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I wonder why they keep making these articles. Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. It is on

I wonder why they keep making these articles. Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. It is on virtually all servers on the Internet, the majority OS on phones, its in many TVs and STBs and streaming sticks, its one of the few OSes ever in space, its one of the few OSes ever on Mars, and it is also the OS behind ChromeOS (which that article mistakenly breaks out as its own numbers; so by their own admission, its at least 7%). The largest desktop OS on that list? Windows.... made by a company who makes more money off Linux than anything else, is the largest corp contributor to Linux, and has far more Linux machines internally than Windows ones, and hires software developers who do not develop for Windows.

Fatnino 3y ago
What os hasnt been to space? The laptops on the ISS run windows and they have ipads up there too.
borissk 3y ago
>> is the largest corp contributor to Linux You're mostly right, but this is incorrect. MS was the largest kernel contributor for a few days 10 years ago, but overall companies like Intel, Google, Oracle and IBM contribute a lot more.
- pabs3 3y ago
  Some stats about that for Linux 6.4: https://lwn.net/Articles/936113/ https://lwn.net/Articles/936113/
bruce511 3y ago
And yet not having a presence on the desktop stings a bit doesn't it :). You can conquer the world, dominate every space and yet there's thus little voice inside saying "but you're not good enough. See over there, in that one space, you're a weakling. " Welcome to the human condition.
- ojbyrne 3y ago
  Honestly, it feels like mentioning the concept of "desktop" seems a little weak, like someone from 2010. Chances are you have linux running in a VM, or container, or phone, or other device right beside you.
  - pjmlp 3y ago
    Indeed, if we are speaking about the Linux kernel, which isn't what most of these articles are about.
    - blooalien 3y ago
      Except that Linux is the kernel. Anything beyond that is "UserSpace"/"distro".
      - rhn_mk1 3y ago
        For careless usage, "Linux" means Linux distro.
        sokoloff 3y ago
        In a world where literally can also mean figuratively, Linux can also mean the distro.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- stingraycharles 3y ago
  I'm sure it stings Microsoft a lot more that Windows isn't the dominant server OS.
  - bruce511 3y ago
    I'm sure it stings a lot! Windows Server is expensive, and a huge money earner for MS. They currently have around 20% market share (as Internet servers - much higher inside business LANs), which is a very nice chunk. And I'm sure encourages them to keep working on it. Frankly the tooling for MS server keeps it in the hunt - they really understand the concept of making things easier to use.
nomilk 3y ago
> its one of the few OSes ever on Mars When explaining linux to skeptical non-techies, I tell them it's the OS running the nuclear submarines right now. Suddenly they're more confident it can handle their ecommerce dashboard.
- deaddodo 3y ago
  That's a bit of a mistatement/overstatement. That's like saying the Windows XP thin-client at Barnes and Noble runs the, mostly Linux/Unix, backend. For US nuclear subs: All of the core components and electronics use a custom RTOS; older ones built in Ada, newer ones built in C++. The "control computers" (the computers that humans interface with to tell core components what to do) aren't running anything like Ubuntu or Fedora, but instead run a heavily ruggedized and customized Linux system based on the Titanium suite from Star Lab. For UK subs, they run a similar custom OS for the modules and electronics and (until 2017 or so, at least) run Windows XP for their control computers. I have no idea what other nations use; but I would assume they are similarly setup. That's not to disavow the fact that clearly the US govt trusts those Linux computers to be reliable, thus their investment in them. So it is an accomplishment, they just don't "run" anything.
  - klabb3 3y ago
    > (the computers that humans interface with to tell core components what to do) aren't running anything like Ubuntu or Fedora, but instead run a heavily ruggedized and customized Linux system based on the Titanium suite from Star Lab. That’s not to be minimized. Sounds like very much on the critical path, and definitely not some shitty infotainment sidecar. If that crashed, you couldn’t control core functions of the sub? Are there overrides? Btw, thanks for sharing these details. I would never have learnt this. Love HN sometimes.
    - deaddodo 3y ago
      > That’s not to be minimized. Sounds like very much on the critical path, and definitely not some shitty infotainment sidecar. If that crashed, you couldn’t control core functions of the sub? Are there overrides? Sure, it's an important component of the entire system. Much as a steering wheel is an important component of a car, it still doesn't "run" the car. You need to interface, yes obviously; but if the machine crashes the sub operates merrily along like usual and any of the other control computers can continue to give it commands. As to overrides, if you lost every single control computer and the direct interfaces (the analog control boards you see in crucial areas of naval vessels) then the overall system has a fallback procedure. It's not documented or public knowledge, but assumedly it would surface and activate an emergency beacon as the vessel is crippled (and likely damaged) at that point.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
7e 3y ago
