Are We Getting Closer to the Year of the Linux Desktop? (medium.com) 296
Earlier this year TechRepublic argued that while 2021 wasn't the year of the Linux desktop, "there was no denying the continued dominance of Linux in the enterprise space and the very slow (and subtle) growth of Linux on the desktop. And in just about every space (minus the smartphone arena), Linux made some serious gains."
So would 2022 be the year of the Linux desktop? "Probably not."
But developer Tim Wells honestly believes we're getting closer: The idea of the year of the Linux desktop is that there would come a year that the free and open source operating system would reach a stage that the average user could install and use it on their pc without running into problems. Linus Sebastian from Linus Tech Tips recently did an experiment where he installed Linux on his home PC for one month to see if he could use it not only for everyday tasks, but for gaming and also streaming. Ultimately he concluded (in a video just released) that this year will not be the year of the Linux desktop and that while doing everyday stuff was reasonably okay, the state of gaming on Linux (despite Valve's lofty goals) is to put it simply, a shit-show. (That's my word, not his)... The experiment done by Linus seems to show that while some games do indeed run well using [Valve's Windows compatibility layer] Proton, there are just as many that run with issues. Some of those issues can be game breaking. Such as the game running, but its multiplayer functionality not working at all. Some games just plain don't work at all due to dependencies on services such as Easy Anti Cheat...
In his video Linus mentions that the main problem preventing the "year of the Linux desktop" is the fragmentation. By fragmentation, he means the range of available distributions and the fact that each distribution has (potentially) different versions of libraries and drivers and software that makes the behind the scenes operate.... Flatpak and Snap as well as AppImage are making progress towards fixing this fragmentation issue, but those are not yet perfect either. Flatpak works by ensuring that the expected versions of libraries required for that software are installed along side it and independent of the existing library the distro may provide...
Valve have said that the Steamdeck will also use an immutable core operating system for the same reasons.
So while Linus is sure that 2022 isn't yet the year of the Linux desktop and that fragmentation is the biggest problem. I think maybe, just maybe, we're closer to solving those problems and closer perhaps to the year of the Linux desktop that some might realise.
So would 2022 be the year of the Linux desktop? "Probably not."
But developer Tim Wells honestly believes we're getting closer: The idea of the year of the Linux desktop is that there would come a year that the free and open source operating system would reach a stage that the average user could install and use it on their pc without running into problems. Linus Sebastian from Linus Tech Tips recently did an experiment where he installed Linux on his home PC for one month to see if he could use it not only for everyday tasks, but for gaming and also streaming. Ultimately he concluded (in a video just released) that this year will not be the year of the Linux desktop and that while doing everyday stuff was reasonably okay, the state of gaming on Linux (despite Valve's lofty goals) is to put it simply, a shit-show. (That's my word, not his)... The experiment done by Linus seems to show that while some games do indeed run well using [Valve's Windows compatibility layer] Proton, there are just as many that run with issues. Some of those issues can be game breaking. Such as the game running, but its multiplayer functionality not working at all. Some games just plain don't work at all due to dependencies on services such as Easy Anti Cheat...
In his video Linus mentions that the main problem preventing the "year of the Linux desktop" is the fragmentation. By fragmentation, he means the range of available distributions and the fact that each distribution has (potentially) different versions of libraries and drivers and software that makes the behind the scenes operate.... Flatpak and Snap as well as AppImage are making progress towards fixing this fragmentation issue, but those are not yet perfect either. Flatpak works by ensuring that the expected versions of libraries required for that software are installed along side it and independent of the existing library the distro may provide...
Valve have said that the Steamdeck will also use an immutable core operating system for the same reasons.
So while Linus is sure that 2022 isn't yet the year of the Linux desktop and that fragmentation is the biggest problem. I think maybe, just maybe, we're closer to solving those problems and closer perhaps to the year of the Linux desktop that some might realise.
No (Score:5, Funny)
-Betteridge
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Damn you, Betteridge!!
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Basically concurrence, but I also think a change of Subject is called for.
