Quoting: iiariSo I believe the Linux desktop future is gunning for the makers, enthusiasts, gamers, and tinkerers who like to explore who have always been fueling Linux. I'm still surprised how many people who fit that description haven't tried Linux yet, and of those I've seen who switch to Linux and keep it long term tend to be from that group.

Just for the record, I would like to note that I am a counterexample. I'm an artsie and at most a casual gamer, and to the extent I am a gamer it's mostly strategy, no twitch. I'm neither a tinkerer nor a maker; I love that stuff in theory but never seem to get around to it in practice. And yet I've been on Linux most of the time since early Mandrake days.
I also don't see that there's a massive overlap between gamers and those other categories you list.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: CatKiller

Beijing has ordered all government offices and public institutions to remove foreign computer equipment and software within three years, in a potential blow to the likes of HP, Dell and Microsoft.

Report from the Financial Times. [External Link]

They have their own distros in Kylin and Deepin already. Whether that will translate to more people using Linux in their leisure time it's too early to say (or even if they'll manage to achieve it for government computers) but people wanting to use the same system at home that they were used to at work was a part of Microsoft's desktop dominance back in the day.

I remember that article. It's not a surprising policy decision, but seems like there hasn't been a peep on the interwebs about it since, so I dunno how much is actually happening.

Edited to add: On the other hand, the new GoL article about LeNovo adding Ubuntu and RHEL to a bunch of workstations . . . I wonder if that's related?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: TheSHEEEPHard to tell for sure at this point, but the recent developments seem to point toward Epic succeeding.

Please note that this is something I'm genuinely looking for more information about, so I'm not being sarcastic when I ask, what developments would those be?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: pytrys

Quoting: GuestMaybe more devs working from home on their own Linux machines, freer of corporate constraints ?

I might live in the bubble, but the devs around me are happily keeping their Windows 10 and trying WSL2...

Well, we're not looking at a big percentage here even now, so yeah, most are no doubt doing that.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: kuhpunkt

Quoting: Purple Library GuyThe real question is, is this kind of thing working for Epic, or are they just throwing money into a pit?
I'm not convinced it's working. Steam use keeps growing and the last figures I saw about Epic store sales (other than Fortnite) looked big until I compared them with the size of the market, at which point they looked tiny.
Anyone got any more recent stats?

No stats, but they are bleeding money. When they pay $10 out of their own (hehe) pocket during the Epic Mega Sale stuff, they lose money on every game sold.

That's a given. They're clearly operating on the principle, "It takes money to make money". So they're paying big dough to attempt to very literally buy market share. If all the paid-for exclusives can attract customers to the store to buy both those and other games, and that attracts more games to the store that they don't have to pay through the nose to get the exclusive, and the whole thing snowballs and they eat Steam's lunch, then they win (and eventually jack up the prices and make back all the dough and masses more). If they just sit there with a threadbare store and a few exclusives, with people nipping in to grab their loss leaders and then running back to Steam where they have community and achievements and modding and stuff, then they lose.

So the question is which of those things is going on. Are they building market share? Or are they just buying a bunch of one-offs that don't add up to momentum?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: dubigrasu

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: dubigrasu

Quoting: LinuxwarperThe only thing I would be concerned with Stadia is the possibility of it being used for ChromeOS.

So the gist of what you said so far (here and elsewhere) is that you're worried and you don't want ChromeOS becoming too competitive with Linux, OK, fair enough. I'm not gonna argue about that (enough arguments on the previous article) but the way I see it, not only Linux will get a competitor, but also Windows will get one. And I somehow doubt that Linux desktop/market share will be the one affected, I see more likely that Windows will go down in that case.
And we're about choices right? If Google's choice is to promote ChromeOS, well, let them.

I'm sure you have other arguments to share, (and boy I'm almost sorry for bringing this up), but I have no desire for ChromeOS to fail so that Linux can succeed. If Linux has merits, it will stand on its own.

I'm in agreement with you about most of what you said, but that last point, "If Linux has merits, it will stand on its own" is naive. ChromeOS has the "merit" of a huge corporation with monstrously deep pockets behind it. In our political economy, that is a very, very big "merit". Genuine merits do not magically win out over such.

That wasn't meant in terms of Linux winning a (the) fight against ChromeOS or other entity, but rather Linux continuing to stand or evolve as it did until now. If ChromeOS is going to have a fight, is going to be against Windows (and Apple's products to an extent), while Linux will continue its way, for better or worse.

Ah, I see. Well, as I said, I agree with that much--overall, greater diversity in the desktop OS market is probably good for Linux and good in general, and if the thing increasing the diversity is, basically, Linux itself all the better.
Anyway it'd be weirdly easy to sell ChromeOS users on Linux. "So, you're using Linux already. Wanna try one that doesn't handcuff you?"

View this comment - View article - View full comments

The real question is, is this kind of thing working for Epic, or are they just throwing money into a pit?
I'm not convinced it's working. Steam use keeps growing and the last figures I saw about Epic store sales (other than Fortnite) looked big until I compared them with the size of the market, at which point they looked tiny.
Anyone got any more recent stats?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I would love to cheer at this development, but two things make me modify my glee. First, the idea of Ubuntu going from 0.27% to 2.11% in two months is ridiculous. This sounds more like someone fixing something that was causing existing Ubuntu not to be shown. So, probably Linux just had a higher share all along than NetMarketShare realized. That in itself is kind of nice, but it's not the same as a sudden major rise.

Second, I note that in tandem with the rise of Linux share on Steam there is, as usual, a decline in simplified Chinese share. So again, this may not mean much except that the Chinese don't use Linux (more fool they--if there's one bunch that would benefit from ripping out Windows and replacing it with Linux, that would be China).

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: dubigrasu

Quoting: LinuxwarperThe only thing I would be concerned with Stadia is the possibility of it being used for ChromeOS.

So the gist of what you said so far (here and elsewhere) is that you're worried and you don't want ChromeOS becoming too competitive with Linux, OK, fair enough. I'm not gonna argue about that (enough arguments on the previous article) but the way I see it, not only Linux will get a competitor, but also Windows will get one. And I somehow doubt that Linux desktop/market share will be the one affected, I see more likely that Windows will go down in that case.
And we're about choices right? If Google's choice is to promote ChromeOS, well, let them.

I'm sure you have other arguments to share, (and boy I'm almost sorry for bringing this up), but I have no desire for ChromeOS to fail so that Linux can succeed. If Linux has merits, it will stand on its own.

I'm in agreement with you about most of what you said, but that last point, "If Linux has merits, it will stand on its own" is naive. ChromeOS has the "merit" of a huge corporation with monstrously deep pockets behind it. In our political economy, that is a very, very big "merit". Genuine merits do not magically win out over such.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Paradox is getting pretty big, huh?

View this comment - View article - View full comments