Sure, Linux is on many, many devices which have proprietary UIs. And there it does pretty well, because the kernel just provides generic functionality cheaply. It’s a commodity backend that could be swapped with another commodity backend without any users knowing or caring. Hooray. Linux is the go to choice when you could just as well be using something else that’s really cheap, like BSD. However, desktop Linux is where the product is 100% OSS. That’s the apples to apples comparison. And that’s where it can’t compete without vendors writing property code to put in front of it to make it actually work well. Server side Linux gets a lot of support from professional programmers paid by big corps. They have improved it beyond hobbyist level, and it works pretty well. And of course cheap makes up for a lot.
- throwawaylinux 3y ago
  > Sure, Linux is on many, many devices which have proprietary UIs. And there it does pretty well, because the kernel just provides generic functionality cheaply. It’s a commodity backend that could be swapped with another commodify backend without any users knowing or caring. Hooray. Sour grapes. > Linux is the go to choice when you could just as well be using something else that’s really cheap, like BSD. You actually couldn't be just as well using BSD. Corporations would love to be able to take Linux and not contribute their changes back (and that's frequently what happens when they use it internally but don't distribute it). They don't use a BSD licensed kernel in many such places (e.g., Android) because Linux is more advanced.
  - DeathArrow 3y ago
    >They don't use a BSD licensed kernel in many such places (e.g., Android) because Linux is more advanced. More advanced in what sense? There are lots of devices using BSD, so that's entirely possible.
    - throwawaylinux 3y ago
      More advanced in terms of supported features and hardware. Taking one off the top of my head that was relevant around the time Android was being developed, dynamic ticks which is important for low power operation. Linux supported this in 2007 about 5 years before FreeBSD and I think NetBSD still doesn't support it. Could not field a phone OS without that, at least not back in those days.
deaddodo 3y ago
That's a lot of words to ignore that this is very clearly talking about desktop market share. Here's a report about server market share: https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux Here's one for total device market share (quite a bit out of date, since Gartner paywalls all new reports; still it shows the general trend): https://www.computerworld.com/article/3050931/windows-comes-up-third-in-os-clash-two-years-early.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/3050931/windows-comes-... Etc. All of which agree with you. But, it turns out, most people don't care about what OS runs their toothbrush or thin client. Only their mobile device or desktop, which is why these reports are so much more popular.
Ygg2 3y ago
> Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. Yeah. But it's not its OS. The true OS of most Android installations is some propietary firmware blob.
steve1977 3y ago
The article is about desktop market share (the headline is a bit misleading).
oldgradstudent 3y ago
Also routers (at least one in each internet-connected home), NAS devices, e-book Readers, car entertainment consoles, and many more.
lopkeny12ko 3y ago
> made by a company who makes more money off Linux than anything else, is the largest corp contributor to Linux, and has far more Linux machines internally than Windows ones, and hires software developers who do not develop for Windows. Huh? This is...totally wrong. Software devs at Microsoft are supplied with Windows machines by default, a lot of software is built on Microsoft-specific technologies like C#, and most of the server footprint is Windows Server.
- fingerlocks 3y ago
  You might be surprised. My team only uses MacBooks at Microsoft. It’s true that I was forced to receive a PC, but it sits in a drawer collecting dust and only gets booted up when compliance throws a tantrum.
  - andirk 3y ago
    Can you elaborate on this? I have always been curious when a group works on an inferior (in terms of popularity!) product such as Ask Jeeves how they themselves work day to day in the workplace. So you worked for Microsoft and didn't use their flagship product?
    - fingerlocks 3y ago
      What do you think the flagship product is? It’s not Windows, if we are ranking by revenue, it’s barely hanging in third place. I don’t think it’s too shocking when you consider that most of the Office products need to developed and compiled for other operating systems, and obviously Azure is not Windows dependent. Culture has changed, nobody cares if you use a Mac. Hell I bet half the employees are taking Teams meetings on their iPhones.
nextlevelwizard 3y ago
I guess it is more that if you dont know that you are using Linux then you aren't. For anyone who cares about these stats using Linux is the most important thing about computing.
phendrenad2 3y ago
They keep making these articles because your points are irrelevant to the discussion here. People want Linux desktop market share, because they know what the more market share Linux gains, the better the experience will be (more testing, more apps ported, etc.) Nobody who is cheering on the 3% number is going to be satisfied by obscure facts like "Android is Linux" (it isn't to the users of locked-down phones) and "Servers run Linux" (does that matter in the slightest to the person loading the webpage?)
DeathArrow 3y ago
Yet, there's no such thing as Linux operating system. What runs on those machines are thousands of Linux distros, each being an operating system. You can't get an app designed for Android to run on Linux Mint with ease.
einpoklum 3y ago
> the majority OS on phones The kernel is not the operating system, even if it is a key component of it. Android phones do use the Linux kernel - well, not exactly; some kind of modified version of it - but they do not use the GNU/Linux operating system. The OS is different in many ways: Filesystem hierarchy, daemons/services, graphics stack, etc.
