In Russian it's called Вендекапец and is a bit like second coming.
Maybe it's not happening yet, but the bigger share it has, the faster it'll grow.
And MS and Apple have only themselves to blame.
20 years ago, when the first Linux offensive happened, so to say, with Mandrake and a wave of Linux-native games and proprietary products, and IBM support, people would criticize Linux for having inconsistent chaotic UIs and experience. I was a Windows-only kid, so this is retrospective and people can correct me.
Not sure if anybody remembers, but then you could find most of Windows' important settings in one place, and it looked so polished and patient and relaxing, both 2000 and XP.
Mac OS X was all about toys and shiny colors, but there was also the spirit of it being very polished and consistent and light and fresh.
So - Linux can still be very usable. While both MacOS and Windows even look cheap, I wonder how they managed to achieve that. Even Gnome doesn't look cheap despite desperately trying to imitate MacOS. Not even speaking about ergonomics.
I have been slowly switching to Linux for the last year. I have 2 Lenovo ThinkPad's and an HP EliteDesk running Ubuntu. I have my gaming PC dual booted but, for the moment, mainly using Linux Mint.
It has been an easy transition and I am not some Linux whiz.
Unfortunately, since I refuse to use any iShit products, I can troubleshoot Windows or Linux just fine. Don't ask me about iOS. It's nothing but a PITA
"Oh to change that basic thing? Control panel...wait...no...the other control panel, the real one...no ..(searches it despite MS hiding it more than ever) ok now it's in one of these obscure hyperlinks half-assedly tossed to the side...which opens a dialogue...with 4 tabs...after you click "advanced"....THERE I turned off Fastboot for you."
I can't believe that's how I used to have to do things lmao.
The scariest thing they can do to Linux now market-wise is to bring back Windows 2000's UI and paradigm and cleanliness, but with modern kernel and drivers and functionality.
I've driven my laptop for years on Linux, previously mint and recently fedora KDE and given Microsoft's recent moves 10 Will be my last windows os on my desktop and I'm considering moving before support ends
What’s odd to me is the cultural zeitgeist has moved to folks being aware that Microsoft (& Google & Apple) is collecting data on them to being the butt of jokes, yet those folks aren’t adopting an alternatives. With over a decade on Linux I’m now pretty out of touch with the opposite feeling. I guess the closest analog I have is not being able to realistically leave Android behind, but that is more hardware than software (banking app already don’t let you root or otherwise flash your device so I have given up hope in trying with them).
A few days ago I tried to install Windows 11 on the PC of a friend. It didn't work because of missing SATA drivers. Anyway, I was shocked how many points there are where Microsoft or Apple (we used his mac to create the USB drive) tries to sell something (buy pro version of fan controll now) or wants your permissions to gather all your data.
I convinced him to let me install debian. When it came to creating the default user he was hesitant to use his full name, because telemetry :D
I mean I don’t really see the point of using your real name on your system unless you often forget who you are. I would praise my friend tho for having the correct skeptical reaction even if it should be relatively harmless.
If a machine is going to have multiple users (all my computers have multiple profiles for family members) all those users have to be called something, and I've not got the energy or the creativity to come up with fun and funky usernames for every system when my actual name is more than good enough.
I also think it's a healthy attitude but at the same time it's sad that people can't trust their own devices any longer.
Using your real name can have benefits, like metadata in office documents or things like that. If you are sure your devices are yours and secure, there shouldn't be a reason not to use your own name. Unfortunately this isn't the case anymore if you are using anything else but Linux
Many jurisdictions recognize pen names & other aliases which a username is & could also be put in the document. Many might prefer not inserting their real name into things by default & if that privacy is desired as default, all the more reason to skip the real name.
banking app already don’t let you root or otherwise flash your device so I have given up hope in trying with them
You can get around that pretty easily by fooling SafetyNet / Play Integrity and hiding root from those apps. My phones have all been rooted for years and I never had issues with banking apps. I don't even run any google services anymore and the apps I use are fine with that.
