3 ms·

The main reason there will never be a “year of Linux on the desktop” is that desktops became irrelevant before Microsoft became… whatever it is now.

Maken 2y ago
Another ad company?
- bee_rider 2y ago
  Yeah. But like, also an ad company with no QA? Like Google is somewhat evil I think, but they are intensely competent in a way that Microsoft is not.
- jyrkesh 2y ago
  Microsoft is now largely a public cloud company, also supporting a very healthy suite of B2B productivity tools. Which makes the B2C ad stuff they shove into Windows all the more infuriating: it's a drop in the bucket relative to their other product verticals.
  - kbolino 2y ago
    I think it's because Windows as a line of business is still expected to turn some kind of a profit, even though operating systems are not profit centers anymore and haven't been for some time. Whereas, Apple and Google view their operating systems as just necessary infrastructure to support profitable ventures.
api 2y ago
Desktops are irrelevant? Other than a few things does any actual work happen on mobile devices? I think it would be correct to say that present-day desktops are mature and stable and aren't rapidly changing because they fill a mature niche. Mobile does seem to have decimated the casual computing and much of the non-work-related computing niche, at least for non-technical people. I wonder if there's an argument to be made that desktops should become more technical and power user oriented since that is now their niche.
- bee_rider 2y ago
  I think “year of Linux in the desktop” has always been understood to be in the context of consumer devices. Otherwise, I mean, it’s always been year of Unix on the workstation/server, right? With room to quibble in the prosumer space.
- maratc 2y ago
  > Other than a few things does any actual work happen on mobile devices? Outside of browsers, not much work happens on desktops either...
  - robotnikman 2y ago
    The huge amount of people still in office cubicles typing on spreadsheets all day would disagree

Maken 2y ago

Another ad company?

bee_rider 2y ago
Yeah. But like, also an ad company with no QA? Like Google is somewhat evil I think, but they are intensely competent in a way that Microsoft is not.
jyrkesh 2y ago
Microsoft is now largely a public cloud company, also supporting a very healthy suite of B2B productivity tools. Which makes the B2C ad stuff they shove into Windows all the more infuriating: it's a drop in the bucket relative to their other product verticals.
- kbolino 2y ago
  I think it's because Windows as a line of business is still expected to turn some kind of a profit, even though operating systems are not profit centers anymore and haven't been for some time. Whereas, Apple and Google view their operating systems as just necessary infrastructure to support profitable ventures.

api 2y ago

Desktops are irrelevant? Other than a few things does any actual work happen on mobile devices? I think it would be correct to say that present-day desktops are mature and stable and aren't rapidly changing because they fill a mature niche. Mobile does seem to have decimated the casual computing and much of the non-work-related computing niche, at least for non-technical people. I wonder if there's an argument to be made that desktops should become more technical and power user oriented since that is now their niche.

bee_rider 2y ago
I think “year of Linux in the desktop” has always been understood to be in the context of consumer devices. Otherwise, I mean, it’s always been year of Unix on the workstation/server, right? With room to quibble in the prosumer space.
maratc 2y ago
> Other than a few things does any actual work happen on mobile devices? Outside of browsers, not much work happens on desktops either...
- robotnikman 2y ago
  The huge amount of people still in office cubicles typing on spreadsheets all day would disagree