When will Linux on the Desktop go mainstream?

[Tadaen_Sylvermane]

A part of me hopes it never goes mainstream. I recall the early days of World of Warcraft. The people were decent, had respect for each other. Was a good decent game you could even put a child in front of. After the Southpark episode, which made the game mainstream everything changed. The community devolved into a nightmare. What was once things to get banned for became common place and no one had any control. People treated each other with zero respect. Foul language was the new normal. At one point there was even a guild that operated for awhile on my server called Abhorrent Taboo. Not sure if this was before or after the Southpark episode. To put it mildly, in the name of roleplay, their whole structure was based on all kinds of sick fantasies. The stuff that most people consider pure evil. Even stuff involving small children. That is a minor example of how the game changed for the worse. The game lost all appeal for me, and I know I wasn't alone in that. They got mainstream, biggest MMORPG in history to my knowledge. But to get there, they lost everything that made it great.

I don't want to lose the linux community to that personally. We may have heated disagreements from time to time, but there is still respect and decency. Going mainstream risks destroying the linux ecosystem, support structure, and the community above all.

[oldrocker99]

Linus Torvalds was quoted as saying that, while the kernel is literally everywhere, the market penetration as a desktop is, as we know, minimal. He said that it's ironic that he set out to create a desktop system, and that is the only place where it hasn't taken over.

[freemedia2018]

He said that it's ironic that he set out to create a desktop system, and that is the only place where it hasn't taken over.

Although I agree to a point, the fact is he created part of an alternative desktop system, for the only market where there was a strong (quasi-legal) monopoly in place. It has since taken over every market that didn't have such a strong monopoly on it. When you look at it that way he's still right, but it isn't really surprising.

[MSGone]

I really don't care for a mainstream OS. I just want an OS that does what I want it to in a stable manner. I have Ubuntu 18.04.1 on a desktop that was pretty hot 5 years ago. Ubuntu runs like a charm and does everything I want it to, so I'm happy. I don't know how to act with no problems, but I'm enjoying it. I last ran Windows 10 and had nothing but trouble every day. I want to use the computer - not having the computer use me. Bluntly, I don't like Windows any longer, and I don't want to go where they are trying to force everyone to go. They can keep their advertising and forced installs. I'm in charge with Ubuntu and I do things at my pace and my choice.