I would not say easily. And even if you pass SafetyNet, your banking app may still not work. I have one, and I haven't figured out what it checks for, maybe LineageOS name or something. Would probably have to tear the apk apart to find out.
Right. It’s always going to be an arms race that isn’t going to get easier as Google announces the next version will require Play Services & Play Store. Maybe someone will find a workaround, but there will be constant downtime in between these gaps. You’d think they would allow someone technically savvy enough to pass as they are probably rooted/custom ROM for a reason… but no.
I’ve since switched to carrying a separate credit-card-sized apparatus for payments. It’s called a debit card + bank notes folded over. Transfers, I use their ancient website that detects Netscape Navigator 4 & disables paste & their encoding doesn’t allow English punctuation, but it works in a pinch. The hard part will be pushing against cashless as the banks & government want all the reporting/data collection—something customers & vendors aren’t the keenest towards but ultimately I think would acquiesce under enough pressure which I am fearful of.
Previous phone it worked up until it didn’t. New phone I left unrooted since that was the error they gave me. Now without the root/jailbreak error, I get a useless generic error & the app crashes. I’ve been too lazy to root it just choosing alternative payment methods.
(banking app already don’t let you root or otherwise flash your device so I have given up hope in trying with them)
Idk why this myth keeps getting peddled. You can use any banking app on any custom ROM, rooted or unrooted (though I see no point in rooting these days). And even if an banking app blocked you from using their app...the mobile website exists if you really need mobile access to your bank.
This isn’t a “myth” they detect both root & custom ROMs so even if you wanted to use an unrooted custom ROM you can’t. Rooting your phone just to skirt around them should be the opposite of what they want as there is some security implications to rooting your phone. And the current solutions are all temporary workarounds til the banking apps find a new way to partner with Google to prevent modifications of any kind.
In my country, at least one bank has shutdown & discontinued their website which is often just the first domino before others start doing it too. My bank is slow to adopt tech, but their site was created to detect IE and Netscape Navigator. I would assume they would kill that website before upgrading it to actually work on the modern web where a fixed CRT isn’t the only screen size.
That's not true. Specially with older banks, they don't let you run their shitty apps on rooted phones. And some younger banks don't even let you do certain tasks on the website, they are mobile first.
No rooted phones for our App. No travel to specific locals and countries either. we hvae black lists of Regions of the world where you simply cannot login to your accounts due to overwhelming security concerns and lack of extrajudicial remediation should there be fraud.
European banks require strong security. Even a web-based login requires 2FA using the bank's mobile app - so if that app won't run, well, no banking for you today!
Majority of people just dont care about being spied upon unless it directly affects them somehow, at which point its too late for that person. But others having data on you wont likely directly affect you at the moment so not enough people get burned by it for general attitude to change. Smart people understand that all this can very easily change and prepare by not allowing all of their information be available for questionable people to use. Others make fun of them for this and call them crazy until one day they suddenly aren't so crazy any more.
They actually do care tho about the tracking—if they weren’t privacy wouldn’t be included in marketing like it is now. They are just more willing to accept it as a fact of life rather than dealing with it (or don’t know that they can do something or how to start).
We should make this easier for folks ’cause every email I send from a non-data-collection host usually ends up on a Google or Microsoft server, etc. Every silly Discord chatroom you join, or Facebook page you like has the same ramifications.
I think we need to do some really difficult investigations that essentially can show concrete proof of how this affects people:
"See you were looking up vacations and insurance right? Well you signed up to your car's connected service, you have an Alexa in your house, and a smart TV and a fridge all talking to each other....and they all worked together to put together a profile of how much you make and how old you are and everything else...
...so your neighbor looked up the same insurance and vacations and is paying about $200 less for the exact same of each, because they use AdBlock and don't allow spy devices in their house."
And then finish with the real kicker:
"I know you didn't ask to participate, but we just scraped all this information about you off the Internet and didn't even need to ask you. We had to ask your neighbor to participate though."
I'm doing my part!
Just moved to Mint, 3 weeks ago.