However I think there are too many lazy sheeple for Chromebooks to significantly displace Windows boxen. Freedom takes work.
An individual experience, if you will. My SO had a shoulder operation a few years back. So I bought her a nice touchscreen laptop with Windows 8 on it. She was having troubles with updates, and it was generally a PITA, being so different than Windows 7. But I walked her through as much as I could. Every session was a "Why the hell did they do that?" Is there something wrong with these people? They took something that worked, and replaced it with crap!" Then I didn't get peppered with problems for a week or
Yes, but ... (Score:3)
Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Controlled fusion breakeven. (Score:2)
Well, there's that, too.
Re: Huh? (Score:2)
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Well, there is a big change with Windows Subsystem for Linux. It's getting better, and it's very very easy now to get linux on your enterprise desktop. You can even do so without IT punishing you for not following the divine wisdom from Redmond. It's easier than installing Linux on a bare PC, or in a VM. Given that MacOS has been backsliding into becoming solely an iOS support machine, it seems Windows may become the new preference for those wanting a sane development environment while being mandated by
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Well, shit.
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Well then, we're waiting for the Fusion desktop.
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Windows on the terminal (Score:3)
The term "year of the Linux desktop" has been around for a long time. The technology world has changed quite a bit in that time.
I remember when there was a mainframe, and terminals that connected to the mainframe. Companies competed to have the best OS, with things like better security between users, making sure I can't affect your program in any way, although we'd both be dialing in the the same computer.
Microsoft won the OS battle. Most people started using Windows. Microsoft didn't win by being more IBM
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MSDOS won the desktop market because it was at the right place at the right time, as did Linux win the Unix kernel market for that same reason.
He is a great fool, who believes that market dominance is caused by technical excellence and low price. It is caused by flukes and being at the right place at the right time. — Had MSDOS been released but two years later, no doubt it would have flopped and Microsoft would have been a very obscure company. What of course also helps is that Bill Gates had familia
Re: Windows on the terminal (Score:2, Interesting)
Gary Kildall skipping his meeting with IBM to license his CP/M OS had nothing do with the decision?
Microsoft's near monopoly on ROM BASIC in millions and millions of TRS-80s, Ataris, Etc. Had nothing to do with the decision?
No, its a murky, rarely discussed, familial connection to someone in IBM that caused IBM to license their DOS from Microsoft!
Let me guess, you were born well after the IBM PC was released?
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The "desktop" as commonly understood, was always a complex general purpose device aimed at geeks.
Most people have no need for such a device, they just wanted a web browser and the only way to get that at the time was a complex jack of all trades general purpose device, with all the baggage that came along.
These users just wanted to browse websites or do a handful of other simple tasks, they never had any desire to install and manage a complex general purpose OS.
For most users then, you have chromebooks, and
Re: Huh? (Score:3)
The "desktop" as commonly understood, was always a complex general purpose device aimed at geeks.
No, the "desktop" was aimed at the general user, not "geeks".
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It was intentionally differentiated because in its default state it does not run traditional linux applications. That's the mistake microsoft made with windows mobile - if you use the same name, people expect direct compatibility.
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If you take "linux application" to mean not just the program binary, but also any libraries it requires then sure the same application will run on any instance of the linux kernel compiled for a compatible processor architecture.
But this is about user perception, which is entirely different.
If two products have the same branding, people assume and expect compatibility.
Re: Huh? (Score:2)
I bought xwing on got cause it was advertised as working on linux. I bought a Chromebook cause kit was advertised as running Linux. Guess the outcome.
Desktop Linux is "Windows Subsystem for Linux" (Score:3)
Linux on the desktop is called a "Chromebook"
Nope. Chromebook is just hosted by the Linux kernel. It can be replaced by any other POSIX kernel and Chrome will be just fine. Perhaps Google's Fuchsia? :-)
Linux on the desktop is really called "Windows Subsystem for Linux". Run your favorite Linux distro right there on the Microsoft Windows Desktop.
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
Nobody was saying Linux was gonna replace anything until about 15 years ago.
