(When) Will Linux Pass Apple On The Desktop?

EisPick writes "A column posted today on Slate ponders projections that Linux PCs will pass Apple in desktop market share next year. Will Linux do to OS X what it already has done to Tru64, Irix, HP/UX, AIX and Solaris and emerge as the only viable competitor to Windows on the desktop?"

Comments

No

[Anonymous Coward]

Re:No

[Temporal]

Actually, it's a little-known fact that OSX already supports three-button mice! It's sort of tricky to enable, though. If you want to use a three-button mouse (complete with right-click context menus like you'd expect), you'll need to follow the following steps:

(1) Plug in a 3-button USB mouse.

I know this procedure may be a little confusing compared to the simple config file edits and driver installations you might be used to in other OS's, but if you follow the steps carefully, you should be able to figure it out. Have fun!

Re:No

[petong]

The two OS's are stuck in a viscous cycle of developers

I for one would hate to be caught in a viscous cycle!

$ dict viscous
2 definitions found

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:

Viscous \Vis"cous\, a. [L. viscosus. See {Viscid}.]
Adhesive or sticky, and having a ropy or glutinous
consistency; viscid; glutinous; clammy; tenacious; as, a
viscous juice. -- {Vis"cous*ness}, n.

Note: There is no well-defined distinction in meaning between
viscous and viscid.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 [wn]:

viscous
adj 1: having a relatively high resistance to flow [syn: {syrupy}]
2: having the properties of glue [syn: {gluey}, {glutinous}, {gummy},
{mucilaginous}, {pasty}, {sticky}, {viscid}]

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot some steps:

(1) Buy a $1500 computer from apple.com
(2) Buy a $30 mouse that doesn't ship with said $1500 computer
(3) Unplug useless 1 button mouse from $1500 computer.
(4) Plug in a 3-button USB mouse

Re:No

[RetiredMidn]

Studies show that computer-illiterate people are easily confused by multiple buttons. You'd be surprised, but it really is a problem.

Short version, in response to the complaint that the Mac has no right mouse button: the Mac has no wrong mouse button.

I would say

[Anonymous Coward]

The SCO licensing fees should prove a healthy deterrent to future adoption of Linux. Windows, as the only desktop operating system untainted by the whole Unix mess, is the only secure bet for the future.

Answer:

[ruiner13]

When penguins fly.

Or when Linus gets the commercial and media attention Steve Jovs gets. Or when Linus developes a reality distortion field of his own.

pffft

[Anonymous Coward]

I know you Linux guys are all excited about the penguin and the RMS and the hey hey hey, but seriously.

Seriously.

yea only if you ....

[stonebeat.org]

yea only if you beam all the mac fanatics to a different planet. otherwise i dont see any mac fanatic switching to any other OS :)

Re:Do you really think...

[Alrescha]

"Also of note, who says that Jobs can't encorporate all the advantages Linux has into his OS."

Linux has advantages?

A.

Re:Market Share?

[El]

So, by your definition, Internet Explorer has a market share of 0%? Wait 'till M$ hears this!

I don't know that it's completely different...

[SweetAndSourJesus]

I run FreeBSD servers for personal stuff, but I've had excellent results with Apple's XServe in business environments.

Given that OS X can run pretty much anything Linux/*BSD can, why would you say it's worse for the sever room than Linux?

Re:No.

[El]

To be succesful on the desktop, for the average user, you have to have a system that's very consistent and 'just works'.

How then do you explain the success of Windows?

shared user base

[cybin]

who cares about OS X vs. linux? all we should care about is everybody else vs. microsoft. we should all have a nice beige linux box and a nice grey sleek mac on our desks.

if there's one thing the mac world and the linux world share it's fanatical users. we need a marvel comics team-up to start converting the unwashed masses!

Re:Apple is a system

[1lus10n]

remember one thing when making that assesment.

Ferrari = way over priced.

Linux on the desktop requires next to no maitnence. once you have things installed you are set to roll. i have been running RH 7.3 on my workstation (at work) for a year and a half without issue. and i can run dvd's, mp3's, vcd's, avi's, .mov's, wmv's .... you get the idea.

Linux on the server requires maitnence sure .... but it is also capable of doing/running a crapload more stuff than macOS? on the server

Re:Apple is a system

[nomadic]

and i can run dvd's, mp3's, vcd's, avi's, .mov's, wmv's .... you get the idea.

Too bad you can't run games.

Re:Apple is a system

[CoolVibe]

No, Linux is a tank.

Yes, but...

[jope]

Where are these mentally slow people getting the money to pony up for Apple hardware?

Oh wait. Hollywood. Nevermind.

Re:I've used Linux almost exclusively since '93...

[Anonymous Coward]

You can thank Linux for your 'apt-get install nmap' traitor.

Re:On who's desktop?

[chippcom]

Apple is about to redefine the UNIX workstation market that will leave everyone, including Linux, in it's dust.

Everytime Apple announces a new box, the Mac faithful start screaming about how Apple is going to 'take over.' Hmmm...last I checked they're still around 5 points marketshare. I expect they'll be at 5 points next year just as they were last year. But, Apple fans...keep routing!

That's OK, plenty of idiots here, too. (-:

[leonbrooks]

Wish I could afford to move there. Too many idiots here.

There's some beaut scenery. Perth is a nice city but not a patch on some of the amazing stuff in the outback. But you'll find idiots everywhere. The ones in the country tend to be a more interesting quality of idiot, because if they were ordinary boring idiots, they'd have moved back to Perth (or Sydeny or Melbourne) long ago. (-: