I realise you probably have not noticed, but there is also no standard car.
While I would love a Bentley, and used to have a Nissan, I currently have to make do with a Ford. The controls are in different places, they have different powers and the Nissan was manual diesel, the others petrol and automatic.
There is no way in hell a standard Linux desktop would help anyone.
Within an organisation, it is perfectly possible to choose a specific window manager, and even a specific desktop layout and set of applications and lock them all down if that is what you need to do. But it probably isn't (except on a factory floor).
Furthermore, 90% of users won't even know that you switched from Windows - especially if you already switched then to LibreOffice and tell them its an "Upgrade". (Preferably switch any/all IT people first, and then tell the sales people they are getting the same expensive kit the IT people have instead of the cheap kit the office staff have. "And it supports Penguines" ;-}
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Insightful)
Your Windows users will absolutely notice, the next time they try to do something they already know how to do, or they look up a howto video, or try to install a program or a game. Saying 90% of users would not notice a switch from Windows to Linux is amazingly naive.
Perhaps 2021 will be the year of the Bentley mass commuter car then - about the same chance as the year of Linux Desktop.
Re: (Score:3)
90% of the users where I work aren't allowed to install anything on their PCs. Helpdesk must do it for them.
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Insightful)
90% of the users where I work aren't allowed to install anything on their PCs. Helpdesk must do it for them.
As well it should be. We're in the process of a consolidation with another agency. Our agency does not give admin rights to end users except for specific situations. The other agency pretty much allows anyone to have admin rights. Guess which one is seeing a proliferation of people getting malware infections while working at home?
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Interesting)
An interesting note. My niece had a Windows laptop. It was a mess, wouldn't stay up. a horrific case of "Winrot". She came to me crying saying she had homework to do, and she couldn't do it. She couldn't afford a new system... What to do? I put Mint Cinnamon on her laptop. She LOVED IT! The others at school teased her a bit, and told her she needed to buy a new computer. She told them they could have that laptop when they could pry it out of her cold dead hands! She said, this is the first computer I have ever used that had no issues at all. It just worked. It was acceptably fast, the software was functional and not confusing with features she never used. LibreOffice was as easy to use as Office, and the teachers had no issues with the files it produced. She saved her money for the day her laptop finally died, and used it until she graduated, after which she had the money to buy a MacBook Pro. She hates Windows as much as I do, and swears if Apple ever gets in her way, she will install Mint again.
I think the Linux community missed an opportunity when M$ tried to turn Windows into a tablet system. If they had given the world a desktop like Cinnamon, people would have looked at it. Instead, they followed M$ down the rabbit hole and created Unity and other similar odd, limited functionality desktops. People looked at Unity and it was worse than Windows.
The 'gurus' keep trying to dumb down the system to appeal to 'normal' people. My 85 year old father used Windows just fine until Windows 8, with it's simplified super user friendly interface... He bought a Mac.
Re: Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:3)
Most people skipped Windows 8, and were rewarded with Windows 10.
It's funny how Linux advocates think the Windows platform stopped advancing after Windows 8/8.1 - that was 8 years ago.
Sad to say, likely your daughter brought the 'winrot' (?) on herself - left to its own devices, Windows doesn't install cruft and bloat ware, and the crap that OEMs pre-install for a fee isn't MS's fault.
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Insightful)
The myth that people couldn't cope with changing UIs was busted by the web and by mobile apps. No standards for those, all of them different, and yet somehow people cope.
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People cope, but that doesn't mean that they are happy with the situation. While I am good with computers, my partner absolutely hates every single change in a user-interface. She wants to learn something and have it stay the same. Every time a button is moved or a menu item is put somewhere else, it is a frustration (on a website or in an application). She is far from alone. Change for change sake (which is often what happens) is just aggravating to many end-users. They've learned to accomplish a given tas
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Are you suggesting there are computer companies that want happy users? I have yet to see any evidence for that!
I know that you comment is sarcastic, but I will pretend it isn't and respond :).
