Linux to Overtake Apple as #2 Desktop OS.

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 40
    dave k.dave k. Posts: 1,306member
    Can someone define what a "Desktop" system is?



    If in the definition, a desktop = a POS (point-of-sale) system, then yes, Linux will overtake Mac on the desktop, because that is were non-server Linux boxes are booming.
  • Reply 22 of 40
    kim kap solkim kap sol Posts: 2,987member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by onlooker

    Not that you were replying to me, but that's not my point. The point is - If their abandoning windows why are they choosing something other than the best OS out there instead? It's all about the hardware.



    Probably because it's easier and cheaper to just keep your x86 box and install Linux than go out and buy a Mac and all the software to go with it.



    It's not all about the hardware...it's all about the price though.
  • Reply 23 of 40
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kim kap sol

    Probably because it's easier and cheaper to just keep your x86 box and install Linux than go out and buy a Mac and all the software to go with it.



    It's not all about the hardware...it's all about the price though.




    Good point. Using Linux is not always about hardware at all. Repurposing a machine or just ejecting Windows from it leaves an opening for Linux to be installed. An existign machine used this way will always beat the price of a Mac at any cost. As others already made quite clear though this is good news overall.
  • Reply 24 of 40
    Not worried. The install process would have to be MUCH easier for Linux, then we may see them climb in the OS rankings.



    Anything that helps break the 'lemming effect' is welcomed by me. Anything that helps people break their computer OS 'lock-in' is fine by me.



    If people can get past that huge 'It's too scary to try something different, even if it's easier' schtick, then that gives them the opportunity to really look at what is out there, including Mac. If people are honestly looking for something different- they will evaluate things for themselves with little input from others. If they are fed up, or are learning a new OS at work- it will get them to think about the possibility of what else is available.



    I have used serveral flavors of Windows, Linux and Mac. Each has their own 'that's neat' features, but for my money and time- I choose Mac. I would not doubt that if Linux did take off, that it would do nothing damaging to the Mac marketshare, only positive.



    Thoughts?
  • Reply 25 of 40
    kim kap solkim kap sol Posts: 2,987member
    The big problem Linux will have to confront is it's reputation.



    Just like Macs are still regarded as being very incompatible with Windows files, Linux will be regarded as complicated. Macs have become very compatible in recent years...there are very little file formats that can't be opened in Mac OS X with the apps available today, but Macs continue to be seen as incompatible by most people because they are ignorant of the way Macs work today. Even if Linux becomes 10 times easier to use, when people hear the word 'Linux', they think "hard to use...needlessly complicated"...it'll be difficult to shake that one off just like it's difficult to make people realize that Macs can run pretty much the same programs Windows has and open pretty much most popular file formats.
  • Reply 26 of 40
    I would use Linux in place of OSX if it wern't for a few applications that don't work on linux quite yet. Well, when Macromedia gets every thing working on linux for PPC my OSX days are over but for now OSX works quite well.
  • Reply 27 of 40
    sushiismsushiism Posts: 131member
    all linux users I knew have switched to mac since jaguar
  • Reply 28 of 40
    kupan787kupan787 Posts: 586member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by agallant

    I would use Linux in place of OSX if it wern't for a few applications that don't work on linux quite yet. Well, when Macromedia gets every thing working on linux for PPC my OSX days are over but for now OSX works quite well.



    What exactly does Linux do that is better than OS X? If you already have a PPC, why bother with Linux?
  • Reply 29 of 40
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kupan787

    What exactly does Linux do that is better than OS X? If you already have a PPC, why bother with Linux?



    PPC is the type of chip Macromedia announced that they are developing products for the linux platform but as far as i know it is only for X86. As for what Linux does that OS X does not well..... i can really think of much, I just like playing with stuff, i can play more with linux. OS X is a tad too put togeather for me, greate for my mother.



    -AG
  • Reply 30 of 40
    kupan787kupan787 Posts: 586member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by agallant

    PPC is the type of chip Macromedia announced that they are developing products for the linux platform but as far as i know it is only for X86. As for what Linux does that OS X does not well..... i can really think of much, I just like playing with stuff, i can play more with linux. OS X is a tad too put togeather for me, greate for my mother.



    -AG




    Fire up X11, install fink and kde, or just boot into >console if you like playing with things. I just can't imagine that Macromedia is really holding you back from Linux adoption. If you plan on doing any professional work, I don't see how Linux could even come close to being a viable option.



    If you had a PC, then I could maybe understand you partioning a HD, installing Linux to play with, and then booting back to Windows to do anything serious. But by already owning a Mac, and the fact you can do all of the UNIX stuff from MacOS X, I just don't get it...
  • Reply 31 of 40
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kupan787

    Fire up X11, install fink and kde, or just boot into >console if you like playing with things. I just can't imagine that Macromedia is really holding you back from Linux adoption. If you plan on doing any professional work, I don't see how Linux could even come close to being a viable option.



