[PCPER] People may be migrating off Windows onto Linux

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/People-may-actually-be-migrating-Linux-or-least-Windows

Interesting. Windows' internet market-share drops below 90% for the first time.

 

[sweenish]

Chromebooks is my guess.

 

[quikah]

Umm, no. Mac had an uptick. Linux actually decreased.

http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=9&qpcustomb=0

 

[ultimatebob]

Yeah, I doubt that Linux will ever become popular on the desktop until a big company (like Google) makes a version that's user friendly to newbies. Having to open a command prompt and/or editing configuration files to properly configure a system will never fly with most end users.

 

[Red Squirrel]

On one hand I'd love to see it get more mainstream so that software/game/hardware makers would pay attention to it. On the other hand, if it became popular it would also get targeted with malware and other garbage just like windows.

The Linux world is too fragmented though, something needs to be done to standardize more stuff across the board. I don't know how many times I read something to the effect "but on that distro..." because the location of certain config files or even it's syntax or something are in another place etc. Even the GUIs are inconsistent. So this makes it hard for hardware makers to support Linux when they have to repeat their work so many times to make it work on every single distro. Though the least they could do is just open source their stuff and let the community do it...

 

[Essence_of_War]

The Linux world is too fragmented though, something needs to be done to standardize more stuff across the board.

In the BSDs, where there is a planned base system that includes both an OS kernel and core utilities and tools that are all developed together, this is a thing that you can really work towards. That idea of a base system just doesn't exist in linux. There is a kernel, and then a distro-maker just gets to shopping cart whatever userspace tools and modules they want. How do you standardize when every distro has that much freedom? Make "best" things that people can't think of a good reason to pass up?

 

[Crusty]

In the BSDs, where there is a planned base system that includes both an OS kernel and core utilities and tools that are all developed together, this is a thing that you can really work towards. That idea of a base system just doesn't exist in linux. There is a kernel, and then a distro-maker just gets to shopping cart whatever userspace tools and modules they want. How do you standardize when every distro has that much freedom? Make "best" things that people can't think of a good reason to pass up?

*cough* GNU/Linux *cough*

 

[ninaholic37]

Having to open a command prompt and/or editing configuration files to properly configure a system will never fly with most end users.

What Linux distro is that? On mine everything works out-of-the-box.

 

[Essence_of_War]

*cough* GNU/Linux *cough*

Yes, of course, i know better but sometimes I type lazy.

 

[ultimatebob]

What Linux distro is that? On mine everything works out-of-the-box.

Everyone tells me that Ubuntu is the one distro where everything is supposed to work out of the box. When it doesn't (I've seen mouse driver issues, networking issues, video driver issues, etc), the solution in the Ubuntu support forums is almost always the same: Hand edit some configuration files to fix it.

Pro tip for the Canonical guys: If you have to hand edit a configuration file to fix an issue, your UI designers have FAILED.

 

[lxskllr]

Pro tip for the Canonical guys: If you have to hand edit a configuration file to fix an issue, your UI designers have FAILED.

Beats the "You can't do that" of Windows. Everything isn't rosy in GNU/Linux, but a motivated user can fix a lot of issues that would stop Windows dead, without hardware hacking. The Windows fix is buy new hardware, or hope a company writes a new driver for you(good luck with that if there isn't more money to be made than there is in selling you new stuff).

 

[Elixer]

Main problem is, pretty much all new hardware just won't work on linux, unless it is based off something that currently works.

There is no way of getting around that hardware is made for Windows first, then mac, then, BSD/linux.

Then, what ends up happening is, linux supports most of the older windows hardware, while Windows may not support that hardware anymore at all. Like stuff that works on XP, might not work on Win 7/8/10.

 

[Essence_of_War]

There is no way of getting around that hardware is made for Windows first, then mac, then, BSD/linux.

By "hardware", do you mean "graphics cards"?

 

[smakme7757]

People that I know and do not work in IT (or have any interest in IT apart from social networking) use their phone or tablet for everything. Email being really the only other thing they use. In extreme cases where they have to write some sort of document or fill out a PDF they drag out their 5 year old Windows laptop or Mac.

I don't really think the Linux desktop will invade Windows territory purely because desktop based Pc's just aren't being used in the home and Windows is so entrenched in the business market that I think it will just stagnate.

A laptop/Desktop used to be the primary computing device in our family 5+ years ago, but these days no one seems to have one and those that do aren’t looking at upgrading anytime soon. It’s really just business, students and gamers that have dedicated PC hardware these days. Everyone else either goes without or uses the PC they get from work.

