9 ms·

To be honest, it was kinda funny. I don't see why we can't find it humorous that year after year someone says that the next year will be a year of Linux. I lov

To be honest, it was kinda funny. I don't see why we can't find it humorous that year after year someone says that the next year will be a year of Linux. I love Linux - been using it for several years and wouldn't trade it for anything (be it OS X or Win with package manager). Package manager is certainly an awesome thing, but not something that would make me (and probably anyone else using Linux) to switch over.

girvo 12y ago
> ...someone says that the next year will be a year of Linux. Who says that unironically in 2014, though?
- Joeri 12y ago
  Given that more android devices are sold than windows, iOS and OS X combined, I would say it is a mere observation of fact that the past few years every year has been the year of linux. Linux on the desktop on the other hand...
  - progman 12y ago
    Android actually _is_ a Linux desktop system. It is a GUI on top of a Java based virtual machine on top of a Linux kernel. This Linux desktop has actually overthrown both Windows and iOS. The market share was 85% in Q2 2014 according to: http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/07/31/android-reached-record-85-smartphone-market-share-q2-2014-report/ http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/07/31/android-reached-reco... Android just uses another type of input than classical keyboards and mice. But you can also use keyboards and mice here. There are x86 implementations of Android, and you can root into the Linux system, and you can use Linux features within your Android device. Terminals for instance: http://news.dice.com/2014/03/31/run-linux-terminal-android/ http://news.dice.com/2014/03/31/run-linux-terminal-android/ Of course, Windows 10 advocates don't want to let people know these facts :-)
    - dtech 12y ago
      That's bullocks, you're just changing definitions to suit your needs. Android is a mobile phone OS and as suchhas a marginal market share on desktop. Windows still has over 90% market share on desktop (http://www.netmarketshare.com/ http://www.netmarketshare.com/)
      - progman 12y ago
        > you're just changing definitions to suit your needs. Same to you :-) Windows is also a mobile phone OS since Win 8.
        boomlinde 12y ago
        So, what exactly is your definition of a desktop system? If we're going to have this discussion we should get the agreement or disagreement over that definition out of the way. To me, it is a desktop computer. I'm inclined to include laptops in that definition as well. Basically, it's the kind of computer I'd use to get my computer work done at a desk, with as little regard to what exactly that work entails as possible. I haven't used Windows 8, but it still seems to have a greater market share on desktop systems than Android. Judging by the above link, Windows 8 alone has a greater share of the desktop market than the category of systems based on Linux in its entirety.
        JetSpiegel 12y ago
        Can you install Android on a desktop? Then it's not a desktop OS. It's quite simple.
        pbhjpbhj 12y ago
        Define "desktop" and we'll tell you. You can run Android on a base system that is connected to a standard desktop monitor, printer, mouse and keyboard.
        12y ago
  - venomsnake 12y ago
    All the wonderful thing I can not do with my Android phone. Like uninstall the Samsung apps. Or have root. Or install my distro on it.
    - qznc 12y ago
      You can do all of that. It will void the guarantee, of course. Who would expect Samsung to support each and every peace of amateur software.
      - pjc50 12y ago
        The idea of Samsung supporting any software, including their bundled junk, is laughable.
      - venomsnake 12y ago
        I can't. Its violation of DMCA probably. And requires exploiting of bugs and security vulnerabilities.
        corndoge 12y ago
        DMCA stands for Digital Millenium Copyright Act. It has less than nothing do to do with rooting a device. As for rooting requiring bugs and security vulnerabilities, that's simply false.
        Karunamon 12y ago
        Often installing your own os or rooting your phone requires utilizing a security hole discovered by someone else. This arguably violates the DRM anti-circumvention bits of the DMCA.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 12y ago
    > Linux on the desktop on the other hand As most android devices are handheld, "the desktop on the hand" is now a thing in my mind. It makes sense - so much communication and scheduling happens on the handheld device.
  - pluma 12y ago
