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Open Source Operating Systems Linux

Why Desktop Linux Is Finally Growing In Popularity (zdnet.com) 188

Posted by BeauHD from the year-of-the-Linux-desktop dept.
According to the latest data from StatCounter, Linux's market share has reached 4.03% -- surging by an additional 1% in the last eight months. What's the reason behind this recent growth? "That's a good question," writes ZDNet's Steven Vaughan-Nichols. "While Windows is the king of the hill with 72.13% and MacOS comes in a distant second at 15.46%, it's clear that Linux is making progress." An anonymous Slashdot reader shares the five reasons why Vaughan-Nichols thinks it's growing: 1. Microsoft isn't that interested in Windows
If you think Microsoft is all about the desktop and Windows, think again. Microsoft's profits these days come from its Azure cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Microsoft 365 in particular. Microsoft doesn't want you to buy Windows; the Redmond powerhouse wants you to subscribe to Windows 365 Cloud PC. And, by the way, you can run Windows 365 Cloud PC on Macs, Chromebooks, Android tablets, iPads, and, oh yes, Linux desktops.

2. Linux gaming, thanks to Steam, is also growing
Gaming has never been a strong suit for Linux, but Linux gamers are also a slowly growing group. I suspect that's because Steam, the most popular Linux gaming platform, also has the lion's share of the gaming distribution market

3. Users are finally figuring out that some Linux distros are easy to use
Even now, you'll find people who insist that Linux is hard to master. True, if you want to be a Linux power user, Linux will challenge you. But, if all you want to do is work and play, many Linux distributions are suitable for beginners. For example, Linux Mint is simple to use, and it's a great end-user operating system for everyone and anyone.

4. Finding and installing Linux desktop software is easier than ever
While some Linux purists dislike containerized application installation programs such as Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage, developers love them. Why? They make it simple to write applications for Linux that don't need to be tuned just right for all the numerous Linux distributions. For users, that means they get more programs to choose from, and they don't need to worry about finicky installation details.

5. The Linux desktop is growing in popularity in India
India is now the world's fifth-largest economy, and it's still growing. Do you know what else is growing in India? Desktop Linux. In India, Windows is still the number one operating system with 70.37%, but number two is Linux, with 15.23%. MacOS is way back in fourth place with 3.11%. I suspect this is the case because India's economy is largely based on technology. Where you find serious programmers, you find Linux users.
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Why Desktop Linux Is Finally Growing In Popularity More

Why Desktop Linux Is Finally Growing In Popularity

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  • One more... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by NateFromMich ( 6359610 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @08:14PM (#64292886)
    Desktops aren't as popular, so a higher percentage are used by the more technically knowledgeable.

    • Re:One more... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @09:09PM (#64292984)
      Then again, the less-technically knowledgeable are mainly relying on smartphones, and globally 81% of smartphones run Android which is linux-based.

      • Android is not Linux based (Score:5, Interesting)

        by drnb ( 2434720 ) on Wednesday March 06, 2024 @12:49AM (#64293342)

        Then again, the less-technically knowledgeable are mainly relying on smartphones, and globally 81% of smartphones run Android which is linux-based.

        Android is not Linux based, it is Linux hosted. If Android were to rehost under a different POSIX OS most Android users would not know or care. 70% of developers would be unaffected as Android is a complete OS itself and they stick to the Android API. For those that use the native SDK, most would not care since they are generally just using C libraries or POSIX calls. Nothing Linux specific.

        Most *nix software is really written for POSIX. It run on Linux, BSD, macOS, etc. Very little software is written specifically for Linux.

        • Re:Android is not Linux based (Score:5, Informative)

          by chefren ( 17219 ) on Wednesday March 06, 2024 @07:05AM (#64293752)

          How is this different from the situation on the desktop? Not at all, because as you say "Very little software is written specifically for Linux". You can even run a lot of Unix software on a Windows platform.

          But Android, which is an operating system by Google, is definitely based on Linux. I guess in Stallman's nomenclature it should be called Android/Linux, but unlike GNU which can also run on FreeBSD or Hurd or OpenSolaris and probably more, there is no Android OS that is not based on the Linux kernel.

          • How is this different from the situation on the desktop?

