Linux and Windows Are Heading Towards a War That Microsoft Will Lose

[Karamjit]

The next few years will be interesting for Linux and Windows

The "battle" between Windows and Linux is more of a fictional one, and it has been raging on for the past couple of decades. It wasn't really a battle, despite what each side was saying, but that will undoubtedly change when Linux clearly becomes a force to be reckoned with.

Linux has made a reputation for itself by being secure, stable, and generally trustworthy, but its market share for desktops has remained pretty flat. It's at 2% in a best case scenario, which might seem weird since most of the Linux distributions are free. The server market share is a different beat all together, and Linux dominates without any real competition.

Linux also comes with baggage that is hard to get rid of. Many potential users still think that Linux is a cumbersome system to install and to use, not knowing that it has become a lot more user-friendly in the past few years. Many of the regular apps that you would use on a Windows PC are also available on Linux, oftentimes with the feature parity, so there shouldn't be a reason it's more spread out.

The problem is more of a PR issue, more than anything else. Windows is pushed forward by Microsoft, a company that has showed just how capable it is at lobbying and promoting its product, and you can't really blame them. They are doing what they have to to make money. It's as simple as that. On the other hand, their real problems are just starting, and it will be painfully apparent in the next couple of years.

The Linux and Windows battle is about to get much more real

Microsoft never actually considered Linux a threat to the desktop market and Linux never really wanted to do anything about it. Linux is not a company, and open source has no lobby. Everyone is doing their own thing and everyone is continually improving upon what everyone else is doing by using the mighty hammer that is GPL.

Linux is slowly getting out of a great slumber, and it's starting to move, albeit it's a very slow evolution. Already, the Linux kernel is the biggest cooperative software effort on the planet, and the open source world is getting bigger each day. New apps are launched on Linux all the time for a task that were usually reserved to Windows or Mac OS X, like non-linear video editing or 3D modelling. Granted, things could be better, but applications are improved all the time.

Soon, very soon, enough Windows and Mac OS X users will switch over to Linux because it's free, powerful, and it comes with no strings attached. The fact that Linux is easy to install and use, even by beginners, will slowly sink into the collective consciousness, and the Windows domination of the market will start to fade.

Even if Windows were free, which it is not, it wouldn't really matter

Even if Windows were free, it wouldn't matter. It's about the entire ecosystem, not just about a small little part. The idea is that Linux will soon start to trespass on Windows' territory, and the conflict that used to be the subject of jokes that you could imprint on t-shirts and coffee cups will become real.

In two or three years, gamers won't have a real reason to get Windows to play games. People who are looking for a regular desktop experience will find that installing Linux is much safer than Windows and that things work pretty much in the same manner.

The conflict between Linux and Windows is now like a sleeping volcano, but it will soon erupt. It will be spectacular to watch, but you can't expect for Microsoft to win. It's just a company working against the current of tens of thousands of open source developers who are doing the same things, but only for free and just to improve what's already done.

This status quo between Microsoft and Linux won't last very long, especially not after Linux begins to cannibalize the Windows user share. It's not happening tomorrow and not next year, but it's happening, and odds are that Microsoft will eventually fade away.

From: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Linux-and-Windows-Are-Heading-Towards-a-War-That-Microsoft-Will-Lose-482191.shtml

[GRiM]

Same old story the past 20 years, people saying Linux is going to Win soon.

Windows is not going anywhere, especially not to Linux. Linux is a good OS but Windows has a VERY firm foothold with it's userbase and software development.

[CODYQX4]

Linux is not going to take over the desktop, as declining is it is, people aren't just going to jump on some random distro.

Hell, they're more likely to use Android on 27 inch monitors, which I guess technically would be Linux, but you get the point.

[virge]

Linux people want to send a terminator back to 1975 to kill Bill Gates so Windows will never happen.

[dcs18]

The "battle" between Windows and Linux is more of a fictional one, and it has been raging on for the past couple of decades.

In more than 2 decades, Linux struggled to muster a market share of approximately 1.43% against the 75.32% commanded by Windows.

It wasn't really a battle, despite what each side was saying, but that will undoubtedly change when Linux clearly becomes a force to be reckoned with.

So then, what seems to be that miracle which is gonna make Linux to (suddenly) become a force to be reckoned with?

[CODYQX4]

The "battle" between Windows and Linux is more of a fictional one, and it has been raging on for the past couple of decades.