    If we combine BSD and Linux, it's actually not so bad. * Globally, Android pretty much owns the mobile market. Android is a Linux. * Most servers run some flavour of Linux or BSD. * Although Windows still dominates the desktop market, a healthy share of the laptop market belongs to OS X, which is (partially) based on BSD. This isn't exactly how the Open Source crowd envisioned "Linux on the desktop", but if the goal was to marginalize Windows in flavour of open source based *nixen, much of that goal has been accomplished. Of course neither Android nor OS X are Free (as in freedom) and OS X is only partially a BSD, but you can't have everything.
    - ygra 12y ago
      > Although Windows still dominates the desktop market, a huge share of the laptop market belongs to OS X, which is (partially) based on BSD. Shouldn't Apple be somewhere in this table, then? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors#2006.E2.80.932013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_comput... I think you're hugely overestimating Apple's market share in laptops.
      - pluma 12y ago
        Let's say a huge share of a particular niche then. At least Apple is pretty good at making everybody feel as if they dominate their markets. Case in point: I don't even own any Apple products.
      - edraferi 12y ago
        That table is global market share. The source article for the 2013 data[1] shows Apple in third place for 2013Q4 market share within the United States: Firm (4Q13 US Market Share) HP (26.5%) Dell (22.8%) Apple (13.7%) [1] http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2647517 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2647517
    - yincrash 12y ago
      Android's base source is released under Apache 2. Is that not free as in freedom? Cyanogen Mod (among many other distros of Android) would not exist if it wasn't.
  - crdoconnor 12y ago
    >Linux on the desktop on the other hand... Will happen when Microsoft's ability to strong-arm hardware manufacturers using restrictive OEM licenses is diminished. MS actually seems to prefer a scorched earth policy (destroying the laptop/desktop markets entirely) to allowing Linux to gain anything more than a token foothold. We can see this by the way they scuppered 'desktop linux' by co-opting and ultimately destroying the netbook market in 2007 (by enforcing OEM licensing terms that crippled netbook specs - prohibiting giving them anything more than 2GB of RAM for instance). We can see it again by the way they pushed UEFI / secureboot on manufacturers - a clear attempt at creating Windows lock-in that largely worked. 2007 would have been the year of the desktop were it not for this anti-competitive behavior by MS.
- mrseb 12y ago
  Author here. I was being ironic :) I'm an equal-opportunities OS user. I have two Linux boxes (Slackware!), two Windows boxes, and an OS X laptop within arm's reach of my desk. I was just poking fun at the Year of Desktop Linux thing -- it's a bit of a meme/running joke in tech blogger circles.
  - tankenmate 12y ago
    The irony being that you weren't being ironic; mildly sarcastic instead.
    - adpirz 12y ago
      Sarcasm is a form of irony.
treerock 12y ago
Yesterday I had to update my rarely used Windows partition and install some software for work. Virus/Firewall updates, Windows updates, Java updates, repeated forced reboots (four times in total) and playing hunt and peck with all these 'suspicious behaviour' popups, remembering to untick the 'install dodgy toolbar' checkboxes. I'm starting to feel that a decent package manager is the main reason I continue to use Linux. /rant
- canvia 12y ago
  Not having to reboot after updates is my favorite part of Linux so far.
  - jnbiche 12y ago
    Not having to reboot almost ever is also pretty nice.
    - mod 12y ago
      Ubuntu forces a reboot on kernel upgrades fwiw.
      - jnbiche 12y ago
        I said almost. How often are you upgrading your kernel? Most of us don't upgrade very often.
        mod 12y ago
        Whenever the automatic update picks it up. So, basically all the time--every week or two, anyway.
    - vhost- 12y ago
      How come I can't reply to "mod" below? https://i.imgur.com/k75wRiK.png https://i.imgur.com/k75wRiK.png All Linux distros require a restart for kernel upgrades if you want to use that new kernel version. Or are you saying that Ubuntu actually forces the user to restart after a new kernel is installed?
Yuioup 12y ago
Ok, but the sad looking Tux suggests otherwise. On a side note. Linux users should be happy that Windows is using a package manager. It creates more opportunities to get Open Source software into Windows. "Install-Package GNU", to name as an example.

girvo 12y ago

> ...someone says that the next year will be a year of Linux. Who says that unironically in 2014, though?

