Why Windows X, where X=(any number) will have negligible impact on Linux Usage and Growth By _khAttAm_ on Fri 03/09/2010
Okay it is no secret that Linux has not been able to crack the desktop, either at the home or at the workplace. Not to be ignored either is that Windows lost some desktops last year (a little over 3%),but let’s not panic just yet, Windows just owns over 88% of all the desktops according to leading research. This has significantly decreased despite of the attempts of vendor lock-ins and various attempts to establish monopoly. I have used Windows 3.1 (1 year at school), Windows 95 (10-15 days), Windows 98(2 years at school PC, 6 months on my own machine), Windows ME (2-3 months on my uncle's laptop), Windows 2000 (ocasionally here and there at school and in college labs), Windows XP (3 years or so on my machine + college + more), Windows Vista (10 days on my machine) and Mac OS X (developers version for 15 days or so). However, I have also used Knoppix (Live CD, may not count), Almost all versions of Ubuntu from 5.10 (skipping 6.04), Mandrake (And then Mandriva.. not much though), Red Hat 9, Fedora Core 4, 5 and Fedora 9, Suse Personal (1st release), OpenSuse (9 & 10), Puppy (old one), Slax(old one), Debian Lenny (for a few days but it was too stable for me) and what not. Basically, I've been experimenting and playing around with every OS I got my hands on. I have played with Alpha versions of Ubuntu (and various Alpha versions of other packages) for the last two years and it has been a fascinating journey. I use development version of Ubuntu but I don't mind it being unstable (coz I have experience with Windows), I help others fix it, I do bug reporting and try to figure out what thsoe stack traces mean... I just enjoy it... so I use bleeding edge software rather than stable. THEREFORE, to get those out of the way let’s just spell them out. Windows 7 is basically the same Windows 6 (Popularly known as Vista) and has similar problems of Windows 6. Lets not forget Vista was the most unsuccessful Windows version of all times. But these have been the same arguments from the beginning, to be fair to Linux the GUI used to be seriously lacking but it has improved significantly. None of these issues had crushed the penguin before so what is different about Windows 7 that might still not. Let’s look at these areas: 1. POWERSHELL It is basically the same thing as Linux's terminal. Powershell does not provide anything over Linux's terminal and actually lacks. All popular OpenSource applications are available for Windows, but they are not available in Windows by Default and hence the shell is not as powerful as it would be on Linux/FreeBSD. Also, the terminal is considered to be a faster way to do things in a Linux/BSD System, while it is the exact opposite in Windows. 2. FEATURES, FEATURES, FEATURES However, there are no significant features over 10 year old Windows 5 (XP), Windows 7 uses a lot of resources in comparision, which is the main reason why Windows 5 users have not upgraded to 6 and will not upgrade to 7 as well. The list of features that are exclusive to Windows 7 can be made available for Windows XP, but to force sales of the new Operating System, Microsoft is not willing to provide it. Why it will not affect currrent Linux users: 0. FREEDOM Some Linux users are committed to freedom over anything else. Hence, they will compromise usability, features and looks to remain free. A reason like "shell is available on Linux" or "New version of <Insert_Any_DX10_Game_Here> released" will not be able to convert them to Windows. They will remain convicted to freedom and will continue developing for Linux. 1. SECURITY Enterprises who understand security or a typical home user who has faced viruses or identity theft just because of a simple worm (and later moved to Linux) will not readily believe that Windows 7 is most secure Operating System because they have already heard this crap before. 3. FUDs Enterprises and Desktop users who have heard the FUDs brought about by Ballmer (or anyone who represents/has represented Microsoft) will not readily fall for it. They know that however hard Microsoft tries, Linux is still backed by major corporations worldwide and it is not easy to attack Linux, even by Microsoft. Why more users will move to Linux 1. EASE OF USE Linux is becoming more easier to use as a Desktop Linux than ever before (courtesy Cannonical). So a brave person who decides to switch, can easily switch to Linux and adapt to it quickly. 2. CLOUD COMPUTING The world is moving to cloud computing with Google as the leading innovator. Google has already done great with Android on handhelds and has announced Chrome OS for netbooks. If Google can play well, it is certain that many users will start using Linux. On cloud computing, the desktop applications and underlying Operating System matters less. 3. STANDARDS However hard Microsoft tries to create their own standards and force them to the users, the IT world will has been trying to force universal standards and Microsoft is eventually being forced to adhere to standards. This way, the end user will be able to access their data no matter which platforms they use and will not be forced to depend on the Microsoft Platform. 4. GAMES With these in mind, Game Companies will more likely will also port their games to Linux because of the growth in Linux users. This is all I can think of now. Please add to it. -- FOSS Nepal mailing list: [email protected] http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] Mailing List Guidelines: http://wiki.fossnepal.org/index.php?title=Mailing_List_Guidelines Community website: http://www.fossnepal.org/ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to foss-nepal+unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject.
