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84 Comments
- schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -7/+30You never know how these Windows boxes end up... either as dual-boots or Linux workstations... Linux users are all over the place, depending on where you look.. http://tinyurl.com/2xgrad . Of course, 'market share' stats are useless. People are virtually forced to but WIndows, but installed base is an enigma. Even Web stats don't cut it.
Some would argue that the market share of Linux long ago exceeded 4%. Again it's worth stressing that installed based, as opposed to market share, is difficult to gauge. People install Linux as they download or pass CD’s around. They do not buy Linux because Microsoft has a chokehold on OEM’s (AKA ‘Windows tax’). It’s a strategic, anti-competitive tactic.
Web statistics studies are still biased because they usually exclude Linux sites, they throw away “unknown” (often Linux with diverse http-header footprint/string), they ignore Squid, they don’t account for agent forgers (not just for MISE-only sites), and they neglect to account all the traffic that comes from Windows zombies (Windows/IE). In short, they cannot be relied on. Would you let your parents use Linux/Firefox without some header forging? There are still many banks that request Win/IE, so I know people who would fake and tweak stats in Microsoft favour.
Lastly, what about zombie PCs? They account for a large chunk of the Web's traffic and they are Win/IE. Just look at this:
Botnet 'pandemic' threatens to strangle the net
,----[ Quote ]
| Cerf estimated that between 100 million and 150 million of the
| 600 million PCs on the internet are under the control of hackers,
| the BBC reports.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/26/botnet_threat/
I hope people stop relying on market share stats, even Web-based. In some countries, around 10% of the PCs run Linux, but they don't make noise about it. Linux doesn't do marketing. It expands /quietly/. - ScornForSega, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24Um, of course desktop linux is growing. When you start at 0%, it's really, really hard to get any lower.
Anyway, it's a combination of factors that's leading to this boost. The overall increase of the Linux desktop is really just a portion of the overall trend, which is a move to FOSS which in turn increases portability for multi-platform computing. It's nice to be able to dual-boot Windows and Linux and be able to use the same applications regardless of the OS. Then, the OS does exactly what it should do: sit in the back and provide the user access to his/her applications. - eplawless, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Within the past month I've switched to Ubuntu on my laptop, and I'm considering dual booting my desktop. This linux stuff is purty.
- NICU, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22I switched to Linux when Microsoft forced their WGA garbage on to my PC. All Linux distributions have Microsoft to thank for the increased adoption of Linux. Now that Vista won't work on most PCs and removed all conceptions of "fair use" of media you own, more people will switch over to Linux. Since Vista came out I've been asked by a lot more people to help them install and setup Linux.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20 Just five years ago,if you had suggested I try Linux,I'd just have given you a strange look.
Now I run Linux and am quite happy with it.
And yes,the movement to Linux is slow,but as time goes by and Linux improves, it will gain momentum. - radu79, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Not sure about those polls, but if you are interested about some real life stats, here is what we have on our website (we have a game that works on Windows, Linux, BSD and OSX).
Windows 5920543 79.5 %
Linux 757182 10.1 %
Unknown 609976 8.1 %
Macintosh 131665 1.7 %
BSD 12097 0.1 %
Of all the Linux users, about half use Ubuntu.
A poll in our forums, a month or two ago indicated that about 25% of our users (at least those with a forum account that cared to post) are using a non MS OS. - lengau, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10It's not which distro you install that matters, it's just what you're happy with.
I've tried Fedora (I use it on my HTPC right now), Gentoo, Slackware, PCLinuxOS, Mandrake, SuSE (before Novell - haven't tried it recently), Debian, MEPIS, XandrOS, Freespire, Ubuntu, Xubuntu and Kubuntu. And quite honestly, I loved them all. Sure, each one has its own little quirks (sometimes big quirks), but they were all very good. That said, I'm running Kubuntu on my desktop, Fedora on my HTPC, Xubuntu on my server/backup machine (I don't often go into X, but I do have a full Desktop Environment if I need it), and several others in Virtual Machines. I also have several BSD/Solaris virtual machines. The point isn't which distro you're using, but rather that you're using Linux/BSD/Solaris. - Neiby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I just recently switched to PCLinuxOS, the first linux distro I ever tried, and I now only boot into Windows to play games. I showed PCLOS to my boss and he switched, although he does have both XP and Vista running under VirtualBox on the same machine.
