A very nice, concise and conclusive write up. I agree! On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 7:34 PM, Shumon <[email protected]> wrote:
> Would like to hear people's comments on this article... > > Shumon > > > http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/windows-endgame-desktop-linuxs-failure/9109 > > *Windows' Endgame. Desktop Linux's Failure* > > “After nearly a decade, Microsoft’s reign as a monopoly is over.” … “The > latest real-world data on web usage confirms that Microsoft’s once-dominant > position in the world of personal computing is crumbling.” That’s not me, > the Linux guy speaking. No, that’s Ed Bott, who’s as much a Windows fan as > I > am a Linux fan. Ed’s the one, not me, who’s saying that “if Windows 8 flops > on phones and tablets, Microsoft’s future is very dim indeed.” > > Desktop Linux’s future isn’t any better. Windows isn’t declining because of > Linux’s security or stability benefits. No, as Ed points out, it’s > declining > because of the rise of mobile computing. Apple’s iPhone and iPad are the > ‘villians” in the mystery of who killing Windows. And, they’re also killing > off the traditional desktop Linux. > > When I say this though I don’t mean that Windows won’t still be on > computers > in 2021. It will be. What it won’t be though is the dominant computing > platform. Unlike Ed, I do think that Microsoft is moving too late to a > mobile, tablet-based computing paradigm. Windows 8 will be too little, too > late. > > Linux, however, is in a funny place. Linux, through Android, is becoming an > important operating system for end-users. Most people don’t know it though. > If you ask them “Could you use Linux?” If they even know what Linux is, > they’ll say “No.” Ask them can they use their phone, they’ll say “Yes, of > course.” > > We’ve seen this before People having been using Linux without realizing it > for years now thanks to Google, Yahoo, and the thousands of other major Web > sites that rely on Linux for their server operating system. We’ll see this > in the future not only with the continued rise of Android but with all the > other mobile Linux systems such as HP’s webOS, Google’s Chromebooks; and > MeeGo. > > None of these though are traditional Linux desktops. Only Ubuntu’s Unity > comes from what most of who’ve been using Linux for years think of as > mainstream Linux. Perhaps Unity will become a major player in the mobile > space. I fear it may also be a case of too little, too late, but we’ll see > what we see. > > So it is that while I’m now more sure than ever that Linux, thanks to its > presence in servers, cloud, and mobile devices, will eventually be more > important than Windows, I also think that almost no one will know it. Linux > will–indeed already is–become the foundation on which many other user > systems will be built. But both desktop Windows and Linux are going to > decline. > -- > Ubuntu Bangladesh > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bd -- ***Abu Ashraf Masnun | Web Application Engineer | http://masnun.com** * -- Ubuntu Bangladesh https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bd
