4 ms·

>As much as I'd like it to be I don't think Linux is a serious desktop contender for most people, so Microsoft is just in second place - and it's not that dista

by kd913 6y ago

>As much as I'd like it to be I don't think Linux is a serious desktop contender for most people, so Microsoft is just in second place - and it's not that distant yet, since the Apple transition has just started. I think market evidence points to the contrary. The Raspberry Pi is a fully fledged Linux Desktop, it's running and marketed with full fledged desktop software. Last I checked 25 million units have been sold. It's use/sales far outstrips Windows RT or Surface Pro X which from what I know are the only current uses for Windows on ARM. So yes I think Windows is in a clear 3rd place on ARM architectures.

ogre_codes 6y ago
> The Raspberry Pi is a fully fledged Linux Desktop, I'm not sure I agree with this, lots of Pis are sold for projects which don't involve use as a desktop. In fact—from what I've seen—only a small percentage of Pis are actually used as day-to-day computing devices. But in addition to the Pi, there is Pine64 which is exclusively sold as a "Desktop" platform with both laptops and workstations. But I was talking more about the number of apps available on the platform than the number of units sold. Software support for Windows ARM is a bit of a crapshoot which makes it hard to estimate what's out there.
- kd913 6y ago
  It may not majority be used as a desktop, but it is marketed as such. You go to the raspberry pi store in Cambridge, and the first thing you see is it's use as a desktop. The use cases for the Raspberry PI is ridiculously varied which I think reinforces it's application support relative to Windows on ARM. I have seen it used for openstack development, as a desktop, home theatre pc, pihole, nextcloud instance, emulator etc... I haven't really found software that I can't just install/use. Can you say the same for any windows on arm deployment? Especially if they are only just coming out with mainstream support for OpenJDK and Electron support.
  - ogre_codes 6y ago
    You are talking to the choir here. In fact the alternative uses for the Pi are arguably as interesting/ important to its significance as a platform. A lot of little side projects which the Pi gets used for now used to be low end Windows boxes.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
Spooky23 6y ago
My raspberry pi alerts if there is too much water in my basement sump. No desktop there, and I suspect for most Pi's. If Windows is in 3rd place for desktops, it's because of sales of ARM based Chromebooks, not Raspberry Pi.
coldtea 6y ago
>I think market evidence points to the contrary. The Raspberry Pi is a fully fledged Linux Desktop, it's running and marketed with full fledged desktop software. Last I checked 25 million units have been sold. That's a statistical error level compared to the number of PCs in the world. And even the premise is wrong. The "Raspberry Pi" is not bought as a "fully fledged Linux Desktop" (whether it's marketed as such or not), but used mostly for special utility purposes, from automation and DIY experiments to multimedia servers and such... Even if you add all Linux desktop machines, it's like 2% or something...
- kd913 6y ago
  We aren't comparing it to the total number of PCs in the world and that marketshare relevance. I am sure there aren't particularly accurate statistics for that usage anyway. This is a comparison between Linux on ARM and Windows on ARM. Not against Windows vs Linux as a whole. I assume this is in the context of future consumer desktop platforms on ARM hardware. In that context, OEMs who want to release a functional desktop product with ARM chips would find it a lot easier/appealing with ARM than on Windows at present. In that context, Linux on ARM is vastly ahead of Windows of ARM. My argument is that the total number of raspberry pis being used a Linux ARM desktop outstrips the amount of Windows ARM desktops (which are composed of surface RT/X tablets).
petre 6y ago
Chromebooks rather than Pis amount to some percentage of Linux "desktop" used. Dunno how much but their CPUs are definitely ARM devices.

by kd913 6y ago

ogre_codes 6y ago

> The Raspberry Pi is a fully fledged Linux Desktop, I'm not sure I agree with this, lots of Pis are sold for projects which don't involve use as a desktop. In fact—from what I've seen—only a small percentage of Pis are actually used as day-to-day computing devices. But in addition to the Pi, there is Pine64 which is exclusively sold as a "Desktop" platform with both laptops and workstations. But I was talking more about the number of apps available on the platform than the number of units sold. Software support for Windows ARM is a bit of a crapshoot which makes it hard to estimate what's out there.

kd913 6y ago
It may not majority be used as a desktop, but it is marketed as such. You go to the raspberry pi store in Cambridge, and the first thing you see is it's use as a desktop. The use cases for the Raspberry PI is ridiculously varied which I think reinforces it's application support relative to Windows on ARM. I have seen it used for openstack development, as a desktop, home theatre pc, pihole, nextcloud instance, emulator etc... I haven't really found software that I can't just install/use. Can you say the same for any windows on arm deployment? Especially if they are only just coming out with mainstream support for OpenJDK and Electron support.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  You are talking to the choir here. In fact the alternative uses for the Pi are arguably as interesting/ important to its significance as a platform. A lot of little side projects which the Pi gets used for now used to be low end Windows boxes.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

Spooky23 6y ago

My raspberry pi alerts if there is too much water in my basement sump. No desktop there, and I suspect for most Pi's. If Windows is in 3rd place for desktops, it's because of sales of ARM based Chromebooks, not Raspberry Pi.

coldtea 6y ago

>I think market evidence points to the contrary. The Raspberry Pi is a fully fledged Linux Desktop, it's running and marketed with full fledged desktop software. Last I checked 25 million units have been sold. That's a statistical error level compared to the number of PCs in the world. And even the premise is wrong. The "Raspberry Pi" is not bought as a "fully fledged Linux Desktop" (whether it's marketed as such or not), but used mostly for special utility purposes, from automation and DIY experiments to multimedia servers and such... Even if you add all Linux desktop machines, it's like 2% or something...

kd913 6y ago
We aren't comparing it to the total number of PCs in the world and that marketshare relevance. I am sure there aren't particularly accurate statistics for that usage anyway. This is a comparison between Linux on ARM and Windows on ARM. Not against Windows vs Linux as a whole. I assume this is in the context of future consumer desktop platforms on ARM hardware. In that context, OEMs who want to release a functional desktop product with ARM chips would find it a lot easier/appealing with ARM than on Windows at present. In that context, Linux on ARM is vastly ahead of Windows of ARM. My argument is that the total number of raspberry pis being used a Linux ARM desktop outstrips the amount of Windows ARM desktops (which are composed of surface RT/X tablets).

petre 6y ago

Chromebooks rather than Pis amount to some percentage of Linux "desktop" used. Dunno how much but their CPUs are definitely ARM devices.