In more than 2 decades, Linux struggled to muster a market share of approximately 1.43% against the 75.32% commanded by Windows.

It wasn't really a battle, despite what each side was saying, but that will undoubtedly change when Linux clearly becomes a force to be reckoned with.

So then, what seems to be that miracle which is gonna make Linux to (suddenly) become a force to be reckoned with?

The people who think 2015, just like the last 15+ years, will be the year of Linux on the DesktopTM, because reasons.

[dcs18]

People all over the world have been procuring Windows on a "beg, borrow or steal" basis - so many are even paying Microsoft for their copy.

But, they want nothing to do with Linux - not even when served absolutely free on the plate of open source with the longest spoon on earth.

This has been happening consistently for a period of over 2 decades - and, suddenly out of the blue, Linux is gonna be a force to reckon with?

[steven36]

Yep really desktops in general are declining for along time ..Unless they make a Linux you can put on a smart phone there's no hope for that .

Windows keeps blaming it on piracy..But the truth be known Desktop platform altogether is dieing .


Mobile devices are now the main source of Google search traffic

http://www.businessinsider.my/google-search-traffic-mobile-passes-desktop-2015-5/

Smartphone usage surges while PCs show startling decline in new worldwide study

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/188314-smartphone-usage-surges-while-pcs-show-startling-decline-in-new-worldwide-study

desktop users are a dieing breed :lol: :lol:

[dcs18]

Linux has made a reputation for itself by being secure, stable, and generally trustworthy, but its market share for desktops has remained pretty flat. It's at 2% in a best case scenario, which might seem weird since most of the Linux distributions are free.

2% . . . . . . . . . . . . . never! :huh:

Not in this century - not in the previous one, did Linux ever come even close to a market share of 2%.

[12stones]

Linux will win this this time because the future of the desktop computer is dead the only barrier were the games and some software like Adobe and still the greatest threat to both windows and linux is google...

Imagine you connect your desktop computer to connect to the internet and have it all in the cloud that is already happening just is not happening more because in many countries the internet is crap and if so google chrome book will give the start for companies and linux will turn the tables with the games and the rest will be a matter of time

who will lose ??? hardware companies that sell PC top lines

'cause even the games will be played in the cloud on a tv with good internet connection ... the PS4 or XBOX one as well that's my view ...

[GRiM]

Yep really desktops in general are declining for along time ..Unless they make a Linux you can put on a smart phone there's no hope for that .

Where have you been all these years?? What do you think Android is? It's Linux! ;)

...Also there is Ubuntu Touch.

[Beamslider]

I like Linux and boot to it sometimes but this is just not going to happen.

[dcs18]

Linux also comes with baggage that is hard to get rid of. Many potential users still think that Linux is a cumbersome system to install and to use, not knowing that it has become a lot more user-friendly in the past few years.

User friendly??? It is the most unintuitive OS on planet Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the biggest living enemy of work-flow & productivity!

[jtmulc]

It's not going to happen this or any year until they can answer the question, "Will it run all my stuff?" with a resounding YES. So far, the answer's still "well, some of it..." which is better than the old answer of, "no, but..." but not good enough. It's great that there are cross OS browsers and games, but here's the big kicker: Will it run Microsoft Office? No. Yes, I know there are other office suites out there (and free), but they are not the same, they are equivalent. You can do the same things in each, but you do them differently. Buttons are different, menus are different, terminology may be different. It means learning a new program while keeping the old one in your head because other machines you use still run the old one all the while wondering, "Is this going to print OK in Word or is there going to be some formatting code that's going to fuck it all up?". Here's another: Will it run iTunes? Again, the answer is "no, but...". People don't want that. People want the stuff they already know how to use and until they can, linux isn't going anywhere on the desktop.

[David]

Microsoft will loose when in linux we could execute exe files the same way like in windows... never gonna happen

[dcs18]

How files are permitted to be executed in Windows can be configured with a wide spectrum of User choice - that kind of finer granularity does not exist in Linux. ;)

[ande]

This topic is full of ignorance and misunderstanding.

Open Source community was never about numbers or comparison.

On the other hand Linux (distro) is as usable and intuitive as you make it.

For more than three decades academia uses TeX - there was never need for MS Office.

Need for MS Office is fading in general - link.