Actually, in the late 90s and even into the aughts, Linux was referred to as a "windows killer" and this article [fcw.com] from 2000 makes reference to it commonly being called a windows killer
It was a Windows killer in the 90s (Score:2)
Linux killed itself on the desktop ... (Score:3)
Microsoft recognized the threat and killed it.
No, Linux killed itself on the desktop with its by geeks for geeks attitude. Its hostility to ordinary folk trying to use a computer. "Read the Fucking Man Pages".
Microsoft held the desktop by trying to develop for the ordinary folk and being friendlier to them.
Microsoft lost the server because these users just wanted *nix on PC hardware and they were technical enough that they did not need the Linux community nor its politics nor its religion. That's why corporate developers have largely displaced the
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I would argue that Linux was a "Windows killer" because as new devices became common and opened up new markets for operating systems, Linux succeeded and Windows failed. Microsoft started in on the mobile game early with Windows CE, but Google was able to leverage the advantages of Linux to completely bury them in that market. Meanwhile, the only real competitor in that space—the one that went the proprietary route that had been so advantageous for Microsoft—was iOS, another *nix.
Cloud computing
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Yup..My "year of Linux" was 2010, when I retired from 20 years of dealing with the insanity that IS Microsoft, and moved over to my "first love" Linux. I discovered Linux around 1994 and used it for a
project at my -then- company. Unfortuantly, since most of the companies I worked for - up until 2005, were strictly Windows shops, no Linux in use. The company I worked for between 2005 and 2010 had a 100 node Linux compute cluster and the senior admin wasn't very familiar with Linux, so I got the nod to add su
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The telemetry is easy to disable, the updates are easy to control - no more difficult or complex than a Linux machine.
I seem to recall reading, in several places, that Microsoft would turn all the telemetry back on after every significant update. But, regardless of whether that is true or not (and if it is, it's horrific), the fact that bullshit is there, in the first place, makes me question the sanity of anyone using that pile of spyware.
From the Windows 10 "higher" telemetry disclosure:
However, before more info is gathered, Microsoft's privacy governance team, including privacy and other subject matter experts, mus
Re: Huh? (Score:2)
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LibreOffice mostly sucks, and I speak as someone who's tried to use it for years and years.
It's crude, it's clunky, it's feature-free in terms of easy usability and sensible workflow, but if you have *absolutely* nothing else, it'll do. Sort of.
I use LibreOffice and Softmaker's "Textmaker" word processor, but they're both light years behind MS Office, or even just MS Word for that matter.
It's almost enough to make me run Word in a VM. I'll probably break down and do it eventually.
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I'm having no trouble at all with Libreoffice, or at least with the word processor and the spreadsheet. I have no use for the Powerpoint clone part, so I can't say if that works.
I go to ditch Windows 10 and that makes life better right there. But I'm not a gamer, so I can see why that might be a deal breaker for some.
If you want an abomination Apples Pages and Numbers both qualify. And they don't speak ODF. I dumped the whole suite from the MacBook Air and installed LibreOffice.
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LibreOffice mostly sucks, and I speak as someone who's tried to use it for years and years.
LibreOffice is great, and I speak as someone who's used it professionally for years and years.
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LibreOffice and most FOSS software is not Linux specific.
Yes, I know.
The bigger FOSS apps often offer Windows and Macintosh versions.
Yes, I know that too.
So, what exactly was your point?
Mine was that, hands down MS Office is a better suite of apps than LibreOffice, and since I use Linux at home that's something I deal with often.
LibreOffice just feels kinda clunky. No other way to put it. The interface is kinda clunky too, for that matter.
2022 (Score:4, Insightful)
Honestly, I think the absolute temper tantrum the OS community had over Mir and SystemD wasted precious years and set the Linux desktop back so far I just don't see it catching up. We need to kill X11 and the Wayland developers just don't seem up to the task.
Re:2022 (Score:5, Interesting)
We need to kill X11 and the Wayland developers just don't seem up to the task.
