Could Linux take over the world?

[derby007]

How long before Linux takes over the world? 5 years, 10 years, 25 years...ever? I think its spreading like a disease (a good disease obviously). Since I was introduced to it (by a friend), I have had a knock on effect to about 20 other people, family, workmates, friends. They have become hooked/interested in it aswell.
I wonder what would happen if it gets mainstream, ie. advertised, eg. on TV, radio, papers.
Could you picture the headline, Linux powers space-shuttle into orbit ?
Will it solely depend on its backbone, the voluntary programmers ?

[Frak]

Well, by the tactics that are used by linux to reach the mainstream.
No
It will not take over the world.

Will it ever make an impact
Yes
I foresee Linux gaining at least 33% of the market share before the end of 2015. (very optimistic)

We don't want to take over the world, just make an impact, and show people "Hey, why do you have to slave to do something, when instead you will always have people right behind you, helping you every step of the way, not hiding anything from you, and not binding you to cryptic, restraining rules"

From then on, MS and Apple would have to change the way they do business.

[arkara]

in my oppinion its not an easy task..
linux will not take over the world
because its unfriendly
if you have a problem you must do sth with the terminal and that is verry unfriendly...
maybe linux isnt for the many people... and maybe that way is better...
oh linux might get a shot.. in like 5-8 years as we move towards the web..
many many apps are transfered to the web like photo editing and mail services..
this is linux's chance... oh and when microsoft keeps helping with products like vista this will make linux more popular

[Kingsley]

Nope, keep dreaming.

[hessiess]

i don't want Linux to become a monopoly, then it would be the same as ms, no real competition. there should be a number of operating systems that haft to compete to get anywhere

[jrusso2]

Linux desktops will stay around 1 to 5 % unless Linux is willing to make some compromises.

[HermanAB]

Linux already controls the world.

There are billions of Linux powered devices out there: Cell-phones, routers, phone systems, bank systems, stock markets...

If all Linux devices would stop working at the same time, then the whole western world will come to a grinding halt as the internet, phone systems and financial houses go belly up.

Most people only think of Linux desktop systems, but this is a tiny and almost imperceptible part of the Linux market. Embedded use of Linux is orders of magnitude larger.

[n3tfury]

Nope, keep dreaming.

exactly. also, how many of these types of threads does this community make a week?

[BuffaloX]

i don't want Linux to become a monopoly, then it would be the same as ms, no real competition. there should be a number of operating systems that haft to compete to get anywhere

It wouldn't be a monopoly like MS Windows, because Linux is Open Source and free.
But still I agree, it's better we also have alternatives.

Linux is gaining market shares on the Desktop, It's not only for geeks anymore.

MS Windows will still be around for a long time, Even if they begin losing market shares in a huge way, but they are not in the habit of giving up easily.

Linux is still not quite at "critical mass" IMO, but it's getting there. :)
Sometimes the PC market can move very quickly,
The switch from DOS to Windows Dominance was very quick, but nor for the first version, but when Windows reached a level where it was "good enough" (Windows 3.0 / 3.11), the move was astonishing.
When windows 95 came out, nobody (almost) used Dos anymore.

A similar shift towards Linux is unlikely, but if Linux gets to a point where it's obvious for all that it's better than Windows, we may see a quick shift by larger numbers. But some will always stay with Windows, because thats what they know.

[FrankVdb]

One can realistically say that at some point in the future Microsoft will leave the market of operating systems in favour of lucrative solutions. If you have a look at Vista, which is devoid of major innovations, you ask yourself the question, why a company investing hundreds of millions in research is not capable of coming up with a totally safe and innovative operating system. The answer is simple: Microsoft is not up to the task.

A lot of Linux distributions have alreade reached a point where they can be used AND installed by normally PC-literate citizens. On top of that, they are already offering almost everything that a typical computer user needs.

I think it's quite a feat what Canonical has achieved thus far. They have only 65 people and they are coming out with major new releases every six months. MS needed five years to develop Vista. And it is still not totally safe.

