> “Microsoft Windows becomes a Proton-like emulation layer over a Linux kernel”
That’s similar to what Apple replacing Mac OS 9 with Mac OS X based on a MACH kernel.
Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
81–90 of 166 posts
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#82This sounds like over-the-top speculation. Just because their larger source of revenue has shifted to their high-value, high-capital PaaS, it doesn't mean they'll be killing off the Windows platform entirely in favor of Linux. Windows is an operating system that has evolved over decades for the PC and it still outperforms Linux in some very crucial things (like priority hardware support from manufacturers, optimizati…
> it still outperforms Linux in some very crucial things (like priority hardware support from manufacturers, optimization of hardware, etc.) by miles. It's hard to imagine even if Linux distros fix their glaring lack of standardization, bring about sane package management systems and manage to create bearable user experiences.
They could create a "Microsoft Linux" distro, that would probably be much less effort than to maintain Windows & Windows Server. If every PC would run on the Linux kernel, hardware vendors would support it.
For Edge I think it's just to be able to data mine more people whatever their platform of choice is.
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#83MS Teams is the new OS :).
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#84There is a good chance that something like what the author proposes is occurring, especially if you consider the Windows product distinct from the NT kernel. Does it make sense in the long run to support two separate Office code bases - the web based ones, and the desktop versions? I don't think it does, and I would think that Edge/Chromium is going to be their new base upon which the present day web based versions o…
It seems unlikely that Microsoft could ever move Windows over to a different kernel and save on development costs that way, because no suitable kernel seems in sight.
For example the whole Handle and ACL infrastructure has no real equivalent in Linux (at most a bit on the filesystem level) and having to rewrite that for Linux seems pointless and would bring enormous backwards compatibility risks. Office is easy compared to the tightly integrated Windows Server/Active Directory stack.
But that still doesn't mean MS has to invest a lot of R&D in the NT kernel and stack. For userspace they indeed have electron, and on the kernel side they still have Hyper-V, and are even supplying patches to Linux for better integration.
Perhaps eventually Linux and NT will be mostly invoking virtual drivers with the real 'hardware control' work being done in the hypervisors, and the NT Kernel can just be considered 'done'.
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#85I'm buying a new computer. Currently I have only ubuntu linux machines and was just saying to someone that I would actually consider trying windows and WSL because it would let me use the linux tools I want alongside MS office, and it might be interesting to play with windows versions of things. The reason I wont actually do it though is because I'm sure that windows will be filled with commercially oriented intrusio…
> Solve that and I may be a convert.
As a Linux desktop user, I've only ever been able to tolerate LTSC releases of Windows 10, and those still have telemetry features. They also lag behind Windows 10 releases so that things like WSL2 are still unsupported.
I tried running Windows as my daily driver because I was somewhat sold on WSL and WSL 2, however using non-LTSC releases of Windows is a frustrating experience, and there were too many incompatibilities between enterprise Windows and the desktop/development environment I was trying to use it as.
My solution is to have an LTSC virtual machine set up so that I can dip into Windows when I need to, and just use a sane Linux environment as the host OS.
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#86I'm buying a new computer. Currently I have only ubuntu linux machines and was just saying to someone that I would actually consider trying windows and WSL because it would let me use the linux tools I want alongside MS office, and it might be interesting to play with windows versions of things. The reason I wont actually do it though is because I'm sure that windows will be filled with commercially oriented intrusio…
I solve it. Here's my setup: - don't use online account, but offline (local) one - use WPD to uncheck absolutely everything related to windows telemetry / sending info. I keep only updates and those set to manual. - and can't stress this enough - get a PiHole, either on RPi or re-purpose a crappy old laptop. This one is also good for your smartcrap you usually get to your spouse/kids
WPD?
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#87Is anyone still listening to esr? He seems to have gone off the deep end quite some years ago.
Eh, try two clicks previous on "previous"; have yikes.xbm at the ready, esepecially if you make it to the comments..
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#88This sounds like over-the-top speculation. Just because their larger source of revenue has shifted to their high-value, high-capital PaaS, it doesn't mean they'll be killing off the Windows platform entirely in favor of Linux. Windows is an operating system that has evolved over decades for the PC and it still outperforms Linux in some very crucial things (like priority hardware support from manufacturers, optimizati…
> it still outperforms Linux in some very crucial things (like priority hardware support from manufacturers, optimization of hardware, etc.) by miles. It's hard to imagine even if Linux distros fix their glaring lack of standardization, bring about sane package management systems and manage to create bearable user experiences. They could create a "Microsoft Linux" distro, that would probably be much less effort than…
It already does on top of Hiper-V.
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#89I really don't care much about the desktop wars thing, but if there's one thing that I honestly thing this is it:
In the desktop wars nobody has really won, but all the users have lost.
GNU/Linux on the desktop has improved a lot, but it's still very far from being good.
Mac OS is very good, but it's extremely expensive because of the hardware.
Windows was very good for desktop but had stability problems. Nowadays Windows is just awful for the desktop user, Microsoft is literally conducting a war against its own users.
Just tonight my father in law was complaining because he couldn't find the solitaire app. Turns out that my gf installed the binary of the previous version because the stock windows one was filled with advertising. Windows update had different opinions, and REMOVED A BINARY THAT THE USER HAD SETUP BY HAND.
It literally: either you do computing the way Microsoft tells you, or you don't do computing at all. Microsoft literally removed a binary off the system.
Unbelievable. I wonder if I could sue Microsoft over that. It's borderline sabotage. They removed a binary that the user installed by hand, knowing what they were doing.
Re: Last Phase of the Desktop Wars?
#90Bundle WPF with .Net for Linux desktop and then we'll talk...
MAUI is what you're looking for.