blackoil 3y ago
> Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS Depends on what and why Linux. Original dream/vision selling it was a libre OS developed in the Bazaar that will give user full control over their devices against the tyranny of the corporations. You can't with straight face claim that all the billions of phones and embedded devices represent that freedom. As about kernel, it may be BSD, Linux or maybe even NT or Plan 9, it honestly doesn't matter.
Bancakes 3y ago
So literally everything other than normal users having a polished out PC OS.
DeathArrow 3y ago
2024 will be the year of Linux on the bathroom shelves if all electric toothbrushes will run it. :)
bmitc 3y ago
> Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. Is there a source for that?
coldtea 3y ago
>Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. Yes, but that's kind of a moot point. The decades old dream was "Linux on the Desktop" (not just as some 3% market share or "works for me" - it worked for people in 1999 too), but overtaking Windows as the desktop OS for the masses). And of course all those billion of Android devices, hide everything about what people meant and wanted from the Linux experience. It's just the kernel and some basic userland stuff, on top of which everything else is totally foreign, closed down, and tied to proprietary services under Google's control (with Samsung and co's own touches). Linux is so irrelevant to the visible part of Android's functionality, that Google could very well change the backend to Fuchsia when that's ready, and those billion devices would be un-Linuxed within a few years, as they get old, and their owners replace them by new Fuchsia running smartphones.
krisknez 3y ago
Everyone knows Linux is the number one for servers and embeded devices but the desktop market share is special. It's interesting to see how over the years the user experience of Linux Desktop ia getting better, bug are being fixed, we get better software, desktop environments are getting more features e.g.
- bannedbybros 3y ago
  [dead]
- pjmlp 3y ago
  Servers yes, embedded devices not really.
mkl 3y ago
> The largest desktop OS on that list? Windows.... made by a company who makes more money off Linux than anything else, is the largest corp contributor to Linux Citation needed, I think. Microsoft barely makes or doesn't even make the top 20 kernel contributors for current releases: 6.4 (#20): https://lwn.net/Articles/936113/ https://lwn.net/Articles/936113/, 6.3: https://lwn.net/Articles/929582/ https://lwn.net/Articles/929582/, 6.2: https://lwn.net/Articles/923410/ https://lwn.net/Articles/923410/, 6.1 (#19): https://lwn.net/Articles/915435/ https://lwn.net/Articles/915435/
eddieroger 3y ago
> 19XX will be the year of Linux on the desktop > 20XX will be the year of Linux on the desktop They've been saying it so long it's part of our psyche. It doesn't matter the other places Linux is running, it hasn't conquered that one place they've been trying to conquer since the start. You never get over the one who got away.
- earthboundkid 3y ago
  > 19XX will be the year of Linux on the desktop When they said it back in the 1920s it was sort of confusing, tbh.
  - Ruq 3y ago
    Time Travelers, man.
- gugol 3y ago
  [dead]
- gregmac 3y ago
  > it hasn't conquered that one place they've been trying to conquer since the start Who is "they"? There's are a heck of a lot of people happily building [software for] Linux systems that give precisely zero care to the success of Linux desktop.
- Zambyte 3y ago
  > it hasn't conquered that one place they've been trying to conquer since the start. Who is "they" here?
111111IIIIIII 3y ago
That's cope.
eternityforest 3y ago
The desktop is a great test of whether an OS is actually great, or it's just free and happens to work really well because servers have professional IT staff and powerful machines. After so many years, they still don't have reliable "Every package even the ones not in the repos just works" status. It's mostly there, like, 99.9%, but stuff still breaks more than on Windows or Android. I suspect they never will, except for things like NixOS. I used to think Linux was behind because of legacy reasons and game companies not being interested... but now I think Linux itself has something to do with it, and we should use that as motivation to improve. Right now I think NixOS, or just accepting Snap packages, or waiting for Flatpak, might be the best/only chance, aside from moving to a batteries included OS like Android. Seems like Nix really just needs GUI admin tools, everything else seems to be fairly polished.
- pas 3y ago
  Meh. I switched (back) to Ubuntu this January after a few years of Windows, because my AMD CPU+GPU setup kept BSODing on Windows, it kept failing to wake up from sleep (and because I got fed up with a lot of other nits), and ... surprisingly most of the things just work. Brother printer? Next-next-finish. As it was many years ago on Windows. (The same printer takes an intensive 30 minutes of cursing and downloading some godforsaken software.) Steam and Lutris (StarCraft 2!) work pretty well, Detroit Become Human just works. (Enable proton in Steam, and click install and play.) (I removed snap, however, as it's just in the way, but I don't remember what was my exact problem with it.)
brundolf 3y ago
Charitably: a wider userbase on desktop means there's more attention given to consumer hardware support, vendor/driver support, app support, desktop environment and distro work, etc etc, all of which makes the experience better for the people who already use it on desktop. So I think that's a good reason for them to be excited
hot_gril 3y ago
Because some people are trying to advance Linux as a desktop OS, which is a good idea.
tekknik 3y ago
It’s interesting to me that your top comment today when I made this same statement years ago and got downvoted. yet nothing has changed. oh well.