[Frak]

One can realistically say that at some point in the future Microsoft will leave the market of operating systems in favour of lucrative solutions. If you have a look at Vista, which is devoid of major innovations, you ask yourself the question, why a company investing hundreds of millions in research is not capable of coming up with a totally safe and innovative operating system. The answer is simple: Microsoft is not up to the task.

A lot of Linux distributions have alreade reached a point where they can be used AND installed by normally PC-literate citizens. On top of that, they are already offering almost everything that a typical computer user needs.

I think it's quite a feat what Canonical has achieved thus far. They have only 65 people and they are coming out with major new releases every six months. MS needed five years to develop Vista. And it is still not totally safe.
You should also credit the unmeasurable other developers that have created the applications that Canonical integrates into Ubuntu. That's also what makes GNU/Linux such a powerful, safe, yet amazing OS.

[greymongrey]

Nope, keep dreaming.
I am forced to agree. I was in Best Buy yesterday and they had row after row of Windows software. I wondered to myself how could Linux possibly compete with that and my answer was they can't. When you think of the tens of thousand of companies making money off of Windows it will boggle the mind. Until they can do the same thing with Linux, Linux will never make it big on the desktop.

[leg]

No its an operating system not a mouse with a big brain.

[ryanVickers]

I hope it gets down to a battle of 50% mac, 50% Linux because then for one thing, there will be no more windows, and for another, these are already the best OS's, and with that kind of competition, they will only be getting ever better!

I don't think that windows will ever totally disappear, but it will certainly be decreasing slowly but surly from now until the end of time!

[n3tfury]

No its an operating system not a mouse with a big brain.

lol

[Paqman]

Linux already controls the world.

There are billions of Linux powered devices out there: Cell-phones, routers, phone systems, bank systems, stock markets...


That's true. Linux fills a niche that slips below people's radar. After all, look at what Linux's number one "killer ap" is: Apache. Ask folks walking down the street what Apache was and you'd get a blank stare.

[ryanVickers]

That's true. Linux fills a niche that slips below people's radar. After all, look at what Linux's number one "killer ap" is: Apache. Ask folks walking down the street what Apache was and you'd get a blank stare.

:-|

[RAV TUX]

I am forced to agree. I was in Best Buy yesterday and they had row after row of Windows software. I wondered to myself how could Linux possibly compete with that and my answer was they can't. When you think of the tens of thousand of companies making money off of Windows it will boggle the mind. Until they can do the same thing with Linux, Linux will never make it big on the desktop.
Best Buy by me went out of business and was replaced by another store, one I never heard of, I was too busy to look. Does anybody really shop at those kind of places anymore?

[Nekiruhs]

...
When windows 95 came out, nobody (almost) used Dos anymore.
...
Win 95 IS dos. The GUI is just a shell.

[n3tfury]

Best Buy by me went out of business and was replaced by another store, one I never heard of, I was too busy to look. Does anybody really shop at those kind of places anymore?

lots of people. just not in your area.

[jovannicabanag]

Linux already controls the world.

There are billions of Linux powered devices out there: Cell-phones, routers, phone systems, bank systems, stock markets...

If all Linux devices would stop working at the same time, then the whole western world will come to a grinding halt as the internet, phone systems and financial houses go belly up.

Most people only think of Linux desktop systems, but this is a tiny and almost imperceptible part of the Linux market. Embedded use of Linux is orders of magnitude larger.

Amen!

[Ireclan]

It's hard to say, really, if Linux will "take over the world". I myself hope that it will. One thing almost NO ONE seems to consider is that some entirely new OS from some other company could come in and wipe out all of the current competitors. Then there's the whole "Web OS" movement; who knows how far that'll go in rendering the classical OS obsolete.

[andrewpmk]

i don't want Linux to become a monopoly, then it would be the same as ms, no real competition. there should be a number of operating systems that haft to compete to get anywhere

Linux is not one operating system. There are many competing distributions (like Ubuntu) and many competing programs that perform the same task, like GNOME and KDE. Therefore, if Linux takes over the world, there will still be competition within Linux.