- xxl3w, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I don't think you'll get ripped. I think Freespire is partners with Ubuntu now, so I think you'll miss the majority of the digg bashing crowd (except the Slackware and Suse users)
- vectorprime, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@thebaron2:
>September 22, 1998: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9809/22/linuxlove.idg/
This is about linux becoming stable enough for network admins to beigin considering for actual applications. The idea that a very young project, without a designated maintainer, using an untested development method could have a place on a corprate network was at the time both novel and newsworthy.
December, 2000: http://www.linux.org/news/2000/12/14/0001.html
This is about IBM betting that Linux would take over the _server_ market, which incidentally it has. The internet runs primarily on linux + apache, and linux server sales are easily outstripping windows across almost all sectors.
07/14/2003: http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2003/07/14/oscon_report.html
This is a levelheaded look at how linux would likely spread to the desktop. He predicted that technical users would start using it first (they did), then it would catch on among single-application jobs, like call centers (off only in the details, linux has moved to powering tivos, cell phones, web kiosks, and an array of other single-application devices), then finally start catching on among office workers sometime around 2007 (like the government workers across europe, asia, and south america who are starting to migrate to linux).
In short, all three articles were right on target. Yes, every year has the "linux will [accomplish something amazing] any day now!" hype, but if you read carefully most of the hype actually turns out to be true. - xxl3w, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Try installing a lightweight window manager instead of gnome/KDE. That would speed it up significantly. I have Debian with IceWM installed on a AMD 350 mhz with 128mb of RAM and it doesn't take that long :P. I understand what you're saying though, they should recommend different window managers for new linux users so they wouldn't have to explore things for themselves.
- Jergens, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I thought 75% of the population used Linux.
Of course, I only have one news source. Digg. - lengau, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7For a computer that slow, GNOME and KDE are rather big. Try Xubuntu ( http://www.xubuntu.org ). It's Ubuntu designed for machines like the one you mentioned (it uses a lighter desktop).
- Motobike_man, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9I know i'll probably get ripped for using this distro, but I installed freespire (freespire.org) and as an ex-windoze user, i have never been so happy.
If your scared of Linux, try freespire... - GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6There is no such thing as the year of the Linux desktop. Those who make claims of it do not understand properly what Linux is (or do but get excited and forget). Linux is about incremental and consistent improvement, studies show that OSS development follows a similar pattern to Moore's Law, i.e. the amount of OSS code doubles over a period of 18 months. In time it is inevitable that this metric will drag in the major competitors. It is a matter of in time though. I'm happy to see Linux adoption increase by 1% of the global install base per year.
What it's important to note is that Linux isn't finished, it's not a matter of being 'there' when we can claim parity with the competition. We will move on from such a position quickly. Take security, it is generally accepted these days that the Unix model while historically and currently being the strongest available is no longer strong enough. We are seeing a whole raft of cutting edge security tools (like SELinux) being built into distributions like Fedora Core. Just as MS claim they are getting reasonable security we are moving the goalposts further on again. This is on top of the already reasonable defences we already have and the benefits of Linus's law.
In any case there is no such thing as the year of desktop Linux. Only an inexorable and stable pull in that direction. - coredump0x01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Though they may not be suitable replacements for their Windows counterparts, but here's a list of good audio apps for Linux: RoseGarden ( http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/ ) Which is a professional audio and MIDI sequencer, score editor, and general-purpose music composition and editing environment. Hydrogen ( http://hydrogen-music.org ) A good drum machine/drum synthesizer. LMMS ( http://lmms.sourceforge.net/ ) Fruityloops style music composer and beat sequencer. Audacity ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net ) General purpose multi-track recorder/editor and effect generator. Those are the ones that I use for dabbling with audio-related stuff, but I'm sure there's more. And as usual, there's a Linux distro tailored toward music production/video editing and graphic design called Musix ( http://www.musix.org.ar/en/ ).