And all these smart devices don't use Windows (Windows Phone isn't really big enough to make an impact.)

 

[Shamrock]

My sister asked me just today she wanted to switch to Linux (from Win8.1), I think I'll let her play with a live cd.

 

[ultimatebob]

By "hardware", do you mean "graphics cards"?

And printers, and new wireless chipsets, and various other pieces of hardware that you wouldn't find in a server.

 

[smakme7757]

And printers, and new wireless chipsets, and various other pieces of hardware that you wouldn't find in a server.

I have to actually compile the driver for my fairly recent (2011) Epson printer to get it to work on Linux. In addition to that i have to load som severely outdated libraries that are no longer in the repo system (Debian/Ubuntu).

 

[sandorski]

If there was a migration to Linux, wait a year. Most would have returned back to Windows.

 

[Elixer]

By "hardware", do you mean "graphics cards"?

I mean everything, CPU / chipsets / GPUs / APUs / NICs (wired & wireless), controller cards, tuner cards, and the list goes on...

I can't say I blame the device makers, unless they are server orientated products, there just isn't enough $$$ being generated to have day 0 support for linux.

 

[Commodus]

Chrome OS is probably the closest you'll come to Linux having success on the desktop, at least in the foreseeable future. It keeps a lot of the openness (at least, if you use Chromium OS) but masks the complexity.

The issue, like it or not, is that most people don't (and arguably, shouldn't) care about having control over every last line of code. They want to talk to Facebook friends, upload photos of their kid's soccer match and write college reports. OS X and Windows are not only good enough for most people at these tasks, they offer more practical freedom by both lowering the barriers to entry and running more of the apps and devices that people want.

Linux would have to clearly do something better on a practical level to get everyday users to switch (such as greater ease of use or noticeably improved performance). It can't just rely on ideology, and unfortunately that's been its main selling point for the past couple of decades.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Main issue I have had with Ubuntu and its variants has been wireless networking. AC support is simply awful even now, and n support can be spotty. It pays to do your research when picking even a cheap wireless NIC to avoid frequent dropped connections, slow speeds, etc.

 

[imort]

http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/People-may-actually-be-migrating-Linux-or-least-Windows

Interesting. Windows' Internet market share drops below 90% for the first time.

Nah, the desktop market share overall is decreasing by smartphones and tablets for a few years there.
But I can't see any Linux desktop numbers increasing.

Even if Linux is the completely brilliant system without any problems and complaints, supporting all hardware and delivering incredible user experience there still will be a legacy problem.

Most of the users have Windows experience and stick with it.
They will inevitably have problems with another UX and GUI no matter right it or bad.
You will have to make the bunch of software works, and it's a problem even with home computers.

I didn't even start talk about the corporate workplaces where Windows license cost is nothing compared to others.

 

[TeknoBug]

About 15 years ago Linux was predicted to be part of the mainstream desktop like Windows and Mac, today Linux still isn't very user friendly (even if you install Ubuntu or Mint with all the shiny stuff out of the box), as others said Linux doesn't show an increase. Linux is starting to fall behind a bit with new hardware, USB-C I don't think is properly supported yet, NVIDIA drivers sucks, and BT 4.1 is iffy as hell, among other things. Otherwise Debian, Mint and even *BSD runs fantastic on Skylake so far.

 

[Commodus]

About 15 years ago Linux was predicted to be part of the mainstream desktop like Windows and Mac, today Linux still isn't very user friendly (even if you install Ubuntu or Mint with all the shiny stuff out of the box), as others said Linux doesn't show an increase. Linux is starting to fall behind a bit with new hardware, USB-C I don't think is properly supported yet, NVIDIA drivers sucks, and BT 4.1 is iffy as hell, among other things. Otherwise Debian, Mint and even *BSD runs fantastic on Skylake so far.

Hardware support has been an issue for years, unfortunately, and Linux's open source model actually works against it here. Many companies aren't eager to divulge proprietary secrets through open drivers, and a community of volunteers just isn't going to be as skilled at writing drivers as a device manufacturer. You'd have to get big chunks of the industry to rethink their attitudes toward intellectual property, which isn't going to happen when Linux makes them very little money.

 

[FrankRamiro]

http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/People-may-actually-be-migrating-Linux-or-least-Windows

Interesting. Windows' internet market-share drops below 90% for the first time.

Not with Ubuntu 16.04.