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There are several reasons for Windows popularity today: Active Directory - The centralised control it gives corporates. Games and DirectX - Although this seem

by peteri 5y ago

There are several reasons for Windows popularity today: Active Directory - The centralised control it gives corporates. Games and DirectX - Although this seems to be getting to be less of a reason. Backwards compatibility - Windows 16 bit apps are now dead, but you can take the VB6 code I wrote pre-Y2K and run it today. Linux fragmentation - It's difficult to support all the Linux variations with a single binary (or at least it feels that way to me) I suspect it has a very high support cost. Related to this is the GPL and it's potential to force release of source code.

Krasnol 5y ago
There is also one reason many here don't see: you don't have to bother with the console. Everything can be installed and run with a mouse. Don't take me wrong. I understand the good sides of console programs. You can do a lot there but your average user doesn't care.
- dotancohen 5y ago
  What popular end-user software cannot be installed and run with a mouse in e.g. Ubuntu?
  - Krasnol 5y ago
    The fact that you had to narrow it down to some arbitrary "popular" category to not touch the topic speaks for itself.
    - dotancohen 5y ago
      Alright then, what unpopular end-user software cannot be installed and run with a mouse in e.g. Ubuntu?
      - addicted 5y ago
        I’m also struggling to understand why it would be difficult to create a mouse driven GUI for any CLI based app. In fact, there are apps that can do that automatically. Admittedly these apps tend to create not very good UIs, but the point is that it’s not hard at all.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - Silhouette 5y ago
    Not long ago I upgraded an Ubuntu system to 21.04. It took me more than half an hour of looking around to realise that the "Ubuntu Software" screen everyone was referring to was a separate application that wasn't installed by default. Then I could look up the CLI command to install it via apt. That sort of thing would be a small (though very irritating) waste of time for many of us on HN but it could have been a showstopper for other potential Ubuntu users who aren't technically inclined and just want a system that works. Unfortunately in my experience that still sums up desktop Linux in a nutshell. You probably can fix just about anything if you know what you're doing. If you do, you get the benefits that come with running Linux, including avoiding the kind of controlling behaviours we see from Microsoft and Apple in their desktop platforms these days. But the reality is that most normal people won't know what they're doing to that degree and so can't fix the problems. So continues the cycle where "normal people" don't use Linux and so there is no big market for commercial applications and so most commercial applications don't run on Linux and so "normal people" don't use Linux.
    - dotancohen 5y ago
      The "Ubuntu Software" screen should be installed by default. > Ubuntu Software Center is a one-stop shop for installing and removing software on your computer. > It is included in Ubuntu 9.10 and later. > - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuSoftwareCenter
      - Silhouette 5y ago
        The "Ubuntu Software" screen should be installed by default. "Should" being the operative word unfortunately. It clearly wasn't installed by default for this machine that had been upgraded through earlier versions (starting around 16 I think so well after 9.10), nor was there any obvious indication to the user that it was missing and available to be added. There were some other oddities after that upgrade, for example Firefox no longer appearing for one-click launching from the default UI layout when it had before, so the lack of Ubuntu Software (and, apparently, its underlying apt package) wasn't the only anomaly. It just wasn't a polished experience that a non-technical user should have to deal with.
- jenscow 5y ago
  Honestly, the only examples I can think of which support your claim are development related tools/libraries.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  I've definitely had to use a windows console on occasion, and regedit which is at a similar level or worse.

by peteri 5y ago

Krasnol 5y ago

There is also one reason many here don't see: you don't have to bother with the console. Everything can be installed and run with a mouse. Don't take me wrong. I understand the good sides of console programs. You can do a lot there but your average user doesn't care.

dotancohen 5y ago
What popular end-user software cannot be installed and run with a mouse in e.g. Ubuntu?
- Krasnol 5y ago
  The fact that you had to narrow it down to some arbitrary "popular" category to not touch the topic speaks for itself.
  - dotancohen 5y ago
    Alright then, what unpopular end-user software cannot be installed and run with a mouse in e.g. Ubuntu?
    - addicted 5y ago
      I’m also struggling to understand why it would be difficult to create a mouse driven GUI for any CLI based app. In fact, there are apps that can do that automatically. Admittedly these apps tend to create not very good UIs, but the point is that it’s not hard at all.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
- Silhouette 5y ago
  Not long ago I upgraded an Ubuntu system to 21.04. It took me more than half an hour of looking around to realise that the "Ubuntu Software" screen everyone was referring to was a separate application that wasn't installed by default. Then I could look up the CLI command to install it via apt. That sort of thing would be a small (though very irritating) waste of time for many of us on HN but it could have been a showstopper for other potential Ubuntu users who aren't technically inclined and just want a system that works. Unfortunately in my experience that still sums up desktop Linux in a nutshell. You probably can fix just about anything if you know what you're doing. If you do, you get the benefits that come with running Linux, including avoiding the kind of controlling behaviours we see from Microsoft and Apple in their desktop platforms these days. But the reality is that most normal people won't know what they're doing to that degree and so can't fix the problems. So continues the cycle where "normal people" don't use Linux and so there is no big market for commercial applications and so most commercial applications don't run on Linux and so "normal people" don't use Linux.
  - dotancohen 5y ago
    The "Ubuntu Software" screen should be installed by default. > Ubuntu Software Center is a one-stop shop for installing and removing software on your computer. > It is included in Ubuntu 9.10 and later. > - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuSoftwareCenter
    - Silhouette 5y ago
      The "Ubuntu Software" screen should be installed by default. "Should" being the operative word unfortunately. It clearly wasn't installed by default for this machine that had been upgraded through earlier versions (starting around 16 I think so well after 9.10), nor was there any obvious indication to the user that it was missing and available to be added. There were some other oddities after that upgrade, for example Firefox no longer appearing for one-click launching from the default UI layout when it had before, so the lack of Ubuntu Software (and, apparently, its underlying apt package) wasn't the only anomaly. It just wasn't a polished experience that a non-technical user should have to deal with.
jenscow 5y ago
Honestly, the only examples I can think of which support your claim are development related tools/libraries.
Dylan16807 5y ago
I've definitely had to use a windows console on occasion, and regedit which is at a similar level or worse.