Clickbaity title on the original article, but I think this is the most important point to consider from it:
After getting to 1% in approximately 2011, it took about a decade to double that to 2%. The jump from 2% to 3% took just over two years, and 3% to 4% took less than a year.
Get the picture? The Linux desktop is growing, and it’s growing fast.
I hope this growth snowballs from now on; larger market share → developers release Linux versions for their software → users have less reasons to keep Windows → larger market share. Basically, a network-like effect.
If Linux reaches ~25% we basically won; the only advantage Windows has at its disposal is that network-like effect - Linux is cheaper (literally free), less encumbered by anti-user restrictions, and you can run it even in a potato.
That isn’t Windows only advantage. It is “easier” to use in the sense that it has less choices, especially if you have been using it in business for decades. You know it well enough to get around, with no concerns about different app names/icons/etc. Im not talking about chrome ot adobe either, im talking “what is the folder program called and why does it look like that” problems.
Most people give no shits about computers. They use what they know, if they use it at all. It’s why “phones and the occasional tablet” are by far the majority of most people’s home computers now.
Linux wont win until it wins offices. That will be where the snowball starts. The greay thing though is linix doesnt need to “win.” It can just be excellent and continue to be a much needed check on capitalism’s race to constrain our freedoms by enshittifing everything they can for profit.
No one uses phones or tablets for actual work. They’re just media consumption and mobile interface devices. When people need to get shit done they sit down with a keyboard and mouse. That’s why they call them workstations.
Workstations are used at work, which is the main gist of my comment above.
Linux has picked up the low hanging fruit, i.e nerds and gamers who have actual computers at home. It wont win over some mythical “everyday home computer user” because they dont exist anymore.
For Linux to truly “snowball,” it needs a serious, fully seemless office replacement that has to be better than “odt by default” libreoffice. Until it can pick off the office clients, it will not win.
Still, it doesn’t need to. Pick up that nerd/gamer/granny dont care how she gets to chrome subset. That’s fantastic for linux, and will still drive innovation enough.
I don’t even know what you’re talking about. The vast majority of people are interacting with a workstation on a daily basis. The only mythical users are the ones that exclusively use phones and tablets.
No one uses Office applications on their local machines anymore. Everything is done in the browser.
Matter of fact, a large majority of all work is done in the browser. Computers have, for a long time, been glorified Facebook machines. Look at how many people use Chrome OS that doesn’t even support any local software at all…
The vast majority of people interact with workstations every day? I don’t think the vast majority of people have office jobs on earth, but I won’t belabor the point.
Those people that use a computer at work are using windows, or in rare cases, macs. Linux is almost non existent because the work ecosystem isn’t there, and likely wont be there because of office suites and other tooling.
Hilarious. Guess I’ll let the thousands of people I work with who I know use Office via an app know they dont exist.
Yeah to facebook machines, which is why most people don’t have PCs anymore when phones will do. The above doesnt apply to buisnesses, and im honestly baffled that you think it does.
Most businesses have Windows apps that are used all day every day, generally numbering in the hundreds or thousands depending on the scope of the enterprise.
Since they will stick on Windows because of this, and there are no more home pcs out there outside the gamer/nerds/granniss, the rapid Linux gain will drop off again, and that’s okay. The Linux eco system is vibrant, accessible and interesting. That’s enough.
They don’t have to. People use PCs outside of the office too.
That’s not the discussion we were having.
Phones cannot do the same job as PCs. It has nothing to do with compute power, it has to do with peripherals and multitasking and general work efficiency.
The point is, as I said, that the vast majority of work is done in the cloud, through a browser, which is something that Linux does absolutely fine.
You’re mistaken.
I’m absolutely not, and arguing the point is hilarious.
You’re really trying to say that millions of businesses, employing billions of people, in thousands of industries ,are “totally just using browsers, bro.”
Come the fuck on.
I’m not trying to say anything. I said it. Many businesses use dedicated software (most of which is also available on Linux) but many many more are just logging into some cloud database to access information. Yes. Absolutely. 1000%. And it’s hilarious that you think otherwise.
Well yes, but no. The older generations (millenials) do this but Gen-Z does not really knowhow to use a computer and often enough doesn’t want to use one. This problem will probably become even worse with the even younger generations.