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ZDNet: Linux 'Takes The World' While Windows Dominates The Desktop (zdnet.com)
ZDNet editor-in-chief Steve Ranger writes that desktop dominance is less important with today's cloud-based apps running independent of operating system, arguing that the desktop is now "just one computing platform among many." An anonymous reader quotes his report:
Linux on the desktop has about a 2% market share today and is viewed by many as complicated and obscure. Meanwhile, Windows sails on serenely, currently running on 90% of PCs in use... That's probably OK because Linux won the smartphone war and is doing pretty well on the cloud and Internet of Things battlefields too.
There's a four-in-five chance that there's a Linux-powered smartphone in your pocket (Android is based on the Linux kernel) and plenty of IoT devices are Linux-powered too, even if you don't necessarily notice it. Devices like the Raspberry Pi, running a vast array of different flavours of Linux, are creating an enthusiastic community of makers and giving startups a low-cost way to power new types of devices. Much of the public cloud is running on Linux in one form or another, too; even Microsoft has warmed up to open-source software.
There's a four-in-five chance that there's a Linux-powered smartphone in your pocket (Android is based on the Linux kernel) and plenty of IoT devices are Linux-powered too, even if you don't necessarily notice it. Devices like the Raspberry Pi, running a vast array of different flavours of Linux, are creating an enthusiastic community of makers and giving startups a low-cost way to power new types of devices. Much of the public cloud is running on Linux in one form or another, too; even Microsoft has warmed up to open-source software.
When they merge android and chrome os into, fuschia isn't it?
I use Linux on the desktop for everything other than gaming. I dual-boot to Windows for that, and only because games developers still don't do Linux versions. The moment that changes it will be goodbye windows partition.
https://chromeunboxed.com/chro...
Here http://store.steampowered.com/... let me fix that for you and http://store.steampowered.com/.... Yeah not so much any more and if you check you steam library you will find out exactly which Mac OS and Linux games you already own, just waiting to be downloaded and installed.
The desktop is a dying market except for power users, hobbyists, scientist. Business is making the shift to smart terminals and for less secure communication purposes simple disposable notebooks (no windows in site lust secure locked doors, nobody wants the employees wide open to the prying eyes of potential competitors who pay for M$ for access).
It could have been a shrinking market with windows but M$ killed that, so the desktop will become a shrinking market with Linux and of all companies, Apple, still a good solid professional market, pretty much back to its main professional market prior to consumer PCs which in reality when technology caught up is smart phones (fitted VR micro glasses for gaming), smart TVs, tablets for the smart TVs and disposable notebooks for communications (not gaming).
Whoops no gaming console, yep, pretty much no gaming console.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
He only just made his Slashdot account on Monday. He hasn't yet learned the value of calm, objective commentary the way you and I have.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Because if Google's proprietary OSes that are more locked down than Windows ever was (say what you want about Windows but I can grab a windows laptop and inside of 10 minutes be booting into anything from BSD to Zorin OS, just try that on a Chromebook) now counts as "Linux" because it uses the kernel, which even the community acknowledges that "the kernel is not Linux"? Well sheeit, by that metric you could claim Linux "won" half a decade ago since all those cheapo locked down routers used by millions are using the Linux kernel as part of the embedded OS.
It certainly doesn't come anywhere close to being open or supporting the four freedoms so if this is what it takes to "win" I'd say "well what exactly did you "win" other than replacing one corporate master for another?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-104-percent-smartphone-industry-profits-q3-2016-bmo-capital-markets-samsung-2016-11
There are three classes of companies making smartphones: those making no money, those losing money, and Apple.
It is complicated and obscure. But, so is Windows.
People just go with the devil they know. Compatibility and familiarity often trump better technology.
Table-ized A.I.
Am in a similar boat. Linux is my desktop. No looking back. I use Wine for quite a number of apps that I need, and it does take some wrangling occasionally, but it's no comparison to Windows. I have a dual boot option for when I something such as to edit an image in Photoshop.
I wonder how the desktop market share data are obtained. From browser data? This is naive as many linux users change or randomize their user agent. It must be that since counting OS sales does not work. I use linux as my major operating system since 20 years. But there are still things I can only do on a commercial OS like Mac OS X: For example solid video editing, screen recording, Keynote, garage band, and serious gaming. But for most day to day operations, there is very little difference between OS X (when used as a Unix workstation) and linux. My desktops and workflows look almost identical. I guess, also windows could be configured today to behave like a unix workstation. But the loss of control which the the user over the OS (basic things like when and how to upgrade, or the look over the shoulder of the user) which happens today in windows makes it unfit for serious work. What would really be nice if virtualization would exist which allowed to run any OS X software on a linux box. It seems that installing OSX on a virtual box has not yet worked well. The few who have got it to work claim slow graphics, sound failures. I have not heard for example of a successful and solid Final cut run virtualized under linux. Parallels does a good job virtualizing windows on OSX.
Microsoft makes money of Open Source software by shaking down companies that deploy it. I.e. they weaponize their software patent portfolio.
That's how they make money from Android.
Recently, they received good press for their Azure patents protection offer, but it is not what it seems at first glance, their is nothing benign about it. It's just a dressed up protection racket.
And while moving their Quantum Computing software to github, gave them press that they "Open Sourced" it, nothing could be further from the truth.
They will try to get a stranglehold on the future of computing, just as they had it in the PC market. They just switched strategy, but this tiger won't change its stripes.
I'm a Steam player. Point is that once you go into Steam and pick a game, chances are that the Windows version of it is more fully featured than the Linux version. In the case of Civ VI, the Windows version is out (albeit new) but the Linux one is almost out. Other games, like Civ V - the Windows version is more fully featured than the Linux one. So right now, I play on my Windows laptop.
I'm using TrueOS (PC-BSD) and it has something called playonbsd, which is essentially running wine, and then running steam on top of it. So far, I've been unsuccessful in upgrading to the version that runs that, but once I can, then your scenario would be partly true. I'd really have loved it has Steam developed front ends for not just Windows and Mac, but also Linux and BSD.
The linux kernel is linux.
Gnu/linux was the second attempt by Richard Stallman to raise awareness of GNU on the coat-tails of linux after people didn't take his first suggestion of LiGnuX seriously. Linux is not a GNU project. Their OS is called HURD.
So your "fact" does not appear to actually be one despite it coming out of a book.
Only market droids and technodunces buy the bullshit that the userspace skin is the OS. Anybody with a slilght clue understands that an operating system does scheduling, virtual memory, manages devices, etc etc. And has a user space that can easy be mischaracterized by marketdroids.
You can get console on Android and poke around. Its Linux. Some top level dirs moved around for completely bogus reasons, but it's Linux. It runs Linux binaries.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Linux certainly did NOT win the smartphone war. Firstly, Android is built to use the Linux kernel because hooking deep into the kernel is easier than it should be (hence bugs like stagefright) and because Google doesn't have to pay for Linux. The Linux / GNU stack is vaguely available but mostly unusable on Android. Android could be ported to any other kernel that is similarly hackable / easy to kneecap security and kernel / HAL / userspace partitioning as Linux. As for iOS, it co-opts the BSD Mach kernel in a similar manner.
> I have not noticed any differences. You will need to provide proof/examples.
As much as it pains me to say it, Linux has nowhere near the support of Windows and to claim otheriwise is just ridiculous.
Other than Civ6 can you name me any other big game at all from 2016 that is also out on Linux?
No mans Sky? Fallout4? World of Tanks? Elite dangerous? Overwatch? The Witcher 3? Dark Souls 3? Battlefield 1? Xcom2? Tomb Raider? Forza3? literally anything for my HTC Vive?