[Wiebelhaus]

With the top five manufacturers dedicating resources to linux and Michale Dell & Amd/Ati also dedicating resources I bet we see exponential growth in the next few years , Maybe I"m just an optimistic noob but what I'm reading in the tech news , it's looking good mate.


Ohh yea! Forgot to mention international governments making the switch and the ODF elected as the international standard , it's only a matter of time. Open office is the gate way drug like marijuana.

[ryanVickers]

Linux is not one operating system. There are many competing distributions (like Ubuntu) and many competing programs that perform the same task, like GNOME and KDE. Therefore, if Linux takes over the world, there will still be competition within Linux.

That is sort of cool, isn't it! :p

[danwosere2007]

I just recently installed ubuntu on my computer after my microsoft xp o/s decided to have boot problems, and although it is safe as houses/ totally free and for me at least very rapid on the internet. I find user friendlyness somewhat lacking. If this can be improved whilst maintaining the integrity of the security side of things, then i think it will become a truly great o/s to be sure. As it is though for someone who's just switched from windows, and after trying to install/uninstall it seems to me to be a sort of programmers o/s as it were, and not easily accessible by joe bloggs. I donwloaded a program called deluge, had to build it or something, and now it wont work, so i was like o.k i'l uninstall it. Erm easy said than done, i haven't a clue how i'd go about uninstalling it, and i can see this getting rather irritating as i'll probably end up with loads of programs i dont use that often cluttering the place on the desktop. Other than that though, i really like the whole idea and concept of ubuntu and linux systems, that it is free, secure and theres hundreds if nto thousnads of people willing to lend a hand if they should get estuck. Just wish society in general was like linux man...haha oh well maybe one day, just need to improve that user friendlyness =-) - Dan.

[Paqman]

I donwloaded a program called deluge, had to build it or something, and now it wont work, so i was like o.k i'l uninstall it. Erm easy said than done, i haven't a clue how i'd go about uninstalling it

Best thing you can do to help yourself out is use Synaptic or the Add/Remove programs menu. Manually building and installing software is:

a) more difficult
b) screws up the dependency system

Using the package manager and repositories is actually much easier than installing and removing programs in Windows.

[aysiu]

There's a .deb of Deluge specifically for Ubuntu:
http://download.deluge-torrent.org/index.php?dir=ubuntu/feisty/0.5.5/&file=deluge-torrent_0.5.5-1_i386.deb

As far as I know, you just download that .deb file and the double-click it to install it. You can then use Add/Remove or Synaptic to uninstall it.

Why is that difficult?

If you're really worried about "Joe Bloggs," worry about all the research he'd have to do to get a torrent client working in Windows. Ubuntu comes with a built-in torrent client. You click on the torrent file, and it begins the torrent download. No muss, no fuss. No installation of an additional application. No research needed.

[arkara]

linux is good.
and it will keep developing at a very high rate.
now we only need company to port apps to linux and -POOF- we will have the big bang and------>goodbye microsoft

[zugu]

Short answer to OP's question: NO.

[forrestcupp]

Why can people want Linux to take over the world or be proud that Linux already controls the world, but then be mad at Microsoft for trying to take over the world?

[ryanVickers]

Why can people want Linux to take over the world or be proud that Linux already controls the world, but then be mad at Microsoft for trying to take over the world?


It wouldn't be so bad if it was a good product! :p

[wdo_will]

The real question is if the megacorps that make our software will accept that FLOSS is better than proprietary software, and start making their software free...

If that ever happens, then the use GNU/Linux (or a single distribution thereof, more likely) will skyrocket.

[n3tfury]

It wouldn't be so bad if it was a good product! :p

vista may not be a good product but 2000 and XP were and, in XP's case, still is a good product.

[lespaul_rentals]

Linux can't take over the world when it comes to desktop computing. Servers and personal electronic devices are more and more commonly running Linux because it's lightweight and stable, but when it comes to desktop computers, Linux will probably never take over.

Windows XP is a very good operating system, and 2000 was good too. Vista, as we all know, sucks, but there's one reason that Microsoft is doing so well:

They make operating systems that allow people to produce.

