Will this be the year of Linux on the desktop?

[cobito]

In the last two or three years, there have been some movements that have left the computer landscape completely unrecognizable.

On the one hand, smartphones and tablets have become cheap enough for anyone to have one. That has made all those who used a PC for the 4 things a tablet can do stop using it. In this way, a huge segment of users has disappeared, precisely the same one that caused the PC boom at the beginning of the last decade with the massification of the Internet. And it is precisely the segment of the population with less knowledge and less interest in learning of all. That is to say, the natural enemy of a system like Linux.

With this, we find that practically all Lusers have disappeared. We are only left with the workers of companies and offices, but those do not matter, because they will use the system that the company/boss/BOFH dictates. Basically, the desktop as it has been known in the last decade tends to disappear and will probably leave on stage the same actors that there were in the 90s.

On the other hand, we find that Valve has made an x86 console whose programs run on Linux. If the move goes well for them, this has several consequences: on the one hand, hardware developers are going to take special care with their Linux drivers from now on. The performance of the hardware on Linux will be equivalent to that of Windows.

In addition, Valve will support the development of games for Linux. To this day 20% of Steam games come out of the oven with support for Linux.

This translates into one of the biggest handicaps of Linux could disappear in a matter of months or very few years.

But not all problems have been solved. Specialized programs still do not support Linux. I refer to Autodesk and Adobe software to give two examples, but there are many more.

To this day, the three main operating systems on PCs are:
Windows with 90% share
Mac/OS with 8-9%
Linux with 1-2%

Do you think that in two or three years Linux will make a significant leap in use?

PD: This survey does not publish the names of the participants or their choice.

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Results as of 07.11.2013

[whoololon]

In my opinion, the "Linux era" took off spectacularly with the integration into portable devices. And it has been very beneficial in that these users already know, at least, that it exists.
For Linux to become definitively established for any PC user, certain aspects must be met, which are not usually to the liking of the most purists.
I have never had problems playing on Linux, neither in native games nor when I had to resort to Wine, so I will not go into whether said environment is not taking off because of the games.
First of all, the installation still scares the most neophyte user. Basically, the process should be simplified much more and offer greater automation.
Secondly, and although fortunately it has a large community that supports most situations, you have to "resort to the console" too much and on too many occasions. Those who seek ergonomics and comfort will detest that aspect.
Offering an alternative to "Plug&Play", a simple change of video card leads us to edit and modify the corresponding file before we can start.
In my opinion it is only that, the farranginess of having to resort to the console practically for everything, which is true that there comes a time when it stops importar, but which obviously would be a problem for users who acquire a PC without having notions of computer science.
But come on, it is only a matter of a distribution appearing that includes said processes.
¬¬

Edit: Is the use of Linux on mobile devices not included in the survey or is it?
In any case and to summarize: Is there any distro that allows a neophyte user to install or delete applications and games, and modify and install hardware, without having to resort to the console and/or Google? If the answer is "yes", someone is not doing their job well. And if the answer is "no", then the same.

[cobito]

@whoololon:

Edito: Is the use of Linux on mobile devices not included in the survey or is it?
In any case and to summarize: Is there any distro that allows a novice user to install or remove applications and games, and modify and install hardware, without having to use the console and/or Google? If the answer is "yes", someone is not doing their job well. And if the answer is "no", then the same thing.

The survey focuses only on the use of Linux in desktop environments (personal computers). Android, servers, and supercomputing centers do not count.

Regarding the need to use the console too much, I disagree. It is possible that in some cases it may be necessary, but it is not the general rule. In fact, I would say that changing the graphics card is more cumbersome in Windows than in Linux because of the old driver remnants that are a pain in the ass.

As far as I know, the most popular distros include graphical configuration utilities for both the system and the hardware.

Anyway, you are right about using the console. It is true that in some cases it is necessary to use it and that is a real problem even if there is documentation.

[Bm4n]

I don't know, being positive I voted that it will increase marginally but the truth is that there is nothing that makes me think that it will increase its share. That Valve machine if it really works will mean that a certain percentage of games have support for Linux and who knows if it will be successful, but compared to a console or a PC with Windows I fear it will not have an advantage.

In addition to all this, the PC will continue to lose market share, it is more possible that Linux finds an outlet for other devices, I am not referring to Android itself which already has a large share but to the distros that exist or derivatives that could go to the touch market with tablets/ultraportátiles.

[whoololon]

That's the issue.
I remember Torvalds lamenting in an interview about having conceived a monolithic kernel Linux. However, that feature (in my short understanding), allows it to be debugged easily for optimal operation on a soc-type device. Hence my doubt about the survey, because Linux already dominates in the world of mobility.
It also doesn't help that it's not offered as an option in some (if not all) online computer stores. ahem

[Yorus]

@Bm4n:

I don't know, being positive I voted that it will increase marginally but the truth is that there is nothing that makes me think that it will increase its share. That Valve machine if it really works will mean that a certain percentage of games have support for Linux and who knows if it will be successful, but compared to a console or a PC with Windows I fear it will not have an advantage.

