I found this interesting when I first found the site. I didn’t realize there was someplace I could go to get myself counted. I usually tell people that linux users are about 2-2.5% of the marketshare.
I’d love to see Linux succeed and it does well in some markets but on the desktop it can be difficult. At the end of the day the bulk of the world’s users are not experts, they dont know what disk partitions or BIOS are and would be hard pressed to know ho to use them. You buy a PC and it comes with windows. Right or wrong you turn it on or put the disk in and it works. Now if it is your only computer you cant post in forums or any of that because you dont have a computer yet. But you can call MS for that one call with the purchase of an OS.
I am right now as we speak running through an install on a mainstream machine, ASUS MM5A97 MB with AMD FX4300 CPU and UEFI BIOS. I am on day 4 of trying to get it to dualboot. Even the Linux install would not have come off without a couple of forum posts. That is where Linux fits, for people with some technical knowledge and another computer to post with and time to run through the install. Now Joe consumer is perfectly happy to pay $99 and he has a computer that does what he wants - email, web and perhaps some office apps. Now if there was a way for Joe end user to pay $99 and get a Linux package that installs a large % of time with defaults and has a telephone number he can call for help it would be off to the races on the desktop side. This is why the home end user market is MS. Dont get me wrong I wish it wasn’t so but that is the reality.
M2C
exponent
On 2014-01-14 02:16, exponent wrote:
> pay $99 and get a Linux package that installs a large % of time with
> defaults and has a telephone number he can call for help it would be off
> to the races on the desktop side. This is why the home end user market
> is MS. Dont get me wrong I wish it wasn’t so but that is the reality.
You can buy an HP with SUSE SLED installed and phone support. I think.
I’ve never seen it on a shop.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
I live in Canada and know the market fairly well here and in the US. You rarely see computers from the store with Linux. You see windows, MAC, some tablets running android but on the rank and file AMD/Intel laptops, notebooks and desktops it is all windows. The majority of end users want email, browsing and some office functionality. They dont give a **** about the underlying technology. They want to buy a computer, come home, turn it on and in a couple of minutes be on the Internet. I could never see my sister or Mom running Linux or for that matter most of the non-technical users I know. Now for the corporate world. Well that one is changing. There is a hgh cost of ownership to desktops. Companies have gone full about and are now realzing that a cloud backend with everything hosted is far cheaper to maintain and support. Plus lots of reliablity, backup and administration costs disappear. This is where the big battle for IT will be. I started working with computers when the model was highly centralized hosts with dumb display terminals and that is exactly where we are headed right back to. Basically my advice to a corporate client is to spend lots on the connection, get a fast and reliable one and centralize everything. Disaster recovery is a cinch, minimal admin needed, no costly HW updates/failures, complete scalability, easy license management and all with a highly predictable fixed cost and you are always up to date.
Much the same in the UK. However that overlooks the generation currently at primary/secondary school, using computers, and an increasing number will learn more about the technology. I suspect the majority are still Windows based though. Email, browsing, and some office functionality can be delivered on smart phones (or tablet) with cloud based storage/backup, and the mobility is attractive to teenagers on the go, where deliverables (e.g. multimedia) matter, not the underlying technology. Of course there will always be hobbyists, as there are with motorbikes, cars, and train sets.
Now for the corporate world. Well that one is changing. There is a hgh cost of ownership to desktops. Companies have gone full about and are now realzing that a cloud backend with everything hosted is far cheaper to maintain and support. Plus lots of reliablity, backup and administration costs disappear.
Like you, I started with centralized computers and dumb terminals, so it seems to be heading right back to the future. With a fast connection, the cloud can provide high availability with backup, disaster recovery, and the ultimate outsourcing solution. It looks like a no-brainer for small/medium businesses, with larger enterprises taking a more phased approach.
But don’t you think most of this should bee viewed as a logical consequence and heritage of 25+ years with a Microsoft dominated PC world? Hardware and driver development, new technology and so on do not have to come along the same patterns that has been followed these last decades; if motivation behind progress in this field was not that much founded on compliance with the Windows world and there were mechanism in place to enforce Microsoft to adopt to a standard or/and towards certain sets of development lines to counter such motivation, instead of having them dictating scheme and schedule (to such an extent), I am sure much could have been different; this probably includes the whole UEFI chapter also. Speaking in general terms, though, so whether or not this last point is valid isn’t that relevant.
All in all, I think the GNU/Linux community has done quite well still.
By the way, if you buy SUSE or Red Hat etc isn’t what you pay for just support? The availability in the local shop probably isn’t the best though.
Previously SuSE/openSUSE could be ordered as a DVD that included a limited perod of support; still possible, however, only a German version seems to be available these days.
On 2014-01-14 13:46, consused wrote:
> Much the same in the UK.
And in Spain.
However, it appears that you can buy computers ready installed with
Linux via internet. As a matter of fact, you have to do it often enough
for many peripherals, the shop only carries a small subset.
> However that overlooks the generation currently
> at primary/secondary school, using computers, and an increasing number
> will learn more about the technology. I suspect the majority are still
> Windows based though.
In theory at least, many schools here are Linux based. I have met with
young students at universities and such, and many of them at least know
about Linux, and some actually use it. This varies a lot if the matter
they study is related to computers or not, of course. There is of course
a number that despise Linux absolutely (specially those that say they
are computer experts just because they have been trained to use some
special and expensive software).