Keeping users happy is part of their goal - happy users are more likely repeat customers. But other goals often supersede this goal (e.g. making a quick sale because something looks cool likely takes priority over leaving something alone that just works). What is probably harder for companies to judge is what long-term effects their changes have. Would they have more users if things were stabler? Large companies (MS and Apple i
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Funny)
Yours booted back up? Mine didn't.
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Furthermore, 90% of users won't even know that you switched from Windows - especially if you already switched then to LibreOffice and tell them its an "Upgrade".
You do realize that the average business user pretty much panicked moving from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and many paid for CLASSES to "learn the new Windows".
The average desktop business user is about as averse to change as you can imagine.
And realistically depending on your industry there's just not the software out there to be able to realistically deploy Linux. EG, I work in government. There are certain application spaces like property tax billing, building permit review/issuance, fleet management, etc
Re: Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:3)
Wow, you have no idea about that saying, do you - Ford was all about cutting cost, and making every car black meant he only had to buy one color, never had to track custom color orders, etc.
Cookie-cutter standardization.
Ford also used the wood from the crate the engine came in to build the firewall - simplification and cost-cutting were his focus.
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"There is no standard Linux desktop"
Bingo. You hit the nail on the head. It's a huge issue on multiple levels- training, usage, tech support, etc.
Until there is some sort of "standard" Linux desktop, mainstream adoption will be crippled.
Re: Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Oh cool, let me go and download and install it then....
We do not ourselves produce a desktop, but we aim to help others to do so.
Ah bugger! Now we see there has never been a year for Linux on the desktop.
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Re: Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:4, Insightful)
Of which there are many "standards" out there for Linux.
The point here is that there is no unifying standard for Linux desktops. You are free to roll your own any way you like. THIS is why Linux desktops won't ever be the norm. It's not a failure of Linux, it's just that you cannot herd cats.
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Anyhow, if the idea is that there is one Linux to rule them all as "standard", there is Mint, which satisfies the easy to use need.
Um, which edition of Mint would that be? Are you talking about Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce, or Debian Edition?
Re: Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:3)
Any variation of Windows you care to compare with linux has greater market share. Yes, more people run Windows Vista than Linux on the desktop - same for Win 7, 8, and 10.
Trying to claim Win10 home is somehow different that Win10 Pro is nonsensical - by that logic Ubuntu releases two completely unique, distinct versions of Linux each year, so Ubuntu 19.10 is somehow unlike Ubuntu 20.04 which unlike Ubuntu 20.10.
Are you really going to be that pedantic?
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"You're on the wrong website." And you just explained why the Linux desktop has such a low penetration. Because most computer users are not on this website either.
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Yes, it's wish thinking. And while i do think Linux' share will be growing, and maybe for the reasons mentioned, the numbers are slightly outrageous. A 10% share would be a 8% up from the current 1.8% desktop market share.
Now, i don't know about others and about big companies, but computers these days easily live over 5+ year. So, if we're just counting replacements and assuming a 5 year lifespan, then roughly 50% of any new delivered computer would need to run Linux to achieve this 10% quote by the end of
Re:Another year of Linux Desktop? (Score:5, Interesting)
Previous place I worked at installed around 30 Linux desktops and made me think that maybe Linux is close to getting some mass adoption. They were Raspberry Pis used for viewing PDFs, both to save on paper and more importantly to make sure everyone was always using the latest version of the document. Later some web apps were added too, database stuff for tracking production and test.
A lot of jobs are getting more and more like that now, especially the web app stuff. For example I know someone who works at a bank and they have now ditched all but one of their native apps for web versions. No reason his desktop could not be replaced by a Linux box like a Pi, except for that one old app.
You can see why companies want to do this. Web apps make software management easier and make it harder for things like ransomware to get at valuable data. A lot of the old apps were just front ends for databases anyway.
The irony is that Linux might start to make serious headway on the desktop because the OS has become irrelevant, it's just used to launch a browser.
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The irony is that Linux might start to make serious headway on the desktop because the OS has become irrelevant, it's just used to launch a browser.
That was the situation on Netbooks back when they were hot, and Linux failed catastrophically in that market.
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Every year in the last decade was declared by someone on Slashdot a year of the Linux Desktop. So sure, it will be, just like every one of the the last 10 years.