Fatnino 3y ago

What os hasnt been to space? The laptops on the ISS run windows and they have ipads up there too.

borissk 3y ago

>> is the largest corp contributor to Linux You're mostly right, but this is incorrect. MS was the largest kernel contributor for a few days 10 years ago, but overall companies like Intel, Google, Oracle and IBM contribute a lot more.

pabs3 3y ago
Some stats about that for Linux 6.4: https://lwn.net/Articles/936113/ https://lwn.net/Articles/936113/

bruce511 3y ago

And yet not having a presence on the desktop stings a bit doesn't it :). You can conquer the world, dominate every space and yet there's thus little voice inside saying "but you're not good enough. See over there, in that one space, you're a weakling. " Welcome to the human condition.

ojbyrne 3y ago
Honestly, it feels like mentioning the concept of "desktop" seems a little weak, like someone from 2010. Chances are you have linux running in a VM, or container, or phone, or other device right beside you.
- pjmlp 3y ago
  Indeed, if we are speaking about the Linux kernel, which isn't what most of these articles are about.
  - blooalien 3y ago
    Except that Linux is the kernel. Anything beyond that is "UserSpace"/"distro".
    - rhn_mk1 3y ago
      For careless usage, "Linux" means Linux distro.
      - sokoloff 3y ago
        In a world where literally can also mean figuratively, Linux can also mean the distro.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
stingraycharles 3y ago
I'm sure it stings Microsoft a lot more that Windows isn't the dominant server OS.
- bruce511 3y ago
  I'm sure it stings a lot! Windows Server is expensive, and a huge money earner for MS. They currently have around 20% market share (as Internet servers - much higher inside business LANs), which is a very nice chunk. And I'm sure encourages them to keep working on it. Frankly the tooling for MS server keeps it in the hunt - they really understand the concept of making things easier to use.