            Android should really be seen as Google Play Services/Android/Linux. In that sense Ubuntu is similar - Ubuntu/GNU/Linux but even for Ubuntu the services in the Ubuntu part are almost completely open (excluding hard wired support services coming from Ubuntu's servers that aren't open). Mint/GNU/Linux is completely open and the fact it seems tobe becoming more popular than Ubuntu demonstrates that Ubuntu's closed parts aren't critical. Google Play Services are completely proprietary and so Google very much co

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )

            How is this different from the situation on the desktop?

            Because on the desktop we are speaking of Linux the operating system, not Linux the kernel. On Android, Android is the operating system.

            Not at all, because as you say "Very little software is written specifically for Linux". You can even run a lot of Unix software on a Windows platform.

            Yes and no, the posix support is not complete on Windows. You are usually better off going native, POSIX for *nix, Win32 for Windows. Note that the built-in threading support in modern C++ versions uses Win32 on Windows, POSIX on *nix. A wise implementation choice.

            But Android, which is an operating system by Google, is definitely based on Linux.

            Nope, Android is not simply a graphical user interface layer. It is a complete OS. Developers overwhelming use

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by chrish ( 4714 )

          What are they going to re-host onto, QNX? Google seems to have gotten bored with Fuschia, so that's not happening.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )

            What are they going to re-host onto, QNX? Google seems to have gotten bored with Fuschia, so that's not happening.

            A BSD kernel. And Fuscia is not out of the running. The team may have gotten hit in the company wide layoffs but it is actively being deployed in embedded devices. It makes sense to deploy first to embedded and then afterwards to mobile.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by swillden ( 191260 )

          Then again, the less-technically knowledgeable are mainly relying on smartphones, and globally 81% of smartphones run Android which is linux-based.

          Android is not Linux based, it is Linux hosted. If Android were to rehost under a different POSIX OS most Android users would not know or care.

          True, but don't kid yourself about how integral Linux is to Android. The system is deeply tied to Linux-only features and functionality. The Android security team would love to swap Linux out for something better, because the Linux kernel is the source of 70-90% of the critical security vulnerabilities in the OS year in and year out. But with the tight integration between the Android system and the Linux kernel it would be a massive undertaking; doing it would probably halt approximately all other developme

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )
            "Tight integration"? I thought it was primarily using POSIX APIs.

            Its hard to imagine a BSD port taking years, maybe Fuscia which is not *nix.

      • Re:One more... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Wednesday March 06, 2024 @04:33AM (#64293582) Journal

        And this is why RMS was right to talk about GNU/Linux. Even though people will whine about the name and list other software, he was still not wrong.

        GNU/Linux is the desktop system we know and love, mostly open source, generally respects your freedom etc etc etc. This is what people generally mean when they say they run Linux.

        Android is generally a completely locked down system, open source in name only. Yes the base Android is OSS, what you run on your phone is likely not, and anyway your phone is locked down so you couldn't changed out the OS even if you wanted. My three fellow Fairphone FDroid users don't alter that. It happens to use the Linux kernel underneath. This is completely 100% not remotely the same as running a GNU/Linux.

        And yet again, 30 years after the fact, RMS was proven right. Turns out we didn't want the year of the Linux desktop, we wanted the year of the GNU/Linux desktop. Having a ton of shitty, non upgradeable, mostly closed Android phones hasn't really improved things from an OSS point of view.

        Love him, hate him or enjoy judging his personal hygiene, RMS was right again.

        • Love him, hate him or enjoy judging his personal hygiene, RMS was right again.

          Yes, and the situation described in Right to Read
          https://www.gnu.org/philosophy... [gnu.org]

          will occur... but only if civilization lasts long enough.

          Selfishness will kill us all once 'power' becomes concentrated enough. Whomever becomes Ruler of the World will rule over a desert wasteland of nomadic tribes.

          (selfishness being the desire to control others to make your own life simpler, better, and more "profitable")

        • and anyway your phone is locked down so you couldn't changed out the OS even if you wanted.

          All Google Pixel devices, all Xiaomi devices, most if not all Motorola devices and many more have unlockable bootloaders. You can absolutely customize Android to your liking, you just have to buy one that allows it.

      • This article said "Desktop Linux"

  • Desktop Apps (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bradgoodman ( 964302 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @08:16PM (#64292894) Homepage
    Desktop Apps are barely a thing anymore. If your platform can run a web browser, there is almost nothing you canâ(TM)t do. My high-school and college age kids work exclusively online. When their device dies - they just log in elsewhere.

