future of the OS's?

[savagenator]

I have been thinking lately, there has been hype about Microsoft dying and Mac rising, and linux is still very low on the graph, and my talks with a respectable IT manager on how Mac is so much more powerful than Windows. Is it possible that IF windows dies, and Mac rises giving way to very cheap PCs, will linux be shoved into a grave? I am very curious as what other people think and why. In my opinion Mac is much more superior than Windows in the way it is compatible as a extremely user friendly and IT friendly computer, but linux is hard to set-up and requires a little tinkering (although i prefer it), something which is extremely bad for people that are not tech-savy.

[misfitpierce]

Well linux is a pretty big platform as well. Most servers today are ran off linux so I see it not going into a grave but rather rising with mac if anything. Most people out there today have pc's and are switching to linux instead of going out and buying an overpriced mac that cant do very much. :) I see linux staying around for a long time indeed.

[@trophy]

I have been thinking lately, there has been hype about Microsoft dying and Mac rising, and linux is still very low on the graph, and my talks with a respectable IT manager on how Mac is so much more powerful than Windows. Is it possible that IF windows dies, and Mac rises giving way to very cheap PCs, will linux be shoved into a grave? I am very curious as what other people think and why. In my opinion Mac is much more superior than Windows in the way it is compatible as a extremely user friendly and IT friendly computer, but linux is hard to set-up and requires a little tinkering (although i prefer it), something which is extremely bad for people that are not tech-savy.

How would Apple gaining dominance in the OS market result in *cheap* pcs?

This does not compute.

Anyways I don't think Apple gaining dominance would mean anything one way or another for Linux. If anything Linux might grow in that situation because OSX is a unix so Linux is less different from OSX than it is from Windows. If Apple encouraged binary compatibility between the two (and they might, since they're really a hardware company, and their software exists only to make you buy the hardware) then OSX and linux could co-exist quite nicely in a post-M$ world. Microsoft isn't going anywhere, though. They've proven time after time that they are VERY good at self-preservation, and there's no reason to believe that they won't continue to do so in the future.

[savagenator]

I did not think of the server part, but i'm talking about linux on the user side. If users can't have the simplest possible actions done like in Mac, they might abandon linux. I know also that Mac can be put on a PC for free too, which people might do instead of burning linux CD's.


How would Apple gaining dominance in the OS market result in *cheap* pcs?

This does not compute.

It computes because as more people buy macs, they would expand their market for people looking for cheaper computers, or at least that is the theory.

[DeadSuperHero]

The real question is:
Would YOU buy a Mac if it became "dominant" over Windows?
I probably wouldn't.
And you probably wouldn't, either.
So, I don't think Linux is going to die anytime soon.

[@trophy]

The real question is:
Would YOU buy a Mac if it became "dominant" over Windows?
I probably wouldn't.
And you probably wouldn't, either.
So, I don't think Linux is going to die anytime soon.

I would. I've been thinking about buying one anyway. That doesn't mean I'd be getting rid of Linux, but I like OSX too. The only thing that's kept me from buying one so far is the ridiculous prices that Apple charges for everything.

[savagenator]

The real question is:
Would YOU buy a Mac if it became "dominant" over Windows?
I probably wouldn't.
And you probably wouldn't, either.
So, I don't think Linux is going to die anytime soon.

Well, if Mac is going where it seems to me its going, with ever improving features and pretty effects, it might just beat linux. Linux has its limits, and if Mac developes software like windows, software that can't be open source in any way, that will be a huge bummer for linux. Not to mention that you can run it free on a PC

[phrostbyte]

You know if Apple gets a 10-20% marketshare it would be really good for Linux. It will force game companies to start thinking more about multiplatform game engines and even if they completely ignore Linux, the fact that the games will be built with OpenGL means they will be much easier and less buggy to play on Wine.

[regomodo]

The real question is:
Would YOU buy a Mac if it became "dominant" over Windows?
I probably wouldn't.
And you probably wouldn't, either.
So, I don't think Linux is going to die anytime soon.

If dominance leads to cheaper macs then i'd be interested. Just to see what it was all about. I've tried the osx86 project but hardware issues have always kept me out.

[bread eyes]

I doubt it, XNU is pretty slow.