Last 6 years of Linux market share
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It seems to have plateaued and increasing more slowly. Combining data from Steam and Statcounter reveals this:
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It seems to have plateaued and increasing more slowly. Combining data from Steam and Statcounter reveals this:
The year of the Linux desktop: any year now for the past 10 years.
I'm waiting for the day someone who isn't a nerd and regularly uses Linux.
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The year of the Linux desktop: any year now for the past 10 years.
I'm waiting for the day someone who isn't a nerd and regularly uses Linux.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Possibly controversial point, but I don't want Linux to go mainstream.
I like that there are very few viruses developed for Linux. I like that most countries don't regulate Linux in the way that MacOS or Windows are regulated (I live in the EU, so I know a thing or two about regulations), and most of all, I like that Linux apps are mostly Free as in free beer, and a labour of love for all involved.
All these things would go away if linux were to reach 10-15%+ market share. Is it really worth it to invite all this scrutiny for a chance of having hardware companies make hardware run better on linux?
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Possibly controversial point, but I don't want Linux to go mainstream.
I like that there are very few viruses developed for Linux. I like that most countries don't regulate Linux in the way that MacOS or Windows are regulated (I live in the EU, so I know a thing or two about regulations), and most of all, I like that Linux apps are mostly Free as in free beer, and a labour of love for all involved.
All these things would go away if linux were to reach 10-15%+ market share. Is it really worth it to invite all this scrutiny for a chance of having hardware companies make hardware run better on linux?
How do you see Linux being regulated if it grows? I imagine that Windows and MacOS are regulated because they’re for profits that e.g. harvest our data, create proprietary limitations on apps, and so on. Genuinely curious how regulating Linux would look similar - or how it might differ.
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How do you see Linux being regulated if it grows? I imagine that Windows and MacOS are regulated because they’re for profits that e.g. harvest our data, create proprietary limitations on apps, and so on. Genuinely curious how regulating Linux would look similar - or how it might differ.
Well, the first thing that comes to mind would be some sort of "security features" that the regulatory body might believe linux should have in order to be a mass consumer product, that the linux community might not agree with/have the structure to keep up with.
Another would be, if the EU goes ahead the introducing backdoors in encrypted communications (hopefully not), what implications could that have for the current spyware-free linux distros we use?
Overall, my concern is that more eyeballs on Linux might mean increased regulation even when it's unwarranted because some bureaucrat needs to justify his salary. I'd rather avoid that.
I'm qute happy with where Linux is ATM. 4-5% market share means there's enough of a market that things can develop, but not so much that regulation is used to force Linux to be a particular thing.
We can argue that Cannonical and Red Hat do force Linux in a certain direction of course, but that's another matter entirely.
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Well, the first thing that comes to mind would be some sort of "security features" that the regulatory body might believe linux should have in order to be a mass consumer product, that the linux community might not agree with/have the structure to keep up with.
Another would be, if the EU goes ahead the introducing backdoors in encrypted communications (hopefully not), what implications could that have for the current spyware-free linux distros we use?
Overall, my concern is that more eyeballs on Linux might mean increased regulation even when it's unwarranted because some bureaucrat needs to justify his salary. I'd rather avoid that.
I'm qute happy with where Linux is ATM. 4-5% market share means there's enough of a market that things can develop, but not so much that regulation is used to force Linux to be a particular thing.
We can argue that Cannonical and Red Hat do force Linux in a certain direction of course, but that's another matter entirely.
I see - but given that Linux isn’t one thing, couldn’t we instead see regulation of for-profit distros (or distros managed by for-profits), while volunteer-based, open-source remains largely unregulated?
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I see - but given that Linux isn’t one thing, couldn’t we instead see regulation of for-profit distros (or distros managed by for-profits), while volunteer-based, open-source remains largely unregulated?
Sadly when the EU regulates, it's the same for everyone across the board.
It's a mess. They require that small, one-man operations or simple corner stores treat personal data with the same diligence that banks do, under the GDPR.The concept of scale is something that is foreign to the EU.
I have a few friends that work for the government in their countries and they say GDPR requirements is destroying their local municipalities.
The only regulation from the EU that I've seen makes a distinction at scale, is the Digital Markets Act.
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Sadly when the EU regulates, it's the same for everyone across the board.
It's a mess. They require that small, one-man operations or simple corner stores treat personal data with the same diligence that banks do, under the GDPR.The concept of scale is something that is foreign to the EU.
I have a few friends that work for the government in their countries and they say GDPR requirements is destroying their local municipalities.
The only regulation from the EU that I've seen makes a distinction at scale, is the Digital Markets Act.
Wait what? I thought the EU could be my future salvation! If the EU regulations are too harsh, and the US regulations are so slack that billion dollar monopolistic tech companies can thrive, Australia is just America lite but with mining instead of big tech, and developing nations are still developing and don't have good amenities and the communist nations are largely dictators where do I go?
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Possibly controversial point, but I don't want Linux to go mainstream.
I like that there are very few viruses developed for Linux. I like that most countries don't regulate Linux in the way that MacOS or Windows are regulated (I live in the EU, so I know a thing or two about regulations), and most of all, I like that Linux apps are mostly Free as in free beer, and a labour of love for all involved.
All these things would go away if linux were to reach 10-15%+ market share. Is it really worth it to invite all this scrutiny for a chance of having hardware companies make hardware run better on linux?
There will still be just as many free as in beer linux apps and they will be just as easy to find since you can just turn on the filter for "free and open source" when your searching for an app in flathub or whatever repo and package manager you use, sure more proprietary apps may be developed but the open source ones will be here to stay and could get much more funding from donations if more people joined.
And I don't think it's about hardware development as that is already here, there are plenty options for hardware on linux and that is not a limiting factor.
What is a limiting factor (at least for me) is software support and it is the reason I still dual boot windows and linux. I need adobe for my work I know, I hate it too I wish I could use davinci resolve and other alternatives instead but I can't.
I am also a gamer and I play with my friends who run windows, I want to have fun with my friends and if a game doesn't run on linux I still want to play the game even if it means using windows.If the market share of linux increases then for profit developers will start optimizing applications for it since it will become a major target demographic.
In terms of viruses and regulation they are both fare points which I agree with you on, but I don't think they outweigh the benifets of having higher user adoption (for me at least)
I would be interested to know, is software support is ever a boundary to you?
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Wait what? I thought the EU could be my future salvation! If the EU regulations are too harsh, and the US regulations are so slack that billion dollar monopolistic tech companies can thrive, Australia is just America lite but with mining instead of big tech, and developing nations are still developing and don't have good amenities and the communist nations are largely dictators where do I go?
The EU is still an infinitely better place to live than the US, lol.
