[LINK] Soon the most popular 'real' desktop will be the Linux desktop

[David]

Legal dispute between OpenSuSE and Microsoft some years ago concerning their competing IP claims to certain software has evidently resulted in OpenSuSE Linux (version 15.4 last time I looked) becoming available in the Microsoft online shop.  I understand it's available at two levels: various Linux utilities and other funstions will run under Windows, or users can download and install the full O/S and run it natively.

See Microsoft's summary at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/tutorials/gui-apps for example:

QUOTE:
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) now supports running Linux GUI applications (X11 and Wayland) on Windows in a fully integrated desktop experience.

WSL 2 enables Linux GUI applications to feel native and natural to use on Windows.

  *     Launch Linux apps from the Windows Start menu
  *     Pin Linux apps to the Windows task bar
  *     Use alt-tab to switch between Linux and Windows apps
  *     Cut + Paste across Windows and Linux apps

You can now integrate both Windows and Linux applications into your workflow for a seamless desktop experience.
[...]
UNQUOTE

None of this is really news, and I mention it here only because it's relevant to Stephen's base post.  It has been crystal clear for a very long time that the profit potential available from licensing ever more functional releases of Windows is limited and Microsoft's future lies in recurring revenue.  That's why we have Office 365 and cloud storage.  An even better option would be to migrate Windows users gently to Linux over several years and put Windows in a maintenance phase, while letting Linux developers maintain the O/S at zero cost.

A scenario is foreseeable where almost all Windows desktops & servers run Linux.

But IMHO we must avoid a situation where Microsoft becomes so powerful in Linux development that Linux gradually ceases to be completely open-source.  Linux does have some architectural features going for it:

  * the kernel operating system is strongly separated from its user interface(s) and maintained by a separate organisation;
  * hence many "distributions" are available, each with their own design philosophy and emphasis;
  * several front-end UIs are available now (e.g. Gnome, KDE's "Plasma", etc.) and I see no reason why they could not include a Microsoft Windows UI or an Apple UI (OpenSuSE runs on quite a few hardware platforms).

And if Linux is seduced by Microsoft, we can always dust off OpenVMS!  Or maybe the time will come when the Electronic Frontiers Foundation  releases an EFF distribution of Linux with an emphasis on individual privacy.  These are interesting times.

_David Lochrin_


On 06/08/2023 15:36, Stephen Loosley wrote [quoting The Register]:
> Do you know who else won't be following Apple or Microsoft to the cloud?
>
> People who care about privacy, folks who want control over their data on 
> their machines, and PC power users.
>
> And where will these good people go? Three guesses, and the first two 
> don't count. Yes, it's Linux. That's why Linux will finally emerge as 
> the top PC operating system.
>
> Mind you, it's going to be a much smaller PC market than the one we have 
> today. Those are the breaks.
>
> But for people who want a real desktop operating system, Linux will be 
> their first and, indeed, almost their only choice. ®