Linux is a kernel, from ontological perspective it is not an entity. When you say Linux you, probably, think Linux Foundation, founded 2007, with 180 corporate members including IBM, Intel, Google, HP, Twitter, Valve, VMware, Siemens, Sony, Dell, Cisco etc. Their goal is promotion of Linux, since they all develop products that are based (or hosted) on Linux.

To tell you the hard truth, people who are using Linux don't give a shit about Windows or OS X.

I find it that only people who try linux distro for a week and think they "get it" (and then get back to whatever they used before) care about statistics and numbers.

So this Linux vs Windows battle is discussed by Windows users, because they don't "get it".

[steven36]

To tell you the hard truth, people who are using Linux don't give a shit about Windows or OS X.

I find it that only people who try linux distro for a week and think they "get it" (and then get back to whatever they used before) care about statistics and numbers.

So this Linux vs Windows battle is discussed by Windows users, because they don't "get it".

The reason most switch back to windows to began with is simply people don't like it. Its not a replacement for windows . There's not enough people that use Linux for it to be a Linux vs Windows battle. And statistics and numbers are done by what O/S user agent people have by data collecting sites . There not biased at all . That's the truth. and there's plenty of things that's open source and freeware that's used a million times more than its shareware competitors but Linux is not one of them . And if most people don't care about Windows that use Linux why so many have dual boot with both . Even some that like Linux told me that if Linux could do this or that they would use it all the time.. But fact is it can't . Its not very good for Gamers and its not compatible with tons of software.

[dcs18]

The problem is more of a PR issue, more than anything else. Windows is pushed forward by Microsoft, a company that has showed just how capable it is at lobbying and promoting its product, and you can't really blame them. They are doing what they have to to make money. It's as simple as that. On the other hand, their real problems are just starting, and it will be painfully apparent in the next couple of years.

Nope . . . . . . . . it is not an issue of "Public Relations" - it is a matter of Windows over Linux (I can sense the twisted smirk on dirty minds.) :P

Users of Windows do not believe all the hype emanating from Redmond - we hate Microsoft and also the lip-service they keep offering us.

Yes, they are making money - but, what possibly explains that the people don't even want a free Linux? If Linux was made chargeable, that PoS would register an immediate decline on the market share charts.

No sir, we don't love Microsoft - we are forced, though . . . . . . . . . . . to love Windows @ whatever be the price (anyways, we aren't the ones paying the price - it is you and your Linux-clinging pussies who are paying for the popularity & prosperity of Microsoft.)

Better deliver a better OS to the public - "shape up or ship out."

[KamenRiderBlack]

Linux? Lol.

[steven36]

It's yet to be seen if windows will ever do anything soon ether . You hear Microsoft say this or that about Windows 10 . But the truth is that they don't want another Windows XP on there hands with Windows 7 . It don't mean there product is that great its not its full of coding bugs . In fact there going to have to give it away free for a year to try to ween people off older O/S . Really there's nothing much to choose from and Linux should never be compared to windows tell they have the users to compete with them. Microsoft has always had the upper hand as far desktops and always will tell someone invents something that works better . But just because they have the most users don't mean there selling much . Most are still using some old version of windows . and when windows 10 comes out most people who use it will because it was gave to them not because it was sold too them . :P

[#return 1337]

Yeah no. Windows accounts for 90+% of the computer market.

[heyyahblah]

Yep really desktops in general are declining for along time ..Unless they make a Linux you can put on a smart phone there's no hope for that .

Windows keeps blaming it on piracy..But the truth be known Desktop platform altogether is dieing .

Mobile devices are now the main source of Google search traffic

http://www.businessinsider.my/google-search-traffic-mobile-passes-desktop-2015-5/

Smartphone usage surges while PCs show startling decline in new worldwide study

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/188314-smartphone-usage-surges-while-pcs-show-startling-decline-in-new-worldwide-study

desktop users are a dieing breed :lol: :lol:

I'm sorry I've re-read this comment multiple times and I don't mean to hate on you but are you being sarcastic here or are you dead serious when you were saying Desktop users are a dying breed?