The whole problem with Linux is that the GUI desktop part of it is an afterthought.
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You must be new here. "Year of the Linux Deskop" has been announced every year since KDE started to gain traction ... back around the turn of the millennium.
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I've had my Slashdot account since 1999. I think every year has been year of the Linux Desktop. Maybe they took 2009 off. Who knows The issue for most of those 20 years has not been Linux performance but application availability. In my use case, I always am running Outlook and Firefox and most of the time running Excel, Tableau and SAS. Out of those five applications, only Firefox and SAS are available for Linux and SAS is picky on what distro it will run on. Until vendors sell Linux versions along side Win
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That's mainly down to as usual, people thinking it's down to how good the desktop is. The Linux desktop has been good enough for years. People use my PC for the first time and never realize it's not Windows until I tell them.
Everyone is fighting the wrong battle over and over again. The first step is to get everyone using cross platform apps. I'm Amazed how many people are still shocked when I tell them about things like Libre Office. It does everything most users need but most of the time, they have n
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The other week, I couldn't figure out how to draw a simple line in Gimp. That's bad.
And what's worse, you can be 99% sure that whoever changed it would blame you for being unable to find that function.
Heard that for 20 years (Score:2)
Have to say it again, here it is (Score:5, Interesting)
The year 2004 was called The Year of the Linux desktop.
It was the year the reasons not to use Linux on the desktop moved from technical to political.
Also, everyone seems to have forgotten SCO, Groklaw, Darl McBride's armed bodyguard at his speech at MIT, and the whole MS funded attack on Linux users. It was no coincidence that it started in 2003, at the time lots of businesses were considering moving to Linux on the desktop.
In fact SCO did sue Autozone asking for their 700 USD/CPU/year "license" as Autozone was using Linux on their point-of-sale computers.
The whole thing was mediatized enough that running Linux on the desktop was considered a legal risk, and therefore businesses stayed away from it. The SCO story may be forgotten now, but it did have the intended effect.
Re: Have to say it again, here it is (Score:2)
I wish I could go back in time and tell some MS higher-ups that in 2020, Ms would use more Linux than Windows (mostly due to Azure), every copy of Windows came with Linux (WSL), most people would use a Linux kernel (in Android) all day, and replacing Windows's insides with Linux was seriously talked about, not long ago. :D
Of course I would have to kill them right afterwards, to prevent them from doubling down and giving us a Back To The Future altrnate timeline scenario. Cause in reality, you cannot go "bac
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If they knew that they would only try harder to dominate Linux, in order to control their own destiny. Microsoft never ever ever takes the relaxed approach.
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And then those bottom feeding lawyers went on to suing random business for ADA violations. No one even remembers them anymore.
In the meantime, people still run Linux on things like POS terminals. Every attempt from that time frame to move to Linux on the desktops either ran into the no apps problem or that Wine was annoying.
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That said, will this increase the overall usage of Linux on the desktop elsewhere?
Not likely.
As @Laxator2 pointed out, their are issues with Linux on the desktop for corporations. Basically you can't g
The biggest hurdle still remains... (Score:2)
Re: The biggest hurdle still remains... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: The biggest hurdle still remains... (Score:5, Funny)
I am a Gnome, you insensitive clod!
He's a KDE user. I think you mean insensitive Klod.
Re: The biggest hurdle still remains... (Score:3)
The whole damn point of Linux is that you choose what is best for you, and you want a standardised dumbest common denomonator??
Pick one of the choices, call it a fork, declare it "Business Linux Standard" and off you go! The Freedesktop Initiative, Linux Standard Base and POSIX already did 90% of your work.
But don't ever fuckin try to mess up the only halfway popular professional OS that still caters to people with enough of clue and will to make their own damn choice!
You already got enough luddite consumer
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"Business Linux Standard"
Um, we had that a decade ago with Gnome 2 on Ubuntu.
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To quote an 80s band, "Freedom of choice is what you got. Freedom from choice is what you want."
No, having multiple desktops is one of the things that makes Linux great. What Linux needs is a standardized API so developers can write their Linux application one time, and have it run on all desktops.