Wayland's solution to the sea of problems that X11 had was not to do the things that had problems better, but to not do them at all, and thus the problem was solved. — The old car may have had windows that were annoying and uncomfortable to open; the new and improved model simply does not have openable windows at all.
Re:2022 (Score:5, Funny)
Well of course; the end goal is to not have windows anywhere, isn't it?
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You jest, but Wine indefinitely discontinued it's Wayland port after they realized that they could not simulate Windows in it due to it being too restricted. — The Wayland developers are either too proud, or too ignorant to admit they underestimated matters, as is all too common, and that many of the features they thought were not useful enough are in fact used all the time outside of their little GNOME desktop where all they do is write code and browse the internet.
So far so good; let Wayland fail a
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In all fairness, X11 is a car with a built in kitchen sink. There are some things you definitely don't need in a car.
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You lasted longer than me.
The transition to gnome 3 pretty much ended it for me.
I understand that Wayland is supposed to be better, but gnome 2 with a compositing window manager was pretty great.
KDE feels loud to me, and GNOME 3 is hostile to users (for example avoiding taking advantage of the Wayland interface to allow the compositor to draw window decorations, taking the stance that mismatched window decorations are no more annoying than apps with different fonts).
it's not fragmentation... (Score:2)
it's lack of motivation. why go out of my way to ensure my app or game works with linux, if the market share is like 1%? and making the app/game cross platform from the beginning is still more work than just developing for windows. even if the code was 100% the same, there's testing to be done
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Continuous Integration and automated testing takes care of most of the testing woes. It's trying to test everything at the end that causes serious problems. Of course, this requires PROPER, CLEAR specifications, a suite of tests written in advance based on those specifications and new tests written as needed. If you have a solid core of automated tests, then you know the game/application/app logic actually works as you expect and stays working.
Yes, you can write automated tests that check the GUI is display
Re: it's not fragmentation... (Score:2)
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MSs biggest profit center is royalties from Android.
Citation for that?
https://www.inc.com/jason-aten... [inc.com]
Re: it's not fragmentation... (Score:2)
https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/e... [forbes.com]
https://www.computerworld.com/... [computerworld.com]
Unlikely (Score:3)
many game developers are deciding to drop support for an OS with sub 1% market share and 30% of bugs reported
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The bugs reported issue is what they're usually happy with; it's not that it has so much more bugs; it's that they are more often reported, and often come with usual diagnostics and steps to reproduce.
They also do not support “Linux”; they typically support, say, “Ubuntu with either GNOME or KDE on X11”, which is again to say “Linux” is not a platfom, and people should stop acting as though it be.
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First, I want some clear cites on that 30%. It is possible that companies are writing crappy compatibility layers. Indeed, they'd have to be, as Linux overall has 1/10th the bugs per kloc of Windows. If so, that's not a Linux issue, that's a failure to write good code and a failure to test at time of writing. Poor testing means many of those bugs also exist in Windows, Windows users are just more tolerant of crappy code.
Second, given that you have to include all Steam users under Linux, that sub 1% claim lo
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Why would all Steam users be considered Linux?
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https://twitter.com/bgolus/sta... [twitter.com]
"We shipped Planetary Annihilation on Win, Mac, and Linux. Linux uses we're a big vocal part of the Kickstarter and forums.
In the end they accounted for 20% of auto reported crashes and support tickets (most gfx driver related).
Would totally skip Linux."
There are very few Windows versions (that are supported) - there's a lot of Linux distributions that are all somewhat different. Add to that the fact that hardware manufacturers do not care enough to make good drivers (since
Re: Unlikely (Score:2)
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Android and Chrome are not "Linux Desktops"
Re: Unlikely (Score:2)
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No, that's called the home screen. Maybe you should try to keep up?
Sound seems to be getting there (Score:2)
Between Jackd2 and PipeWire, we seem to be getting to the point where audio on Linux is of high grade and suitable for both games and professional users.
Most of the real-time stuff is now in the kernel, it seems, so desktop-oriented users should be seeing high-grade performance. Now, there is an audiophile distro with some real-time stuff of its own, but it hasn't been updated for a few years. And there are commercial real-time Linux kernels. However, I've not seen anyone make any serious use of those for a
Re:Sound seems to be getting there (Score:4, Interesting)
I can tell you that I do a lot of audio work myself and have done for years. I had dabbled with the Linux desktop many times but this most recent time I put Ubuntu 18.04 on my primary machine back in 2018 and have actually been incredibly happy with it. As you noted, with Jackd2 and PipeWire for high-quality audio work Linux is definitely right there and in some ways better than Windows. My desktop now runs Ubuntu 20.04 with the -lowlatency kernel and for both my audio work and the little bit of video editing I also dabble in it's been amazing, solid, stable and predictable.
And I don't know if I'm just not a demanding gamer, but just about every game I've thrown at this setup has worked great as well... now granted I don't do a lot of multiplayer and every game I have these days is on Steam... but even big AAA releases seem to just work most of the time. In fact, most of the problems I have with games tend to be the small indie developers or the single developers. The only recent examples I can think of that required either fiddling or just plain didn't work for me were Exo One and Starship EVO... again, small studios. But even then a few updates later both worked straight out of the box and I have no issues with either now. Yes, most of my games run under Proton rather than native... but I don't typically see any problems with these running.
I will admit I run the proprietary NVidia drivers... but Windows users do too. So if you're a complete nut for "untainted open source" then yeah you're going to have a hard time... but having said that if you're going for fully open source why are you trying to get inherently closed-source games to work anyway? I do very occasionally hit performance issues with games, but they are vanishingly rare at this point and seem no worse than performance issues reported on similar hardware in Windows. I might not be getting the absolute maximum framerate out of every game, but over 60fps I am not sure I've ever actually cared all that much except for "bragging rights". The games look and move fine by my standards and I can play them. Maybe with my age my eyes just don't care all that much any more :) Simply put; my video card can drive my 120hz widescreen monitor just fine for everything I throw at it; why should I care about a few more FPS?
As for sound drivers, that actually tends to be a pretty solid support experience in Linux. Sound just isn't being developed or advanced the way graphics are; there's just no need. There's little that needs to be done with audio that really will make a significant difference to the finished product because human ears haven't changed and computers frankly were well able to do audio work decades ago. Sure, more CPU horsepower means I have more channels to play with and better DSP's can help make my final mix cleaner, but the truth is that the technology didn't plateau but certainly reached the "flattening of the curve" part of it development a long time ago and most new hardware is merely incremental improvements and usually actually using the same hardware with a few new interfaces attached. I literally can't remember the last time I plugged in a new bit of sound hardware and it didn't just work out of the box, even if it said it was for Windows and I couldn't find any specifics about whether or not it was supposed to work. In fact the only problem I have with Linux and audio is that I have so many inputs and outputs in my machine that every now and again it gets confused about my defaults and I find myself jumping on a conference call where noone can hear me or I can't hear them and I discover that it's trying to use some other audio device that's not immediately preferred for the meeting. Fixing that takes me 10 seconds in the Ubuntu mixer.
Oh, it's january again (Score:3)
I wonder if there is a pagan holiday whose date depends on when the "Year of the Linux desktop" post appears.
year of the Linux desktop? (Score:5, Funny)
20 years, just after fusion.
WSL (Score:2)
I use Linux on my desktop most of the day, every day. Inside windows...
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That is not using the Linux kernel. You are using cli utilities in Microsoft binary format, with the Windows kernel. I'm using ELF binaries, with the Linux kernel, in a vm, on my Windows desktop.
Fragmentation? No, software (Score:3)
In his video Linus mentions that the main problem preventing the "year of the Linux desktop" is the fragmentation.
If games are a "shit show" and MS Office isn't available on Linux then 2 main reasons users turn to Windows is not addressed by Linux. Without a compelling reason to install Linux users will continue to use whatever comes installed on their machine. The don't care about the GPL or software freedom, that want something that works and runs software they want. All the arguments about "XYZ is a close equivalent " will not matter to them. Add in a general disdain for new users and condescending responses to basic questions and 2022 will likely not be the year of Linux on the desktop.