nomilk 3y ago

> its one of the few OSes ever on Mars When explaining linux to skeptical non-techies, I tell them it's the OS running the nuclear submarines right now. Suddenly they're more confident it can handle their ecommerce dashboard.

deaddodo 3y ago
That's a bit of a mistatement/overstatement. That's like saying the Windows XP thin-client at Barnes and Noble runs the, mostly Linux/Unix, backend. For US nuclear subs: All of the core components and electronics use a custom RTOS; older ones built in Ada, newer ones built in C++. The "control computers" (the computers that humans interface with to tell core components what to do) aren't running anything like Ubuntu or Fedora, but instead run a heavily ruggedized and customized Linux system based on the Titanium suite from Star Lab. For UK subs, they run a similar custom OS for the modules and electronics and (until 2017 or so, at least) run Windows XP for their control computers. I have no idea what other nations use; but I would assume they are similarly setup. That's not to disavow the fact that clearly the US govt trusts those Linux computers to be reliable, thus their investment in them. So it is an accomplishment, they just don't "run" anything.
- klabb3 3y ago
  > (the computers that humans interface with to tell core components what to do) aren't running anything like Ubuntu or Fedora, but instead run a heavily ruggedized and customized Linux system based on the Titanium suite from Star Lab. That’s not to be minimized. Sounds like very much on the critical path, and definitely not some shitty infotainment sidecar. If that crashed, you couldn’t control core functions of the sub? Are there overrides? Btw, thanks for sharing these details. I would never have learnt this. Love HN sometimes.
  - deaddodo 3y ago
    > That’s not to be minimized. Sounds like very much on the critical path, and definitely not some shitty infotainment sidecar. If that crashed, you couldn’t control core functions of the sub? Are there overrides? Sure, it's an important component of the entire system. Much as a steering wheel is an important component of a car, it still doesn't "run" the car. You need to interface, yes obviously; but if the machine crashes the sub operates merrily along like usual and any of the other control computers can continue to give it commands. As to overrides, if you lost every single control computer and the direct interfaces (the analog control boards you see in crucial areas of naval vessels) then the overall system has a fallback procedure. It's not documented or public knowledge, but assumedly it would surface and activate an emergency beacon as the vessel is crippled (and likely damaged) at that point.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

7e 3y ago

Sure, Linux is on many, many devices which have proprietary UIs. And there it does pretty well, because the kernel just provides generic functionality cheaply. It’s a commodity backend that could be swapped with another commodity backend without any users knowing or caring. Hooray. Linux is the go to choice when you could just as well be using something else that’s really cheap, like BSD. However, desktop Linux is where the product is 100% OSS. That’s the apples to apples comparison. And that’s where it can’t compete without vendors writing property code to put in front of it to make it actually work well. Server side Linux gets a lot of support from professional programmers paid by big corps. They have improved it beyond hobbyist level, and it works pretty well. And of course cheap makes up for a lot.

throwawaylinux 3y ago
> Sure, Linux is on many, many devices which have proprietary UIs. And there it does pretty well, because the kernel just provides generic functionality cheaply. It’s a commodity backend that could be swapped with another commodify backend without any users knowing or caring. Hooray. Sour grapes. > Linux is the go to choice when you could just as well be using something else that’s really cheap, like BSD. You actually couldn't be just as well using BSD. Corporations would love to be able to take Linux and not contribute their changes back (and that's frequently what happens when they use it internally but don't distribute it). They don't use a BSD licensed kernel in many such places (e.g., Android) because Linux is more advanced.
- DeathArrow 3y ago
  >They don't use a BSD licensed kernel in many such places (e.g., Android) because Linux is more advanced. More advanced in what sense? There are lots of devices using BSD, so that's entirely possible.
  - throwawaylinux 3y ago
    More advanced in terms of supported features and hardware. Taking one off the top of my head that was relevant around the time Android was being developed, dynamic ticks which is important for low power operation. Linux supported this in 2007 about 5 years before FreeBSD and I think NetBSD still doesn't support it. Could not field a phone OS without that, at least not back in those days.

deaddodo 3y ago

That's a lot of words to ignore that this is very clearly talking about desktop market share. Here's a report about server market share: https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux Here's one for total device market share (quite a bit out of date, since Gartner paywalls all new reports; still it shows the general trend): https://www.computerworld.com/article/3050931/windows-comes-up-third-in-os-clash-two-years-early.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/3050931/windows-comes-... Etc. All of which agree with you. But, it turns out, most people don't care about what OS runs their toothbrush or thin client. Only their mobile device or desktop, which is why these reports are so much more popular.