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And one that doesn't keep changing. Linux is constantly innovating, and usually that means improving for the better - but even improvements for the better are still changes, and break things. Windows comparatively lags behind technologically (They didn't get next-generation file system in ReFS until six years after ZFS came out, for example), but you can run ten year old software with no problem at all, and you've a pretty good chance of twenty-year-old software still running without modification. Businesse
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No the biggest hurdle is commercial software. Heavy engineering stuff like CAD software for example. My only reason for having Windows.
Stop (Score:3)
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It’s like practical fusion - but rather than perennially being 15 years out, it’s always “maybe next year”...
Re: Stop (Score:2)
I've got my Duke Nukem Forever. *pounds head on table* So I consider myself ... cured. :)
Ah.. No and neither will 2022 or 23 or ever (Score:3, Interesting)
Why do people keep writing this crap? Linux will never crack the business world in any meaningful way. Ever.
MS will never release a version of office for Linux.. ever. For 99% of businesses, this is a show stopper.. full stop.
Yeah, there are some alternatives, but they are shit compared to the office suite.
Excel in particular is a very powerful program for which there is no real alternative.
In my experience Linux is also significantly worse for things like battery life on laptops. I personally use it on a older Yoga 2 pro laptop, but if I am on battery, I boot to Windows.
Would I want to deal with Linux in a work environment? Hell no.
Re: Ah.. No and neither will 2022 or 23 or ever (Score:2)
I could see a minimalist Linux webterminal be successful if sold as a package with hardware with long term upgrade support and QA. Like chromebooks, but even more locked down.
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It is called "app virtualization" and has been used heavily to wean people off of Internet Explorer dependent (ActiveX) web apps. It is a common method to run "legacy" apps for the few people who need them.
Most uses of MS Office works fine in Chrome with O365. Those few cases where you need the actual app are easily virtualized.
The real problem is Red Hat licenses aren't much cheaper than Microsoft Windows 10 licenses. I'm not familiar with SuSE's desktop costs to make the comparison.
Re: Ah.. No and neither will 2022 or 23 or ever (Score:3)
Re:Ah.. No and neither will 2022 or 23 or ever (Score:4, Insightful)
MS will never release a version of office for Linux.. ever. For 99% of businesses, this is a show stopper..
You mean never release a version other than the incredibly popular Office365, which I gather works fine.
My employer mostly uses GSuite. It's a bit shit but whatever, it mostly does the job for most things. I don't know anyone personally who has an office license.
Excel in particular is a very powerful program for which there is no real alternative.
It is very popular for certain types of work. You have to be doing something fairly hefty for you to exceed the capabilities of even the crappy gsuite (did I mention how mediocre it is), and very hefty before it exceeds the capabilities of Libreoffice. So sure you can get a Windows laptop for that guy in finance who runs vast spreadsheets offline, but that's hardly 99%.
And if the person is a programmer, they ought to be using something more structured for data processing, frankly. Spreadsheets are a dynamically structured, untestable bug nightmare.
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If you're using Excel to do stuff that other spreadsheets can't, there is a really good chance that you're doing it wrong.
I say this as someone who used to do exactly that, not by design, but by virtue of having inherited dozens of those ridiculous things.
At the time, I had limited access to server software, working for an organization that was very locked down and (at the time) hostile to FOSS.
But, even at that time, MS Access would have been a better choice for most of it.
And MSSQL, in spite of many issue
Microsoft *is* making Linux-compatible Office. Why (Score:5, Informative)
> Why do people keep writing this crap? Linux will never crack the business world in any meaningful way. Ever.
Maybe. Well, "crack the business world in any meaningful way" - most businesses use Linux today. You're thinking of business *desktops*. That's Microsoft's specialty.
> MS will never release a version of office for Linux.. ever. For 99% of businesses, this is a show stopper.. full stop.
You do know they've been doing exactly that, right? And I can tell you why. (Hint - it's the same reason they make Office for three other non-Microsoft operating systems).
