much as I hate to say it: it's s
after years and years of microsoft being awful I finally got a few of my techy gamer friends onto linux in the past ~3 years, and they're running with it!
The EU countries investing in FOSS may also make a dent
Valve is single-handedly raising Linux's game compatibility with their work.
Also, lets be real, a lot of business buy Microsoft like their grandpap bought IBM.
Yeah, and that move from Valve originally came from when Microsoft floated the idea that all software on Windows would pass through the MS Software Store.
That freaked out a lot of publishers, so MS backed off the idea. But Valve's response was to build an exit ramp on Linux.
Pretty nice that Valve stuck with it after the fact.
was that first floated before or after the OG steam machine I wonder? because valve has been at this a lot longer than just the steam deck development cycle
Yeah, this was way before steam deck. This was when SteamOS/Proton/SteamMachines were first rolled out.
If I remember correctly, the MS store was really young at that point. It was already an environment where people were nervous what the new store might mean. Then MS ballooned the idea into that environment and freaked everyone out. I believe they eventually moved forward with the idea on Windows for ARM for a time, but I have no idea if that stuck.
definitely not single handedly but I'm not goign to pretend they aren't helping quite a bit. All the foss parts mostly existed before valve got involved
Oh absolutely. I'm definitely exaggerating! Probably the biggest contribution Valve is making isn't code, but institutional legitimacy to many of these projects. It's dragging the other industry leaders (cough nVidia cough) to support Linux rather than some afterthought.
yeah I think business is what keeps M$ going, not boomers. Windows is deeply integrated into almost every major corporation. They really on stuff like AD, Office, and Teams, which Linux can't compete very well on.
As much as I hate web tech, things are changing because of browsers. Microsoft wants office to be a web app, teams is already a web app, ad is happening through Azure.Once every business product turns into rent-seeking SASS, there's no reason not to use Linux.
Unfortunately Active Directory will still exist until the heat death of the universe
Every year is the year of the linux desktop if you have a linux desktop! (I have a linux laptop)
Only country I can see having a strong foothold on Linux is China when they build and polish a nice mass consumer ready distro that can completely replace windows and mac
Maybe Russia and Iran too since they also have great software talent and if Microsoft and Apple continue to be barred from selling there
gonna go stable diffusion a DPRK military parade except all the soldiers are
the Venezuelan government uses linux because they don't trust microsoft not to spy on them. Somewhat baselessly tbh as Microsoft would only stand to loose money by working with the CIA as they already have all the US government contracts anyway
It's not entirely unlikely that Microsoft has backdoors, look at how easily they can just force an update on you without your consent.
Yes Enterprise editions usually have all that crap disabled but still you can't really be completely sure.
20102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023 is the year of Linux!I wanted to do more but typing those out on mobile while I walked into work was already a lot, I didn’t have time to do twice as many
this is my last windows build. honestly at this point it's just gaming that's holding me back and familiarity. i know the gap is closing for gaming.
enshittification is coming for everything and our only hope for sanity is open source stuff and decentralized social media.
Gaming on Linux has made some big strides in recent years, especially with the Steam deck / SteamOS being fully Linux (arch/KDE). Still not 100% there but definitely viable.
you know you can dual boot right? you can just install different stuff on the same machine, no need for a "linux build"
https://opensource.com/article/18/5/dual-boot-linux
What's the joke, here? The only alternative to the shitty spyware masquerading as an operating system run by monopolistic ghouls is still holding on? You can still have control of your computer with an os that won't install "lol you have to subscribe to windows products.exe" in the middle of the night?
When my next build happens I am going to try to fully commit to a Linux rig. I have always like toying with Linux but my laziness overpowered me.
If enough people get on Linux the driver support will likely explode. It just needs a big enough market share then there will be no reason what so ever to use Windows. Yes, Linux can overcome any challenge but the problem is people need things to be plug and play to be interested in switching, but its getting better.
Call me a cynic but we're way past the point of Linux ever gaining popularity. Doesn't even matter that it could be easy as shit, I feel like societally there's like a cluster of nerds from the 90s to early aughts (they're all here) who would even entertain the idea and could pull off an installation that's more complex than "It's already done" and there's not going to be more of them. Everyone older than that doesn't know, everyone younger than that - barring the people with like a real interest in IT for both - has grown up in devices and software that "Just works" to the point a file system is alien to them.
that has been the level of complexity for Linux installs now for years
No it hasn't, you need to install that shit. That's already way past most people. Not like in the sense that they couldn't get it to boot if they followed the very easy directions, in the sense that they just won't, cause it's nerd shit
You have to install windows if the computer doesn't come with it, too
But that's the thing. Most people don't know how to install Windows, they don't know how to set up a bootable thumb drive, and they don't know how to find the Windows iso. They don't even know what booting means period. We're not talking about tech semi-literates, basically your average PC g*mer, but actual tech illiterates, as in people who thought CD-rom drives were cup holders for holding styrofoam cups (yes, these people did exist speaking from personal experience).
Windows is dominant because enterprise uses Windows. The bulk of Windows machines is for business use. This is the real reason why Windows has such a huge market share of desktops and why Linux can never have double digit percentage of market share. It has nothing to do with the technical merits of the OS because if that were true, that garbage OS from em-dollar sign would've long since been relegated to the dustbins of history in the late 00s, if not sooner.
Windows being ubiquitous in business use means when those white-collars workers after spending 8+ hours a day using Windows go home, they'll obviously more likely use an OS that they've already have hundreds of hours of use instead of learning how to use a completely new OS. They'll buy a PC with the OS that they're already familiar with preinstalled.
Fundamentally, it's not a technical problem that can be solved with a technical solution. This is why I'm extremely excited for projects like KylinOS because the Chinese government can mandate that every single government PC has KylinOS installed. Those government PCs will be used by government employees, and after a long day of work, they'll be less willing to use a different OS, in this case Windows, instead of just using Ubuntu Kylin at home. Add in natsec concerns for that spying bloatware of an OS, and you could legitimately see a complete hollowing out of Windows' Chinese market share within the coming decades.
They definitely do, and in slowly growing numbers.
Yeah it's the year of the linux desktop like, what, 30 years running now?
That's kind of my point. This growth doesn't really mean shit because we're currently not a window where linux would ever be mass adopted for aforementioned reasons - there's hardly anybody left willing to do the tiniest bit of work to get it running.
The driver support is already there, if that's what's been holding you back, you've been scared over nothing.
What's held me back is laziness. You generally can get everything to work if you are willing to tinker with it.
im building my pc sometime within the next couple weeks, soon as the delayed parts get here and i get time. and its gonna be primarily linux mint. though im gonna have to have windows as a secondary just for the dwindling programs that require it
Occasionally a Fitgirl repack won't extract correctly in WINE. I have a Windows 7 VM for such occasions but it's still a big hassle. DODI repacks have never been an issue for me, though.
However, if I can't get a particular game itself to run under Linux, only Windows, then I probably won't play it.
this post made me remember that I am in fact getting older. my uhh year of the linux desktop was quite literally half a lifetime ago.
I hope that now that China is doing its own Linux os they'll throw their whole weight behind it.