Whether it's browsing the Internet, writing an email, composing an essay, watching a movie, scanning pictures, chatting with friends, editing images, or playing a game, you can do it with Windows XP. The best thing about it is, the learning curve is very low, and even complete noobs probably know enough about Windows XP from school or work to function perfectly well at home. XP is the most well-balanced operation system I have ever seen (don't worry, I love Tux more).

If Microsoft really does suck as much as elitists/bandwagoneers like to say it does, it wouldn't be doing so well. There's a reason why Microsoft has the greatest market share, and that is because Bill Gates is a genious. He helped write a brilliant operating system (DOS) that worked and did well. Once he got a foothold, he pressed forward with strong marketing campaigns, and aimed his operating systems at the home user. Simplicity and functionality were key for the early Windows.

Today, you can't walk into a computer store without seeing Windows on all the computers. Windows does have a monopoly and they shove their operating systems down peoples' throats so they can't learn about alternatives. Now, I hate that just as much as you all do, but let's face it...whether I choose an M.S.I., Gigabyte, or an Asus motherboard...Windows will probably run on it. Whether I like AMD or Intel, Windows will probably run on it. Whether I have Crucial or Corsair RAM, Windows will probably run on it. I can use different mouses, different cameras, different scanners, different monitors, and they all will most likely work with Windows. I can build my own computer or buy one from the store, and it will 99% of the time work. Windows makes the user think he or she owns their computer. It's a psychological trick; when you can add, modify, and customize certain things, and it works you think you've got it made.

I'm using Windows XP here at work. I can use Opera, change my background, watch videos, and the like. XP isn't bad by any means, I actually really appreciate it. One of my idiot co-workers can use it, and one of my brilliant co-workers can use it. When a teacher calls up about a problem, I know we are seeing the same thing because of XP's universal interface. Even if I have no idea about an application, I still might be able to help someone because of standards.

With Vista we are seeing the flawed side of Microsoft, but even the Somewhat-Smarter-Than-Average Joe says he'll just wait until SP1 for Vista. "Yeah, Vista sucks, but SP1 will rock!" The Average Joe goes out and buys a new computer with Vista because logic says a newer operating system will be better, while the Somewhat-Smarter-Than-Average Joe doesn't avoid the problem, he just waits for an update. That is why Microsoft is doing so well...psychological tricks, good marketing, and a great start.

I actually blame Apple for the Microsoft monopoly as well. They have an excellent chance to fight -- all the Somewhat-Smarter-Than-Average Joes think that Mac is a smart person's alternative to Windows, and Mac Books are great for students with all their helpful applications. But what does Apple do? They make you buy the Mac hardware, the Mac computer, the Mac name, just for the good operation system. You could buy a great XP laptop for 1,000 dollars, or buy the same (or worse) Mac laptop for 2,000 dollars. Sometimes I actually think that Macs are for the stupid rebels (no offense). At least most of the Windows users don't know any better. But those people who brag about moving to Mac don't realize that they just bought into the definition of "proprietary." If Apple opened up a bit and allowed you to buy their OS for a PC, think of how much ground they would gain! Oh, yeah, I forgot, they bundle their OS with their hardware -- and their hardware alone -- to guarantee that it functions flawlessly. Which thus proves, Macs are for noobs.

So, to wrap this up, why won't Linux take over the world of desktop computers? Obviously, Microsoft is far too powerful for that to happen. Plus, if someone wants to find an alternative to Windows, they will turn to Mac. Linux is still regarded as being too l33t for the average person. It's the hacker's operating system in the minds of many. And, let's face it, whether you're running Ubuntu or Fedora or MEPIS, you will have to enter the terminal some time or another. I know people who have used Windows for years and didn't even know what cmd or the Registry was. Linux is getting easier, but XP is still easier.