They are pursuing two paths to making sure their important Office apps are usable on Linux. First we have the Linux native apps - Edge and Teams are the first two, available today. I use Edge on Linux. It works fine. Secondly, everything but Edge is being moved to Office365, which has Linux and Chrome compatibility as one of its requirements.
Here's why Microsoft is doing that. Microsoft categorizes their revenue into three categories. Office is an important category - tied with Cloud for the highest revenue. Microsoft puts Windows sales in their "other revenue" category. Windows doesn't even bring enough revenue to *be* a category.
Microsoft's revenue depends on people continuing to use Office (especially Office 355) and using Azure more. They don't care whether you use Office on Windows, Linux, Android, iOS or CovidOS - their revenue is selling Office, not a OS.
Along with Office, there major revenue driver is Azure. Azure is mostly Linux instances. They sell virtual machines, that's how they make their money. They don't care which OS you run on that VM. Recently, Microsoft made a kernel commit to be able to run hyperV entirely on Linux, with no Windows, so that they can Azure without needing any Windows. That's right, they are *replacing* Windows with Linux as the underpinning of their primary source of revenue - Azure.
When Android is included, Microsoft may already be making more money from Linux systems than they are from Windows systems - and that's perfectly okay with them. As long as they are the ones making money, they don't care how.
Brower is the desktop, no matter what's below (Score:4, Insightful)
We are seeing a massive shift to the cloud. Many cloud applications are accessed through the browser, which becomes the "real" operating system. And the browser doesn't care if you are running it on Linux, Mac or Windows. The only reason Linux is successful "on the desktop" is because it isn't used for the desktop. A Chromebook is just a browser. Success for the Chromebook doesn't mean people suddenly start developing their applications for a Linux desktop or that people are using Gnome or KDE, LibreOffice and Gimp.
It just means they use Office 365, Salesforce and GMail and their organizationhas realized that they don't need desktop functions for all of their workforce and it makes sense to move some of them to Chromebooks or something similar.
The desktop is dying. That's all.
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"A Chromebook is just a browser."
I get the sense of what you mean, but in fact the Chromebook supports three operating systems: ChromeOS, Android, and Linux. It surprised me that I do, in fact, find it very useful to have all three platforms available. The Android support is especially useful. There are whole categories of apps that are targeted to mobile, and while some of them supply desktop alternatives, they typically are second-class citizens.
But you're quite right that a huge swath of my workday is no
Re: Brower is the desktop, no matter what's below (Score:2)
Yeah, but do you get to actually run Linux like normal, add udev triggers, choose your launcher and window manager and kernel modules?
Oh, wait! Then it would just be Linux with Chrome running and an x86 Android emulation layer too, on a normal laptop! And all your arguments would be ridiculous!
Don't give Google any money, nor (computer) land.
Re: Brower is the desktop, no matter what's below (Score:3)
Why would you want any normal user in your company to have that power? I don't see why even an admin would need that level of control for a webterminal.
The problem with Chromebooks are the Google lock in. The development, support model and the niche it fills are perfect for Linux desktop success ... now someone needs to find a way to make money doing it without data mining for advertising.
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You can reformat Chromebooks with Linux so long as the distro supports Chromebook.
Re: Brower is the desktop, no matter what's below (Score:2)
You get to run it in a container, so no, it's not the same as having control of your entire machine. What surprised me was how little that mattered in actual practice. Some things that are drop dead easy if you have full control became rather harder -- editing the local hosts file comes to mind -- but in the end I was OK with the integration choices Google made. YMMV
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That's all.
It is never "all" - if it was,, folks wouldn't be compelled to say it.
Self awareness, man.
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It just means they use Office 365...
While many companies are running O365, most are still using the full desktop apps with it (it's included with most SKUs). The online versions are just too limited for most companies to use day to day. The only orgs really using the online version are those using the lower priced SKUs for users who are mainly just using mobile devices (most of the SKUs include the mobile apps even if they don't include the full desktop version) or BYOD where they don't want company data on the device and the users just need
2021 will be the year ! (Score:2, Funny)
2021 will be the year of the Linux Desktop and secure voting machine !
