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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Cyber Cynic

1% Linux, 99% to go

55 comments

TAGS:desktop linux, Linux
IT TOPICS:Linux, Operating Systems, Software

I know Linux makes a great desktop. You may know that it makes a great desktop. But, most people wouldn't know Linux from a hole in the ground. Things are finally changing though. According to one survey, Linux finally has crossed over the 1% of the Web client market.

Net Applications, a Web site analytics company, just published their April 2009 Web users survey, Market Share, and they found that "Linux usage share on client devices has surpassed 1% for the first time in our tracking. Linux has been successful primarily as a server operating system, but client usage share has not kept pace with server share Linux has reached this important milestone on the client as Linux-based systems have become more functional, easier to use, and pre-installed on computers from vendors like Dell."

It's about time!

Desktop Linux has faced an uphill climb. It's had to face Microsoft's Windows monopoly on the desktop. It's had to deal with its undeserved reputation for being hard to use. But still, slowly, ever so slowly, it's made gains.

See also:
Preston Gralla:
Linux use reaches 1%; world yawns

First, easy-to-use but powerful Linux distributions like Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu have gained fans by showing that anyone can run Linux without compromising on features. Then, by offering pre-installed desktop Linux, mainstream vendors like Dell and HP have been convincing ordinary people that Linux can work for them.

Linux still has a hard climb ahead to become a major desktop force, but there can no longer be any question that it has a hand-hold in the market.

If 1% doesn't sound that important, let me remind you that less than five years ago another open-source program, Firefox, had less than 1% of the market. Today, Firefox has 22.48% of the market, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer is at all time low for the decade.

Will Linux ever get the near 100% marks that Microsoft once had? No, I don't see anyone ever getting that much of the market again. But 10%? 20%? That, I can see happening.

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And why should linux reach

Submitted by Anonymous on December 28, 2009 - 9:32 A.M.

And why should linux reach 100% market share? Aren't we all against such disaster situation, that there would be just one and no alternatives. After all, all these linux distros are merely just one operating system. Apple's OS X and Windows are real alternatives as operating systems. And we need alternatives. Just one, linux, would be a situation of no alternatives.

Actually there might be 100% market share of linux in digital tv set top boxes - so isn't that well enough of REAL monopoly?

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I take even these stats with a grain of salt

Submitted by Anonymous on May 4, 2009 - 5:02 P.M.

Most of my web surfing is done at work where I am tied to a SOE.

This means the world sees me as a Mac user (could be worse), and not the Linux user that I am.

I suspect that many fellow Linux users are in the same position.

So even a survey of this type that looks at actual usage can be skewed by corporate policy, and not give a true picture of "how many people are really using linux"

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Stats Programs

Submitted by Jamie on May 4, 2009 - 1:34 P.M.

Couldn't the stats on computers "calling home" be used as a good measurement of number of users per OS? Wouldn't it be more accurate?

I know Windows and Ubuntu GNU/Linux call home to check for updates. I'm assuming most other GNU/Linux distros and Macs do as well.

I would think that these stats would be a faily good indicator of what OSes are being used. You could get number of users per country as well as what distro is more popular for a particular day.

Granted some computers are not connected to the Internet, have updates turned off, use a local server, etc. but I would think the figures could show useful stats for the computers that are continuously calling home.

Another option would be for the major distros to prompt the user during installation if they would like to take part in a "I'm a Linux user" counter program.

Jamie

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Linux is, well, homeless

Submitted by dekrit on May 5, 2009 - 4:12 A.M.

"Couldn't the stats on computers "calling home" be used as a good measurement of number of users per OS? Wouldn't it be more accurate?"

For proprietary systems like Windows and MacOS the answer is yes, but not for Linux. There are thousands of Linux repositories on this planet and each repository is a "Home" for certain groups of Linux users.

I think 1% is an underestimate.

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As most commenters have

Submitted by Anonymous on May 4, 2009 - 11:05 A.M.

As most commenters have pointed out there are a lot of issues with how the numbers were obtained.

Nonetheless the Linux desktop user base is growing. Personally I'm not all for Linux desktop domination. Matter of fact I think it would be nice to see OS X gain a bit more market share as well. While Linux will always be my first choice, it would be nice to see a healthy ecosystem of operating systems to choose from.

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One single program would kick this into high gear

Submitted by Dave Ihnat on May 4, 2009 - 8:56 A.M.

QuickBooks. Intuit's intransigent backing of Windows-only is probably the greatest block to widespread acceptance of Linux desktop in business.

It won't run under Wine or Crossover, and while Intuit claims to have made at least Linux server hosting of files possible, it's at a price point no small business can afford.

And there's, literally, no other affordable option. QuickBooks provides features (such as payroll support) that no replacement package offers.

Fix QuickBooks. Grab a big chunk of business. It's as simple as that. Make Intuit listen--bug them. As we say in Chicago WRT voting, early and often.

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True

Submitted by Ron on May 5, 2009 - 5:01 A.M.

I put Ubuntu on a laptop for an electrical contractor. Crossover will work with earlier versions of Quickbooks, but not with the latest dot net version (yet). However, I ended up setting up a remote desktop for him on a Windows box in his office that had QB installed.

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Make them listen.

Submitted by Richard Chapman on May 4, 2009 - 10:40 A.M.

Or make them irrelevant.

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Alternative To Quickbooks

Submitted by Stan on May 4, 2009 - 10:13 A.M.

My company uses Quickbooks. In fact, I just purchased the QB Enterprise edition, which does have a linux server option (which I have tested and will use). However, even the linux server option for QB Enterprise comes with extra baggage like the requirement to enable Samba for file sharing, and no SQL access to the QB database server. Yes, there's an actual database server with QB Enterprise. Pigs must be flying over Intuit's corporate offices.

So, even though my company decided to stick with QB, I spent some time evaluating a couple of linux-based accounting alternatives. One that really stuck out is NolaPro. It is built on the LAMP stack, but is also available in a WAMP stack for those who are too timid to try Linux. What I really like about NolaPro is that the client is entirely web-based. There's no need to install/manage software on multiple desktops. Another advantage to NolaPro is that it runs on MySQL, so the data is easily available to other applications in microseconds via standard SQL, as opposed to Quickbook's version of the micro-second, the micro-hour, via some convoluted proprietary interface.

NolaPro is free to download and install. The parent company, Noguska LLC, makes their money on migrations, training, and customizations. If you have any level of Linux expertise, you can go it alone at no cost. The one downside to NolaPro is that the actual code (written in PHP) is kept proprietary, so you can't directly modify the app.

Why did our business decide to stick with Quickbooks? The same reason as so many other businesses. We didn't want to deal with the migration issues. I'm a one-man IT shop for our company, and I've got bigger fish to fry at the moment. Like most other small businesses, we are in survival mode during the current economic environment. That's too bad, because I'm really impressed with what NolaPro appears to offer. If I was starting a company from scratch or was committed to moving away from Quickbooks, I would certainly take a hard look at NolaPro.

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Codeweavers uses Quickbooks in Crossover

Submitted by Scott on May 4, 2009 - 9:46 A.M.

Codeweavers, the company behind Crossover Office, uses Quickbooks with their own Crossover product. It is still rated at only Bronze, but I'd say its a good endorsement when a company is willing to rely on their own product to run their business.

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