Ygg2 3y ago

> Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. Yeah. But it's not its OS. The true OS of most Android installations is some propietary firmware blob.

steve1977 3y ago

The article is about desktop market share (the headline is a bit misleading).

oldgradstudent 3y ago

Also routers (at least one in each internet-connected home), NAS devices, e-book Readers, car entertainment consoles, and many more.

lopkeny12ko 3y ago

> made by a company who makes more money off Linux than anything else, is the largest corp contributor to Linux, and has far more Linux machines internally than Windows ones, and hires software developers who do not develop for Windows. Huh? This is...totally wrong. Software devs at Microsoft are supplied with Windows machines by default, a lot of software is built on Microsoft-specific technologies like C#, and most of the server footprint is Windows Server.

fingerlocks 3y ago
You might be surprised. My team only uses MacBooks at Microsoft. It’s true that I was forced to receive a PC, but it sits in a drawer collecting dust and only gets booted up when compliance throws a tantrum.
- andirk 3y ago
  Can you elaborate on this? I have always been curious when a group works on an inferior (in terms of popularity!) product such as Ask Jeeves how they themselves work day to day in the workplace. So you worked for Microsoft and didn't use their flagship product?
  - fingerlocks 3y ago
    What do you think the flagship product is? It’s not Windows, if we are ranking by revenue, it’s barely hanging in third place. I don’t think it’s too shocking when you consider that most of the Office products need to developed and compiled for other operating systems, and obviously Azure is not Windows dependent. Culture has changed, nobody cares if you use a Mac. Hell I bet half the employees are taking Teams meetings on their iPhones.

nextlevelwizard 3y ago

I guess it is more that if you dont know that you are using Linux then you aren't. For anyone who cares about these stats using Linux is the most important thing about computing.

phendrenad2 3y ago

They keep making these articles because your points are irrelevant to the discussion here. People want Linux desktop market share, because they know what the more market share Linux gains, the better the experience will be (more testing, more apps ported, etc.) Nobody who is cheering on the 3% number is going to be satisfied by obscure facts like "Android is Linux" (it isn't to the users of locked-down phones) and "Servers run Linux" (does that matter in the slightest to the person loading the webpage?)

DeathArrow 3y ago

Yet, there's no such thing as Linux operating system. What runs on those machines are thousands of Linux distros, each being an operating system. You can't get an app designed for Android to run on Linux Mint with ease.

einpoklum 3y ago

> the majority OS on phones The kernel is not the operating system, even if it is a key component of it. Android phones do use the Linux kernel - well, not exactly; some kind of modified version of it - but they do not use the GNU/Linux operating system. The OS is different in many ways: Filesystem hierarchy, daemons/services, graphics stack, etc.

blackoil 3y ago

> Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS Depends on what and why Linux. Original dream/vision selling it was a libre OS developed in the Bazaar that will give user full control over their devices against the tyranny of the corporations. You can't with straight face claim that all the billions of phones and embedded devices represent that freedom. As about kernel, it may be BSD, Linux or maybe even NT or Plan 9, it honestly doesn't matter.

Bancakes 3y ago

So literally everything other than normal users having a polished out PC OS.