Because the statistics posted are full of shiit. Why is there a surge? Because its only counting the millions of idiots out there in the world on trains, buses, starbucks, at the mall, in the street, that walk into you like idiots staring down at their mobile devices playing candy crush or surfing facebook, instagram, vine, twitter or whatever other garbage these millennials use, because they have no idea how to even remotely operate a PC unless its an iphone or ipad or galaxy. (Unlike me who actually uses a phone to make phone calls), not take stupid videos and shout worldstar every 2 seconds like a f**ken retard. (Yea I know this from the garbage I seen on the internet today and what it has become)

Without desktops we wouldn't have all these millions of jobs for people or the applications that we so much depend on now a days in our society. I'm not going to go all in depth on you, I can just throw a few examples at the top of my head, but I'm talking about things like: running servers, to your CGI guys/girls in Hollywood making all your movie effects, to your professional photographers, and 3D modelers, scientists, doctors, architechts, and so on and so on, you get the general idea.

Until we get that sort of desktop computing power down to the size of the tablet (which we are no where remotely near yet) of say ramming 3 Geforce Titan's with an i7 cpu running at 50w into a ipad air, desktops will be around for a little while my friend, regardless of the operating systems being used. (Linux, Windows, Mac OS, etc)

So once again, I must know was your post satirical? (As in a joke?) Or do you really think the desktop is in such a decline it will be replaced by the iphone generation idiot zombies walking into you around your city using tinder and playing flappy bird? Taking selfies with duckfaces and posting pictures of their food. I really must know? As I am so confused.

Thank You for your time.

Once again, I wasn't being rude.

[steven36]

Yep really desktops in general are declining for along time ..Unless they make a Linux you can put on a smart phone there's no hope for that .

Windows keeps blaming it on piracy..But the truth be known Desktop platform altogether is dieing .

Mobile devices are now the main source of Google search traffic

http://www.businessinsider.my/google-search-traffic-mobile-passes-desktop-2015-5/

Smartphone usage surges while PCs show startling decline in new worldwide study

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/188314-smartphone-usage-surges-while-pcs-show-startling-decline-in-new-worldwide-study

desktop users are a dieing breed :lol: :lol:

I'm sorry I've re-read this comment multiple times and I don't mean to hate on you but are you being sarcastic here or are you dead serious when you were saying Desktop users are a dying breed?

Because the statistics posted are full of shiit. Why is there a surge? Because its only counting the millions of idiots out there in the world on trains, buses, starbucks, at the mall, in the street, that walk into you like idiots staring down at their mobile devices playing candy crush or surfing facebook, instagram, vine, twitter or whatever other garbage these millennials use, because they have no idea how to even remotely operate a PC unless its an iphone or ipad or galaxy. (Unlike me who actually uses a phone to make phone calls), not take stupid videos and shout worldstar every 2 seconds like a f**ken retard. (Yea I know this from the garbage I seen on the internet today and what it has become)

Without desktops we wouldn't have all these millions of jobs for people or the applications that we so much depend on now a days in our society. I'm not going to go all in depth on you, I can just throw a few examples at the top of my head, but I'm talking about things like: running servers, to your CGI guys/girls in Hollywood making all your movie effects, to your professional photographers, and 3D modelers, scientists, doctors, architechts, and so on and so on, you get the general idea.

Until we get that sort of desktop computing power down to the size of the tablet (which we are no where remotely near yet) of say ramming 3 Geforce Titan's with an i7 cpu running at 50w into a ipad air, desktops will be around for a little while my friend, regardless of the operating systems being used. (Linux, Windows, Mac OS, etc)

So once again, I must know was your post satirical? (As in a joke?) Or do you really think the desktop is in such a decline it will be replaced by the iphone generation idiot zombies walking into you around your city using tinder and playing flappy bird? Taking selfies with duckfaces and posting pictures of their food. I really must know? As I am so confused.

Thank You for your time.

Once again, I wasn't being rude.

Don't get me wrong I'm not fan of phones I'm one the rare breeds myself .Im just pointing out the facts . I started noticing the decline in desktops when many people that have computers stopped using them and started using there phones mostly some years ago . And out on the streets many people that don't even own a computer have phones with the internet on them. You also have remember over half the world don't have internet at all . So how many of us has internet just has phones?

​

​Businesses will always need laptop and desktop I guess , But that's even starting to show in manufacturing of desktops with big companies like Dell producing computers mostly for the production environment and not much for the home environment anymore . The 2nd pc I ever bought was a Dell .

[Hated On Mostly]

Android OS and Chrome OS are Linux operating systems. Mac OS X and iOS are unix-like operating systems.

People on this thread seem to not recognize the world has changed around them.