"desktop Linux"

Story: Linux Market ShareTotal Replies: 10
Author Content
viator

Aug 24, 2010
5:18 PM EDT
We all know those stats are inaccurate anyhow. But what i really want to know is what is the LINUX maketshare how many devices are out there in the world running linux. Especially with the explosion of andriod devices and other non desktop computers we have witnessed as of late it has to be huge!
Bob_Robertson

Aug 24, 2010
5:27 PM EDT
I don't think Android counts. It's embedded, rather than a choice of the user.
jdixon

Aug 24, 2010
5:32 PM EDT
>...It's embedded, rather than a choice of the user.

While that's true, the user is choosing Android over the iPhone, Symbian, or Palm-OS; whether they know it or not.
Bob_Robertson

Aug 24, 2010
5:36 PM EDT
> whether they know it or not.

That is certainly true.

The number that I am most curious about refers to choice.

I bought a Zaurus 5500 _because_ it ran (and still runs) Linux. I bought white-box machines deliberately to install Linux.

...and so on.
herzeleid

Aug 24, 2010
5:36 PM EDT
Quoting: I don't think Android counts. It's embedded, rather than a choice of the user.
Then windoze market share stats don't count either. It's forced upon everyone who buys a computer, rather than being a choice of the user. Right?

Bob_Robertson

Aug 24, 2010
5:39 PM EDT
> Then windoze market share stats don't count either.

I agree with you. While the number of people who deliberately choose Windows is going to be large, I think leaving out the "It was just what came on the machine" people out of it is a more honest comparison.
Steven_Rosenber

Aug 25, 2010
3:43 PM EDT
Until some significant preload deals start happening, this is all an academic exercise.

Whether it's Ubuntu, or "other," a fully loaded Linux desktop offers significant value over a crapware-laden Windows desktop, and the fact that no major hardware vendors see fit to both actually offer this while at the same time extolling the virtues of a fully equipped application environment and not just preaching to the already-using-Linux choir Linux on the desktop will go nowhere.

Preloads. That's the word.
bigg

Aug 25, 2010
4:09 PM EDT
> a fully loaded Linux desktop offers significant value over a crapware-laden Windows desktop

To the user, not the vendor.
Steven_Rosenber

Aug 25, 2010
8:53 PM EDT
To some extent the vendor wants to make the customer happy, not just make Microsoft happy. At least you'd think.

My question: Does preload of un-paid-for MS Office allow for OEMs to get Windows for free?
gus3

Aug 25, 2010
9:41 PM EDT
Quoting:To some extent the vendor wants to make the customer happy, not just make Microsoft happy. At least you'd think.
Not really. It isn't a question of who to make happy; the real question is, who must I, at all costs, NOT make unhappy?

Working towards a positive, and avoiding a negative, are not the same thing.
bigg

Aug 25, 2010
10:10 PM EDT
Actually it's a matter of making money. Sure, the customer is worse off buying antivirus and paying someone to remove malware, but the customer is worse off because they're paying that money to the guy selling the computer. As the saying goes, Windows is where the money is.

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