Alright. Let's talk about the esr blogpost. Will Windows become a linux distro with an emulation layer over it? Personally, I wouldn't rule it out, but extrapolating that from a edge port for linux is a bit far fetched I think.
Also, i just read through his most recent blogposts. can't recommend. It's bad
edit: and i quote
White rioters, on the other hand, will be presumed to be Antifa Communists attempting to manipulate this tragedy for Communist political ends; them I consider “enemies-general of all mankind, to be dealt with as wolves are” and will shoot immediately, without mercy or warning.
Even if this does happen, it doesn't mean you'd be able to install, say, Debian or Arch and run any Windows software natively. Just because Windows would be *nix underneath the covers doesn't mean that the entire runtime is, or that the runtime is free software.
I think the author is putting a bit too much behind Edge being on Linux. The new Edge is a fork of Chromium, which is already on Linux. It took much less work than porting IE or old Edge would have.
There is only one way that makes any sense, and that is as a trial run for freeing the rest of the Windows utility suite from depending on any emulation layer.
Or it's just anyone dual booting might consider Edge as their main browser since they can use it on both OSes now.
Microsoft is obviously pretty interested in Linux with WSL, but that doesn't give any credence to the idea that Windows will become Linux like he's saying. If anything it's the opposite, WSL means more people can get away with only using Windows. I know I do.
I think WSL is more likely to be a sort of lite EEE. Not quite extinguishing, but taking a chunk out of Linux's userbase.
yeah I agree. Its weird that ers uses WSL as argument for his case. I think it's the opposite actually. What would be the point of bringin Linux as essentially an app to w10 when you're going to base you OS on linux anyway?
Honestly I'm not sure but I think the author could be on to something even if it is wild speculation. Linux is fucking everywhere already. It's used by most servers, almost every modern car, and even Elon's weird ass rocket. Even before reading this post I would've said that the future of the desktop computer is Linux just by extrapolating current trends. While desktop Linux is far from perfect it's made incredible strides in the past few years while Windows hasn't. The writing is on the wall with WSL, Proton, and Lenovo's new Linux push imo.
This is a good thing too because I firmly believe that free and open source software is something we should all support.
desktop Linux is far from perfect
literally the only downside is software compatibility, and you can't really blame linux for proprietary companies not releasing for their OS. other than that it is unambiguously better.
I 100% agree. People get mad at me for saying this (even on this site for some reason) but the Linux desktop experience is pretty much objectively better than Windows. As soon as the last hold outs of proprietary software on Windows cave it's pretty much over. Of course the biggest reason that Windows continues to dominate is the fact that it comes pre-installed the vast majority of the time. This is why I think Lenovo offering laptops with Linux pre-installed could change the game, but we'll see.
This is why I think Lenovo offering laptops with Linux pre-installed could change the game
Or you just end up with more stories like this.
Lmao I remember watching the dumb h3 video about this years ago. I don't understand what you're trying to say with this though, that article is literally from 2009. Linux operating systems have become a million times more usable...in the past decade.
Usable, if you are willing to use something new. Most people won't be.
I'd imagine that Ubuntu laptop came with OpenOffice or LibreOffice (if it even existed) preinstalled. And of course it could connect to the internet. But it didn't matter because she thought she needed Word and she thought she needed a disc to connect to the internet and wasn't willing to learn otherwise.
Usable, if you are willing to use something new. Most people won’t be.
Sad but true. 98% of computer users don't know the difference beyond how the UIs look. My mom could check her email and Facebook on Ubuntu just as easily, but that didn't stop her from buying a new Mac Pro to replace her old computer.
Even before reading this post I would’ve said that the future of the desktop computer is Linux just by extrapolating current trends.
How long have people been saying this? Is 2021 finally going to be the year of the Linux desktop?!
Where in my post did I say anything about a timeline? Obviously the meme of the "year of the Linux desktop" hasn't happened yet because technology doesn't work like that. Linux could be (and arguably already is) objectively better than Windows but it wont take market share because nobody other than tech nerds install an operating system on their machine. So yea while people have been saying this for years they are correct. Anyone claiming to give a timeline on it is just guessing but if you have any basic knowledge of computers and operating systems you should know that Linux is the future, sorry.
Again, this kind of shit is what Linux nerds have been saying forever. Linux will never be more popular than Windows. I didn't say you gave a timeline, but there just is no timeline.
WSL hurts Linux as a desktop environment, relegating it to just a shell within a completely different desktop environment. That's how I use it. Proton allows game devs to care even less about Linux. Why bother actually porting a game when it can already run on Linux with next to no work on the dev's side?
Linux could be (and arguably already is) objectively better than Windows but it wont take market share because nobody other than tech nerds install an operating system on their machine
It's been objectively better in a lot of ways for some time now. But those don't matter. Your second point there is exactly why Linux won't be the future of the desktop.
I disagree about WSL and Proton hurting Linux. Specifically about Proton I feel that its ability to bring Windows users over to Linux far outweighs its downsides in making devs not focus on native applications. Again only time will tell but if a game runs perfect on Proton I legitimately do not know what the problem is. Also on your last point I literally brought up how companies are starting to ship devices with Linux operating systems pre-installed. Again only time will tell but I firmly believe that there will be a point where Linux operating systems rule the desktop market. It might not be Ubuntu, Arch, or Fedora but the idea of an open source kernel and operating system is legitimately just better.
The idea is better, of course. But nothing really points to Linux taking over. Computer manufacturers have been giving the option to buy one with Linux for a little bit now, it hasn't changed much.
The average person is going to stick to what they know. If anyone who isn't a techie gets a computer with Linux pre installed it will either be because they didn't know, or because their Linux fanboy nephew told them to. Either way they will just get annoyed that it's different and likely take it back.
And again, WSL allows even those who might be willing to use Linux to get away with just using WSL and otherwise sticking to Windows. That's exactly what I do. I only have Ubuntu installed because I thought it would be neat to triple boot all three major OSes.
If they could lay off all of their NT maintainers then why wouldn't they? Tap into the free labor market of Linux. If you can worm around the GPL, LGPL etc etc then you're good!
I dont see microsoft ever letting something like this happen. They could make alot more money if they keep their licenses strong and windows itself distinct from competition. They have the clout and capital to not fuck everything up and they wont just lay down and die