2023 IS THE YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP!! tux

  • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • nat_turner_overdrive [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      I agree that China will have a big say in what OS's the globe uses going forward. I would just say that we're in a place where I would guess the vast majority of computer users increasingly only use the browser to do their work, and this is very conducive to a environment where the OS you use is less important. I've converted some people to Linux who are extremely non technical, but they do everything in the browser so they genuinely can't tell the difference between windows or linux as long as they can find their browser. I don't think Linux is going to become the overnight number one OS but I do think everything points to it continuing to grow market share.