- jon314, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5My laptop (admittedly, an older one) crawled during boot with Ubuntu. With Arch Linux it takes about 12 seconds. Ubuntu's focus seems to be usability* and not speed -- though I hear Feisty is noticeably faster than Edgy. There are other distros out there that are meant for systems such as the one you mentioned. Try Zenwalk or Arch (this one's a little harder to setup than Zenwalk). I'm sure others will have suggestions as well. And like xxl3w said, you can't go wrong with Debian + XFCE or a light window manager like IceWM, fluxbox, or openbox.
OpenOffice has its own problems on older hardware, though. If you need basic word processing functionality try AbiWord. It's lightning fast on older systems.
*Something that it has accomplished wonderfully. Installing Ubuntu couldn't be easier. - coldphoenix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I know for the majority of users this is how it is...but oddly enough, Ubuntu installs flawlessly supporting every single piece of hardware on this machine from the start, whereas when I install Windows XP, I have to install drivers for my network card and memory card reader.
- fooboarder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I just switched my tower to linux.........
- Smuuv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The really cool part about Digg is that you can customize it. If you are tired of seeing Linux articles, then please remove the module. I happen to like the articles and really dislike comments like yours. Your view of the world is NOT my reality.
- heavyal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I count at least 8 comments of recent switchers to Linux in the posts about this story. Then about 70% of whats left are posts with positive feedback regarding Linux. It's not scientific by any stretch of the imagination but if a community as large as Digg has so many good things to say about Linux then I would imagine that we're not far from seeing more about it in the mainstream.
And just for the record, yeah, I run Ubuntu. Two home file servers, my t40 laptop, and my main gaming rig (yeah, you CAN play games on Linux!). Not to mention a couple of file servers I've switched over to it at work for my own sanity (still working on management to let me switch everyones DESKTOP to it). - coldphoenix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I would have to believe that this momentum can be in majority attributed to the ENORMOUS effort gone into "prettying" up the GUI...compare the interfaces of distros today compared to those from a few years back, and you can instantly understand why more people are willing to give it a go.
- Stryder81, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8I think I speak for alot of musicians when I say " I would love to switch to Linux, But my main program won't be capable with Linux "
That has been the main reason for myself ( as a music producer ) for not staying with Linux. *tear* - geehossiphats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4For what it's worth...
http://linux-sound.org/
I agree with your statement. It's hard to give up on the tools that you already know. However, it should always be in your best interest to know what tools are available to you regardless of the platform they run on. I hope you find something useful from the site. - g0blin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think that with Dell offering Joe Bloggs the option of Windows or Linux being installed onto a new machine has helped to give Linux some credibility to the masses.
I have been using Edgy Eft since Christmas and have had no real problems that can't be sorted out in the forums. - Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Me, too. I'm impressed how much things have improved in only six months. Everything is working great, even under a mostly pure amd64 setup. Music, videos, Flash, wine, all working fine.
- jon314, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"But that's only of the users that look at your (Linux related) site. Users of Linux are naturally more likely to look at sites about Linux."
http://linuxappfinder.com/poll/when_did_linux_become_your_primary_os
Based on the fact that the poll is about *when* users switched to linux as their primary OS, it would be pointless to include Windows users. This isn't a poll about market share. It's trying to see when the majority of linux users started using the OS. It shows how more recent years see more growth than previous ones. - coredump0x01, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Also, If you really want to squeeze more speed out of the system, try Damn Small Linux ( http://damnsmalllinux.org ) The CD image is only 50mb and can run entirely in the RAM, even with 128mb. When installed to the hard drive it consumes roughly 150mb space and it's features can be expanded via the MyDSL system, which is a mini package manager. You can also install dpkg, apt-get, and/or Synamtpc to make package management similar to Ubuntu. There's also DeLi Linux ( http://delili.lens.hl-users.com/ ), which is designed to run productively on even older machines.