    • Re:Desktop Apps (Score:5, Interesting)

      by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @08:35PM (#64292936) Homepage Journal

      It's the dream of a "network computer" that is finally being realized after decades of promises. A cheap Chromebook running the tools a student needs makes computing more reliable and more accessible for most people.

      As a software developer, I want a full blown computer that is completely under my own control. I don't want to browser tabs running web apps that somehow eat 100's of megabytes of RAM for no good reason. (I'm not impressed with the recent updates to Gmail)

      • Re:Desktop Apps (Score:5, Interesting)

        by drnb ( 2434720 ) on Wednesday March 06, 2024 @12:54AM (#64293352)

        It's the dream of a "network computer" that is finally being realized after decades of promises.

        No, it's a return to mainframe style computing where you log in remotely to the multiuser computer from a dumb terminal. Our "dumb terminals" are smarter now and can do graphics.

        (I'm not impressed with the recent updates to Gmail)

        I miss pine. When emails were just text not multimedia experiences. They had to reinvent that wonderful simple brief text experience with texting. :-)

        • I still use alpine. Occasionally I have to export an html file from alpine to a browser to do something, but very rarely, maybe once every couple of months. I love the simplicity of (al)pine.

        • They had to reinvent that wonderful simple brief text experience with texting. :-)

          iMessage and RCS are fixing/breaking (depending on your point of view) that.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )

            They had to reinvent that wonderful simple brief text experience with texting. :-)

            iMessage and RCS are fixing/breaking (depending on your point of view) that.

            Well, maybe the fireworks animation can be implemented in text.

    • Almost nothing. So far Microsoft is unable to get online Office apps to work as well as the offline versions, and that's an extremely low bar that they fail to meet. Overall online applications are half assed, but MS doesn't even put a full half-ass of effort into them.

      • So far Microsoft is unable to get online Office apps to work as well as the offline versions, and that's an extremely low bar that they fail to meet.

        Yes and no. The office apps are so overpowered and overcomplicated for what most people do they are ridiculous. I did a 100 page thesis in the 90's with graphical illustrations and formulas and I barely scratched the surface of Word. Those online versions probably support more than my thesis and it illustrations and formulas required. I expect they are perfectly adequate for HS and college.

        • The online versions are all missing basics such as hierarchical heading numbering... stuff that you might have used for a thesis even back in the dark ages of tech ;)

          • Re: A small fraction is probably all that is neede (Score:5, Interesting)

            by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Wednesday March 06, 2024 @04:41AM (#64293590)
            Just wait until those new Linux users realise that they usually have apps like LibreOffice already installed that will work instantly with all their existing documents. For most people, there's no need for office apps on "the cloud." No need to deal with those paid subscriptions to M$ & all that entails.

            And working on a desktop without constant interruptions & disruptions because M$' marketing team decided, "Hey, you really should know that blah, blah, blah!" Maybe you can get rid of it but I bet you have to pay more & be the owner of the machine in order to do so.

            Nope. I ain't never going back.
            • Try loading a spreadsheet with macros.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by KlomDark ( 6370 )
                Try picking your nose with a dried booger
                • I'm just saying you clearly don't use it in a professional capacity
                  • Yeah, we all know that M$ does its best to prevent compatibility with other office software. They also do horrible things to tables & other formatting. That's not really acting in good faith & with users' best interests at heart, is it? Do you really want to be beholden to people that behave like that?

                    The good thing is, once you've transitioned away from M$ Office, you'll never be bothered by such petty, unhelpful behaviour ever again. LibreOffice is perfectly capable of doing macros, BTW. You al

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )

            The online versions are all missing basics such as hierarchical heading numbering... stuff that you might have used for a thesis even back in the dark ages of tech ;)

            I definitely used that in Word in the 90s. I probably used that in whatever I used on the Apple II in the 80s.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Dadoo ( 899435 )

          The office apps are so overpowered and overcomplicated for what most people do they are ridiculous.

          I can't speak for Word or Excel, because I don't use them, but Outlook is - by far - the worst email client I've ever used. It makes me miss the days when I was using Eudora.

