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Android Overtakes Windows as the Internet's Most Used Operating System (betanews.com)
As expected last month, Android has surpassed Windows to become the world's most used operating system, according to the web analytics firm StatCounter. From a report: Usage figures published by StatCounter show that Android accounted for 37.93 percent of the worldwide OS Internet usage share in March. Windows is not far behind at 37.91 percent, but Android taking the lead is being described as a "milestone in technology history." The fact that Android is now topping the charts can be attributed to the fact that mobile devices are now used to connect to the Internet far more frequently than desktop computers and laptop. Coupled with declining PC sales, Windows is starting to lose out overall, although it still accounts for 84 percent of the worldwide desktop operating system market.
Android isn't really Linux. Yes, buried in there somewhere is a Linux kernel, but the kernel is not the operating system.
All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
If you're being pedantic about it, Android's claim to Linux is just as strong, what it lacks is the GNU toolkit and the general base of additional software that one normally finds on a UNIX-like system. The Android shell, whatever it happens to be called, is intended to obscure what's underneath and it does a pretty good job of that.
I sort of see why they did that. Windows users were accustomed to running with account privileges that left the platform vulnerable to exploit. Android largely has avoided that through simply not giving the end user the ability to have those kinds of access privileges through native tools. This also forces application developers to design software that doesn't require those kinds of superuser access privileges, so that the whole system remains relatively secure compared to the morass that Microsoft's OSes have been for the past twenty-five years.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Android isn't really Linux. Yes, buried in there somewhere is a Linux kernel
It uses the Linux kernel but is not really "Linux" seems to be some arbitrary constraint you have invented. Maybe my original post lacked context: my sister is a non-techy. I was never expecting her to use GNU tools, etc. . .
but the kernel is not the operating system.
You seem so confident, yet not everyone seems to agree with you.
I am sure that if Chrome OS took over you would have a reason to say why THAT is not really Linux. Such is the world through the eyes of a pedant. Meanwhile, the rest of us will be able to appreciate the underlying point that Open Source and its flag ship project (Linux) is having an impact we could not even dream of a decade or so ago.
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Um, yes, it's Linux, just as much as any embedded Linux-based OS is Linux. True, it may not be the Stallman-esque "GNU/Linux", in that it has very little of the GNU toolset, but that's true of most embedded Linux systems (i.e. anything with BusyBox).
So yes, it is Linux, just as much as, say, a WR54G is a Linux-based system.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.