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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

#291

Post by nemomarx »

necovek wrote: post #156
palata wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in the "normal mode", I would argue that it is still Linux Desktop. A Linux Desktop init system, with a Linux Desktop userspace, with a Linux Desktop libc, with the Linux Desktop security model, a Linux Desktop package manager, a Linux Desktop compositor (it uses something based on Wayland, right?), etc. If you open a terminal (or SSH into it), you're on Linux. It's very, very different on Android. > how many of…

I would agree on most points regarding SteamOS except for package manager: there are really two on the system — base one and Steam itself. Users generally only care about the latter.

At least some of the dedicated ones also want to run epic games or others through heroic, but that's only a little more Linux on top of steam yeah

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#292

Post by k_bx »

globalise83 wrote: post #210
k_bx wrote: 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.

Yeah, the only thing I'd love to see is "open with gdocs" to be somehow integrated similar to desktop experience. Having to drag and drop every time, creating new file, is really stupid.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#293

Post by palata »

microtonal wrote: post #211
tuna74 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but ChromeOS is just as much "Desktop Linux" as Fedora Workstation.

I think that's pretty pedantic. When most people here say 'Linux Desktop', they mean the Linux kernel, GNU(-ish) userland, Wayland/X11, and some desktop like GNOME, KDE or Mate. Though, I guess outside tech circles, people will just talk about Linux as the whole desktop OS. E.g. our municipality was promoting installing a Linux distribution to save Windows laptops after the Windows 10 apocalypse, and they just call i…

> When most people here say 'Linux Desktop', they mean the Linux kernel, GNU(-ish) userland, Wayland/X11, and some desktop like GNOME, KDE or Mate.

This. It actually surprises me that it's apparently not entirely clear for everybody.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#294

Post by jchw »

fsflover wrote: post #163
palata wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would still count it as the Linux kernel. They don't change the syscall API, it's really mostly at the BSP level, right? Said differently: if manufacturers cared to mainstream their changes, they could. And we would all be better for it.

> I would still count it as the Linux kernel. This may be technically true, except it has no single meaningful implication, like no Linux software works there.

That's not even true. You can use typical Linux software inside of a chroot, like with Termux.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#295

Post by bryanlarsen »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #227
dmd wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearly everyone in our family’s (public, Massachusetts) high school writes papers exclusively on their phone.

How do you write long school papers on the phone's tiny screen and keyboard?

ChatGPT?

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#297

Post by cherryteastain »

zozbot234 wrote: post #120
palata wrote: 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…

Android systems don't even run the linux kernel in any real sense, pretty much every downstream kernel has millions of lines of patched code that will never make it upstream in their current form. Of course, that's no different from mostly any other "Linux" embedded device, but it's very different indeed from what's standard on desktop systems.

Android is Linux

Android is not GNU/Linux.

Article talks about GNU/Linux clearly. There is a point to the whole "I'd like to interject for a moment..." copypasta and Android's situation is the clearest illustration of it.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#298

Post by pipeline_peak »

> The Steam Deck has been a game-changer

Then is this really an increase in Linux "desktop" market share? I'm aware that it's Arch based and can surely run as a desktop but I see it's contribution no different than if they included ChromeOS or Android with the 5% of Linux. A targeted platform more intended for the purpose of gaming.

Desktop Linux's biggest obstacles have always been hardware/software compatibility, and user friendliness for average users. If they're going to list "Windows Woes", then how much of this increase is actually happening on the REAL forefront of Desktop Linux: Ubuntu, Mint and so forth?

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#299

Post by queuebert »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #277

I had a Teams meeting for an outside of work topic this morning. Since all my personal machines are Linux based I was kinda happy I had my work laptop available with Windows and Teams installed. Booting it up about half an hour before the meeting... Installing updates... After rebooting twice and only five minutes before the meeting started I reverted to my Linux desktop, opened the email with the link to the Teams m…

This is a very common workflow for me, except I was using Teams on a Mac. And thanks to some update there are now two non-working versions of Teams installed ("Teams" and "Teams new" or some equally tacky naming). Luckily I have a Linux laptop next to it that can run it in-browser.

I would love to know what Microsoft thinks the purpose of the standalone app is, when it is both slower and less reliable.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#300

Post by vkazanov »

palata wrote: post #285
vkazanov wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux is a kernel, that's it. There is an organisation maintaining it, and also the trademark. There is also a major family of OSes building on the kernel + gnu userspace, which you probably call "desktop linux". In my house there are dozens of devices running linux the kernel: routers, a tv set, washing machines, NAS, printers, etc. Some have the full gnu posix-like stack, others are very barebones. Then, there's is…

To me, Desktop Linux is the Linux I run on my work computer: the one that has a screen, a keyboard and a mouse. It is based on Linux (obviously), the GNU userland to some extent, and then it has a graphical environment (usually based on Xorg or Wayland). This is different from embedded Linux or Linux on a server. And this is different from Linux-the-kernel (which runs on Android).

Well, you came up with a rather vague definition. Xorg OR wayland. Gtk or qt? Which set of tools do you expect to be available?

All of that is just too nebulous. Linux is something that runs the kernel, that's about it.

I mean, I've been using linux for all of my life, servers, at home, for work, embedded dev, corporate environment, as a manager and as a dev, etc.

What I see is that linux as already everywhere. Desktop space is the only OS market where non-linux OSes are in the majority, and maybe this is why people are so excited about these pointless numbers.

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