          • I still install the local one. The web panel is just not up to fast handling of 50 emails a day.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )
            I miss Pine and emails being text. That when you saw html you could delete it knowing it was some sort of spam not a colleague. :-)

        • True. Office 95 was better overall I felt. Not a lot of bells and whistles but reasonably fast as well. I had memory limitations though. However the ONLINE versions now are broken in many small ways. By default you're editing the doc online, so if you accidentally push a key it's auto-saved and you're listed as the most recent to modify the file. The idea to coordinate mutliple people working on the same document is a good one, but in practice it's working poorly. I ran across a badly formatted table

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by whitroth ( 9367 )

          In '95, I think it was, one of the two big PC mags had a review of *then* available word processors, and reported that 90% of all users never used 90% of what was available *then*... and the 10% who did use some of those other features used them less than 10% of the time.

    • Just make sure you run the "right" web browser.

      I am sick to death of web sites telling me my web browser is "not supported".

    • The usability of web browser JS UIs is questionable when put alongside properly coded native software. I use both & sometimes editing shared files/docs on a remote host is more convenient, e.g. for collaborative projects. But the constant lag & little disruptions makes working quickly feel like wading through molases, i.e. it takes more time & you expend more energy to get the same amount of work done. When I need to get work done efficiently, I go native. In many cases, working collaboratively,

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dadoo ( 899435 )

      Desktop Apps are barely a thing anymore. If your platform can run a web browser, there is almost nothing you can't do

      Except for the fact that accessing a web site on a mobile device is awful. Have you ever tried using Slashdot on mobile? I think maybe Newegg gets pretty close to having web site that's usable on mobile, but that's about it.

    • Re:Desktop Apps (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Wednesday March 06, 2024 @09:03AM (#64293950)
      I have yet to find any web app that matches the functionality of a desktop app. Recently i had to work comparing around 10 large spreadsheets and just the time Office 365 takes to open each one (minutes rather than seconds) was having me tear my hair out.

  • It's because you can't just pirate windows anymore (Score:5, Informative)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @08:22PM (#64292906)
    Win 11 requires special encryption hardware not available on millions of older laptops and PCs. Microsoft will still look the other way while you pirate it, but not if you don't have that extra hardware. Current builds of Win 11 won't let you disable it.

    I'm not sure it's enough to matter, but if Linux does start to get a foothold Microsoft will just put out an edition of Win 11 that doesn't require the hardware and give it away for $5 bucks or less. They do this every time Linux starts to grow a bit.

    Without strong anti-trust law enforcement Linux will just get slaughtered every time it starts to gain market share. It's a Charleston we dance about every 6-8 years or so.
    • why would MS do anything, they aren't the ones losing share to Linux according to Statcounter. It is Mac. regardless Statcounter numbers are complete and utter garbage, 1% increase is far less than their margin for error. I good indicator of how Linux hasn't really moved much is steam numbers. Linux is still sub 2%.

    • Well just on the India stat, 'developing' nation and all, I imagine there's an abundance of perfectly good working hardware that doesn't run Windows 11.

      (TBH none of my 5 x86 computers, some in various states of disassembly in storage boxes, are supported by 11. Just waiting for MS to release the NPU hardware requirements for Windows 12 Copilot - there will be sure to be oodles of freshly obsoleted equipment to shove Debian on!)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by drnb ( 2434720 )

      Win 11 requires special encryption hardware not available on millions of older laptops and PCs.

      That is only part of the problem. Win11 also requires newer CPUs, 8th gen so about 5 years old? My 6th gen 64-bit Intel i7 is a perfectly functional CPU but it can't run Win11. With 32GB of RAM and a modern video card it is still a pretty good machine despite its age. Lack of WIn11 is not a problem, the i7 dual boots Debian. It'll just spend more time in Debian as Win10 support ends.

      • My 6th gen 64-bit Intel i7 is a perfectly functional CPU but it can't run Win11. With 32GB of RAM and a modern video card it is still a pretty good machine despite its age.

        Apple are selling machines with 8GB still...

        Anyway, my first Gen i7 with 32G of RAM and now 1TB of glorious SATA II flash is basically still perfectly good. Some of the heavier websites now get a bit sluggish. Still works though, and does most stuff I need. For the rest, I've got an actually fast desktop.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by drnb ( 2434720 )

          My 6th gen 64-bit Intel i7 is a perfectly functional CPU but it can't run Win11. With 32GB of RAM and a modern video card it is still a pretty good machine despite its age.

          Apple are selling machines with 8GB still...

          So do PC vendors. My PCs are Build-Your-Own, I select all the parts individually. Buying enough RAM for an expected 7 year useful life.

          Macs seem to have a 7 year useful life as well, I use Apple's Build-to-Order system to upgrade RAM. Same amount I have on my PCs.

