Linux Marketshare is Above 2-Percent For Third Month in a Row (omgubuntu.co.uk)

For the third month in a row the share of worldwide desktop computer users running Linux has been above two percent -- up from one percent -- according to data from web analytics company Net Market Share. From a OMGUbuntu report: We reported back in July that Linux marketshare had passed two percent for the first time, and that figure remains the highest they've ever reported for Linux, at 2.33 percent. But the share for September 2016 was almost as good at 2.23 percent. It's the third consecutive month that Linux marketshare has been above 2 percent. Those of us who use Linux as our primary desktop computing platform can take a degree of pride in these figures. They do show a clear trend towards Linux, rather than away from it. But we should also remember that statistics, numbers and reporting methods vary between analytics companies and that all figures, however positive, remain open to interpretation and debate.

Comments

2016: Year of the Linux Desktop

[tnok85]

Or will it be 2017?

Re:2016: Year of the Linux Desktop

[Shane_Optima]

I haven't been on Slashdot in a long time, but that used to be a joke around here whenever there was an optimistic news story about Linux on the desktop. I love (prefer) Linux on the desktop. Software requirements holding me back from fully embracing it.

If the software in question isn't terribly performance intensive, that isn't a very compelling reason any more. You've plenty of virtualization options at your disposal, some ridiculously easy to set up (Virtualbox).

If the cumbersome-ness of the UI or of moving data between VMs has been holding you back, I humbly suggest you consider Qubes OS, which has been promoted so heavily as a security-focused distro that many people have failed to emphasize that it's also one of the best hypervisors around from a usability standpoint. Templates (your choice of Fedora or Debian) greatly streamline the updating process and it's very easy to share the clipboard (securely) or send files to another VM on the fly, but most importantly there's one single desktop (XFCE or KDE) with one taskbar, and color-coded windows can be freely mixed from multiple Linux and Windows 7 VMs (Windows 10 compatibility in the works, but in the meantime it can still be run as an HVM.)

Re:2016: Year of the Linux Desktop

[rhodium_mir]

If the software in question isn't terribly performance intensive, that isn't a very compelling reason any more. You've plenty of virtualization options at your disposal, some ridiculously easy to set up (Virtualbox).

Why would I want to run Linux if I'm just going to run a Windows VM on it?

Re:2016: Year of the Linux Desktop

[Shane_Optima]

Because you don't have to run all of your applications in Windows? You can do the absolute minimum amount of work in Windows, only the stuff that you need Windows for, and then right-click to instantly send those files over to a Linux VM. The extra work involved is trivial. If you're apathetic about the differences between Windows and Linux desktops then that might not be much of a win[1] , but tnok85 (the person I was replying to) said that he preferred Linux desktops.

Also, even if you only ran Windows 7 in Qubes (not using any Linux VMs other than the built in connectivity ones that are already configured for you), it's still actually a "Linux Desktop". You never have to look at the start button if you don't want to--all of your Windows 7 applications can appear seamlessly in KDE or XFCE.

Also, Qubes' template system can be applied to Windows 7 in addition to Linux VMs. You can[2] very easily create multiple Windows VMs based on the same base image. There are a lot of ways you could use this functionality, but one possibility is one Windows VM could be strictly offline for security, one could be a regular online Win7 VM, and a third one could exclusively use a VPN or Tor ProxyVM for internet connectivity. And any application you install in the Win7 template would automatically propagate to all VMs based on that template (multiple templates are possible, either from-scratch or by cloning.)

Almost all of this is doable using GUI tools (I think you might need a tiny amount of CLI usage for setting up a Win7 template but there are guides available.


1. Except to the extent that using a hypervisor like Qubes is *great* for easy portability and security. System==>BackupVMs==>[just a few clicks later]==> done. Your entire environment is now be copied over and transferable to any other physical machine running Qubes. No CLI fiddling required (unless you want to), and you can even encrypt the backup without jumping through any extra hoops.

2. Well, the precise legality of this is... a gray area, but certainly you could do this legally if you had the right license from MS, or multiple licenses.

Re:2016: Year of the Linux Desktop

[Shane_Optima]

Seriously, you people modding this down... post AC to explain why. You've got me curious now.

Do you think I'm lying? The context of this conversation is someone who already says he PREFERS Linux desktops but is stuck with Windows due to some applications he needs. I'm explaining an elegant solution for his situation, not trying to convince anyone who is convinced that Linux desktops are far inferior to Windows' current desktop.

Re:What is the driving forces?

[110010001000]

Some of it is cost. Windows + Office is EXPENSIVE. Since digital computers aren't increasing in power much, and won't ever be now that Moores Law is dead, now is the time for Linux to "catch up".

Re:What is the driving forces?

[DeBaas]

, and no real UI improvements or new features.

Which is exactly the point. Those 'improvements' are to many just an unnecessary complication. The UI of W2K was fine, WinXp could be set to look like it it.

I've put some family members on Ubuntu Mate. They love, they just use the computer for internet. The UI is more familiar than Windows 10, it doesn't get slower over time and there is a lot less worry for them for malware.

It's the Windows 10 bump

[cfalcon]

While Windows 10 has been pushed into many computers accidentally on purpose, to many of us, Windows 10 was the final straw for our personal machines. While the awful privacy invasions and security issues of the new OS aren't anywhere close enough to force all, most, or frankly even many users to flee, plenty of Windows users are looking for an out- and those that have use cases that are compatible with Linux have moved (and in smaller numbers are still moving) for that reason.

So I think we are seeing a Windows 10 bump. Certainly Linux desktop is vastly superior to where it was a few years ago, but that's not normally the sort of thing that pushes for a change. We'll probably see it again in a couple years when Microsoft tightens its coils some more- hopefully the desktop Linux experience will be even better then!

Re:More user friendly

[green1]

If by "a few years ago" you mean 2 decades, maybe. But really Linux has been more user friendly than Windows for a very long time, with more support for hardware than Windows, and many great applications.

I stopped using Windows at home in 2000 and haven't looked back, any time I am forced to use it (eg. at work or at a friend's place) I cringe at how much harder it is to do anything on Windows than on Linux.