Linux in 2025 could hit new heights and break through five percent in early spring

[dhubs]

Good day my dear friends,

Well could the next year be a great time for Linux?

Linux has been on a slow-but-steady and very successful rise for years, but as of August it's at 4.5 percent of the global desktop market sharing. This is awesome imagine - If it keeps this pace up, it could break through five percent in early next spring (or summer).

Linux could be able to hit new heights as desktop market share climbs.

And yes: this time though I guess there are interesting things happening: well - if we look whats going on at the Microsoft-side: Microsoft is forcing people out of Windows. And this could mean that Linux hits new heights as desktop market share climbs. So i think - This time, it is more true than before - since Microsoft is acting so harsh.

What are your thoughts ?

 

[KGIII]

We've been claiming that X-year is the year of the Linux On The Desktop for like 25 years or more.

But, it could happen.

 

[The Duck]

Leave Linux be.
Linux is fine the way it is.

I don't know why everyone wants Linux to become the desktop replacement for Windows.

If it ever does reach that point which I for one hope never happens then it will just be another polluted OS as Windows is now.

 

[KGIII]

Linux is fine the way it is.

I'm inclined to agree. I don't care if Linux is popular. I use Linux because it's what I like.

Besides, if it was really popular then can you imagine how much more support we'd have to do? The forum would be inundated with newbies, overwhelming those of us who support them. It'd be crazy!

 

[The Duck]

Leave Linux be.
Linux is fine the way it is.

I don't know why everyone wants Linux to become the desktop replacement for Windows.

If it ever does reach that point which I for one hope never happens then it will just be another polluted OS as Windows is now.

I'm inclined to agree. I don't care if Linux is popular. I use Linux because it's what I like.

Besides, if it was really popular then can you imagine how much more support we'd have to do? The forum would be inundated with newbies, overwhelming those of us who support them. It'd be crazy!

Exactly.

It would definitely change things on the forum.

 

[Condobloke]

The forum would be inundated with newbies,

At this point in time, most of that slack is taken up by Reddit.com

They, apparently, are not disturbed by the extra work involved in dealing with newbies

Something has to take windows place....it may as well be Linux Mint

 

[Brickwizard]

Besides, if it was really popular then can you imagine how much more support we'd have to do? The forum would be inundated with newbies, overwhelming those of us who support them. It'd be crazy!

Think back to covid 1, the forums were extremely busy, and we managed to cope with less regular helpers

 

[Fanboi]

Leave Linux be.
Linux is fine the way it is.

I don't know why everyone wants Linux to become the desktop replacement for Windows.

If it ever does reach that point which I for one hope never happens then it will just be another polluted OS as Windows is now.

^This.

I mean it'd be nice to get just enough market share to pressure "Big Corp" to bother supporting Linux better. I'm talking software as I basically never have a hardware issue other than a minor inconvenience now 'n then that can be fixed with a little effort.
Unfortunately, that software "supporting Linux better" I dream of will not involve it being Open Source (not free, just Open Source). It will involve all kinds of bloated stuff that does unknown things in the background (like all the DRM, anti-cheat, and telemetry to name some), a billion repos added to your system, and entire collections of self-updating background software that must run as root "because it needs to"... no thank you, I'd rather miss out on "trending" software.

And just remember that as the new userbase grows the Linux community make-up shifts and becomes filled with an overwhelming majority of ex-Windows users who want to use Linux, but make it work like Windows. And you need only look at the popularity of some distros out there that mimic Windows. Heck users sometimes rock up in Linux "spaces" just to bitch about "This thing is simpler on Windows" and how devs are "Lazy" for non-Windows-centric design choices, despite being too lazy to take 2 minutes on the docs, Youtube, or ChatGPT themselves.

And a very sad extrapolation on that is a future where some distros, looking at you Ubuntu, will start shipping with a lot of this "support" preinstalled along with all that bloatware, so everything becomes a clusterf*ck. You will literally end up with a crippled version of Windows.

So, as it is a double-edged sword, I'd rather err on the side of caution. Slow adoption means (most) new users understand why things are as they are and that Linux ain't supposed to be Windows... and eventually appreciate that fact.

 

[MikeWalsh]

I'm happy with Linux the way it is now.....and Puppy especially.