          Anyway, my first Gen i7 with 32G of RAM and now 1TB of glorious SATA II flash is basically still perfectly good. Some of the heavier websites now get a bit sluggish. Still works though, and does most stuff I need. For the rest, I've got an actually fast desktop.

          FWIW, I also updated my i7 to 1TB M2. Back when Macs were using standard 2.5in drives and were end user accessible I replaced a HD with a SSD and greatly improved performance.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Hundreds of millions of working computers will got to landfill when Windows 10 support ends next year. Most people won't install Linux, they will buy a new computer.

      eBay is already awash with used small form factor PCs that run Windows 10, but not 11. Companies just throw them away. They are decent home servers for stuff like Home Assistant and small scale NAS storage.

      • Most people won't even know windows 10 support ended. I'll keep windows 10 for a long time.
        • if you think you wont be lambasted with popups about support ending then I dont know what universe you live in

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          You can be sure Microsoft will put up a full screen warning as we get closer. My guess would be the first one at the 1 year out mark in May.

          They did that with Windows 8.

          • Well then I'll be collecting as many systems as i can

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              You can already get them on eBay pretty cheap. Companies are selling off some quite capable, low power SFF computers with 9th gen Core CPUs. Being older they tend to run Linux decently.

    • >Win 11 requires special encryption hardware not available on millions of perfectly useable laptops and PCs

      There, fixed that for you. (While completely agreeing with your point. My current powerful desktop wont take Win 11. I'm actually happy with that, Win 10 is fine when I need to be in Microsoft land.)

  • Mint - yup. (Score:3)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @08:26PM (#64292912)

    Linux Mint is simple to use, and it's a great end-user operating system for everyone and anyone.

    I was a long-time Ubuntu (Mate) user but switched to Mint 21 (Cinnamon) when my Ubuntu install hit EOL and Ubuntu started pushing Snap hard. Debian was my alternate choice. I've been a Unix system programmer/admin for 30+ years and don't need something easier to use like Mint, but appreciate that it is. I'm currently using both Windows 10 and Mint 21.3 and will switch full-time to Linux when Windows 10 hits EOL -- I'm being lazy about migrating over. My systems are too old to (officially) run Windows 11 and I'm not interested in buying -- or being arbitrarily forced to buy -- newer hardware and Linux runs well on all of mine.

  • How could anyone have missed such an obvious factor in the popularity growth of Linux on the desktop as it just being that year?

  • A confluence of other factors (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thecombatwombat ( 571826 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @08:30PM (#64292920)

    There's one group of users, I'm not sure how big they are, who sit in the middle of this Venn Diagram.

    They don't especially like Big Tech, not liking Big Tech is cool, and PC's are plentiful, old computers are everywhere. So their burden to trying Linux is easier than ever, they don't have to dual boot or mess with losing data they care about. (Phone's being primary devices helps too.) Then they find they like it, *and* they're validated because they already thought disliking Big Tech is cool.

    I don't think this is the biggest chunk of users, but if Desktop Linux suddenly does take off in North America, I think this group will be a big part of it.

  • The Fate of Windows (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Dracos ( 107777 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @08:37PM (#64292938)

    MS is so disinterested in Windows that I believe they are slowly, very slowly, preparing for its UI layer to become a Linux desktop environment, which means they can abandon the underlying OS that they don't want to support, but still sell the desktop to OEMs.

    • Re:The Fate of Windows (Score:5, Funny)

      by cstacy ( 534252 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @09:03PM (#64292978)

      MS is so disinterested in Windows that I believe they are slowly, very slowly, preparing for its UI layer to become a Linux desktop environment, which means they can abandon the underlying OS that they don't want to support, but still sell the desktop to OEMs.

      Are you drunk?
      You do know you can get drunk on Wine, right?

    • I doubt it. First off, this is Microsoft you're talking about. Any show of embracing Linux or any other Free/OSS technology is merely the first step in... well... you know what the other two "E"s are. And even if they were ever going to act in anything resembling good faith; switching the underlying OS would eliminate the one real selling point of windows which no competitor matches: backwards compatibility unto the beginning of time.

      • Re:The Fate of Windows (Score:4, Informative)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @11:27PM (#64293206) Homepage Journal

        switching the underlying OS would eliminate the one real selling point of windows which no competitor matches: backwards compatibility unto the beginning of time.