    If you had a PC, then I could maybe understand you partioning a HD, installing Linux to play with, and then booting back to Windows to do anything serious. But by already owning a Mac, and the fact you can do all of the UNIX stuff from MacOS X, I just don't get it...




    Every thing at the office is Linux, i would like to be on the same page as my network. Any way i think it is also a matterr of i am just more use to Linux than OSX. OSX has some wierd things that i don't like for example there is no SU root, I have to sudo every thing first this makes it a pain in the ass for some applications that i use that have to run as root. As for macromedia, I like dreamweaver mx, what can i say



    On the other hand OS X is 100 times better than windows will be, I have played with Long Horne and it has NOTHING on OS X. OS X is a great looking OS, easy to use but you can also get in to the nitty gritty with out too much work. OS X is what you want it to be, a simple clean OS for email, web surffing and I tunes(one of the best applications that has been released in years) of you can install GCC, PHP, MySQL, Apache(ok it is all ready on there), jabber, sendmail, etc... and go all out with it.



    As I said before I just like Linux. I also think that OS X can be a bit slow some times.
  • Reply 32 of 40
    faust9faust9 Posts: 1,335member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by agallant

    Every thing at the office is Linux, i would like to be on the same page as my network. Any way i think it is also a matterr of i am just more use to Linux than OSX. OSX has some wierd things that i don't like for example there is no SU root, I have to sudo every thing first this makes it a pain in the ass for some applications that i use that have to run as root. As for macromedia, I like dreamweaver mx, what can i say



    On the other hand OS X is 100 times better than windows will be, I have played with Long Horne and it has NOTHING on OS X. OS X is a great looking OS, easy to use but you can also get in to the nitty gritty with out too much work. OS X is what you want it to be, a simple clean OS for email, web surffing and I tunes(one of the best applications that has been released in years) of you can install GCC, PHP, MySQL, Apache(ok it is all ready on there), jabber, sendmail, etc... and go all out with it.



    As I said before I just like Linux. I also think that OS X can be a bit slow some times.




    You can set up a true root level account in OSX if you like. It is rarely-if ever-needed though thus the lack of su root. If you do set up a root account it will have true root level access and SU root will work.



    I agree with you here though. I transitioned from Gentoo/Enlightment (man was it a pain getting enlightenment working with gentoo) to OSX, but now I like OSX a lot. Probably as much as I liked Enlightenment. I use my iBook for some software development which is cool. I have a full fledged MAMP server set up (Think LAMP only with OSX).



    All in all I really don't care if Linux is 1,2,3, or 53. I like it. I like OSX. I like FreeBSD. I have all installed at home and will continue to use them. Linux gaining popularity only means more software and attention on *nix OS's and less on MicroCrap.
  • Reply 33 of 40
    It's great to see all the open minds, re: linux marketshare on the rise. Being unixy, OS X users benefit from any linux marketshare gains. Unless you don't like free software.



    Why run linux on PPC hardware? Because I can. It allows me to keep tabs on the open source community and the progress being made. I've been using linux since 1999/2000, and wow, has there been oodles of progress. Compare gentoo 2004.1 to LinuxPPC 1999, and the difference is night and day. So I guess I'd say I use linux for educational purposes.



    The biggest group to benefit from Linux's rising popularity is Windows users, who can switch to a platform that isn't prone to sixty remote vulnerabilities a week, and 80 Outlook/VBScript/whatever viruses. It also lights a fire under Microsoft's ass to produce an OS that doesn't suck. Longhorn may save MS eventually, but until 2026, when it comes out, expect a lot of migration, and I'm not talking ducks in winter.
  • Reply 34 of 40
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    I'm still yet to be convinced that Linux has a rising desktop marketshare.



    As much as I like Linux (our servers run redhat 9), I don't see it making significant inroads into the desktop/user market.



    However, it definately has gained mind-share over the past number of years. This is a remarkable acheivement.



    Yet I don't deluded myself about the actual number of linux users. Doing so tends to make the great unwashed skeptical of all things linux. Instead, I brag about our server's uptime and the fact that linux saves us many thousands each year in microsoft taxes (licenses).
  • Reply 35 of 40
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dfiler

    I'm still yet to be convinced that Linux has a rising desktop marketshare.



    As much as I like Linux (our servers run redhat 9), I don't see it making significant inroads into the desktop/user market.



    However, it definately has gained mind-share over the past number of years. This is a remarkable acheivement.



    Yet I don't deluded myself about the actual number of linux users. Doing so tends to make the great unwashed skeptical of all things linux. Instead, I brag about our server's uptime and the fact that linux saves us many thousands each year in microsoft taxes (licenses).




    I went to Lowes Hardware to buy a sliding door for my house. The computers at each service point were all PCs running some flavor of Linux + KDE desktop. It's not only possible for Linux to gain marketshare, it is happening. This is actually a lot of what gave Windows traction. People used it at work then decide to use it at home for familiarity and comfort.