I think exactly the same, it will go up, but not much. The thing about Valve is to be seen how it will work and if SteamOS will be easy to combine with the usual Windows for the normal user, because for me this would be the data that really would be worth, because a machine prepared for SteamOS and with this preinstalled for me is a console and not a desktop PC. Unless I'm wrong and SteamOS is more multipurpose than just for playing and multimedia.

Outside of Valve's proposal I don't see any other movement different from previous years.

[cobito]

I probably phrased the survey wrong since x86 tablets, like laptops, are also personal computers. Moreover, there will come a time when the ARM architecture is normalized and it will be possible to install any operating system compiled for ARM on these devices, which from a functional point of view, would be very close to a PC.

But in any case, the landscape may still change quite a bit in the next two or three years and it is complicated to define what will then be considered a fully functional computer or a simple tablet that allows the execution of only a very limited operating system (like Android or iOS).

For now, the results have a very nice Gaussian bell shape.

[Jesus_Panella]

The use of Linux will increase, but only marginally, due to the lack of compatibility of many programs, and although within Linux you can open a virtual machine for compatibility with Windows programs, it is not the same as running them from a virtual machine as within the operating system itself. In fact, I recently tried to put Ubuntu, the latest version on my third PC from my firm and yes, it is very fast. Faster than Windows 7 because it takes advantage of all the resources of the PC, but running a Windows program under a virtual machine in Ubuntu, it goes slower.

[jordiqui]

I think that the moment Ubuntu can be installed on smartphones and tablets, the increase will be considerable. But the latest news I have is that Ubuntu is a process loaded in the compilation of Cyanogen. That is, there is still no Linux operating system for these devices.

[Bm4n]

Ubuntu already has a version to install on some android phones. It has nothing to do with CM.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[jordiqui]

@Bm4n:

Ubuntu already has a version to install on some android phones. It has nothing to do with CM.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

But as an operating system or as a process loaded in the android system memory, I tell you this because the last thing I had of Ubuntu was that. There was no native operating system. If you can add a link with the information it would be appreciated. Anyway, I think if there is something it will be for Nexus Of the rest nothing at all.

[Bm4n]

Ubuntu on phones | Ubuntu as far as I understand it is a complete OS.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[whoololon]

And what difference does it make if it's called Ubuntu or Milagr-OS?
The point is that it's Linux.
What a desire to argue, joder. ;D

[cobito]

Just remember that the survey is focused on desktop PCs but not on servers, supercomputing centers or mobile phones.

[Bm4n]

Obviously Ubuntu mobil is an OS for mobiles, it has nothing to do with the question about desktop, since in mobiles Linux is already the majority thanks to Android. It is still in its infancy but I see it as logical that it will end up in tablets/touchscreen PCs. And prior to this Ubuntu mobil, it had been possible to run a desktop Ubuntu on an ARM mobile to, for example, use it when connecting the mobile to a monitor.

Be that as it may, the big problem with Linux, on the desktop, is that it doesn't generate money and therefore doesn't have the momentum as an OS that has its own stores or advertising. And apart from that there's the mentality of its audience, on Mac they are mostly used to paying for software, on Windows very little and there's a big problem with piracy, on Android they're used to advertising and freemium, and on Linux it's basically opensoft which has its good and bad side.

The good thing is that there's a large amount of free code to use, the bad thing is that there's not always someone willing to spend time on using it to create a good app especially in interface, plus it gets in the way of proprietary drivers as always, which if on x86 is quite standardized (like plugandplay) on mobiles/tablets this doesn't exist yet.

In summary, if Linux wants to grow it will have to find a capitalist partner who sees a business opportunity just as Valve has seen it for its gaming platform.

[rul3s]

I'm going to revive this with what I THINK will be the biggest change for Linux to date.

SteamOS

We are starting to see the first results of the effort that Valve is putting into Linux, games that are starting to run just as well or better than on Windows (See CS:GO) and the Gamer community, it's a community that if you have to switch to Linux to lower the lag by 5ms or increase the fps by 10, they will do it.

Besides, I see it as a double play, since initially they may ask to have SteamOs installed just to play, where they will have Windows to do the things they have always done, and SteamOS only for games, without programs/processes in the background that bother them, and from there it won't be long before they gradually migrate everything to Linux.

That's how I see it! It's our moment!!

[cobito]

All that is needed is for Steam Machines to hit the market and for the final version of SteamOS to appear. Considering that Steam Machines was planned for this year and that the period for including new features in Debian 8 (the distro from which SteamOS branches) has already closed, it is possible (if they have done things on time without us realizing) that it will become a product for this Christmas.

Once the machine and the operating system are up and running, it will be possible to know if Linux ends up taking hold in homes beyond Android.

On the other hand, it is good to know that Valve is contributing economically to improve the free drivers for AMD graphics cards through a company dedicated to this called LunarG and that considerable performance improvements are being achieved over the same Gallium3D.

If Linux doesn't take off on the desktop with this, it will mean that it will never do so unless something very strange happens.

[deeiivid]

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