        That is not a thing.

        None of my oldest Microsoft-compatible software will run on modern Windows without significant patching, and some of it will not run at all outside of an emulator with an earlier version.

        The first thing I cared about that I noticed no longer working was Civilization 2 on Windows 7. There are patches that make it work (I think the one for XP64 will do, and there are newer and better now of course) but what was somewhere between hilarious and shocking to me was that it would not run even in XP mode, which as you may recall was Windows XP running inside of Microsoft's evolution of Connectix Virtual PC. I now run the patched version under Wine on Devuan Linux, which is also capable of running the original... but the patched version uses less CPU.

        Since that program I've experienced many games and even Applications not working correctly, for example Adobe Photoshop CS2 runs best on Windows XP. That was a version you could buy outright, which is why it remains relevant. (Most Photoshop plugins back to early times would still run on XP, too, but many of them won't run on Windows 7 or later.)

        The idea of Windows having flawless backwards compatibility is an absurd myth. Its historical back-compatibility was noteworthy, but it has gotten substantially lesser since Windows Vista.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by vbdasc ( 146051 )

          That is not a thing.

          None of my oldest Microsoft-compatible software will run on modern Windows without significant patching, and some of it will not run at all outside of an emulator with an earlier version.

          This is only your experience. What are you trying to run, games and Win16 software? My own experience is diametrically opposite. I often run 25-years old Windows software (Visual Studio 98, Office 97 and others) without significant issues.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by BigZee ( 769371 )
        I do think that MS has started to realise the limitations of windows though. I've not used Azure so don't have first hand experience but if they are really giving cloud services the features that people are expecting then I can imagine how difficult that is for windows to achieve. I know that they have also ported important s/w (such as MS/SQL) to run on Linux. Don't get me wrong, I don't see them ditching windows any time soon but unless they really put some effort into its development, far more than the s

    • MS is so disinterested in Windows that I believe they are slowly, very slowly, preparing for its UI layer to become a Linux desktop environment, which means they can abandon the underlying OS that they don't want to support, but still sell the desktop to OEMs.

      There is no reason to abandon the NT kernel. It is perfectly fine. The problem with Windows are in that UI layer.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by vbdasc ( 146051 )

      I believe they are slowly, very slowly, preparing for its UI layer to become a Linux desktop environment

      Oh dear G-d, please no! Not the awful UI!

      The (current) UI is the LAST thing in Windows worth saving.

  • A Copilot panel as annoying as Clippy may soon be popping up in Windows 11. I just heard that somewhere recently.

  • #6 - Linux is there for you (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ... not to sell you to advertisers.

  • More nerds? (Score:4, Informative)

    by peterww ( 6558522 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @10:10PM (#64293072)

    It's possible that there's just a higher percentage of nerds now than there used to be. Certainly there's a crap-ton more software developers. As younger generations become increasingly Hikikomori, there's bound to be more of them that want to invest their time in technology rather than just anime and games.

    I don't buy the other proposed ideas.

    1. Microsoft is not pushing desktop users to use Linux. That's just absurd. Has nothing to do with the cloud.

    2. Linux gaming... yeah, sure, you can use Steam on Linux, but you can use it on Windows and Mac too, so there's no need to switch desktops.

    3. Linux distros are *not* easier to use now. If anything they're more difficult. The sweet spot was when the software was less shitty and complicated, the hardware was simpler, fewer and better supported, and the computers didn't have shitty "security hoops" to jump through just to boot a non-M$ OS. And a lot of the settings, apps, etc actually have lost features, god knows why. God help you if you mess up the machine now, there's so much more crap to deal with under the hood than there used to be.

    4. Yeah, sure, Flatpak makes things easier than they were before. Nobody's switching desktops because they suddenly found out that Flatpak exists. It's not like there are more or better apps than already exist on Mac or Windows. You want easier app installation, use the other two desktops.

    5. Sure, emerging markets are increasing the number of users, but they have absolutely no qualms about pirating Windows, and I'll bet you the native language support is much better.

    • Its schools. As more schools use Chromebooks they break any proprietary hold Windows or macOS may have had. The budget oriented student can reuse some "retired" Window box now running Linux as a dirt cheap system to run chrome. And get software updates, unlike Chromebooks that stop getting updates after a few years.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dargaud ( 518470 )

      Linux distros are *not* easier to use now.