DeathArrow 3y ago

2024 will be the year of Linux on the bathroom shelves if all electric toothbrushes will run it. :)

bmitc 3y ago

> Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. Is there a source for that?

coldtea 3y ago

>Linux is on more computers both today and all of the computers ever made put together than any other OS. Yes, but that's kind of a moot point. The decades old dream was "Linux on the Desktop" (not just as some 3% market share or "works for me" - it worked for people in 1999 too), but overtaking Windows as the desktop OS for the masses). And of course all those billion of Android devices, hide everything about what people meant and wanted from the Linux experience. It's just the kernel and some basic userland stuff, on top of which everything else is totally foreign, closed down, and tied to proprietary services under Google's control (with Samsung and co's own touches). Linux is so irrelevant to the visible part of Android's functionality, that Google could very well change the backend to Fuchsia when that's ready, and those billion devices would be un-Linuxed within a few years, as they get old, and their owners replace them by new Fuchsia running smartphones.

krisknez 3y ago

Everyone knows Linux is the number one for servers and embeded devices but the desktop market share is special. It's interesting to see how over the years the user experience of Linux Desktop ia getting better, bug are being fixed, we get better software, desktop environments are getting more features e.g.

bannedbybros 3y ago
[dead]
pjmlp 3y ago
Servers yes, embedded devices not really.

mkl 3y ago

> The largest desktop OS on that list? Windows.... made by a company who makes more money off Linux than anything else, is the largest corp contributor to Linux Citation needed, I think. Microsoft barely makes or doesn't even make the top 20 kernel contributors for current releases: 6.4 (#20): https://lwn.net/Articles/936113/ https://lwn.net/Articles/936113/, 6.3: https://lwn.net/Articles/929582/ https://lwn.net/Articles/929582/, 6.2: https://lwn.net/Articles/923410/ https://lwn.net/Articles/923410/, 6.1 (#19): https://lwn.net/Articles/915435/ https://lwn.net/Articles/915435/

eddieroger 3y ago

> 19XX will be the year of Linux on the desktop > 20XX will be the year of Linux on the desktop They've been saying it so long it's part of our psyche. It doesn't matter the other places Linux is running, it hasn't conquered that one place they've been trying to conquer since the start. You never get over the one who got away.

earthboundkid 3y ago
> 19XX will be the year of Linux on the desktop When they said it back in the 1920s it was sort of confusing, tbh.
- Ruq 3y ago
  Time Travelers, man.
gugol 3y ago
[dead]
gregmac 3y ago
> it hasn't conquered that one place they've been trying to conquer since the start Who is "they"? There's are a heck of a lot of people happily building [software for] Linux systems that give precisely zero care to the success of Linux desktop.
Zambyte 3y ago
> it hasn't conquered that one place they've been trying to conquer since the start. Who is "they" here?

111111IIIIIII 3y ago

That's cope.

eternityforest 3y ago

The desktop is a great test of whether an OS is actually great, or it's just free and happens to work really well because servers have professional IT staff and powerful machines. After so many years, they still don't have reliable "Every package even the ones not in the repos just works" status. It's mostly there, like, 99.9%, but stuff still breaks more than on Windows or Android. I suspect they never will, except for things like NixOS. I used to think Linux was behind because of legacy reasons and game companies not being interested... but now I think Linux itself has something to do with it, and we should use that as motivation to improve. Right now I think NixOS, or just accepting Snap packages, or waiting for Flatpak, might be the best/only chance, aside from moving to a batteries included OS like Android. Seems like Nix really just needs GUI admin tools, everything else seems to be fairly polished.

pas 3y ago
Meh. I switched (back) to Ubuntu this January after a few years of Windows, because my AMD CPU+GPU setup kept BSODing on Windows, it kept failing to wake up from sleep (and because I got fed up with a lot of other nits), and ... surprisingly most of the things just work. Brother printer? Next-next-finish. As it was many years ago on Windows. (The same printer takes an intensive 30 minutes of cursing and downloading some godforsaken software.) Steam and Lutris (StarCraft 2!) work pretty well, Detroit Become Human just works. (Enable proton in Steam, and click install and play.) (I removed snap, however, as it's just in the way, but I don't remember what was my exact problem with it.)

brundolf 3y ago

Charitably: a wider userbase on desktop means there's more attention given to consumer hardware support, vendor/driver support, app support, desktop environment and distro work, etc etc, all of which makes the experience better for the people who already use it on desktop. So I think that's a good reason for them to be excited

hot_gril 3y ago

Because some people are trying to advance Linux as a desktop OS, which is a good idea.

tekknik 3y ago

It’s interesting to me that your top comment today when I made this same statement years ago and got downvoted. yet nothing has changed. oh well.