CommanderFrank
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World dominance? Probably not, but Linux is poised to claim their fair share of the market in the next few years, which many feel is long overdue.
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World Domination Linux Style
- Thread starter CommanderFrank
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Gorankar
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Yeah, OK, in other news aliens have landed on the Whitehouse lawn they have demanded we give them Giraldo Rivera because he is so funny. We immediately aggreed.
dyzophoria
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lol
Every year is the new year of Linux domination. I certainly love the os, but I'm aware that the average consumer is easily confused by Linux complications. As I recall, Netbooks started out as Linux variants only, but are now almost entirely Windows. That's pretty telling of how easily confused consumers are by an unknown os.
That said, I can see smartphones becoming fairly Linux dominant. Minus the Apple, of course.
That said, I can see smartphones becoming fairly Linux dominant. Minus the Apple, of course.
ShadowStriker
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I think I hear SCO whimpering in the background.
Runningflame570
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That had more to do with bull**** custom-GUIs that were ugly and did too much to limit people. Those companies that actually have done the Linux netbook right have seen good uptake on them, such as Dell who sells 1/3rd of their netbooks with Linux, despite only selling those online.
According to ABI research at least, 11 million Linux netbooks were sold in 2009 alone. Microsofts own numbers put Linux as a bigger competitor to them marketshare-wise than Apple.
But definitely Linux is having an easier time of things on smartphones, especially if you're counting Android in that equation and Linux already owns or is becoming more dominant on the server and in embedded applications.
If you own a router, switch, TV, or set top box chances are it's running some kind of Linux on it.
Yeah I've been hearing about Linux domination since the late 1990's. So far it hasn't managed to do anything of the sort. Its done fairly well in the server / web server markets but it hasn't done SQUAT in the desktop arena. Its not going to do so either.
If Linux truly wants to gain some momentum in the consumer desktop area, then the focus needs to be shifted to the software itself, rather than the operating system.
I've wanted to make the switch to Linux as my primary operating system for nearly a decade now, but I just can't seem to do it. Not because I don't understand the operating system itself, but because nearly everything that I want to use is firmly rooted in Windows.
Especially when it comes to gaming. The amount of native Linux games are abysmal at best, and it seems silly to use one of the many workaround as a long term solution. What benefit would I have in using either emulators, dual boot, or virtualization software to run 90+% of my software and games.
I like Linux, I appreciate the ideals behind it, I want to use it as a primary OS.
It just isn't practical for me though as it stands now.
I've wanted to make the switch to Linux as my primary operating system for nearly a decade now, but I just can't seem to do it. Not because I don't understand the operating system itself, but because nearly everything that I want to use is firmly rooted in Windows.
Especially when it comes to gaming. The amount of native Linux games are abysmal at best, and it seems silly to use one of the many workaround as a long term solution. What benefit would I have in using either emulators, dual boot, or virtualization software to run 90+% of my software and games.
I like Linux, I appreciate the ideals behind it, I want to use it as a primary OS.
It just isn't practical for me though as it stands now.
TechLarry
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SamuraiInBlack
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Is it long overdue? Yes. I agree on that.
Is it going to happen? On the embedded and server fronts, depending on who your source is, it pretty much holds its own or excels over the competition. On the desktop/personal computer front, I'm not holding my breath.
That said I am still hopeful.
Is it going to happen? On the embedded and server fronts, depending on who your source is, it pretty much holds its own or excels over the competition. On the desktop/personal computer front, I'm not holding my breath.
That said I am still hopeful.
Monkey God
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How long has this been going on? Since 1996 or something?
Yeah. That's around the time when I first heard of this nonsense.
I never had hope for Linux becoming competitive with Microsoft in the desktop market. However, I dismissed the possibility of this happening more than a decade ago. Since then nothing has changed to make me believe otherwise.
BladeVenom
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Did you even read the story? A lot has changed. Linux is number one on smartphones thanks to Android. Linux has 32% of the netbook market. Linux is expected to do well on tablets. Linux is gaining grounds on developers desktops. Lastly the article's author expects MeeGo standard is going to really make Linux take off.Monkey God
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No one care what OS is on a phone. Its a device. Only the app developers care.
This is the only thing that really means anything, although most netbooks are function-reduced desktops, you dont do any heavy lifting on them.
Hope isn't real
For what exactly? A healthy change no doubt, but nothing that hasn't happened before.
More hope.
I dont hate Linux, but "the year of Linux" is even more of a joke then duke nukem forever.
This, my friends, is what in politics is called "setting the narrative." You drive the news cycle to reflect what you want to be true with the intent of it becoming true.
