this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2021
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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That's like saying accounting software is only "kept afloat" by its use in business. Sure, there's more business use than personal use, but it's business use will continue to grow.
Do you seriously think there were more desktop users in 2006 than there are now ?
You seem to think I'm pining for some kind of linux-desktop utopia, which isn't the case at all. I'm not saying I want linux to conquer the desktop, just that the desktop isn't dead.
Personally I think the last 20 years in computing has demonstrated that opensource is the best model for server software, while proprietary is the best model for desktop software. If linux desktops were a better product (in ways that matter to most users) then it would have gotten more traction.
If you'll let me do plus-or-minus on the year 2006 and the "now", then that's almost certainly (going to be) true.
I think rather, that you think this is a winnable race when the Earth just opened up and swallowed all of the race cars and yours is about to fall into the abyss.
It's just over. I've seen too much from random yahoos about how their primary computing experience is a phone. And it's not as if those people are going to work and sitting down at an office computer, they work at Arby's or whatever. The other explanation is that there's an orchestrated conspiracy to mislead me into believing the desktop is dead by a team of millions of propagandists writing subtly about how to do common computing actions on Android, or that the desktop has just came and gone, like dumb terminals before them. Like teletypes.
Probably, but that didn't stop Microsoft and dotnet from conquering some large fraction of that market. God knows why.