Was just browsing snapchat stories last night and saw that some chick I know was randomly installing Ubuntu. Told her props and she said it was a nice change.
I have no idea what the context for this is, but I thoroughly believe that if people who I think are seemingly normal/average users in terms of computer knowledge are deciding to install linux that perhaps we're on the verge of a breakthrough here folks.
We'll see if she sticks with it, but shit. It was a pleasant surprise none-the-less.
Anyway, you can share similar stories or just keep browsing, just thought I'd share.
This happens every. Single. Year. No, it is not the year of linux, it has been the age of Linux/Unix. It already exists inside of almost everything we use, just not right in front of us...
The question should be "Is this the Year of the Linux Desktop?" in which case, it is no.
If SteamOs would of taken off then maybe. But I think people like their Windows and Mac OS X. I also think that the Open Source atmosphere may scare some people, especially now with the NSA and the increasing amount of cyber attacks.
Ubuntu, and Linux Mint are totally leading the way when it comes to getting people to Linux, if Ubuntu and Mint can keep making hardware deals more people will get into Linux. By the way, over in Romania, Russia, China and Japan computers are sold with Linux pre-installed. Most are Dells and HP's, so over their it is the "Year of Linux" somehow they made it over the hump so to speak, but American's have not even reached that hump.
The Linux community should not worry so much about "Year of Linux" and worry more about 'Year of the Most used Open Source OS'. Linux's social acquaintance BSD has held the "Year of most used Open Source OS" for a long time as BSD is on the PlayStations, the Wii, and Mac OS X is based off of FreeBSD. I do not think that Linux will ever be able to take that award from them.
But anyway is said chick single, winkwink
Also if you were just talking about GNU/Linux and not just Linux then it still is a no. But if you were just saying Linux as in the Linux Kernel then it would be Yes, as Android uses the Linux Kernel and more and more TV manufacturers are launching smart TV's with Android and Android is getting bigger into the Internet of Things. Android is also supposedly the most used OS. So if you were talking about Linux as in just the Linux Kernel it would be the Year of Linux.... Maybe as I still think that BSD is bigger, since the amount of Playstations and Nintendo products out their are A LOT.
I don't ever think we'll see GNU/Linux take the majority share of the laptop/desktop market as Windows/OSX are too well established. However I do expect the number of desktops and laptops used for 'home' computing to fall away and hybrid devices that are part phone or tablet which can then be connected up to a screen and full keyboard/mouse to replace them.
If that happens then Andriod or a related OS would likely become the main OS. I suppose that would be the year of Linux, just not the kind most of us thought almost 12 years ago when Unreal Tournament was available on GNU/Linux and we thought that heralded the 'year of linux'!
Also in this industry and with many companies pushing BSD style licences over the GPL (that they can control) I would not be surprised if some new must-have uber phone came along and rapidly killed the Andriod market replacing it with a BSD type equivilent...
If you ask me, Windows and OSX are killing themselves at the moment. Apple has a habit of removing features from their applications (and just generally shooting themselves in the foot), and Windows has privacy concerns (and a lot of other things).
I think its possible for Linux to overtake the other OSes, but I'd give it half a decade or something.
I'm from Romania. The trend of selling laptops with Linux pre-installed started before Windows with Bing was released, as a way of making cheap laptops even cheaper. What do you think most people do with these laptops ? They immediately wipe the harddrive and install pirated Windows.
Because, you see, in Romania, a $400 computer is considered to be very expensive ($400 is the equivalent of 2 minimum wages, which is about $200 per month), they can barely save money to buy a computer, there's nothing left for software, music and movies, so they pirate. Everybody knows that everybody's pirating and there is no shame.
Those laptops are actually made for pirates, but they don't want to sell computers with completely empty harddrives, so they put Linux on them. Some of them don't even have Linux, they have FreeDOS instead, so they're clearly not meant to be used with the default operating system.
I'm not saying that piracy is good, I'm just stating some facts. And if you say something like "If they're so poor, why do they even buy computers anyway", that's like saying that you want them to live in the stone age, that's just not possible.
The BSD license has less to do with the OS/kernel than it has to do with GPL 3.0 having a lot to be desired. Linux still uses GPL 2.0. The MIT and Apache license have became more popular as well for the same reasons.
But then again, stranger things have happened, maybe BSD or Minix or something we aren't thinking about may become the next big thing.
That's interesting: so contrary to popular belief, Linux is a 'non-event' with laptop users switching to a pirated-copy of Windows instead for its popularity, and convenience.
My explanation only works for Romania, Russia and China, but I have no idea why it's happening in Japan, where people have way more purchasing power and can definitely afford a license.
Oh. The reason that I thought it was, was because every-time I would search and do research on what Mac OS X was based off of everyone would say FreeBSD. Thanks for educating me!
Linux in Japan is mostly used in Universities and Web Hosting companies but from time to time you will see some cheap hardware sold with Linux pre-installed.
I just found this cool map, that shows the amount of Linux users, unfortunately it is fairly outdated, it was published in 2014. And may not be accurate.
And I had no idea, that people would just remove Linux from the machine and instead put on a pirated copy of Windows. I always thought that they were purchasing the hardware to use Linux. I guess you really do learn something new everyday.
The types of people who like Linux are the DIY type, they like to install it themselves and choose the Distro. Even Linux users who want to buy Computers without Windows installed would prefer to choose the Distro instead of just using whatever Distro the OEM happened to choose. Even they would wipe the harddrive and install something else. That's the problem with selling computers for Linux users, you can't just assume that everybody likes Ubuntu.
It's funny that Japan doesn't have that many Linux users. And it's not that outdated, it's just one year old. I don't think that it's possible for a country to suddenly gain a significant amount of Linux users in one year.
2016: the year of Linux! 2010-20 the decade of Linux! 21st century: century of Linux! It doesn't really mean much until we get extremely widespread adoption (i.e. lay persons start using it commonly), but it's fun to talk about. It's kindof been a standing joke, but it's not meant to be offensive to Linux. Btw I think BSD reserved 2032 as the year of BSD, just after unix time rolls over. So yes 2016 will be the year of Linux.