I had tried with a dual boot previously but moving over to a clean install forced me to find solutions instead of just switching to windows
I just got a steam deck and I'm surprised how well it runs games. It's not quite as refined as a switch but it can run games were designed to run windowed in Windows with a mouse and keyboard. It can translate the game to run on Linux, the inputs to a gamepad and convert the game from being windowed to fullscreen. It's impressive and if the games were actually designed for the deck I feel like it could feel as seemless as the switch.
It is really making me consider Linux for my desktop once Windows 10 reaches EoL. The only game I've found that doesn't work is Destiny 2. Even the desktop mode on the deck is surprisingly nice
The Steam Deck and it's desktop mode is why I decided to try jumping head first into a single boot of Bazzite on my main computer, 4 months in and I haven't looked back, even PDF's are better in linux, no Adobe iron grip.
EDIT: sorry for comment spam! Jerboa having issues posting, hope it doesn't show up and I tried to delete duplicates. XD
The best time to play with Linux as a daily driver system is now.
Play around with some virtual machines using VirtualBox for instance, do some installs, try distros, try desktop environments see what you fancy. Cool thing about playing with VMs is if you tank a system you can just delete and start over. :)
An old laptop to try a real "bare-metal" install to play with is even better.
This way, when MS says "Win10 is gonna be left to rot as security swiss cheese and your only option is Ai-enabled telemetry-infested account-mandatory nonsense."
You can just comfortably jump to something you've already gotten familiar with!
The 'Deck can be used as a "real computer" too! It's worth playing around in Desktop mode to just get used to how using Linux and KDE feels.
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!
I'm not such a monkey, and I could probably contribute if I put my mind to it, but I just don't have the time.... Instead I try to contribute documentation and money when I can. Everything helps!
Once I got the steam deck and saw basically all my games could run in linux, I made the change fully on my laptops and desktop computers.
There's not a single windows left in my house.
I'm a former IT Manager and system admin. And I am so fucking frustrated and pissed at Microsoft's bullshit that I want nothing to do with them, and nothing of theirs in my house.
I cannot believe I'm going to say this: But from and enterprise point of view, I Miss Balmer. Nadella is a fucking useless wannabe Steve Jobs tool who has zero concept of what made Microsoft what it is. There's horror stories of dealing with Microsoft on a corporate level that attributed to me having a mental breakdown.
I feel the same way. I'm not a pro programmer or anything, but we can still be positive members of the community and help out users and share why Linux is a better alternative, and that's gotta count for something! :)
Yeah I kinda doubt it too. However there's a real possibility for them to eventually replace it with Android, once they get the desktop mode finished up. Especially given how they've started caring about costs lately, maintaining two OSes with a lot of overlap might trigger some axing.
Chromos will definitely be big, but its limitations mean that it won't definitely not be able to just take it over.
And given that it relies on Linux apps to run non Android or web apps, AKA desktop apps, I'm quite happy if it grows—Linux development becomes encouraged.
If the latest Steam survey is anything to go by, it’s actually lower of a percentage when it comes to gaming, representing 1.94% of the market. The stats mentioned in the article come from StatCounter which monitors web traffic.
The problem with steam gaming analyltics is it bases it on your first two weeks? OS use. So if you always play it on linux for like a year but the first X number of hours you tried it on Windows first it logs it as a Windows tally
I’m aware there are problems with the way their survey works, but I don’t see how that’s the case…
To me it seems like it’s done on a monthly basis by selecting a random pool of users and prompting them to participate by collecting stats at that moment, only once they opt into it.
AFAIK the data is not aggregated over a certain period of time (i.e. “a year”)
Yeah I think we are talking random survey stats vs a different metric. There was an article before on how they determine which OS was hosting the game for dev stats. So if you wanted linux support going forward, game the first few weeks of it on Linux and that set a flag for OS percentages
When buying games from Steam, how is the desktop platform counted? From what Valve told us (February 2020), they first take the desktop Steam client platform used to buy it, then whatever has the most playtime in two weeks. However, Android and Web Browser purchases default to Windows and then what has the most playtime in two weeks. If you want to ensure developers see a Linux sale: play it only on Linux in the first two weeks, don't buy it and leave it.