No (Score:2)
For the simple reason that the desktop discussion is largely pointless in a world where the majority of applications are engaged with through an OS-agnostic browser. There are still some OS-specific applications (like Office) that have strong traction in their respective ecosystem where the cloud alternatives are largely rubbish, but that's not enough to make or break an ecosystem on its own. The rest of this article just reads like an ad for some obscure system integrator no one has ever heard of.
But shouldn't the real question be... (Score:2)
...How many fruit flavors will the case come in?
It sure will be... (Score:4, Insightful)
on my computer. Just like past 20 years have been. Let's celebrate!
Nope (Score:2)
Oh stop it already. (Score:3)
The desktop never was a good idea. It was only a marketing meme, to get business people to buy computers. ("Look! It's just like your regular desk!" *points at screen showing MS Bob [startpage.com]*.)
And at best, you can implement a desktop OS on top of an abused Linux, missing most of the point of a computer. (A freely programmable universal information processing machine.)
Instead ask: Will 2021 be the year where Linux killed the desktop? (Well, looking at Android and the web [and people who don't need to lower themselves to consumer OSes to do professional work], it partially already did. Sadly, mostly at the expense of he point of a computer too. :))
Go print out the series of tubes some more.
How can I mark the post as "troll"? (Score:3)
I can moderate comments, but can I give feedback to the post itselt?
This HAS to be deliberate trolling by u/EditorDavid.
Infrastructure Week! (Score:2)
Linux on the Desktop!
Why would they? (Score:4, Insightful)
Businesses effectively get Windows for free. As a small user you get it free with your IT purchases, as an enterprise user you get them free with the enterprise licenses for backend servers.
Let me rewrite the headline: Will Business Make 2021 The year of pointless changes that cause only retraining and large scale OS change expenses?
The answer is no.
Also Businesses just finished their last major OS migration within the last couple of years. No one in their right mind does this shit voluntarily. Your best bet for Linux on Desktop is when Windows 11 gets released. You missed the Windows 10 boat.
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> Businesses effectively get Windows for free. As a small user you get it free with your IT purchases, as an enterprise user you get them free with the enterprise licenses for backend servers.
Exactly. And with Win10's WSL, "Linux" is now just another standard feature of Windows, so the IT overlords can just enable that in the group policy instead of figuring out how to deploy the infrastructure/etc to support native Linux desktop users. And you know what? That's more than good enough.
I'd be willing to
Re: (Score:2)
Businesses effectively get Windows for free. As a small user you get it free with your IT purchases, as an enterprise user you get them free with the enterprise licenses for backend servers.
Checking invoice... Nope.
The Microsoft 365 plans now include Windows 10 (Pro or Enterprise) as an upgrade to the OEM Windows license on the box. (Which is why enterprises buy computers with Windows Home installed rather than paying twice.) Prior to that, Windows 10 upgrade was available as an addon to the Office 365 plans.
Server licenses do not include any client licenses. In fact, to access any server requires an additional client license, either a per user or device CAL or an external connector for non-e
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I didn't say server licenses. I said enterprise licenses. The same overarching license scheme that covers servers includes clients effectively for free.
And even if they didn't, and even if the upgrade you mentioned wasn't included, and even if companies paid full retail rates, it's still orders of magnitude cheaper than retraining.
You're right about it being complicated. Heck if it were simply a per seat cost it wouldn't be :-)
Re: (Score:2)
Linux on the Desktop is here thanks to Google (Score:3)
Basically, Google won the race to make a mainstream "Linux on the Desktop" distribution with the Chromebook. With over 5% market share, they leapfrogged Red Hat and Ubuntu a long time ago to become the market leader.
Of course, they did it by hiding the command line and making everything browser based. Power users will hate that, but it's what the mainstream end-users apparently wanted.
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Of course, they did it by hiding the command line and making everything browser based. Power users will hate that, but it's what the mainstream end-users apparently wanted.
For a minimal command line, CTRL-ALT-T brings up the crosh shell.
