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Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

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Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#61

Post by valley_guy_12 »

chimeracoder wrote: post #39
ivix wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "technically" running the Linux kernel, it IS running the linux kernel. It's also using most of the standard GNU tools - bash, etc. You can open a shell on a rooted android device and use it much like any other distribution. This is a huge win for Linux.

> It's also using most of the standard GNU tools - bash, etc. Actually, I'm pretty sure it uses Busybox tools with ash, not GNU with bash. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.html

Not exactly. Most Android devices come with a very simple shell named ash, but it's no relation to busybox's ash.

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#62

Post by azakai »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #31
recoiledsnake wrote: post #17

>For Microsoft the situation is not as good. The combined share of Redmond’s different operating systems fell from 97% in 2000 to an estimated 20% in 2012. Apple, with OS X and iOS, grabs a 24% share. So does this mean anti-monopoly restrictions must be lifted on Microsoft in the US and the EU? Why is Microsoft being unfairly targeted by, for example, being forced to include a browser choosing dialog in the EU while…

They might be. I don't see the point of forced browser choosing given that the browser market is very competitive right now.

> the browser market is very competitive right now.

The important bit is "right now". It used to be competitive before IE6's stranglehold. And today, we can see a single implementation rapidly rising in marketshare, if that continues then we may have a non-competitive marketplace in the not-so-far future.

In fact already right now WebKit has a dominant position in mobile, and many sites only work in WebKit.

So even if the market is fairly healthy right now, we still need to be careful that doesn't change. The current trend hints that it will.

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#63

Post by css771 »

vidarh wrote: post #55
thefreeman wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there android devices that are difficult to root? I have only ever used the Nexus line (closes to actual Android spec), but they have all been incredibly easy to root. I was under the impression they were actually built this way on purpose.

There are certainly devices that are harder. Many relies on various bugs. Most ICS and Jelly Bean devices appears to be trivial to root due to a timing issue in the "recovery" functionality, though - there's a script floating around that claims to root pretty much everything. Note that there are several issues: Rooting is often reasonably easy. But rooting is not enough to be able to install custom roms. For that you…

Well, you can still install custom ROMs even with a locked bootloader. You just can't change the kernel. The custom ROM needs to be using the same kernel.

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#64

Post by Niten »

betterunix wrote: post #11
ivix wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "technically" running the Linux kernel, it IS running the linux kernel. It's also using most of the standard GNU tools - bash, etc. You can open a shell on a rooted android device and use it much like any other distribution. This is a huge win for Linux.

"You can open a shell on a rooted android device and use it much like any other distribution" Assuming, of course, that you can actually root it. "This is a huge win for Linux." Is it? What was won, exactly? If we are not seeing a more vibrant free software ecosystem as a result, then we did not really win anything. The prevalence of app stores, the number of Android devices that are difficult to jailbreak or for whi…

Because of the GPL, companies using Linux are required to release the kernel modifications they made to get it running on this wide variety of hardware, and this improves Linux as a whole.

EDIT: This article's extreme focus on the consumer mobile market is pretty narrow-minded, though: "There’s no denying the success of Linux in many areas, with Android being the foremost example." No, if you want to see where Linux really dominates, look to HPC and embedded systems.

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#65

Post by 10098 »

lucian303 wrote: post #15

Linux is NOT an OS and Linus did not create the OS. The OS is GNU the kernel is Linux. Thus you are comparing numbers for a kernel (Linux in Android OS versions) vs. numbers of OS's (Windows, OSX, iOS). This isn't a technicality either. Get it straight because as the article stands, it's unresearched garbage.

I like to call Linux Linux instead of GNU/Linux just to piss off people like you :-)

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#66

Post by drivebyacct2 »

brudgers wrote: post #30
xradionut wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usenet trolls then are the equivalent of the political blog spam today. In the nineties, Linux/OSS wasn't as mature/widespread and hardware for small devices sucked in performance and price. People wanted OSes and shit that just "worked". Installing and configuring "alternate" OSes in the '90s was painful even for experienced professionals and hobbyists. And the applications and user experience wasn't that great comp…

But the average computer user cannot, painlessly. Though Linux has gotten easier to install, the average computer user is relatively less proficient than they were a dozen years ago. Linux is not tailored for most people because of its fragmentation and the depth to which FOSS ideology drives its development. Supporting Linux is bothersome to the point that Red Hat run a lucrative business doing so.

>But the average computer user cannot, painlessly.

Have you tried installing Linux lately? The Ubuntu installation is simpler and faster than a Windows install and on par with OS X. At best, it's hard to get users to download an ISO and know how to burn it (even though that functionality is built into Windows/OSX/Linux), but even then Wubi is dead-simple to use.

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#67

Post by macco »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #5

Although it's technically running the Linux kernel, I personally would not consider it a free (libre) operating system as sold on most of those devices. I'm sure Linus is proud, but this seems like more of a win for Google than for the Linux community or free software in general.

I totally agree. Android benefits form Linux, at the moment Linux is not really benefitting for Android - sadly enough. Anyhow Linux is not an Operating System; Ubuntu is; Android is - Linux is just a kernel

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#68

Post by cms07 »

brudgers wrote: post #28
martinced wrote: post #10

A lot of people have Android devices. And TV decoders running Linux. And routers running Linux. And the trend ain't stopping anytime soon: it's hard to compete with free and open. That's when you do really want to go back to the late nineties, on Usenet, where all the MS fanbois kept singing: "Nothing to see, move along, Unix is dying and Windows is going to conquer everything, including the server space". How farsig…

That's when you do really want to go back to the late nineties, on Usenet, where all the MS fanbois kept singing: "Nothing to see, move along, Unix is dying and Windows is going to conquer everything, including the server space". Replace: "90's" with "teens." "Usenet" with "HN." "MS" and "Windows" with "Linux." "Unix" with "Windows." Same song. Different day.

You really think that Microsoft is going to be able to make a push in consumer electronics? How?

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#69

Post by intruderii »

vidarh wrote: post #35
recoiledsnake wrote: post #17

>For Microsoft the situation is not as good. The combined share of Redmond’s different operating systems fell from 97% in 2000 to an estimated 20% in 2012. Apple, with OS X and iOS, grabs a 24% share. So does this mean anti-monopoly restrictions must be lifted on Microsoft in the US and the EU? Why is Microsoft being unfairly targeted by, for example, being forced to include a browser choosing dialog in the EU while…

The anti-trust restrictions on Microsoft have always specifically targeted their behaviour in the desktop PC market.

Isn't that distinction starting to become arbitrary? If trends continue, we're going to see a convergence between the mobile and desktop PC markets.

Re: Linux now on 42% of consumer computing devices

#70

Post by brudgers »

vidarh wrote: post #52
brudgers wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the average computer user cannot, painlessly. Though Linux has gotten easier to install, the average computer user is relatively less proficient than they were a dozen years ago. Linux is not tailored for most people because of its fragmentation and the depth to which FOSS ideology drives its development. Supporting Linux is bothersome to the point that Red Hat run a lucrative business doing so.

> Supporting Linux is bothersome to the point that Red Hat run a lucrative business doing so. I'm not sure what you're trying to say with this. Supporting Windows is bothersome, to the point that thousands of companies run lucrative businesses doing so. My personal experience is that supporting Linux in a business setting can be done with far fewer people than supporting Windows, and that seems to be a common experie…

Red Hat is a $10 billion company and listed on NYSE. Despite the massive disparity between the installed bases, there is no business that's even close to that size built upon supporting Windows...unless one considers Microsoft itself...and Red Hat is just one flavor of Linux among many.
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