this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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Linux

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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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I'm not proposing anything here, I'm curious what you all think of the future.

What is your vision for what you want Linux to be?

I often read about wanting a smooth desktop experience like on MacOS, or having all the hardware and applications supported like Windows, or the convenience of Google products (mail, cloud storage, docs), etc.

A few years ago people were talking about convergence of phone/desktop, i.e. you plug your phone into a big screen and keyboard and it's now your desktop computer. That's one vision. ChromeOS has its "everything is in the cloud" vision. Stallman has his vision where no matter what it is, the most important part is that it's free software.

If you could decide the future of personal computing, what would it be?

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago (2 children)

in my opinion, Linux has an edge on pretty much everything except for adoption. It's stable, secure, and updated very often. There are a ton of very great libraries for it that make building and running programs very easy. It's great on resource management, and the kernel makes great use of the hardware.

However, most pitfalls in Linux comes from it having less adoption than more popular OSes like Windows or Mac OS. Ultimately, this dampens the "friendliness" of Linux to the masses. If you buy a piece of hardware from the electronics store, there will often be no Linux support. The "mom and dad" folk might enjoy it, but won't know how to install or update things, simply because it's different. Vendors will often deliver shoddy binary blobs for common hardware like wireless cards.

With more adoption comes more pressure for support. We're seeing this with the Steam Deck already: if a game company wants to sell their games on the Deck, then they need to add Linux support, even if that means ensuring that it runs on Wine. I'd love to see this kind of thing for everyday use, i.e. a scanner including Linux software and instructions (and hopefully isn't a nasty "install.run" thing).

If it becomes more common, then friends will help other friends with their computer. "Mom and dad" can look up solutions to problems on the internet, and they'll be able to fix it themselves. Your aunt will buy an iPod and she'll be able to run iTunes in a first-party way. With enough adoption, it will even be weird to run operating systems other than Linux because hardly anyone runs Windows or Mac OS anymore.

I don't think Linux will ever be in the majority, but I see it climbing a bit in the next ten years. Lots of kinks have been worked out, and with the right software, it's even easy-to-use and pretty to look at. We need more devices like the Steam Deck to help pave the way for more adoption! Then after a while, people will use it cause that's what they know.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The “mom and dad” folk might enjoy it, but won’t know how to install or update things, simply because it’s different.

This is rapidly becoming irrelevant as the PC crowd is being reduced to professionals and hobbyists, who don't have a problem learning things. The less computer-literate users stick to phones nowadays and they're mostly content consumers on that platform so all they contribute is body count. They wouldn't bring any contribution to Linux even if they tried to use it.

I don’t think Linux will ever be in the majority

But it is being dominant on every platform where it makes sense and/or there hasn't been a concerted effort to keep it out. The PC is basically the only major holdout thanks to Microsoft and even them have adopted it to some extent.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The less computer-literate users stick to phones nowadays and they’re mostly content consumers on that platform

I think this is a bad thing

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I mean, they'd be consumers on any device they used. Streaming/social/email/browsing that's pretty much it.

It's definitely bad for kids who aren't exposed to PCs anymore.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't bank on professionals being technical. The desktop has tons of use in the white collar space which is full of people all over the spectrum of technical literacy, but also specialty.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

These are great points. Ironically, most phones run Linux, too 😁

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Honestly Wayland vs xorg thing keeps me from switching to it