Re:Fragmentation? No, software (Score:5, Interesting)
You nailed the issue.
Productivity suites simply suck on Linux. Microsoft has little desire to make O365 run properly as a first class app on Linux. Without that Linux will never take over.
Interestingly COVID has resulted in two areas of major improvement on the Linux desktop.
1. Video conferencing
2. Chat tools
Granted almost all of those tools use Electron as a cross platform base which makes it far easier to make a rich graphical app in Linux.
If some one were to port an office suite to Electron I think you would see strong shift to Linux as a desktop.
Now I also predict that Microsoft will eventually abandon Windows. With the near certain purchase of Conical by Microsoft I think we will see a rather speedy shift to a Linux based Windows environment. It's this event, the purchase of Conical that will mark the beginning of the Desktop migration to Linux.
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Firstly, it's "Canonical", not Conical.
Secondly, why would Microsoft buy them? It's open-source. They can do whatever they want with it without paying for it. It's not like the Canonical or Ubuntu "brand" are worth anything.
Plus, Microsoft has gone pretty nuts with the WSL stuff. You can run Linux in a window on Windows. You can even run full-on GUI Linux apps as if they are native Widnows apps.
So...why would Microsoft switch to Linux? They don't need to. Linux apps run just fine in Windows. And, the NT ker
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I'm waiting for the Sauren Desktop. The one to rule them all. Seriously with the majority of computers having virtualization (just not being used) one could have as many OS and versions as one wants. And that opens up the application space of all of them as well. A person isn't penalized because they're not using the socially approved OS, but as the saying goes, "it's the apps, stupid" will be for everyone.
Repost! (Score:5, Informative)
No (Score:4, Insightful)
When I can install a Linux distro on my computer/laptop and all the hardware works without me having to recompile the kernel, download a piece of software I need using another computer, or hack an obscure library then we will have Linux on the desktop
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You can if you buy hardware intentionally for running linux, rather than buying random hardware and later hoping linux works with it.
Generally if you buy high quality hardware from reputable vendors its more likely to work with linux and windows will run better on it too.
The same is true of windows - there are many instances where the stock MS version requires additional drivers to install, or you have to download network drivers from another machine and copy them across before you can get online.
In these c
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Oh, come on.
Don't pretend that installing drivers in Windows isn't *a billion times simpler* than installing them in Linux. In the *rare* instances when Windows doesn't have a built-in driver (and contrary to what you wrote, nearly every network interface chipset is supported out-of-the-box these days. Network cards are almost "generic" anymore. Gigabit ethernet chipsets haven't changed much in the past 8 years or so), all you have to do is hit the manufacturer's site and download an installer.
Linux...if th
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Heh. Try getting an Xbox one wireless receiver working even on the approved version (Windows 10), never mind any other should poke a big hole in that argument.
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When I can install a Linux distro on my computer/laptop and all the hardware works without me having to recompile the kernel, download a piece of software I need using another computer, or hack an obscure library then we will have Linux on the desktop
I have had pretty good luck getting Ubuntu to run on supported Dells out of the box.
Re: No (Score:2)
What are you rambling about?
Every laptop and desktop I've ibstalled linyx on, which was manufactured during the past 10-ish years, has worked out of the bix including Wifi, Bluetooth, Gfx and Sound.
I've tried tio of the line Lenovo X1 line (2 models), Asus midrange laptops, various gaming desktops with high end graphics etc, Acers, the mini PCs from Shuttle & various others.
I'm not saying that there aren't some obscure models out there that possibly need a tweak, but c'mon... 99% of them JustWork(tm).
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Are they closer to stop saying this every year? (Score:2)
No, there will never be a year of the Linux desktop. Not anytime in the next decade.