Unfortunately the folks who read tech news tend to be a bit more clued in than the sheep that watch only one cable news outlet and take it to be fact, so this tactic has never worked. Every year a news story starts the rounds "Linux domination is near. Microsoft/Apple/Foo is doomed!" Yet here we are, almost twenty years later and we're still running Windows.
Unfortunately the folks who read tech news tend to be a bit more clued in than the sheep that watch only one cable news outlet and take it to be fact, so this tactic has never worked. Every year a news story starts the rounds "Linux domination is near. Microsoft/Apple/Foo is doomed!" Yet here we are, almost twenty years later and we're still running Windows.
Linux world domination pretty much implies a world no longer dominated by the desktop. In case you have been asleep since 1996 or so, the Linux desktop works just fine. Since there is no motivation to switch from windows (security is a non-issue, if you are willing to have your OS internals dictated by the *IAA, giving control over to other criminals seems tame).
If you haven't attention, microsoft doesn't have the death grip over the computer industry it had when Bill Gates still ran the show. The control over the desktop hasn't changed, it just doesn't dominate the industry like it used to. Windows in the server room is bad enough for serving windows over a lan, but it is a joke for datacenters. WinCE7 is trying (after way more attempts than the magic 3 number) to break into the mobile market. Maybe spending as much as they did on Kin will be enough.
Linux world domination!=Linux on the desktop
- note to Blu_haze: I use linux exclusively for the desktop and am pretty sure that the best solution for games is dual booting to windows. Wine is too much a hit or miss thing, and is best if you already have a partition to fall back on, but you don't want to reboot. The only real advantage here is you can stick with XP and have a fully modern (and secure) desktop when not playing games.
If you haven't attention, microsoft doesn't have the death grip over the computer industry it had when Bill Gates still ran the show. The control over the desktop hasn't changed, it just doesn't dominate the industry like it used to. Windows in the server room is bad enough for serving windows over a lan, but it is a joke for datacenters. WinCE7 is trying (after way more attempts than the magic 3 number) to break into the mobile market. Maybe spending as much as they did on Kin will be enough.
Linux world domination!=Linux on the desktop
- note to Blu_haze: I use linux exclusively for the desktop and am pretty sure that the best solution for games is dual booting to windows. Wine is too much a hit or miss thing, and is best if you already have a partition to fall back on, but you don't want to reboot. The only real advantage here is you can stick with XP and have a fully modern (and secure) desktop when not playing games.
I've heard it all before. Every year since 1996 is the year Linux takes off and becomes relevant in the desktop arena. Its not going to happen.
Runningflame570
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I'm sorry, what? Linux was hardly discussed seriously at all until nearly the turn of the millenium.
If you have anything to the contrary I'd be happy to see it, but Mandriva is the first company that really tried to do desktop linux right and aside from being far too small to get much done (and fairly incompetent in ways) they weren't around until 1998.
The dot coms going bust set things back as well.
Since then Linux has taken over the HPC market, has taken over or is taking over the serving room and embedded market segments, is a large and rapidly growing player in the cellular market and yes, is growing on the desktop as well.
The "year of desktop linux" stuff is crap and always has been, as large shifts take a lot of time, especially with the sort of inertia there is on the desktop, but it's not crap to say that there has been a shift away from Windows and that it is continuing and broadening.
Currently Windows is undergoing the death by a thousand cuts: I don't expect it to fully disappear, but I expect its marketshare to continue to retract while others expand. The only question for me is how long this will take.
I understand this thread intends to draw certain crowd, it is so unfortunately I also fall for it.
anyhow,
1. For a lot of people who laugh and logic about the prospect, consider this
1a - as claim, you have heard of it since what, 90s?
1b - think about it, since 90s, a lot of things have gone since 90s. The tech landscape has morphed tremendously since 90s. Computer fashion has cycled thorough several popular languages, we have gone from 10B-T to 100B-T to 1000B-T and now 10G Ethernet, where 40G and 100G are upcoming, the web browser duels have seen demise and ressurections several times, Netscape founders are reengaging themselves back to the net., many more...
Yet the theme of Linux domination continues for such a long time...
"The Force is strong with this one ... " even Netcraft has gone through countless verifications, and in the process reinvented itself
Cheers
anyhow,
1. For a lot of people who laugh and logic about the prospect, consider this
1a - as claim, you have heard of it since what, 90s?
1b - think about it, since 90s, a lot of things have gone since 90s. The tech landscape has morphed tremendously since 90s. Computer fashion has cycled thorough several popular languages, we have gone from 10B-T to 100B-T to 1000B-T and now 10G Ethernet, where 40G and 100G are upcoming, the web browser duels have seen demise and ressurections several times, Netscape founders are reengaging themselves back to the net., many more...
