Live data from Hacker News

Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

linuxiac.com

91–100 of 564 posts

Re: Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

#91
post #2

Probably 70 or 80% of cloud workloads are Linux, and like 60% of embedded devices, of which there are billions. And of those embedded/mobile devices, the rest will either be running iOS, vxworks, freertos or zephyr. I think the joke has always been "this is the year of Linux", but in all honesty... it's the decade of Linux. It's probably one of the few areas where there is growth in computing capacity and by far most…

I find it fascinating how ubiquitous Linux is.

I'm my family we have two desktop computers and a laptop. One desktop is running Linux, the other and the laptop are windows.

But we're also running Linux on all our phones, two tablets, two TVs, the vacuum cleaner, our router, and probably more devices I'm forgetting or not aware of.

Re: Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

#93

Every once in a while I'm tempted to switch back to Linux (I used to have that as my desktop between 10 and 15 years ago), but then I remember: - My DJ software (which I pay for) is not supported at all on Linux (likewise true for most common music production software). - The Affinity suite (which I paid for) is not supported on Linux. - The best debugger I can find (remedybg, which I paid for) doesn't work there. -…

Operating systems have a really high degree of lock-in. Such that while you -can- change OS, there's simply no incentive to do so. That's why you're still running the same OS you always have. [1] You accumulate software yes, but you also accumulate habits and knowledge. Changing OS means discarding all the accumulated knowledge, which 0% of "normal users" want to do. Throw in the change in software, ending up with at…

> Changing OS means discarding all the accumulated knowledge, which 0% of "normal users" want to do.

More and more upgrading the OS means discarding a large amount of accumulated knowledge as well, which normal users don't want to do, but don't have much of a choice.

Re: Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

#94
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SteamDecks aren’t desktop PCs. If you were including gaming consoles/handhelds, then BSD would be way ahead of Linux with all the PlayStations that have been sold (and maybe with Nintendo switches too, depending on how you chose to count those).

There is more to an 'OS' than the kernel. SteamDecks are indistinguishable from PCs, since they run more or less exactly the same software as a Linux desktop/laptop would.

It’s still not a desktop PC. You’ll notice that iOS, Android and iPadOS aren’t included in the list either, even though the devices that run those operating systems can also replicate some subset of the desktop pc experience (and much more comprehensively than the steam deck can).

At best it would be a general purpose mobile device, but even that is rather contrived. How many users do you imagine are using a steam deck as a substitute for a desktop or a different mobile device? I would guess something very close to 0.

Re: Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

#96

I wonder why they keep making these articles. Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. It is on virtually all servers on the Internet, the majority OS on phones, its in many TVs and STBs and streaming sticks, its one of the few OSes ever in space, its one of the few OSes ever on Mars, and it is also the OS behind ChromeOS (which that article mistakenly b…

And yet not having a presence on the desktop stings a bit doesn't it :). You can conquer the world, dominate every space and yet there's thus little voice inside saying "but you're not good enough. See over there, in that one space, you're a weakling. " Welcome to the human condition.

I dunno, does it? I don't imagine Linus and friends would celebrate this any other way than saying "ah, neat"

Re: Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

#97
post #78
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been using for 15 years, I've never sat there and worried about gtk or qt, Maybe wayland or X11, but I've just naturally moved to wayland? Just install something like Fedora, and you won't worry about it, it will just work. I personally hate Ubuntu btw Canonical is just not for me. I have no idea how it's so popular. Personally Fedora or NixOS are just so superior I don't know why anyone bothers with anything else.

>Personally Fedora or NixOS are just so superior I don't know why anyone bothers with anything else. Could be. I should try NixOS or fedora again but seriously don't overstate it. Cannonical are not my fav company. Installing an LTS ubu works fine, it has annoyances (maybe nixos and fedora are better?) but it's still so incredibly far ahead of windows or macos it's not even close for me. Sure, I'm used to linux on my…

Sorry I meant any other distro.

Re: Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

#98
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Operating systems have a really high degree of lock-in. Such that while you -can- change OS, there's simply no incentive to do so. That's why you're still running the same OS you always have. [1] You accumulate software yes, but you also accumulate habits and knowledge. Changing OS means discarding all the accumulated knowledge, which 0% of "normal users" want to do. Throw in the change in software, ending up with at…

A lot of people are locked-in Windows, but as Microsoft more and more ruins the OS by pushing advertisement, telemetry, slow cloud services, new versions of apps optimized for those who don't know how to use a computer, rather than experts - there will be plenty of users switching to Linux.

Will 2024 be the year of Linux on the desktop? This prediction has been made pretty much every year so far this century, no reason to stop now.

Re: Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet not having a presence on the desktop stings a bit doesn't it :). You can conquer the world, dominate every space and yet there's thus little voice inside saying "but you're not good enough. See over there, in that one space, you're a weakling. " Welcome to the human condition.

I'm sure it stings Microsoft a lot more that Windows isn't the dominant server OS.

I'm sure it stings a lot! Windows Server is expensive, and a huge money earner for MS.

They currently have around 20% market share (as Internet servers - much higher inside business LANs), which is a very nice chunk. And I'm sure encourages them to keep working on it.

Frankly the tooling for MS server keeps it in the hunt - they really understand the concept of making things easier to use.

Re: Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share

#100

Every once in a while I'm tempted to switch back to Linux (I used to have that as my desktop between 10 and 15 years ago), but then I remember: - My DJ software (which I pay for) is not supported at all on Linux (likewise true for most common music production software). - The Affinity suite (which I paid for) is not supported on Linux. - The best debugger I can find (remedybg, which I paid for) doesn't work there. -…

Things that I’ve paid money for that I would sorely miss moving from macOS to Linux:

- MoneyWell

- Omnigraffle

- Keynote (I like my glossy presentations)

I know I’m missing a few.

I love and monetarily support free software, but man… some of these apps get a lot of love and it’d be hard to leave.

Post reply on HN