Ah....promises, promises, promises

Story: Windows 10 is the final nail in the coffin for the Linux desktopTotal Replies: 15
Author Content
Ridcully

Jan 26, 2015
1:36 AM EDT
"Yes, the final version of Windows 10 could be that good."

Brian, the above last line of your article is what Microsoft always says with every iteration. If you believe that spiel, then I have a Harbour Bridge in Sydney I would like to interest you in as a cash purchase.

Frankly, I don't care any more because "Linux" in one form or another, is now winning hands down. Android is smashing Win on the smartphone market, and I personally think Chrome is about to do the same with the desktop. Linux "per se" will always be there for the dedicated user, but for the "unwashed masses", does it really, really matter that what we know is a variation of Linux, they call Android or Chrome ? Personally, all I want to see is the steady removal of Microsoft's viral incubator of Windows from the world's computers and right now, it's slowly but surely happening.
JaseP

Jan 26, 2015
1:56 AM EDT
The article is click-bait...

Linux will (continue to) gain market share of the desktop, not because MS screws up this or that time,... but because the OS is becoming increasingly more irrelevant. Chrome OS is making a dent in the Windows market (about 17% of laptops sold in recently measured time frames). More and more people are shifting to mobile devices for things that were previously done on the desktop. Because of the irrelevance of the desktop OS, and the fact that Linux distributions can do everything that MS Windows can do there, there is reduced resistance to changing platforms. Windows, MAC, Linux,... Desktop, phone, tablet,... The Internet, the "cloud," virtualization,... The lines are becoming blurred. Old restrictions are melting away, making it a simple thing to shift your computing platform without penalty. THAT is what will increase Linux market share,... Not whatever MS does or doesn't do...
hughesjr

Jan 26, 2015
2:00 AM EDT
Only have one thing to say.. Chromebook
Ridcully

Jan 26, 2015
3:28 AM EDT
Oh, you are almost certainly correct JaseP - clickbait.......but it was so satisfying to say what I did. And I agree with you totally. The consumer market is now dictating the OS, not Microsoft.....and the reason ? I believe it is purely a matter of "Choice". Freedom to choose and use and deploy what the consumer wants, not what Microsoft and Big Media wants.....It's absolutely wonderful to watch.
BernardSwiss

Jan 26, 2015
4:19 AM EDT
Someone forgot the 'humour' tag?
Ridcully

Jan 26, 2015
4:29 AM EDT
BernardSwiss........I think we need a special "Cynical Humour" tag......However, that to one side, does anyone know anything about "Brian Fagioli" ? As JaseP said, this quite likely is "clickbait"......but is the gentleman serious ? or not ? If he is serious, he's ignoring the facts.......if he's not, .....I'll leave it to you to fill in the blanks.
750

Jan 26, 2015
9:01 AM EDT
If Android and ChromeOS is the future of Linux on the desktop, i want nothing to do with it.
seatex

Jan 26, 2015
9:26 AM EDT
Well, the site IS called "BetaNews". So are their stories, apparently.

As Ridcully noted the final quote from the story...

"Yes, the final version of Windows 10 could be that good."

Could be? Also the other didn't mention all the stuff Microsoft borrowed from Linux in their all new superior Windows 10. Too bad they didn't adopt Linux's design security as well.
gus3

Jan 26, 2015
9:26 AM EDT
We've been hearing this claptrap every couple years or so, for TWENTY years now. We heard it with

Windows 95, 98, 98+SP3, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, and now 10. That's nine times we've heard "They're getting it right this time!".

Add to that the straw-man of defining "year of the Linux desktop" incorrectly.

LXer should regard Brian Fagioli as being on the Microsoft payroll, and treat him accordingly.
gary_newell

Jan 26, 2015
9:26 AM EDT
Are there too many distributions?

Based on the hits per day of last year's figures on distrowatch the top 10 distributions account for 26% of market share (which doesn't sound a lot).

it takes to position 34 to get more than 50% of the market share. Linux Mint which is top of the list has just 5%

Beyond position 34 it fragments and each distribution has less than 0.59% of market share.

Hits doesn't mean actual installations however and so these figures are a bit misleading.

If a user of distrowatch is looking for a distro they might start at Mint, read a few reviews, go down the list a bit and read reviews of other distros etc. Ultimately they might just download and install Mint anyway.

Various attempts have been made down the years to work out how many people are using each distro but a straight forward poll is pointless because as soon as the poll appears a hoard of Mageia and Arch users hit it.

I don't care how good it is, I suspect that there aren't more Mageia users than Ubuntu

Ridcully

Jan 26, 2015
5:59 PM EDT
@750....what a curiously open and rather irrelevant statement which actually didn't need saying. If you are in the Linux world, then you KNOW it contains enormous choice. You can choose to run Linux on your desktop and have nothing to do with Android and Chrome....Why not ? In any event it is how I presently operate and will continue to operate. And them's as likes Android and Chrome (but think Linux is for geeks) can continue to use Linux in two of its "forms in disguise" - but "have nothing to do with them" as much as you like. Your choice and no problems for anybody.
rnturn

Jan 26, 2015
6:11 PM EDT
I missed it...

Is Microsoft still saying that "Windows [insert version number here] is the most secure Windows ever"?

penguinist

Jan 26, 2015
6:17 PM EDT
I've been amused by the Microsoft rhetoric for decades now.

It's always the NEXT version that will be the greatest thing ever. It's never the current version that is portrayed as being good.

Umm... It seems that one of these years people will realize that MS is simply holding the carrot out in the future in order to encourage people to stay with a seriously flawed platform for yet another release cycle.
mrider

Jan 26, 2015
7:24 PM EDT
Saw this on /. and couldn't help but laugh: Windows 10 - We finally fixed everything
gus3

Jan 27, 2015
3:44 PM EDT
Like how you fix a dog?
jdixon

Jan 27, 2015
4:02 PM EDT
> Like how you fix a dog?

You take it to a vet. :)

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