Yet the theme of Linux domination continues for such a long time...
"The Force is strong with this one ... " even Netcraft has gone through countless verifications, and in the process reinvented itself
Cheers
heatlesssun
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While there's some truth to this the thing is that the overall market continues to grow and it's not really so much inertia as it is why use something else. Windows is a VERY powerful and well supported platform. To replicate it's capabilities and support is a task beyond daunting. And Windows is always evolving itself and it's about to undergo a HUGE transformation to tablets and slates in earnest. Microsoft has more than enough IP to bring to this task, Surface and Courier tech for instance, stuff that really is next gen.
However this goes by this time next year we shall see what Windows 8 brings to the table. It's focus is going to be on slates without question, the real question will be of course if it will gain traction.
Microsoft has it's problems but it has done some farily impressive stuff in the last year, Zune HD, Windows 7, Windows 7 Phone is not WinMo by a long shot and it looks like Microsoft decided to get back in the browser game as well.
Microsoft can continue to dominate if it focuses and doesn't get lazy as it has a lot, but when Microsoft runs scared it's amazing the shit they can do. Vista to 7 will become a case study on how to turn around a product. The question is can Windows 8 take it up a notch and move Windows to slates and tablets.
And lets not forget Intel and AMD. They have a LOT at stake at producing more powerful low power x86 platforms to drive the Windows of the future.
Absalom
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I, for one, welcome our (not so) new tuxedo-wearing overlords.
Microsoft excels in the era
1.Where there's a large margin to be made by PC hardware makers, and the market is completely undeveloped
2.Therefore they cede the OS to Microsoft and they concentrate on the hardware, everybody gets a piece of the pie
3.In the early days of PC global push, competing on your own need critical resources while everybody relies on common OS vendor, you need to fight on two fronts, ala the old Apple Computer.
4.When the growth rate is extremely high, there's advantage for the division of labor model, for common market where you can get parts easily with no technical complication. The economic of scale favors the division of labors.
5.The market also consists largely un-sophisticated environment where pitching of abstract ideal of computing is pointless. So boutique makers have more challenge in fast ramp up when cost is involved.
A lot has since changed, definitely.
As recommended by forum member JimmyB suggesting me not to write too long a post, I will continue another time where possible.
1.Where there's a large margin to be made by PC hardware makers, and the market is completely undeveloped
2.Therefore they cede the OS to Microsoft and they concentrate on the hardware, everybody gets a piece of the pie
3.In the early days of PC global push, competing on your own need critical resources while everybody relies on common OS vendor, you need to fight on two fronts, ala the old Apple Computer.
4.When the growth rate is extremely high, there's advantage for the division of labor model, for common market where you can get parts easily with no technical complication. The economic of scale favors the division of labors.
5.The market also consists largely un-sophisticated environment where pitching of abstract ideal of computing is pointless. So boutique makers have more challenge in fast ramp up when cost is involved.
A lot has since changed, definitely.
As recommended by forum member JimmyB suggesting me not to write too long a post, I will continue another time where possible.
BladeVenom
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Some people are just stuck in the past. When did Linux have a distro like Ubuntu before? And even more importantly, when did Linux have the support of Google before. Developing countries, and national pride is also making some countries push Linux. Examples are China pushing Red Flag Linux, and developing countries like Brazil using Linux. Then there's the stuff that's already been mentioned smart phones, tablets, and netbooks where Linux is doing well.
heatlesssun
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You're talking about two different things, generic desktop Linux and COMMERCIAL packages like Android. Two completely different animals and in the case of Google they don't really care about Linux, they care about their cloud and pulling in dollars from that, Android in and of itself isn't the point. It's cheap and easy.
And there are plenty also stuck in the past when it comes to Microsoft, their stuff is evolving as well.
I had conversations with Linux enthusiasts heralding the doom of the Windows platforms back in 1996 or 1997. People said it then and they've said it ever since.
The difference is that they can say things like "windows is dead" and "the desktop is dead" with a straight face. They might not be right, but microsoft is hardly the undisputed king of tech that made them a household name.
If/when linux ever "wins" the desktop, it will be just as exciting and relevant as watching linux displace the descendants of OS/360 from the mainframe (which is happening and was equally locked up forever).
heatlesssun
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I can say desktop Linux is dead with a straight face. No not Android or Chrome OS though Android appears to be making Chrome irrelevant.