I've been there for years (Score:2)
I haven't purchased a Windows or Apple license in a half dozen years or so. I use Ubuntu Linux exclusively and haven't felt the need to change that and don't find it difficult or confusing to use at all. Even my elderly parents are using it along with my children.
If you mean Linux Desktops in the workplace, then I'd have to agree with you. There doesn't seem to be any traction there.
Best,
MSOutlook + Will we have desktops much longer? (Score:2)
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and the ISP can then rape you with overages and fast lane fees.
Closest it's ever been (Score:3)
I run Gentoo and I game on it. I use Ubuntu on AWS for work servers. My laptop is a MacBook Pro running MacOS. My phone is an Android 11 Sony. My TV is a Sony with Android TV. My NAS box / media center is Windows.
Those of us that game on Linux do it for the challenge but also for control. I never have to worry about windows update, malware, or performance degrading background services that Microsoft tends to inject into Windows whenever they so choose.
I've played a lot of games on Linux. Civ 5 and 6 work natively. So do many Total War series games. Most Valve titles as well. Do I care that League of Legends is broken when my game works fine? Not really. At this point the perspective changes. Now I have many games and the studios need to win me over with Linux support. When a game like Skyrim works perfectly fine and I bet 1000 hours of game play out of it why would I care about some other game that doesn't work on my machine?
Linux support is really not that difficult. You support certain minimum versions that were out even 3-4 years ago. Some base Ubuntu for example is perfectly fine. Most distros match that basic compatibility. I choose Gentoo because I can have the most recent version of anything hours after the code is committed. Or I can choose to lock a version and stay on it. I know I am an edge case but there are dozens of us.
It's important to also note that I regularly wrestled with game issues in Windows too so the idea that Windows is a hassle free environment is plainly untrue.
I think folks on /. should try to consider the perspective change that can occur once an open source platform becomes the new normal.
At work all our non technical staff is now using ChromeOS except for sales/marketing (cause they want native Excel). If that domino falls it would really be interesting.
I would switch to Linux for my desktop if... (Score:2)
I would switch to Linux for my desktop and laptop (probably actually running on a Linux based stripped down install of KVM which would have only the bare essentials installed and then my desktop environment would run in a VM to make it easier to return to a checkpoint when, as happens occasionally, software updates don't go well on Linux) if only...
1. There was a version of Quicken that was supported on Linux, and
2. There was a version of HR Block tax software that was supported on Linux each year.
A few yea
Prediction (Score:2)
Hell no. (Score:2)
We've had "Year of the Linux Desktop" announced something like 10-15 times in the last 20-25 years.
While uptake of Linux is promising, it just never materializes.
People don't want to have to REALLY "admin" their own equipment.
Re: (Score:2)
They don't, that was over a decade ago.
Maybe stop trying to "disrupt" the desktop model (Score:3)
Maybe stop trying to "disrupt" the desktop model. I'm looking at you, GNOME 3.
Nobody wanted that to happen outside of the GNOME team and the Linux Desktop movement was damaged beyond repair because of that attitude.
Not surprised about gaming but werer already there (Score:2)
Linux Mint has been my Linux desktop for every day tasks for years and my servers are either a mix of Rocky Linux and Ubuntu.. The only reason I boot Windows 10 are the rare times I want to play games. So as far as I am concerned we are way past the year of the Linux desktop.
Sadly though every year I give gaming a shot on Linux, nope, always a mess.
Fsck Linux! (Score:2)
Year of the Hurd Desktop.
--
GNU is as GNU does, Mr. Stallman.
I hope it never happens (Score:2)
I use Linux as my daily driver for my desktop and love it. For work I use Windows and I've got a few Macs around the house. For me, Linux is superior and the reason I hope it never becomes the year of the Linux desktop is that I enjoy flying under the radar. I like the exclusivity of being in the 2% or so of people that use Linux as their main desktop environment. I like the freedom and flexibility that only Linux can give you. I like using an operating system that doesn't track my every move. But most of a
Package management will always be the problem (Score:2)
So, now instead of just having to worry about fragmentation of distros and desktops, now we have massive fragmentation occurring with package managers, containers, and "stores". It's the typical software developer's curse: every time they try to make installation and maintenance simpler, they make it more complicated.