      I strongly disagree. It takes all of 5 mins to install Linux on a PC from a USB stick. If Windows didn't come with your PC, good luck. Also once installed, any update of *all* programs is as simple as "apt update", or even letting the auto-updater run in the background if enabled. On Windows the system upgrade just reboots the PC WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION overnight, and for any program you have to hunt down, download and install new versions individually. Which leads to people never upgrading them, which lead

  • About 10% of our machines are Linux in a VM. So, I guess we're slowly dragging the average up. Can't see it getting much higher soon though. We don't have demand for it. We're actually having to push it.

  • Don't forget WSL (Score:3)

    by Pizza ( 87623 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @11:25PM (#64293204) Homepage Journal

    ....It's the year of Linux on the Microsoft Desktop!

    (I'd bet the $3 in my wallet right now that there are more WS deployments of Linux than there are baremetal/native Linux Desktop installs. And I say that as someone who's been using Linux on the desktop full time since since about 1998...)

  • Steam Deck sales (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Idimmu Xul ( 204345 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @11:52PM (#64293252) Homepage Journal

    are the 1% in the past 8 months.

  • Every year for the last 20 years?

  • At this growth rate, the year 2,459,313,323 would finally be the year in which Linux wins the desktop war. Unfortunately, the year 2,459,313,322 is when the Sun goes suoernova and engulfs the Earth. And we won't have Mars colonies either because NASA was forced to adopt Windows by Bill Gates and we thus never made it off Earth.

    • Re:Growth rate (Score:4, Funny)

      by vbdasc ( 146051 ) on Wednesday March 06, 2024 @04:19AM (#64293572)

      At this growth rate, the year 2,459,313,323 would finally be the year in which Linux wins the desktop war.

      Not when Linux gains 1% in 8 months.

      Unfortunately, the year 2,459,313,322 is when the Sun goes suoernova and engulfs the Earth. And we won't have Mars colonies either because NASA was forced to adopt Windows by Bill Gates and we thus never made it off Earth.

      According to most astrophysicists, the Sun won't explode until 5 billion years after now. And it won't go supernova, but merely a Red giant.

  • Tried (Score:2)

    by Barny ( 103770 )

    Tried shifting my desktop PC over recently. Seemed fine at first, but then there wasn't any config software for my keyboard (Corsair) and my mouse was a nightmare to set up (Logitech). The support for Google Drive is archaic. The KeePass equivalent program decided to delete my old KeePass database, and then slowly corrupt its converted version. My backup software (BackBlaze Desktop) isn't supported on Linux, either, and I would have had to swap my desktop machine to using B2 storage instead of an all-you-ca

  • Disclaimer: Personal, anecdotal experiences... Apple appears to have lost some interest in macOS as a premium product for web developers some time ago. It's still good, and for this of us already invested in it it's still a reasonable choice, but just a few years ago the buzz that I got was that lots of devs were switching to it as "the UNIX dev platform where you could pay someone to install and support it" basically. That's no longer the case.

  • Disclaimer: I haven't used/installed any *nix for some time, my take on this subject may be outdated.

    Can you install it without using the command line?

    I always found this to be the biggest issue with Linux in general, not that there IS a command line, but that "you can't use Linux unless you use a command line" snobbery.

    All command lines can be used via a GUI, it is a simple procedure of adding buttons to each command, depending on what operand you need. Does this make the command line dumber and have fewer

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by stooo ( 2202012 )

      >> I haven't used/installed any *nix for some time, my take on this subject may be outdated.
      Probably over 10 years out of time.

  • I am not sure this has any relevance, but approx. 8 months ago Mojang broke Minecraft on all android devices after an update. The bug is confirmed, universal and still open. It made the Bedrock edition unplayable. Me and my Minceraft buddy had paid 1000 bucks each for the latest and greatest Samsung tablets so that we can play the game in the little time we have as adults with minimum fuss and maintenance (or so we thought!).

    Month after month passed with us not playing and the tablets gathering dust...until

  • One can easily see that the reasons given are stupid and senseless postulations not borne in reality. You can address items one at a time:

    1. Users unhappy with windows, - No the statcounter shows that windows use isn't down.
    2. Linux gaming, - No the overwhelming mega majority of Linux gaming stats are the result of Steamdeck, and Steamdeck wouldn't show up in Statcounter since gaming on consoles would trigger their scripts.

    3 and 4 seem suspect. 5 may be relevant.

    But the reality is as we just discussed, Stat

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