Runningflame570
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Fanboys are really quite a bit different than media outlets. I can point you to BSD users who say the same thing about Linux today, or PSP users who say it about the DS, and I could have pointed you to HD-DVD users who said the same thing about Blu-Ray.
Unless those enthusiasts go by Torvalds, Stallman, Raymond, or Hall I don't think you can give too much weight to their opinions.
BladeVenom
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Whatever you have to tell yourself. But it's still Linux.
Like the Kin, they spent around a billion dollars and didn't even get 10k subscribers. They have evolved into a company trying to buy into markets, and failing, while they become less and less relevant.
heatlesssun
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So Android and Ubuntu are the sane thing? Ok.
Disclaimer : post is just opinion. I never claim it as universal truth
Continue from the previous post
1. That scenario was the original scenario.
2. Many changes and alternative schemes since then
3. Once upon a time making commodities PC was so margin-pressured, PC vendors had to resort to getting payments from 3rd parties to load 3rd parties add-on software/system settings into their new PC. I think the practices still persist somewhere
4. And today, you can see tier-1 PC vendors consolidated into only a few left.
The paragraphs above only serve to emphasize one thing, that the basic market is no longer the same as what it all started since 80s. Another example
1.In the early days, PC usefully is easily understood and appreciated, for example, the VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3 days. People see great value in purchasing very useful tools.
2.Endless variations and generations later, most daily useful things are probably done by now.
3.Sometimes, computers are used to rightsize organizations, several cycles later, the same logic now applied to the IT industry itself. Names are not needed because I think people recognize the trend.
So what are all these trying to present?
The basic of the original PC revolution cycle is already completed. People/Industry has since moved on several times to the next level. This includes the original beauty of MSDOS/PC-Clone revolution.
We are now in inertia stage with huge library of software, unable and not willing to disengage, unless something really huge is changing the landscape. For the near-future, it is unlikely, but not impossible to happen. Here we are looking at desktop arena.
However, as almost everybody is aware. The story is now different on the smartphone/mobile arena. And Apple happens to demonstrate it can do thing differently, yet still very relevant financially.
Now, why the “countless reasons” that nearly terminated Apple in the desktop era does not immediate trigger such pressure against it now in the new environments?
There must be reasons, I am not going to dwell on that, but it must be different. If you want to use MSDOS/PC-Clone era logic to assess now, you have your value points as well.
Finally, borrow term from forum member “WTF does this have to do with Linux World Domination? hello this thread title?”
Suggestion --> maybe Linux have something valuable forming the “ingredients” for the new era?
Continue from the previous post
1. That scenario was the original scenario.
2. Many changes and alternative schemes since then
3. Once upon a time making commodities PC was so margin-pressured, PC vendors had to resort to getting payments from 3rd parties to load 3rd parties add-on software/system settings into their new PC. I think the practices still persist somewhere
4. And today, you can see tier-1 PC vendors consolidated into only a few left.
The paragraphs above only serve to emphasize one thing, that the basic market is no longer the same as what it all started since 80s. Another example
1.In the early days, PC usefully is easily understood and appreciated, for example, the VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3 days. People see great value in purchasing very useful tools.
2.Endless variations and generations later, most daily useful things are probably done by now.
3.Sometimes, computers are used to rightsize organizations, several cycles later, the same logic now applied to the IT industry itself. Names are not needed because I think people recognize the trend.
So what are all these trying to present?
The basic of the original PC revolution cycle is already completed. People/Industry has since moved on several times to the next level. This includes the original beauty of MSDOS/PC-Clone revolution.
We are now in inertia stage with huge library of software, unable and not willing to disengage, unless something really huge is changing the landscape. For the near-future, it is unlikely, but not impossible to happen. Here we are looking at desktop arena.
However, as almost everybody is aware. The story is now different on the smartphone/mobile arena. And Apple happens to demonstrate it can do thing differently, yet still very relevant financially.
Now, why the “countless reasons” that nearly terminated Apple in the desktop era does not immediate trigger such pressure against it now in the new environments?
There must be reasons, I am not going to dwell on that, but it must be different. If you want to use MSDOS/PC-Clone era logic to assess now, you have your value points as well.
Finally, borrow term from forum member “WTF does this have to do with Linux World Domination? hello this thread title?”
Suggestion --> maybe Linux have something valuable forming the “ingredients” for the new era?
Monkey God
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Thats funny. Some of us were actually there, working in IT and remember it. How old are you exactly?
It just depends how plugged in to the IT world you are. Most people I know who don't work with PCs (and don't have a PC-related hobby, not counting Farmville and Facecrap) have no idea what Linux is.