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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Why the Linux Desktop will never take off (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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(Title Edit)

So yeah, I am going to start this off saying I use Linux. I love Linux, but the community and others will not let it improve. It's time to change.

Here's all the reasons I think Linux will never take off, don't forget that you can also add input and that I am a human being, so please don't be angry if you can help it. Just tell me your perspective. I know I will get lots of flack for this, but here we go:

Idealism, if Linux was going to take over innately it already would have
History (let's be honest it's like a discord server if it doesn't take off all at once it never will)
It's inaccessible (terminals cannot replace everything. I'm talking to you if you say "bloat")
There's only corporate funding, so they will appropriate it
We tolerate people who don't tolerate others (including the less tech-savvy)
Microsoft has way too much power (money)
Few people remember RMS started copyleft as a political goal (too many people are uncomfortable challenging their beliefs, so they want Linux to be "apolitical")
No one is doing the political organizing
Copyleft is flawed and needs to be improved (here's a template example https://thufie.lain.haus/NPL.html) [also mind you that there's a need to prevent corporate appropriation]
People worship RMS instead of realizing he alienates women, people with down syndrome, etc.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)

To be honest, most people don't give a thought to the OS they use. They haven't considered the ethics/politics. They've probably never even seen a Linux GUI. They bought a device with an OS preinstalled and, so long as it has the apps they want to use : that's fine. Heck! many of them are still on Vista.

The inertia preventing change (anything) is enormous (and even more so if you don't really understand something - like tech) : fundamentally, we're conservative, and lazy, (and frightened) as a species, and if something works... don't mess with it.

I am cautiously optimistic for Linux though, because I can see a couple of catalysts for a sea-change.

Firstly Windows11 - which increasingly relies on an internet connection, and a log in. I think this will bar Micro$oft from poorer communities. And I think it might make governments and businesses wonder what information they're mining.

Secondly the tech trade war - China is one of the biggest producers, if not the biggest producer of electronics, and they constitute 20% of the market too... And they're moving away from US proprietary systems : The electronics which are going to be coming out of China is going to have an Open Source OS.