Once a visitor I had asked to use my computer to send some emails. That
person is not computer skilled at all. Simple things as copying files to
a stick are complicated. She doesn’t even know that Linux exist. I
silently provided her with a laptop with Firefox started, and went on
doing some other things myself.
When I looked again a while later, she was happily sending emails and
browsing internet, and she did not even notice it was not XP.
So… IMO, on many workplaces, users can use whatever they supply them
with, as long as somebody else does the maintaining, and training when
needed.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
this might sound off topic, but trust me, it isn’t. the US was founded with freedom before all else. and the same was true for the desktop when it started. DOS and some windows versions before vista allowed freedom to arrange the pc to your liking. now windows 7,8 and even android are leaning towards more restrictive interfaces. by this I mean less configuration options. for the average user that means having to learn to cheat the system. for the more advanced there are two options. work around the system… (time consuming). or install linux… (easy as hell). therefore I see the market leaning towards Linux in the near future, it is not dead at all. there are very few products out there that sell on their own, linux has managed that. that aside, we (Linux users) should spread the word, because honestly since I’ve been using Linux (2003) it has managed to stay ahead of windows save for some compatibility issues. but the idea of several desktops, widgets included with the installation. adding panels to your liking, programs that are readily available and downloadable through yast is an original of Linux and a plus that you do not find in windows also windows compatibility issues are only obvious until the system begins crashing or slowing down. Yast or the Linux installer warns you before you even installing. I WOULD GLADLY PAY FOR THIS EVEN WITH THE BUGS. windows has bugs also and dont do s#!t about it. Linux is not a ferrari, but it is not a hyundai either. it is more like an audi, lincoln or buick with all the options EXCEPT it’s free, beat THAT!! .
"I dont always use windows, but when I do, I wanna choke gates.
stay debian my friend.
-ron-
AMD A8 QUAD 16gb ram opensuse 13.1
to those of you who say that linux will never get to mainstream computers, well microsoft is paying millions to pc manufacturers to put it on their pcs. but when you say you need technocal knowledge to install linux you are dead wrong.
first. at the install there is an auto option. linux takes care of everything.
second. “partition” the word is intuitive.
third. I met people who knew what their modem was and how to connect through ethernet rather than wifi.
fourth. “Yast” although the word is awkward there is an explanation to what it does and it is under configuration. “configuration” is intuitive
fifth. in this economy no one wants to dish out another 400-600 dollars to upgrade their computer. everyone knows how to burn a dvd. heck dvd movies are a standard now. so download, burn, install is very straight forward. the only thing missing in the suse download page is an explanation like this. on windows. move mouse to lower right corner>click search>type eufi>click restart> click Uefi use dvd/usb stick. and there on it’s straight forward. I think we, those who are experienced and use the more technical side of the install, need to emphasize the pluses, the ease of installation, and the fact that they can get away from the expense of reinstalling.
my dad had to upgrade office and windows because microsoft decided to end it’s windows and the ability to use office.
total expense 184 for office home and student, which has limited functions and 600 for a new computer because the old windows was eating up all the resources and freezing ( vista pro) no pro about it. on a lenovo with 4 gb ddr 333mhz 750 GB hd and quad core AMD. for all I know it could have been running a server with no issues.
total 784, which is expensive even to him, who spends $70 on a meal 4 times a week.
opensuse 13.1 and proud.
A lot of smart replies :P.
So... IMO, on many workplaces, users can use whatever they supply them
with, as long as somebody else does the maintaining, and training when
needed.
I like that one.
My experiment is that Win takes take a lot of more time to set up. Defiantly takes more time to maintain and upgrade, -and the cost. Even for “good friends that have to fix it” for private users. And on company level???
My experience started with dumb terminals . Then reading Win3.1 from a local novell server (1990) Win95. Win2000… Wan protocols and newer ones.
Today? I tried to explain already some years ago (2007) That Android will dominate. Further back I present (1993) that global communication will take places. This was only local in my mind and my country then.
It is still possibly to buy opensuse 11.4 in shop with one of the largest suppliers in Sweden. In English version. Swell About 77Euro/690 Skr… .
Regards.
I agreelol!
Not only stay SUSE or opensuse I’m also run AMD A8 on the desktop with 13.1. I direct to my main server to (AMD +a lot of RAM) heavier tasks for my needs. Thanks for your post. Lot of thoughts that I can agree whit. Cars likeness? Hmm… :X
Well my dad is born 1934 and my mother 1939. They recice a computer in the early 1990’s. To see later communication and e-mails they want a “upgrade” an they got 2001 (from me) with the children and grand (grand-grand-grand)children. Running to start with WinXp. Then later Linux (suse). My older brother who study at the university at that time as a software-engineering is unfortunately prefer MS-products.
Booth me and my brother had change from the construction branch into It-business later years.
Yes we have nice (!) conversation once a month at the dinner table at my parents.
Regards.
No, it’s not. Especially to someone who has never gone beyond windows.
But, I agree with everything else you said.
On 2014-01-17 23:56, Buddlespit wrote:
>
> relay0052;2616846 Wrote:
>>
>> second. “partition” the word is intuitive.
>
> No, it’s not. Especially to someone who has never gone beyond windows.
Nope. I knew what partitions were when I only used Windows (W95). I used
them. I re sized my partitions to make space for Linux using Windows tools.
Some people know, many do not.
Some people do installations and repairs, many just use their systems
and know nothing about them, having to resource to professionals or
handy friends to do “complicated things” to their computer -
indifferently of what those computers run.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)