will linux ever be able to takeover windows in popularity

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Started by roadsideromeo October 07, 2008 07:52 AM

213 comments, last by Washu 15 years, 6 months ago

7,033

October 08, 2008 11:01 PM

Quote:Original post by eedok
Quote:Original post by MikeTacular
Nope. Even if there was a revolt against Windows, I think people would go to Mac, not Linux. Anyway, I've posted this picture once before. I'll post it again.

[image with windows 91% mac 8% and Linux 1%

Where did you find these numbers? For my works website the numbers are 89% Windows 8% Mac, and 3% Linux, and we do flash games which *nix users have been vocal about not supporting, so it's odd they have a showing in our numbers.

My little brother just told me he saw this picture so I googled for it and found it. I know the numbers aren't 100% accurate, but they are close.

[size=2][ I was ninja'd 71 times before I stopped counting a long time ago ] [ f.k.a. MikeTacular ] [ My Blog ] [ SWFer: Gaplessly looped MP3s in your Flash games ]

alnite

3,454

October 08, 2008 11:07 PM

I switch to Mac.

Tha_HoodRat

161

October 09, 2008 02:32 AM

Quote:Original post by Oluseyi

Ok. What was updated? How does a non-technical user trivially review what was changed, or, perhaps more importantly, selectively upgrade applications - ie, not upgrade every piece of software on the system?

on Ubuntu Add/remove. If there is an updated package the automatic updates will tell you and you can choose to update or not. This is not limited to system updates btw.

Quote:

That cash expenditure buys back the time I would have to spend trying to get my Linux distribution to work precisely the way I want, reliably. It's a trade-off: money or time? You have more time than money, or prefer to spend your time. I have very, very little time. [smile]

I disagree. It takes longer to upgrade and harden a fresh windows install than an Ubuntu install. After installing Ubuntu, all you have to run are three commands

sudo apt-get install build-essentials

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

All while I'm surfing the web without worrying about worms/viruses/spyware etc. With windows I have to install all the software, drivers individually and reboot constantly after every install.

I was influenced by the Ghetto you ruined.

RedDrake

386

October 09, 2008 03:02 AM

Quote:Original post by Tha_HoodRat
All while I'm surfing the web without worrying about worms/viruses/spyware etc. With windows I have to install all the software, drivers individually and reboot constantly after every install.

Still hardware support is far from ideal.
Try running a PC with desktop effects turned on and ATI drivers and having 2900XT inside... since drivers are crap card is always on 100% load and the fan goes to full in ~3 sec... then you get a turbine sound and a small radiator in your room.
And with default drivers there is no GL support ... all other Linux experiences had some hardware issues (DVD ROM not showing up, GL freezing, USB locking up the PC, no support for USB modem and probably others i can't remember... not to mention the kernel recompile and configurations to get drivers installed in the first place).
On Windows, largest hardware issue was not having my modem drivers installed by default and having lost my drivers CD I had to run over to my friend and download them there... other things generally seem to work (with the occasional crashes) but problems are usually much simpler to solve IMHO.

Lode

1,003

October 09, 2008 03:29 AM

Quote:Original post by eedok
Where did you find these numbers? For my works website the numbers are 89% Windows 8% Mac, and 3% Linux, and we do flash games which *nix users have been vocal about not supporting, so it's odd they have a showing in our numbers.

Huh, what are you talking about? Two years ago Linux didn't have the most recent flash player available and *some* flash games could not be played. However for the last two years Linux has always had exactly the same Flash player as the one in Windows and Mac. Every flash game that works in a web browser, works in Linux too. I'm addicted to Flash games, which I usually play on Newgrounds, and they always work (in my Linux). So if you've got 3% Linux users, it's because Flash games are things they can play and enjoy.

Homepage | LodePNG

greenhybrid

108

October 09, 2008 03:54 AM

Quote:Yann L
Torvalds is essentially the virtual dictator equivalent of Kim Jong-il.

Quote:Dictator
A dictator is an authoritarian ruler (e.g. absolutist or autocratic) who assumes sole and absolute power [...]

Quote:Linux
[...] This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it [...]

Quote:Microsoft
[...] You may install, use, access, display and run one copy of the Product on a single computer, such as a workstation, terminal or other device ("Workstation Computer"). The Product may not be used by more than two (2) processors at any one time on any single Workstation Computer.[...]

The Product is licensed, not sold. [...]

[...] Owners of [...] Secure Content [...] may [...] request Microsoft to provide [...] updates to the [...] DRM components [...] that may affect your ability to copy, display and/or play
Secure Content through Microsoft software [...]

[Edited by - greenhybrid on October 9, 2008 4:54:17 AM]

DeadXorAlive

535

October 09, 2008 04:25 AM

Quote:Original post by Oluseyi
Quote:Original post by Roots
The other freedom is in the ability to tweak the system the way you want it, which I already explained.

While Linux is considerably more configurable than Windows, the overwhelming majority of Linux users are unaware of the actual level of configurability of Windows, which they underestimate. Further, OS X is almost as configurable as Linux, but provides many of Windows' benefits as well.

I'm often surprised how tweakable windows is. Yet, this is exactly the problem, it's not so discoverable. Most useful tweaks are done in the registry or by some third party app that does that for you. It's kinda like gnome vs kde. With kde you can customize a lot via the gui, while for gnome a lot of those tweaks must be done in conf files. Of course, for those who don't like to tweak their systems such level of customizability can just get in the way.

Quote:Original post by Roots
I've learned a ton about computers since moving to Linux (and this was during my final year as a student of computer engineering in college). At my job right now I'm having to deal with the Win32 API for the first time and I hate it. I think MSDN and the documentation is complete shit. All they give me is an API, but don't explain how anything in their system works or why.

This I don't understand. MSDN is an excellent source of documentation, it has extensive overviews, api level documentation, examples and tutorials. How come you reach the conclusion it doesn't explain anything is beyond me. I wish more linux api's had such accessible docs.

dave

2,188

October 09, 2008 04:35 AM

I don't see how man is in better than MSDN. It always has bored me to look through man pages in a console. Also, man pages are literally just a function reference, the so called API reference that MSN "is". Where are the examples and diagrams in man pages?

_the_phantom_

11,263

October 09, 2008 04:47 AM

Quote:Original post by Tha_HoodRat
I disagree. It takes longer to upgrade and harden a fresh windows install than an Ubuntu install. After installing Ubuntu, all you have to run are three commands

sudo apt-get install build-essentials

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

All while I'm surfing the web without worrying about worms/viruses/spyware etc. With windows I have to install all the software, drivers individually and reboot constantly after every install.

See, this is probably comparing a recent Ubuntu distro to something like WinXP; the Vista experiance is very different.

Install pretty much doesn't require you to be there once you've choosen where to install it. The next timer you are required is around 20mins later when you need to provide a username/password for your account. After that you can install as much at once as possible without rebooting (I did Wifi, Sound + support apps and gfx because that's all I need, I probably could have got SP1 installed as well). The system is also already hardened with UAC and IE in 'sandbox' mode from the word go.

Also, all this is done via the GUI world, which is a much nicer option than the command line will ever be, certainly for your 'average' user. The fact you have to do it via the command line is another minus against Linux and why it won't be adoptedi in the main stream.

About the only OS out there right now which could make a dent in the Windows market is OSX, however even that has some way to go and unlike Linux has a huge marketing push behind it.

greenhybrid

108

October 09, 2008 05:01 AM

Quote:Original post by phantom
The fact you have to do it via the command line is another minus against Linux [...]

* YaST
* Synaptic
* Click'n'Run, etc.

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