    It is still a ways off before it becomes ubiquitous but I feel certain at some point MS will have a lot of problems competing with it.



    ps - Gnome and KDE may not impress Mac users much but when compared to what MS offers there are a *lot* of neat features and strengths to each Linux desktop.
  • Reply 36 of 40
    Quote:

    Originally posted by agallant

    OSX has some wierd things that i don't like for example there is no SU root, I have to sudo every thing first this makes it a pain in the ass for some applications that i use that have to run as root.





    Re: there is no su root:

    %sudo su

    #



    Re: Applications have to run as root

    Certain Applications must be run as admin, NOT root. And how the hell are you running Macromedia Dreamweaver from the CLI? Share that trick with us, please!!
  • Reply 37 of 40
    Linux of everywhere.

    Automotive computers

    POS systems

    Servers

    Bar Code Scanners

    PDA

    Cell Phones

    Navigation Systems

    Government Server Farms (I worked for a few)

    City of Tampa FL, and other city governments

    Falls Church, VA Police (The Panasonic Tough Books that they have in there cars)

    Many schools



    Check this out, great example of Imbedded Linux

    http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7322



    Open source is great. And as long as Open Source is around great applications for OSX will be developed.



    My favorite is we bought 8 Dell Power Edge servers with Windows Server 2003 on them. We are moving to AD. When we turned the servers on Windows crashed. We opened the Dell recovery disks and there were running a form of Linux to recover Microsoft Windows.
  • Reply 38 of 40
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gizzmonic

    Re: there is no su root:

    %sudo su

    #



    Re: Applications have to run as root

    Certain Applications must be run as admin, NOT root. And how the hell are you running Macromedia Dreamweaver from the CLI? Share that trick with us, please!!






    I think that it is a given that no one including my self is running Dreamweaver from the CLI. Sorry for the confusion As for the applications running as root they are home grown apps that we have in the office. I was able to get them to work on OSX but ater some modification.
  • Reply 39 of 40
    More ontopic, Linux people have been claiming this for years. Some say it's happened, some say it's about to happen, some say it happened 6 years ago!



    I know a lot of people who run Linux, but I don't know anyone who doesn't dual boot some version of Windows.



    Most of them are computer hobbyists who run Linux to be cool. A week after installing, they forget what was cool about circular dependencies, inconsistent interfaces, and a newbie-hostile userbase and switch back to pirated Windows XP Pro to play their pirated PC games. I also know plenty of IT people who use Linux at work. Yet they too seem to use Windows (or Macs) at home.



    A lot of people are claiming they would buy Mac OS X if an x86 version were available. Where were you people for OS/2? Or better yet, BeOS? You probably pirated it, played with it for a couple of weeks, and tossed it out of your system like a gum that lost its flavor.



    Linux is good (not great) as a server OS or embedded OS. And because it's so cheap, it's made significant inroads in those fields. Linux on the desktop is a novelty at this point, even for computer power users.



    Now and again, I hear stories about third world countries adopting Linux. Which is great, because it probably runs better on their 486es than Windows 95. But developed countries are not going to adopt Linux until it is preloaded on computers. Not just on the $199 computers at Wal-Mart either, on a significant number of them. If technophiles can't be bothered to switch their OS from Windows to Linux, why would normal people?



    Mac OS X, on the other hand, is inspiring enough to get people to switch away from Windows, and to stay away from Windows. Yes, the expense can put some people off, but those that do switch-really do switch. Unlike Linux users, who are paying lip service most of the time while continuing to suck on Bill Gates' teat.
  • Reply 40 of 40
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    LOTD has been elusive for a long time because people were laboring under the impression that Linux had to be a good off-the-shelf, general-purpose desktop OS in order to make inroads into the desktop.



    Then they discovered enterprise.



    Notwithstanding AirSluf's comment — which is true, and worth remembering — the advantage of Linux as an enterprise OS is that you can pay a techie to configure a particular distribution that only has what you want it to have, lock it down completely, and distribute and maintain it over the network onto the hardware you've already invested in, without worrying (as much) about seats or licenses. This is a huge deal in enterprise because a general-purpose desktop OS is total overkill in this context. Most people need what amount to terminals, which have a given, and small, set of specialized applications that they will run as is for years. Since intranet-based web applications (and web-like applications) have taken off in a big way, the move to Linux is relatively easy. WINE makes it easier.



    For similar devices, like POS systems and phones that basically only have to be configured once to run on invariant hardware for years, Linux is great.



    What this all means is that LOTD, as it is actually transpiring, is no immediate threat to OS X, because OS X competes as a full-featured, general-purpose system. Furthermore, because of the broad (and increasing) compatibility between Linux and OS X, Linux in the enterprise is opening doors to acceptance of non-Windows platforms (and non-Windows networking, non-Windows document formats, etc.) in enterprise, and that's an opportunity that Applecan capitalize on. I don't expect Apple to take over, but that's OK: The people in call centers aren't going to take advantage of the features Apple sells as value-adds, so it's not really a lost sale if they're using something else. What really matters is that instead of IT mandating Windows for everything, people might just start using what makes sense for any particular job, the way they did before 1995.
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