"Power users" can type "chromebook linux" into their search engine of choice to find this page: https://www.chromium.org/chrom... [chromium.org]
why the answer is no... (Score:2)
because SecOps staff won't let Linux be a meaningful presence in an enterprise until there exists a load of most likely useless security endpoint packages that near cripple the machines in question, the way they prove their worth is by showing you how crippled your work computer is
Re:why the answer is no... (Score:4, Interesting)
What planet are you living on? Every place I've worked over the last 10 years has had the SecOps staff being the ones running Linux desktops. The "must haves" of Excel, Word, and PowerPoint were usually the first apps to get virtualized.
More than 2021? (Score:4, Funny)
No way 2021 is going to beat 2021. I mean, it'd have to do even better than 2021 to do that. And what does he think this is? 2021?
It's the year of.... (Score:3)
The Linux Desktop..
Commerical Fusion reactors..
Bi-Partisonship winning..
World Wide Peace.
Stop me if you've heard this one before.
Again? (Score:2)
It'll happen when Linux runs Office. Yes, yes, I know: office 365! When Office NATIVELY runs on Linux and without WINE. But I highly doubt M$ is going to let that happen.
No (Score:2)
Will HBO MAX work on Linux again? (Score:2)
Will HBO MAX work on Linux again?
It used to work and then changed the DRM to stop it from working!
Two questions (Score:2)
0. How well can enterprises manage Linux desktops remotely - patches, security, apps, data loss prevention, remote wipe?
1. How, if a desktop Linux revolution is to be successful, will other Linux users take the addition of the necessary enterprise security features - patch management, real enterprise grade security, app management, data loss prevention, remote wipe?
Meet or exceed Windows/Apple capabilities, and then we start thinking about the costs to make the change. 2021 will not be a year of revolution
Re: (Score:3)
0. How well can enterprises manage Linux desktops remotely - patches, security, apps, data loss prevention, remote wipe?
Ehhm... Puppet? SSH? that is one of the easiest things in the world to organize.
1. How, if a desktop Linux revolution is to be successful, will other Linux users take the addition of the necessary enterprise security features - patch management, real enterprise grade security, app management, data loss prevention, remote wipe?
Either as a company policy or they talk to system maintenance and are treated as "power users". Exactly like the situation with Windows.
Meet or exceed Windows/Apple capabilities, and then we start thinking about the costs to make the change. 2021 will not be a year of revolutionary changes. It will be a year of more fully integrating a remote, work-at-home workforce. And data security, ransomware repellents and recovery tools, and real collaboration tools.
You can use RDP, OpenVPN, X-over-SSH (great for running single remote applications on your desktop), etc. In fact, X was build to work with programs running on other machines, long before RDP was introduced. So working at home should not be a problem.
As a tech pro do you even care what OS you use? (Score:2)
Good grief... (Score:2)
I love Linux.. (Score:3, Insightful)
But the sad reality is, its never going to be ready.
Example, still lacks a proper, out of the box low latency sound server.
Lacks proper color correction.
Lacks proper fractional HiDPI settings.
Gnome hostility towards functionality and their own users.
And many other things.
I really want them to be the desktop king, but by the time this happens, tablets, mobile and perhaps, ChromeOS would have taken over for the majority of users and the other niche things, will be taken by MacOS and Windows 10.
Hell, if MS did a deal with the Raspberry Foundation and included W10 for free or better yet, gave them some type of incentive that ended making their devices a couple of bucks cheaper and Linux would be stopped there also.
Really sad, because I have been happy with Linux for a long time, but wont ignore the shortcomings.
nope...never (Score:3)
Granted, this is server stuff, but best practices deploy servers with single purpose. Add the complexity of a desktop with multiple applications, it's a recipe for nightmare. Linux is to fragmented and end products are not tested for viability before OS level patches are released. The net effect is outside of hackers and pre-packed images, Linux a failure.
Re: (Score:2)
Nevertheless, most of these engineers have a Windows laptop besides their Linux desktop PC. Outlook, Excel and Word are must-have software in the enterprise; having a Linux desktop PC hasn't change that.
Only in old enterprise. I work at a decent sized company, but it's not that old and almost everything internal is on GSuite. Don't those EDA companies use Office365 these days? My SO works somewhere where they're on MS and it works fine on her Linux thinkpad.
Re: (Score:2)
How's your corporate login working for them?