No, it's never going to be the year of the Linux desktop. Right now all the distros together can't crack 2.5% of the desktop market.
Your first point doesn't follow from the second one.
Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
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Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#12They could never put adds into a broken OS and sell it at full price. At some consumers will switch. . Any second now
Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#13The original article is:
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/2021-is-the-year-of-linux-on-...
The basic thesis of the author was:
1. In 2021, Chromebooks are everywhere.
2. Chrome OS is Linux.
3. Therefore, 2021 is the year of Linux Desktop.
Honestly, I'm not sure this is such a great argument. Isn't it rather like "2021 is the year of Chrome dominance"?
Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#14I think "Linux Desktop" means something other than "a computer running the Linux kernel that runs desktop applications". ChromeOS is as much a Linux computer as is a Tesla automobile. Sure, there's a linux kernel down in there somewhere, but it's not the thing we mean when we say "Linux Desktop".
Linux Desktop means Linux being a good Windows alternative on your computer.
Which basically means being able to have a GNU userspace, which neither Android nor ChromeOS do.
On Android, Linux kernel is an implementation detail not exposed to userspace APIs as official stable APIs, even for basic stuff like bluetooth or accessing files outside the sandbox, Java APIs have to be used.
Then on the ChromeOS side, not all Chromebooks support Linux based applications, and even that is actually a design similar to WSL 2, by running it into another VM on top of the Linux kernel used by ChromeOS.
Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#15If Linux ever really gained mainstream appeal (say 40-60% adoption) it would be ruined by many of the pressures which ruined most mainstream operating systems. I think we’re far better off with Linux at 1% or so.
> it would be ruined by many of the pressures which ruined most mainstream operating systems I think Linux is different than other operating systems because if something goes mainstream that you don't like you have tons of viable options. With each component of the OS being tweakable you can choose opinions that others have made or forge your own path. For example if you don't like whatever the latest window manager…
This same quality may be part of why it has never gained significant traction though, the proliferation of components and resulting fragmentation have made it a difficult target for application developers. Oh, sure, FOSS applications work fine... because they're open source and rely on unpaid third parties to integrate them into whatever absurdly interdependent ecosystem (a.k.a "distro") you happen to be using. Well, for some definitions of "fine", since they're often out of date, sometimes altered, or otherwise not packaged at all.
It also makes troubleshooting a lot more difficult, since any efforts to find solutions will invariably land me in posts primarily about some other combination of components and it's up to me to sort out their relevance to my issue.
Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting sidenote: both ChromeOS devices and iOS devices (and, to some extent, macs), as well as all consoles, are sold as single bundled hardware+software integrated products. There's very little computing done where the hardware is not designed with the software in mind and vice versa. The days of "software x running on hardware platform y" might be behind us for the majority of the planet's population.
Already is. There must be more smartphones and tablet users than personal computer users in the world. Simply because a person who use a PC but doesn't have a smartphone (hyper nerds like Stallman, or ppl who have very particular jobs that give them the freedom not to have a smartphone) are outnumbered by those who have a tablet or smartphone but not a PC (my 94 year old grandma)
The majority of smartphones, I believe, can have other software loaded on to them, if the user so desires.
Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Already is. There must be more smartphones and tablet users than personal computer users in the world. Simply because a person who use a PC but doesn't have a smartphone (hyper nerds like Stallman, or ppl who have very particular jobs that give them the freedom not to have a smartphone) are outnumbered by those who have a tablet or smartphone but not a PC (my 94 year old grandma)
The majority of smartphones, I believe, can have other software loaded on to them, if the user so desires.
Yes, but most of the time you're bound to proprietary blobs or some things won't work.
Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Already is. There must be more smartphones and tablet users than personal computer users in the world. Simply because a person who use a PC but doesn't have a smartphone (hyper nerds like Stallman, or ppl who have very particular jobs that give them the freedom not to have a smartphone) are outnumbered by those who have a tablet or smartphone but not a PC (my 94 year old grandma)
The majority of smartphones, I believe, can have other software loaded on to them, if the user so desires.
True, but consider that the vast majority of Android users have no clue how to do that.
Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#19I think 2022 has the potential to be the Year of the Linux Desktop due to the Steam Deck. Valve has promised that Proton will allow almost all Windows games to run on it. Guaranteed they'll also be working hard on SteamOS polish. If Windows 11 turns out to be messy, then gamers could consider Linux more attractive now.
Re: Is 2021 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
#20This "year of the Linux Desktop" joke is getting a bit tiresome. What is missing exactly? Sure the desktop is a bit ugly. But pretty much everything works out of the box. If MS released a native Office for Linux I could get rid of my Mac.
tbh, the last decades have been « year of Linux on my desktop ».
Linux is already totally ok for a vast majority of usages (and even gaming is less and less an issue).
At the end of the day, who even cares of Linux market share on the desktop ?
Because this hides an insidious and bigger issue : PCs, even if it’s a 1% market share os, HAVE alternatives OS. Other modern platforms don’t.
I’d rather prefer « xxxx is the year of the 1% Linux on phones » than any evolution on the desktop which would have pretty much no impact on a Linux user day to day usage.