I was trying to switch to Linux for over 15 years, constantly trying new distros. Now that things like Snaps and other political grabs are becoming a thing, I've just given up. All the drawb
Yes, openSUSE + Plasma desktop (Score:2)
Combined with BTRFS/snapper and full disk encryption it's the best working environment I can imagine.
And no, Windows 10 is not there yet. Inconsistent, buggy, slow, bloated as hell. Still can't get printing right after 30 years.
A broader perspective... (Score:2)
...this is still the year of the Linux Martian Helicopter! So who cares about the desktop? :)
Old News, That event came and went here (Score:2)
No. Sorry. (Score:2)
As much as I love Linux and use it as my daily driver, hell, my only driver; it's not ready for the "year of the linux desktop" because as long as it's an acceptable answer in the mindset of those building and coding for it to have the ONLY solution to 99% of user questions, as "simply go to the terminal and..." you've failed.
Completely, utterly, MISERABLY failed.
From troubleshooting to simply installing an app that isn't in the package manager to changing a fairly common setting/configuration that isn't av
Sure!... (Score:2)
as it was for me in 2021, 2020, 2019, ..., 1998, 1997. OK, so I've had to keep a windows machine or VM too at work for much of that time, but my primary desktop at home has been Linux since 1997 and at work 2003.
You don't want it to be year of the linux desktop (Score:2)
When everyone is using linux to provide their desktop computing experience, it will not be good for everyone who has had for many years enjoyed a linux desktop experience that doesn't insult their intelligence, ability to operate a command line, customize the UI, script up common tasks and generally live the life of a technically competent person.
The year of the linux desktop will mean convergence onto a single desktop software stack that much software will demand be present in order to operate. It will cat
Sadly, I don't think it matters anymore (Score:2)
If the proliferation of ChromeOS has taught us anything, it's that the OS doesn't really matter anymore. The browser is the new OS, and no shortage of people use Gmail as a mail client, Office365 for document editing, Salesforce for CRM, Facebook for video chatting, Spotify for music, Netflix for movies, Canva for desktop publishing, Wix for web design....
If they use a desktop that's completely FLOSS from BIOS to browser, only to access web apps that have replaced desktop software, nothing has been accompli
In other words (Score:3)
In the discussion about usable computers wouldn't call that a positive distinction...
I installed a Linux Desktop OS yesterday (Score:4, Insightful)
I followed some simple instructions including how to update it after it was booted up. End result: multiple error messages about something something dependency unresolvable, vlc needing a new package incompatible with another package, and this media player suddenly prevented everything on the OS from updating. 10min later bashing around in the console and doing a few Googles I had a functioning system running through its update process.
I have other Linux instances, one recently said something about python major version upgrades causing dependency issues and some packages stopped working. A bit of Googling and some console work later...
I have a Linux server here which between a dist-upgrade changed flags in a way which made virtual servers unreachable on boot. More Googling (won't blame the console though, there's no UI on this one).
I have a Linux laptop here which refuses to wake from sleep properly and when it does the wifi interface is normally gone. No amount of Google fixed this.
Linux has a major usability problem. Not for us, but for the 99.5% of us who are not computer nerds who can fix problems. A quadruple amputee can count on their fingers how many times my father has opened the command line on a windows machine.
People use Linux. People don't use Windows, they ignore Windows and use the software running on Windows instead which is precisely how a desktop OS should work.
Re: (Score:2)
Fusion has reached the endgame. It would be done by now, but funding keeps getting cut back.
Re: “Linux” (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
“Linux” as this article intends does not exist any more than “vehicles that use engines made by Yamaha” exists
I'm not sure where you're going with this analogy since I have a vehicle with an engine made by Yamaha in my garage. Yamaha has also produced over 3 million car engines.
Re: who cares anymore? (Score:2)
[astro meme]
It's been the decade of Linux all along?
Always has been.