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Ask Slashdot: Whatever Happened To the 'Year of Linux on Desktop'?
An anonymous reader writes: Investors, enthusiasts, and Linux distro makers have for more than a decade projected that the upcoming year will be the year of Linux on the desktop platform. But we just can't seem to get to that year for some reason. Windows continues to dominate the consumer market. Apple's macOS X is quickly gaining ground among business customers and designers, and is already ahead of Linux. Do you see Linux getting a significant boost in the desktop market in the coming years?
I don't see Linux gaining a significant part of the desktop market in the foreseeable future. And, as an avid Linux user, I think that's a great thing.
I don't want Linux to get so popular. Getting that popular brings two really terrible things with it: more attention from hackers, and a more rapid degradation of the operating system as it tries harder to cater to everybody.
Exactly this -- although I don't necessarily recommend Windows. I recommend whichever operating system they are already most familiar with.
That's eminently sensible. However, if the needs are basic and the prospective user is not a "computer type" --- I might just install Linux for them.
I did that for my wife, who uses Linux and doesn't know it's Linux, and doesn't care, because she can do her browser-based stuff and maybe view some photos or documents off-line, and maybe play a simple game or two.
For basic needs, Linux is certainly no harder to use than Windows.
And when problems pop up (quite infrequent), then this "basic user" wouldn't be able to fix them whether it was Linux or Windows or Mac.
What moronic nonsense. There is not ONE thing in that post that warranted your reply. The fact that shit just works for a lot of people is just something trolls can't handle.
It's not 1995 any more. The "steep learning curve" is overblown. It's really no worse than it would be for anything. That includes strange new versions of Windows.
When things go wrong, they are equally ugly on all three platforms.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.