Can Linux let you watch movies, write letters, browse the web, all the same stuff you can do on Windows? Yes, it can! Often times I find free Linux applications to be leagues better than proprietary, expensive software for Windows (K3b vs. Nero, anyone?) Linux can often do more than XP, such as having a friendly attitude towards coding and incredible appearance options. Linux is far better than any other kernel, but let's face it, people are going to choose the easy, functional option over the somewhat-easy, functional option -- even if it means paying money.

[ryanVickers]

Well put! I've never seen a topic that says anything good about windows that doesn't seem too, something rather... ;)

[ryanVickers]

vista may not be a good product but 2000 and XP were and, in XP's case, still is a good product.

It's also how the company works, their policies, and the very internal workings of the OS - like even when the automatic updates are turned off, they still sneak them in against your permission apparently!

[n3tfury]

Well put! I've never seen a topic that says anything good about windows that doesn't seem too, something rather... ;)

of course it will be like that in this forum or any linux forum.


It's also how the company works, their policies, and the very internal workings of the OS - like even when the automatic updates are turned off, they still sneak them in against your permission apparently!

"apparently" so you don't know? XP won't query about updates if you set it to not do so.

[ryanVickers]

"apparently" so you don't know? XP won't query about updates if you set it to not do so.

I heard it from a reliable source :)
Yeah, it won't ask you or let you know, but even if it's not true, it's a good example and it doesn't matter - it is the kind of things they do all the time!

[n3tfury]

uh, you can know by looking at your outgoing and incoming connections. it's not hard. netstat ftw

[greymongrey]

Best Buy by me went out of business and was replaced by another store, one I never heard of, I was too busy to look. Does anybody really shop at those kind of places anymore?
Yes, they do. Our local store is usually packed. I rarely buy anything there myself unless it is a movie or a game. But a lot of people have no idea about electronic stuff and so they go somewhere that has the reputation of being knowledgeable. I've found, however, that the geek squad usually knows less about computer stuff than I do so I go elsewhere.

But think of the sales that Windows rack up because some Best Buy person told them they needed Windows and Norton and they could play this game or that one. They probably will never even try Linux just because it's not in their local Best Buy.

[ryanVickers]

uh, you can know by looking at your outgoing and incoming connections. it's not hard. netstat ftw

Anyways!, my point was that it's the sort of company that likes to have ultimate control and doesn't really care/respect (the intelligence of) their customers!

[ryanVickers]

Yes, they do. Our local store is usually packed....

Same here! :)

[lespaul_rentals]

uh, you can know by looking at your outgoing and incoming connections. it's not hard. netstat ftw

Way to be a jerk.

[runemaste644]

Well, occasionally PC Magazine has an article on Linux (particularly Ubuntu).

A lot of people hate Vista, so maybe they will switch. Vista made it easy to partition, so it is easy to dual-boot. (Big mistake by Bill Gates!)
BTW, a Mac is BSD Unix.

[n3tfury]

Way to be a jerk.

because i pointed out how you can see any outgoing connections? sure thing, buddy

[lespaul_rentals]

No. Because the way you stated it was very rude.

[ryanVickers]

I just had an interesting experience ;)

I know some people could argue that "windows is better for this because in the event of this, it will dynamically increase the page file to handle it", but Linux was able to stay alive and recover when (somehow) something used up all my ram and swap! (according to the monitors, it used even more than I had - very impressive ;)):p

[n3tfury]

No. Because the way you stated it was very rude.

great.

[forrestcupp]

Usually when people start a post with uh, um, or ummm it's implying that someone is stupid.

[n3tfury]

Usually when people start a post with uh, um, or ummm it's implying that someone is stupid.

that might be the way you see it. that's ok too. if i thought someone was stupid, i'd say it.

[vishzilla]

Hmmmm....thinking of 1000s of tuxs ganging up like the scene from Matrix Reloaded :)

[multifaceted]

exactly. also, how many of these types of threads does this community make a week?

I was thinking the same thing

[multifaceted]

And no, Winutuxu (http://www.winutuxu.fr.ma/) will....

All hail

[lespaul_rentals]

Usually when people start a post with uh, um, or ummm it's implying that someone is stupid.

+1

The ironic thing is he doesn't even capitalize. He has no foundation to call someone dumb.