Yes, I stick with Puppy because I understand its "quirks".....but honestly, I've never come across a more fitting "tinkerer's paradise" for those who LIKE modifying and altering/changing things to suit their personal needs. The ease of backing-up is unparalleled, and its versatility is unmatched by anything I've yet found.

You can set-up the base file-system on one drive. You can link all the personalized user stuff in from another drive. You can run apps from a 3rd drive - internal, external, flashdrive, it's irrelevant.....and save personal data to yet another drive. And all this can be easily set-up to appear to the user as a single, homogeneous 'system'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

No, we don't want Linux to become the next "Windows replacement". It would rapidly go downhill, and all the fun - AND inventiveness - would go out of it.

Like others, I too use Linux because I want to (and because it fits the bill for my computing needs). I don't think I'd want to have to use it through having no say in the matter...

(shrug...)

@Fanboi :-

There's one thing you can't get away from. Microsoft (as stated by Bill Gates in the early days) have indeed achieved their original aim of "a computer on every desktop"....and by unspoken extension, meaning that each and every one of those machines should be running Windows.

Through decades of legal tom-foolery, they've pretty much 'strong-armed' the majority of manufacturers into supplying all their hardware with Windows pre-installed.....resulting in generations of people never knowing anything else.

What can you do against that kind of corporate mind-set (and muscle).....except to make the voluntary decision to turn your back on it, and accept the consequences?

It's not a step many are prepared to take.....but for those that do, it's an immensely rewarding one, n'est-ce pas?


Mike.

 

[kc1di]

I can remember many of the predictions that this is the year of Linux on the Desktop , But so far never really materialized. Which is ok with me as I found linux way back in the 1990's and never looked back. Last windows used here was windows 7 and it wasn't too bad at that time but Linux was much better. That being said until most computer manufactures turn to Linux it's not going to be main stream for the average person. That just the way it is.

 

[Brickwizard]

this is garenteed to crash

Updating will finish shortly

 

[dhubs]

Good morning, dear friends,

Thanks for the reply and for sharing your thoughts and ideas

imagine: .... that Microsoft forces the folks to leave the old hardware: and yes the re repeatedly and very publicly screwing up over the last few years.

So there may be some ppl that want to switch to Linux ... expecially some beginner-friendly Linux-systems...


@KGIII

I'm inclined to agree. I don't care if Linux is popular. I use Linux because it's what I like.

right said


Many thanks for all the idea sharing.

 

[Vektor]

Does the Microsoft truck have Power Windows?

Vektor

 

[Brickwizard]

Does the Microsoft truck have Power Windows

I don't know, But it does have a Defender on the front end

 

[Vektor]

"Defender on the front end"

Looks like a Kali Linux Brute Force addon

Vektor

 

[Aristarchus]

It really does not matter 5%. Microsoft achieved its goal that is complete dominance of the corporate world. Now even if everybody knows that there are serious security issues with MS nobody can do anything and MS is in fact staying it does not matter and MS does not care.
So this messages about 5% or whatever are just annoying.

 

[Brickwizard]

Just to prove we are not bias, It's not only windows that crashes

 

[Vektor]

Actually this is a normal operation. Google is rolling out the "Tributary View" to compliment "Street View".

 

[Condobloke]

Lets face it.....Linux will gain ground. That is a certainty.

With windows being the dullards that they are, how could anything else happen?...really ?

It is just a question of how much ground. And my crystal ball is in for repair...so no joy there

Linux will remain much the same as it is. The likes of Clem & Co over at Linux Mint will make sure of that.

The likes and dislikes of the people will determine how far the ascent will go. People are fickle....they can be all in one moment and heading in the other direction the next.

A really well thought out "canned speech' is probably the ideal way to approach an incoming storm of newbies.

 

[Fanboi]

@MikeWalsh
Absolutely. I held on to my last Win7 for ages. When I finally terminated it (and OEM recovery partition), I basically knew there was no going back and that I'd lose access to lots of software I was used to. But I took the plunge and the consequences were great: I discovered lots of superior software to replace things I'd kept Windows around specially for running. So it was indeed rewarding, especially since my Windows install had started to feel more and more of a pain each time I booted into it. So it was actually a feeling of relief from the moment I terminated it.