4 ms·

Fine among our crowd but how many non technical people are using Linux?

by chillacy 8y ago

kuzehanka 8y ago
Uhh. The entire world? The internet doesn't run on IIS.
- belltaco 8y ago
  There are no ads in IIS or Windows Server. By your logic every developer is a Windows user, since they use Stack Overflow that runs on Windows, IIS and SQL Server.
- chillacy 8y ago
  > non-technical people And you bring up internet infrastructure?
yellowapple 8y ago
Virtually everyone who owns a cell phone that's not an iPhone. Android apps tend to be ad-supported, though, so not sure if that really helps the point. There's also the TVs, set top boxes, refrigerators, and cars (among many other consumer-facing devices) that run Linux (which completely displaced Windows CE).
- Nextgrid 8y ago
  We’re talking about using a Linux operating system to replace Windows. I don’t think bringing up where the Linux kernel is used alone is relevant.
  - yellowapple 8y ago
    Linux is the kernel, though (and debatably also the application API/ABI). That's all it is. At the risk of sounding like some Richard Stallman wannabe, your complaints should be directed at GNU (or perhaps GNOME or KDE). Trying to argue "well those don't count because they're not real Linux" is 1) blatantly false and 2) a textbook case of a No True Scotsman fallacy. Linux is Linux, regardless of which userland happens to be running on it.
    - chillacy 8y ago
      I wasn't being crisp in my definitions, I'm using Linux to refer to the OS on desktop. My bad for any confusion.
      - yellowapple 8y ago
        No worries. It's worth clarifying specifically because of how many user-facing software stacks are indeed built on top of Linux. Still, I feel like the only reason the Year of the Linux Desktop hasn't "arrived" is because we keep moving the goalposts on what "Linux Desktop" means (and/or maintain an unnecessarily strict definition of it), probably because we do mean "GNU Desktop" or "GNOME Desktop" or "KDE Desktop" or "X11 Desktop" or something along those lines when we say "Linux Desktop". Would you count ChromeOS as a desktop Linux? If not, why?
        chillacy 8y ago
        It hadn't crossed my mind when I wrote the post because I was in a thread about Windows (so in my mind it was desktop Windows vs a "linux distro" like Ubuntu, Cent, Debian, etc). But I suppose ChromeOS should count too since it runs on laptops and desktop computers. Of course Linux (the kernel) is much more dominant on mobile because of Android. But then again Android is indirectly supported by Google ad revenue and so would contradict the original claim in the thread I'm responding to: > Linux seems to be doing just fine keeping software maintained without ads or harvesting data.

Fine among our crowd but how many non technical people are using Linux?

kuzehanka 8y ago

Uhh. The entire world? The internet doesn't run on IIS.

belltaco 8y ago
There are no ads in IIS or Windows Server. By your logic every developer is a Windows user, since they use Stack Overflow that runs on Windows, IIS and SQL Server.
chillacy 8y ago
> non-technical people And you bring up internet infrastructure?

yellowapple 8y ago

Virtually everyone who owns a cell phone that's not an iPhone. Android apps tend to be ad-supported, though, so not sure if that really helps the point. There's also the TVs, set top boxes, refrigerators, and cars (among many other consumer-facing devices) that run Linux (which completely displaced Windows CE).

Nextgrid 8y ago
We’re talking about using a Linux operating system to replace Windows. I don’t think bringing up where the Linux kernel is used alone is relevant.
- yellowapple 8y ago
  Linux is the kernel, though (and debatably also the application API/ABI). That's all it is. At the risk of sounding like some Richard Stallman wannabe, your complaints should be directed at GNU (or perhaps GNOME or KDE). Trying to argue "well those don't count because they're not real Linux" is 1) blatantly false and 2) a textbook case of a No True Scotsman fallacy. Linux is Linux, regardless of which userland happens to be running on it.
  - chillacy 8y ago
    I wasn't being crisp in my definitions, I'm using Linux to refer to the OS on desktop. My bad for any confusion.
    - yellowapple 8y ago
      No worries. It's worth clarifying specifically because of how many user-facing software stacks are indeed built on top of Linux. Still, I feel like the only reason the Year of the Linux Desktop hasn't "arrived" is because we keep moving the goalposts on what "Linux Desktop" means (and/or maintain an unnecessarily strict definition of it), probably because we do mean "GNU Desktop" or "GNOME Desktop" or "KDE Desktop" or "X11 Desktop" or something along those lines when we say "Linux Desktop". Would you count ChromeOS as a desktop Linux? If not, why?
      - chillacy 8y ago
        It hadn't crossed my mind when I wrote the post because I was in a thread about Windows (so in my mind it was desktop Windows vs a "linux distro" like Ubuntu, Cent, Debian, etc). But I suppose ChromeOS should count too since it runs on laptops and desktop computers. Of course Linux (the kernel) is much more dominant on mobile because of Android. But then again Android is indirectly supported by Google ad revenue and so would contradict the original claim in the thread I'm responding to: > Linux seems to be doing just fine keeping software maintained without ads or harvesting data.