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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

#311

Post by throwaway0665 »

cherryteastain wrote: post #297
zozbot234 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The article talks about browsers that use Linux in the user agent. This includes Alpine Linux - which is not GNU/Linux. It also splits out Chrome OS which is pretty much GNU/Linux.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#312

Post by cma »

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.

I think it is fixed now, but for a while you couldn't even use the touchpads on the desktop without steam running.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#313

Post by tomrod »

latexr wrote: post #102
tomrod wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your view of lightweight, but probably XFCE Ubuntu (Xubuntu) will serve you great. Full featured without a ton of bloat, historically.

> Depends on your view of lightweight Basically, what I care is that as I’m running the game, the system is consuming as few resources as possible. It’s an outdated machine, so every bit matters. > probably XFCE Ubuntu (Xubuntu) Thank you. Will check it out.

I'm a big fan of Linux. My small business and personal life run on it. You can download XFCE/Ubuntu spin at https://xubuntu.org/download/. If you develop on your Apple system, it will be pretty similar except

- App Installation via repositories is more common than single program installs. No DMG files. There is a similar concept to DMG with "snap" installs. Steam should probably be installed via a snap. You trust the producer (Valve). But most software and security should come through repos (in CLI, sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade)

- Home directory is /home/

Much of the rest is similar -- Apple's BSD and Linux share a common Unix design progenitor.

Linux is way open to rewipe, just pay attention that you don't lose files. My first day on Linux in the mid 2000s, I somehow overwrite the file system allocation table with the content of an MP3. It was recoverable!

Good luck, and have fun!

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#314

Post by tock »

rhabarba wrote: post #228
goob_nl wrote: post #136

Yay PewDiePie

Role models for computer use in my generation: RMS, Bjarne Stroustrup, Doug McIlroy. Role models for computer use today: “PewDiePie”. This is why we can't have nice things.

PewDiePie is awesome. His linux video has over 6M views. We need to make linux cool again for the general audience.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#315

Post by sumtechguy »

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…

> Booting it up about half an hour before the meeting... Installing updates...

I have that exact workflow with any computer I do not use on a regular basis. If I use the thing every day it is ok. But if I let something sit for like 6 months it is 'patch city'. I usually play that game on my game consoles because i do not use it much. My daily used computers 10-15 seconds tops until usable desktop.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#317

Post by donkeybeer »

dfxm12 wrote: post #243
nerdjon wrote: 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…

Yeah, are there any big box retailers selling machines with Linux installed as an option? Maybe the numbers are small enough for hobbyists to make a dent, but until you see Linux machines in best buy, etc., this is probably due more to people dumping their personal windows machine in favor of a using their work laptop or iPad almost exclusively.

Dell

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#318

Post by scarface_74 »

palata wrote: post #91
nerdjon wrote: 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…

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…

Market share only matters to geeks and commercial software vendors when deciding the total addressable market. A “Linux desktop” that is connected to a TV used to play games is not part of the market they care about.

Re: Linux Reaches 5% Desktop Market Share in USA

#319

Post by keyringlight »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #252
whizzter wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this plays a huge part, is it elders/poorer/others that receive these machines? A new machine for an enterprise or gamer will probably retain windows because it's needed but people not using their computers for more than surfing will be happy enough. On that side-note I would also not be surprised if people are leaving "computers" altogether in favor of phones, it's a capable enough computer today for most la…

> I think this plays a huge part, is it elders/poorer/others that receive these machines? I know that a large portion of our business is to other resellers and businesses. FWIW, long before I started working here, I replaced XP with Xubuntu on my parent's computer about 15 years ago. I told them that "it works like Windows[0]", showed them how to check email, browse the web, play solitare, and shut down. Even the ran…

One thing I wonder about with people moving to linux is whether "it works like windows" can act as a safe and comfortable landing point, but then how many people explore and prefer the options that they then have access to.

One aspect MS has been criticized for over the past few versions of windows is that they are opinionated about how the base windows UI operates and looks for a very large number of users. One of the things I find interesting on the subreddits for some distros is a lot of posts is showing off how they've customized things, so you can nudge people towards the theming support or panel components you can swap out, or that you can have drastically different DEs with different operation models yet handle the same applications.

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