- NX910a, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7"My conclusion is based on focusing on the percentage of users in each year who reported switching to Linux as their primary OS. 24% of the respondents indicated 2006, with 10% in 2005, 13% in 2003/2004, 9% in 2001/2002, 10% in 1997-2000, and 6% before 1997. The upward trend continues for each year reported, and actually stayed pretty consistent throughout the entire life of the poll."
But that's only of the users that look at your (Linux related) site. Users of Linux are naturally more likely to look at sites about Linux. - xxl3w, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I have a serious question to ask about Linux. Why does it have so many distributions? I understand it up to a certain point, for instance: I can understand having a LiveCD version, desktop version, and a server version, but why do the different versions have to be made by 10000000 different distributors? I think it'd be better if all these developers teamed up and helped each other out. Maybe rare drivers and more software would become available then? I mean, I understand every 12-17 year older wants to stamp their name on a distribution of Linux, but they have to stop sometime, don't they?
- thebaron2, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9September 22, 1998: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9809/22/linuxlove.idg/
Why people don't hate Linux
When I first wrote about Linux in the Sept. 5, 1994, issue of InfoWorld, I had no idea the Linux phenomenon would progress as far as it has in four short years. The rate at which Linux has gathered momentum is remarkable.
I predict it's only going to intensify.
-------
December, 2000: http://www.linux.org/news/2000/12/14/0001.html
Gerstner: IBM To Place Billion-Dollar Bet Linux Could Overtake NT, Dec 14 2000
IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner said his company is investing $1 billion in Linux as part of a bet that the open-source operating system could overtake Microsoft's Windows NT in 2004.
--------
07/14/2003: http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2003/07/14/oscon_report.html
Kapor's Thoughts on Desktop Linux
Kapor sees a bright future when it comes to Linux adoption. He noted that we are in an era where because of the momentum of Linux on the desktop we'll continue to see Microsoft price cuts to remain competitive. He added, "Predicting share numbers is tough but it wouldn't surprise me to see 10 percent of desktops running Linux in the not too distant future."
--------
Is it just me or have we been hearing about the impending takeover of Linux for years and years now? I'm not saying that it isn't closer now than it was before, but there's an element of "crying wolf" here that leads me to almost immediately dismiss these "building momentum" articles. I'd love to see it happen, but it just seems like I've heard this song and dance a few times before and the "near future" keeps getting bumped back. Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh on Linux, here, but this is what I thought upon seeing this story. - renegadeafk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If anything looks like fischer-price it's XP
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3 Nahhh,no ripping here. I also run Freespire...Which will be based on Ubuntu when the next release comes around.
Before I moved to Linux,I knew what it was,but I knew any apps i had would not run on it.
BTW, you may not know this,but Firefox is a gateway app to Linux...Once I tried that and all the cool extensions, I was MUCH more open to linux.
- BradleyBo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well, I know it seems confusing at first, but that's what is so cool about open source stuff. People have different ideas and then realize them exactly how they want, in many different ways. I usually suggest to start with something popular, i.e. Ubuntu (or Xubuntu if you are on an older machine), so you will have lots of support in the forums, and then you will start to learn by osmosis about other distros and whether you want to try something different. Choice is good!
- Ratteler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah. Linux doesn't even work on my old Cassiopiea 105. WTF!!!! (Sarcasm alert)
You can't expect to run the latest new and shiny Ubuntu Ultimate on machine that won't run XP SP2 or Vista very well. An old computer won't magically work better just because it's Linux.
Running the right Linux will allow your older machine to be a great Web Surfer, E-mail, and Office machine. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3 You can. It took me ten minutes to install Freespire.
And Freespire also has drivers XP does not as well. I love it when Linux goes the extra mile for you.
Just cause one distro did not work does not mean you should throw in the towel...Just go to Distrowatch and look at them all..Then bop over to MadTux and download or order some disks...Try till you find on that's perfect for your machine. - sirhomer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Most of the buzz year 2000ish was Linux on the server. Linux wasn't always very popular on the server, but now it's the dominant player.
- GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3So you don't think kernel preemption has anything to do with it then ;). There is more than one thing. Udev has helped with things like automount, the previously mentioned preemption makes the system more suitable for the desktop, the increased prettiness, the work on desktop compatibility which will be very apparent when KDE 4 comes out.
It's not a killer feature or app but attrition, chipping away until it is right. - GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2DSL isn't the best option for small systems IMHO. They achieve such a small distro via compression and a less powerful machine will struggle under all the pressure. What will eventually fill this old system niche is E17 if it ever gets out of pre-Alpha. Until then I'd go with XFCE but that isn't as trim as it used to be.
- jon314, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Okay, cmost, I'll be sure to comply with your posting rules. Wouldn't want to reply to posts in a way that you personally hate since it's all about pleasing your likes and dislikes.
Oh, and...
Ummm... calling someone a snotty little bitch makes one seem like a big ***** *****. =P - prammy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Talking about gaming and Linux, I miss Loki. LGP seems to have some decent titles out though.
- coldphoenix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Although there may be a few hundred so called distributions of Linux, theres really only a few that you can deem full fledged distros. The fact of the matter though, the good majority of them are indistinguishable. What is important to consider when choosing a distro, is the community that backs it...the more popular your distro, the more support and answers you'll find to the problems you encounter, and thus these distros will probably get some of the best bug fixes around, better than even windows or mac at times. This is one of the main reasons Ubuntu has gained so much popularity, it has a gigantic community backing it...I personally run this distro, and have yet to encounter a problem that wasn't already answered in some Ubuntu forum.
- GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'd like to say to the Music people. Check out Jokosher when it is ready. It will be the big thing for years to come with it's extension system and the fact it's written in Python and depends on GStreamer. I'm not sure when it is going to go the big V1 but it is something that will be rated on the Linux desktop for years and has more than a fair chance of displacing Audacity.
You'd probably hear more now but it depends on a very bleeding edge version of GStreamer so isn't easily available for any distros right now. I think it's being included in Feisty though. - Tweakedenigma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Gotta agree I have done at least 5 Ubuntu installs in the last month and everyone has gone perfect with no issues other then having to download Network manager for the wireless cards. For the windows installs I have done it is very rare that I don't have to go driver hunting.
- coredump0x01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I mainly stand by DSL for older systems because of it's minimalist RAM usage. I've run it on a Pentium 1 120MHz with 32mb EDO memory. Granted the compressed image was running off an old 80mb hard drive. System was so old that it's BIOS could not boot isolinux, but FreeDOS and loadlin took care of that. System booted in roughly 2 minutes and firefox took about 30 seconds to start, but hey, it's a p1 :D
- geehossiphats, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@lengau
you hit it right on the head. Good reply.
I primarily use linux for most things. But I do use windows for a couple of tasks. I agree that you should use the right tool for the job. - GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The way this will happen is eventually OOo will be as good as/better than MSO and there will be a Windows side migration to OOo. When that happens people will start considering Linux more. I think this is something that isn't emphasized enough in the OSS world. Yes Linux migrations are good but if we can get people using OSS on Windows we are half way there.
- dwbell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"Until Linux fixes it many shortcomings it will never come close to Windows numbers."
and until Windows fixes its security shortcomings, vendor lock-in, and drm crap I'll never use windows. - fozzie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Oh cool! Can I finally install World of Warcraft without needing a masters degree in Computer Science?
- onnoot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Did you know there is a wealth of music software available for Linux? In Ubuntu's repositories you can find soft synths, organs, solfege software, multitrack audio recorders (Audacity is one of them), sequencers... And there is also Jack, which is like the glue between all these programs. You can use Jack to have a sequencer control a soft synth and to connect the output of the soft synth to a multitrack recorder. I wish I had time to try all these.
As for the momentum: I expect a real breakthrough when Dell starts to offer Linux. The word Linux will be printed in all those folders they send out, so almost everybody will know that it exists and that it is ready for the desktop. And perhaps more important: Dell will push their hardware manufacturers to support Linux. -
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