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Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

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Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#201
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Steam Deck very much runs Linux Desktop. Android runs the Linux kernel, but everything else is different. Linux is a kernel.

Which is exactly why people here talk about "Linux Desktop". Linux is a kernel, Linux Desktop is some flavour of a full OS made to run on a PC, as opposed to e.g. embedded Linux or a Linux server. Not sure what your point is?

There are no 'Linux desktops'.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#202
post #53

I have to wonder how much of this is people switching to Linux vs the larger trend of people not having traditional computers to begin with. Outside of gamers, I don't know anyone that has a computer at home that is not their work laptop if they have one. At least in my circle everyone I know has moved to their general computing being on phones and tablets which is not captured here. So is a solid chunk of this the p…

Must be circles. I just visited relatives, and brought my laptop as well as my phone; I barely used the laptop. But my brother always uses his, and his kids used laptops, and even one of my great nieces used a laptop. Did they have phones? Yes.

Games isn't the only driver. It's hard to do things like write papers on phones.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#203
I remember when it was absolutely crucial for your desktop/laptop to be able to do everything and Linux was a no go for people. Today you can live off your phone and be OK, so Linux actually makes much more sense. Camera/audio doesn't work well? No worries, just call via phone.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this really undervalues what Linux provides. The Android software is Linux software.

It's completely incompatible, so in practice it's a different OS. Doesn't mean it's not valuable.

In practice Linux is a family of different OSes. Sometimes POSIX-centric, sometimes not.

What do you even count as "an OS"? Linux + gnu userland + Gnome? Or is it KDE? Embedded Linux? Does ChromeOS count? LG's WebOS?

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#205
post #124
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gnome has sacrificed a lot of control.

i3wm and sway haven't :-). My point being that it's okay for some projects to sacrifice control, as long as others don't. I can't tell Ubuntu how they should make their distro; what I can do is choose Gentoo (or anything in between).

Gnome can do whatever they like with their own project, but fragmentation is the biggest problem with Linux.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#206
post #53

I have to wonder how much of this is people switching to Linux vs the larger trend of people not having traditional computers to begin with. Outside of gamers, I don't know anyone that has a computer at home that is not their work laptop if they have one. At least in my circle everyone I know has moved to their general computing being on phones and tablets which is not captured here. So is a solid chunk of this the p…

>everyone I know has moved to their general computing being on phones and tablets

And of the remaining desktop/laptop users, 90% of their work is being done in a browser. Which makes Linux distros like Ubuntu suitable for more people.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#207
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your points, except this: > thanks to the Steam Deck [...] but I would be reluctant to call that Linux Desktop anymore than I would call Android an uptick for Linux. The Steam Deck very much runs Linux Desktop. Android runs the Linux kernel, but everything else is different. SteamOS is a Linux distribution based on Arch. If you run your Steam Deck in "desktop mode", it is very much a Linux Desktop (with…

> The Steam Deck very much runs Linux Desktop. Android runs the Linux kernel, but everything else is different. Linux is a kernel.

Seeing how the Linux name is used in practice, it's useful to clarify.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#208
I hope we get to a point where enough "professionals" are using it to force companies like Acrobat to offer Linux versions of their software (cough Fusion 360). It is the only thing keeping me from completely ditching my windows VM. Using CAD in a virtulabox VM is torture. FreeCAD is sadly not a viable replacement (maybe in the future but a lot of work is needed). I was able to switch to other tools for other things like KiCAD for PCB work, Blender and DaVinci Resolve also work great.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#209
My suspicion is that many folks are converting their old MacBooks etc which no longer have support to keep running Linux. I have about 4 such machines of different brands lying about the house, some over 10 years old and they run just fine despite their antiquated hardware.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#210
post #203

I remember when it was absolutely crucial for your desktop/laptop to be able to do everything and Linux was a no go for people. Today you can live off your phone and be OK, so Linux actually makes much more sense. Camera/audio doesn't work well? No worries, just call via phone.

Also, 99% of all day to day apps now run in the browser, so having MS Word on your machine is not so important.
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