Joeri 12y ago
Given that more android devices are sold than windows, iOS and OS X combined, I would say it is a mere observation of fact that the past few years every year has been the year of linux. Linux on the desktop on the other hand...
- progman 12y ago
  Android actually _is_ a Linux desktop system. It is a GUI on top of a Java based virtual machine on top of a Linux kernel. This Linux desktop has actually overthrown both Windows and iOS. The market share was 85% in Q2 2014 according to: http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/07/31/android-reached-record-85-smartphone-market-share-q2-2014-report/ http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/07/31/android-reached-reco... Android just uses another type of input than classical keyboards and mice. But you can also use keyboards and mice here. There are x86 implementations of Android, and you can root into the Linux system, and you can use Linux features within your Android device. Terminals for instance: http://news.dice.com/2014/03/31/run-linux-terminal-android/ http://news.dice.com/2014/03/31/run-linux-terminal-android/ Of course, Windows 10 advocates don't want to let people know these facts :-)
  - dtech 12y ago
    That's bullocks, you're just changing definitions to suit your needs. Android is a mobile phone OS and as suchhas a marginal market share on desktop. Windows still has over 90% market share on desktop (http://www.netmarketshare.com/ http://www.netmarketshare.com/)
    - progman 12y ago
      > you're just changing definitions to suit your needs. Same to you :-) Windows is also a mobile phone OS since Win 8.
      - boomlinde 12y ago
        So, what exactly is your definition of a desktop system? If we're going to have this discussion we should get the agreement or disagreement over that definition out of the way. To me, it is a desktop computer. I'm inclined to include laptops in that definition as well. Basically, it's the kind of computer I'd use to get my computer work done at a desk, with as little regard to what exactly that work entails as possible. I haven't used Windows 8, but it still seems to have a greater market share on desktop systems than Android. Judging by the above link, Windows 8 alone has a greater share of the desktop market than the category of systems based on Linux in its entirety.
        JetSpiegel 12y ago
        Can you install Android on a desktop? Then it's not a desktop OS. It's quite simple.
        pbhjpbhj 12y ago
        Define "desktop" and we'll tell you. You can run Android on a base system that is connected to a standard desktop monitor, printer, mouse and keyboard.
        12y ago
- venomsnake 12y ago
  All the wonderful thing I can not do with my Android phone. Like uninstall the Samsung apps. Or have root. Or install my distro on it.
  - qznc 12y ago
    You can do all of that. It will void the guarantee, of course. Who would expect Samsung to support each and every peace of amateur software.
    - pjc50 12y ago
      The idea of Samsung supporting any software, including their bundled junk, is laughable.
    - venomsnake 12y ago
      I can't. Its violation of DMCA probably. And requires exploiting of bugs and security vulnerabilities.
      - corndoge 12y ago
        DMCA stands for Digital Millenium Copyright Act. It has less than nothing do to do with rooting a device. As for rooting requiring bugs and security vulnerabilities, that's simply false.
        Karunamon 12y ago
        Often installing your own os or rooting your phone requires utilizing a security hole discovered by someone else. This arguably violates the DRM anti-circumvention bits of the DMCA.
- SideburnsOfDoom 12y ago
  > Linux on the desktop on the other hand As most android devices are handheld, "the desktop on the hand" is now a thing in my mind. It makes sense - so much communication and scheduling happens on the handheld device.
- pluma 12y ago
  If we combine BSD and Linux, it's actually not so bad. * Globally, Android pretty much owns the mobile market. Android is a Linux. * Most servers run some flavour of Linux or BSD. * Although Windows still dominates the desktop market, a healthy share of the laptop market belongs to OS X, which is (partially) based on BSD. This isn't exactly how the Open Source crowd envisioned "Linux on the desktop", but if the goal was to marginalize Windows in flavour of open source based *nixen, much of that goal has been accomplished. Of course neither Android nor OS X are Free (as in freedom) and OS X is only partially a BSD, but you can't have everything.
  - ygra 12y ago
    > Although Windows still dominates the desktop market, a huge share of the laptop market belongs to OS X, which is (partially) based on BSD. Shouldn't Apple be somewhere in this table, then? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors#2006.E2.80.932013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_comput... I think you're hugely overestimating Apple's market share in laptops.
    - pluma 12y ago
      Let's say a huge share of a particular niche then. At least Apple is pretty good at making everybody feel as if they dominate their markets. Case in point: I don't even own any Apple products.
    - edraferi 12y ago
      That table is global market share. The source article for the 2013 data[1] shows Apple in third place for 2013Q4 market share within the United States: Firm (4Q13 US Market Share) HP (26.5%) Dell (22.8%) Apple (13.7%) [1] http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2647517 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2647517
  - yincrash 12y ago
    Android's base source is released under Apache 2. Is that not free as in freedom? Cyanogen Mod (among many other distros of Android) would not exist if it wasn't.
- crdoconnor 12y ago
  >Linux on the desktop on the other hand... Will happen when Microsoft's ability to strong-arm hardware manufacturers using restrictive OEM licenses is diminished. MS actually seems to prefer a scorched earth policy (destroying the laptop/desktop markets entirely) to allowing Linux to gain anything more than a token foothold. We can see this by the way they scuppered 'desktop linux' by co-opting and ultimately destroying the netbook market in 2007 (by enforcing OEM licensing terms that crippled netbook specs - prohibiting giving them anything more than 2GB of RAM for instance). We can see it again by the way they pushed UEFI / secureboot on manufacturers - a clear attempt at creating Windows lock-in that largely worked. 2007 would have been the year of the desktop were it not for this anti-competitive behavior by MS.
mrseb 12y ago
Author here. I was being ironic :) I'm an equal-opportunities OS user. I have two Linux boxes (Slackware!), two Windows boxes, and an OS X laptop within arm's reach of my desk. I was just poking fun at the Year of Desktop Linux thing -- it's a bit of a meme/running joke in tech blogger circles.
- tankenmate 12y ago
  The irony being that you weren't being ironic; mildly sarcastic instead.
  - adpirz 12y ago
    Sarcasm is a form of irony.

