3 ms·

What an awful rant. Who said Linux has won the desktop? So now it's got a bit harder to remove the Windows 8 license you just voluntarily paid for. Oh dear.

by lttlrck 14y ago

What an awful rant. Who said Linux has won the desktop? So now it's got a bit harder to remove the Windows 8 license you just voluntarily paid for. Oh dear. If you are going to whine about Secure Boot please write an article based on its technical merits.

xutopia 14y ago
Not everything has to be technical. There are huge powers in politics and this author explains nicely how MS is playing the game. If anything more people should know about this.
- vital 14y ago
  Also more people should know about this - http://linuxfonts.narod.ru/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html http://linuxfonts.narod.ru/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.de...
  - mcantelon 14y ago
    Going by the article's TLDR, this is a bundle of pretty flimsy arguments. The first argument "no stability" is pretty funny to those of us who use Linux as a desktop OS every day.
    - brendonjohn 14y ago
      the TLDR is worthy of a self-facepalm.. >> I guess, under 10,000 hours of testing I would of thought that the regression of Microsoft is inferior to the diversity of people using Linux daily. Another benefit to a rolling release cycle I suppose
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    Despite Linux not being ready for "The Desktop", it is certainly ready for my desktop. That is the one that matters to users of Linux. Their desktop, not a hypothetical grandmother desktop which has been branded "The".
4ad 14y ago
> a bit harder to remove the Windows 8 license you just voluntarily paid for It's not voluntary as long as the option of not buying doesn't exist. It's coercion.
bct 14y ago
Nobody thinks that Linux has won the desktop, but we did think that it had won the right to exist. For a while it looked like Microsoft had put its anticompetitive practices aside.
cooldeal 14y ago
It somehow feels as if for some folks like the author, bringing down Microsoft is more of a priority than adding to user freedom via Linux or BSD or whatever. See Ubuntu Bug #1 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1 - Microsoft has a majority market share So if you believe the graph that someone else posted today, Microsoft has already lost and that means Ubuntu/Linux has won... or something. http://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-2012-internet-trends-year-end-update-2012-12#-24 http://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-2012-internet-tre... From the article: >Every purchase of a Windows license is an attack on Linux. Linux has not won, and Microsoft is as dangerous as ever What if people buy an iPad instead of a Windows PC? Is that an "attack" on Linux? How about total lack of developer freedom in iOS or even charging for in app purchases or banning linking to a website for buying things? Or even if the user buys a Mac instead, do you think Apple would be better at enhancing user freedom that MS was? How about the Apple tax on all hardware that you need to buy to get Mac compatibility if it gets a monopoly?
jlgreco 14y ago
For me it had won. Linux had reached the point where I could go up to any computer I wished, fire up Linux, and have it not even occur to me that something wouldn't work. Not "have it work most of the time", but have it work "enough of the time that I no longer pondered the possibility that it wouldn't." My last two laptop purchases in the last 3 years were done with no research into Linux compatibility; neither time did I regret the purchase. Now I have a concern again, and that doesn't feel nice.
- Shorel 14y ago
  > For me it had won. You are not the desktop market, just a single user.

by lttlrck 14y ago

xutopia 14y ago

Not everything has to be technical. There are huge powers in politics and this author explains nicely how MS is playing the game. If anything more people should know about this.

vital 14y ago
Also more people should know about this - http://linuxfonts.narod.ru/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html http://linuxfonts.narod.ru/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.de...
- mcantelon 14y ago
  Going by the article's TLDR, this is a bundle of pretty flimsy arguments. The first argument "no stability" is pretty funny to those of us who use Linux as a desktop OS every day.
  - brendonjohn 14y ago
    the TLDR is worthy of a self-facepalm.. >> I guess, under 10,000 hours of testing I would of thought that the regression of Microsoft is inferior to the diversity of people using Linux daily. Another benefit to a rolling release cycle I suppose
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Despite Linux not being ready for "The Desktop", it is certainly ready for my desktop. That is the one that matters to users of Linux. Their desktop, not a hypothetical grandmother desktop which has been branded "The".

4ad 14y ago

> a bit harder to remove the Windows 8 license you just voluntarily paid for It's not voluntary as long as the option of not buying doesn't exist. It's coercion.

bct 14y ago

Nobody thinks that Linux has won the desktop, but we did think that it had won the right to exist. For a while it looked like Microsoft had put its anticompetitive practices aside.

cooldeal 14y ago

It somehow feels as if for some folks like the author, bringing down Microsoft is more of a priority than adding to user freedom via Linux or BSD or whatever. See Ubuntu Bug #1 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1 - Microsoft has a majority market share So if you believe the graph that someone else posted today, Microsoft has already lost and that means Ubuntu/Linux has won... or something. http://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-2012-internet-trends-year-end-update-2012-12#-24 http://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-2012-internet-tre... From the article: >Every purchase of a Windows license is an attack on Linux. Linux has not won, and Microsoft is as dangerous as ever What if people buy an iPad instead of a Windows PC? Is that an "attack" on Linux? How about total lack of developer freedom in iOS or even charging for in app purchases or banning linking to a website for buying things? Or even if the user buys a Mac instead, do you think Apple would be better at enhancing user freedom that MS was? How about the Apple tax on all hardware that you need to buy to get Mac compatibility if it gets a monopoly?

jlgreco 14y ago

For me it had won. Linux had reached the point where I could go up to any computer I wished, fire up Linux, and have it not even occur to me that something wouldn't work. Not "have it work most of the time", but have it work "enough of the time that I no longer pondered the possibility that it wouldn't." My last two laptop purchases in the last 3 years were done with no research into Linux compatibility; neither time did I regret the purchase. Now I have a concern again, and that doesn't feel nice.

Shorel 14y ago
> For me it had won. You are not the desktop market, just a single user.