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I have always taken "the year of Linux on the Desktop" to mean the year when a non-technical person can easily acquire a computer that does everything they need

I have always taken "the year of Linux on the Desktop" to mean the year when a non-technical person can easily acquire a computer that does everything they need or desire a computer to do, and runs an entirely open-source OS with Linux at its core. The literal reading of "Linux runs on a desktop computer" is one that has been fulfilled since Torvalds first released it. It is one that has been fulfilled since before the phrase "The Year Of Linux On The Desktop" became a thing. There have been people making a Linux machine running one "friendly" distro or another their daily driver for most of Linux' existence. But if your non-technical relative goes out to buy a new computer, they're gonna either buy a Windows machine or a Mac. They're probably never heard of Linux unless you've talked to them about it. Where's the ads on their favorite shows and sites telling them about Linux? Where's the prominent computer manufacturer without an exclusivity deal with Microsoft trumpeting how their free OS makes for a better product? Given how many people's computing needs now seem to be served entirely by an Android phone, then perhaps we have passed the Year of Linux on the Palmtop without anyone noticing because they are still focused on computers with multitasking, windowed OSs, designed for large screens. Is the proprietary part of Android small enough for it to count as "Linux" to you? When your non-technical relative can go into Office Depot, browse the shelves, find an assortment of computers all proudly declaring they run Linux, and take it home and run everything they are buying a computer to run, then it is TYOTLD. Linux runs in a lot of places now, and that's great! But if you walk into a random house that owns a computer, you're probably not gonna find Linux on it, and thus it is not TYOTLD, despite you having run it as your daily driver desktop for the past ten years.

egypturnash 4y ago
TYOTLD means that when you say "how do I run the standard tools that anyone doing what I am doing uses", you are just pointed to where to install them. If you are pointed to a free, open-source tool, it is because that is what everyone uses now because it beat out any paid, closed-source alternatives. TYOTLD means that Microsoft's office suite runs on Linux, or that MS Office has been replaced by something that does across the entire world of office work. TYOTLD means that all of Adobe's tools runs on Linux, or have been replaced by something that does across the entire creative industry. TYOTLD means Linux won and Microsoft and Apple are both bit players.
- egypturnash 4y ago
  If you are preparing a reply about how long it's been TYOTLD for you: great! You've been living in the future! But like Gibson said, the future may be here for you but it's not evenly distributed. Do you want it to be more evenly distributed? Then when people tell you why it's not here for them, listen to them instead of dismissing "all these new problems we've just thought about", and put some effort into helping to solve some of them. Polish up those compatibility layers to make it easy to run things written for Windows. Improve the open-source tools aiming at replacing the commercial ones. Help create and fund advertising campaigns, help figure out how to pay the people doing all of these things for their time and expertise.

egypturnash 4y ago

TYOTLD means that when you say "how do I run the standard tools that anyone doing what I am doing uses", you are just pointed to where to install them. If you are pointed to a free, open-source tool, it is because that is what everyone uses now because it beat out any paid, closed-source alternatives. TYOTLD means that Microsoft's office suite runs on Linux, or that MS Office has been replaced by something that does across the entire world of office work. TYOTLD means that all of Adobe's tools runs on Linux, or have been replaced by something that does across the entire creative industry. TYOTLD means Linux won and Microsoft and Apple are both bit players.

egypturnash 4y ago
If you are preparing a reply about how long it's been TYOTLD for you: great! You've been living in the future! But like Gibson said, the future may be here for you but it's not evenly distributed. Do you want it to be more evenly distributed? Then when people tell you why it's not here for them, listen to them instead of dismissing "all these new problems we've just thought about", and put some effort into helping to solve some of them. Polish up those compatibility layers to make it easy to run things written for Windows. Improve the open-source tools aiming at replacing the commercial ones. Help create and fund advertising campaigns, help figure out how to pay the people doing all of these things for their time and expertise.