treerock 12y ago

Yesterday I had to update my rarely used Windows partition and install some software for work. Virus/Firewall updates, Windows updates, Java updates, repeated forced reboots (four times in total) and playing hunt and peck with all these 'suspicious behaviour' popups, remembering to untick the 'install dodgy toolbar' checkboxes. I'm starting to feel that a decent package manager is the main reason I continue to use Linux. /rant

canvia 12y ago
Not having to reboot after updates is my favorite part of Linux so far.
- jnbiche 12y ago
  Not having to reboot almost ever is also pretty nice.
  - mod 12y ago
    Ubuntu forces a reboot on kernel upgrades fwiw.
    - jnbiche 12y ago
      I said almost. How often are you upgrading your kernel? Most of us don't upgrade very often.
      - mod 12y ago
        Whenever the automatic update picks it up. So, basically all the time--every week or two, anyway.
  - vhost- 12y ago
    How come I can't reply to "mod" below? https://i.imgur.com/k75wRiK.png https://i.imgur.com/k75wRiK.png All Linux distros require a restart for kernel upgrades if you want to use that new kernel version. Or are you saying that Ubuntu actually forces the user to restart after a new kernel is installed?

Yuioup 12y ago

Ok, but the sad looking Tux suggests otherwise. On a side note. Linux users should be happy that Windows is using a package manager. It creates more opportunities to get Open Source software into Windows. "Install-Package GNU", to name as an example.