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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Cyber Cynic

We already had the year of the Linux desktop

49 comments

TAGS:Canonical, Fedora, Google, Linux, Linux desktop, openSUSE, Red Hat, Ubuntu
IT TOPICS:Desktop Applications, Emerging Technology, Hardware, Internet, Linux, Open Source, Operating Systems, Software, Windows & Microsoft

I love the illustration for a Linux Haxor story, Obligatory Year-End Positive Linux Predictions. It features Bart Simpson at the school blackboard, which is covered with "Year of the Linux desktop." I understand all too well how people can tire of endless predictions that this (fill-in-the-blank) year will be the year of the Linux desktop. There's only one problem with all these predictions. We've already had the year of the Linux desktop.

For me, it's been the 'year' of the Linux desktop since 1995. That's when I started using Linux on a regular basis. My first distribution was Slackware. Slackware is still around, and it's still a fine Linux for people like me who came to Linux from Unix.

Let's get real though. There have never been that many people to whom the arguments over whether the Bourne, C, Korn, or Bash shells were the best desktops really mattered. I still maintain, however, that Korn is the best since you can do serious programming in it while maintaining backwards compatibility. OK, so that kind of thing still matters to me and to other die-hard Linux/Unix users, but no one else really cares.

For most users, I think 2005 was the year of the Linux desktop. That was the year that Novell introduced SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 9.3. What was important about that? It was the first desktop Linux, in my opinion, that you could put down in front of an office-worker and expect them to get up to speed on it as quickly as they would on Windows and get just as much work done.

In other words, 2005 was the year that the Linux desktop became a business desktop.

Not good enough for you? How about 2007 then? That's the year the first major computer company, Dell, started shipping pre-installed Ubuntu Linux on its desktops and laptops. You no longer needed to be willing to trust a small company that supported Linux or install it yourself. With Dell's move you could get Linux already ready to run as soon as you plugged the cord in the wall on a big name PC.

Still don't believe it? How about later in 2007 when Asus introduced the first Eee UMPC (Ultra mobile PC) or, as we tend to call them now, netbooks? Or, when it became apparent that everyone wanted a netbook of their own?

In fact, Linux-powered netbooks became so popular that less than six months after they first appeared, Microsoft was forced to renew XP Home's lease on life. That makes a good marker doesn't it? After all, Microsoft did change its desktop operating system plans because of the Linux desktop. Even now, with Microsoft almost giving away XP Home to vendors, three out of ten netbooks are still coming out with Linux.

Or, to continue with other major events in Linux desktop history, 2008 was also the year that HP started shipping pre-installed Linux to ordinary users. HP had been the last hold-out. Now all the major OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have at least one widely available desktop Linux system.

Of course, while all this was happening, the top Linux vendors and communities, such as Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell/openSUSE, and Red Hat/Fedora, have been continuing to push the Linux desktop's evolution forward. You may have to wait for years between major Windows 'upgrades' or Mac versions, but desktop Linux is changing for the better on an average of new, significant updates twice a year.

So what, you say you'll never use Linux on the desktop anyway? I hate to break this to you, but almost everyone already is running Linux-based applications on their desktops. Google and its applications run on Linux. Every time you do a Google search, read a Gmail, work on a Google document, you're using Linux. You prefer Yahoo? Guess what? Their servers and applications are built on Linux as well. Ever buy anything with PayPal? Yep, that runs on Linux too. So, if you spend a lot of your time on the Web, congratulations, you too are a Linux desktop user. You're just not aware of it, the same way that you might not know that if you use TiVo to record TV shows, you're a Linux user.

So, you can talk about the year of the Linux desktop coming all you want. The truth of the matter is that the year of the Linux desktop has already come and gone. The only real question is when your 'personal' year of the Linux desktop will be coming. Heck, for that matter, with SplashTop, the instant-on Linux now being embedded into many laptops and, your personal year of the Linux desktop may already have arrived. The future of the Linux desktop is now.

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Linux

Submitted by bishoyking on December 28, 2009 - 3:00 P.M.

the beauty of Linux is that it's an open source operating system, but for the regular end user, this option isn't fancy enough to push him to buy it, the year of Linux may come, but for sure it won't be competitive to the years of Microsoft
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It's always Year of the

Submitted by Anonymous on March 7, 2009 - 12:59 P.M.

It's always Year of the Linux Desktop you silly wabbit.

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2008: The Year of Vista-64

Submitted by Anonymous on December 31, 2008 - 11:40 A.M.

On the consumer side, Vista-64 Preinstalled became the dominant operating system in 2008.

(OEMs have pretty much phased out Vista-32.)

And Vista SP1 Preinstalled works just fine.

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Statistics are not your friend

Submitted by Anonymous on December 31, 2008 - 3:15 P.M.

less than 5% of computers sold in 2008 were 64-bit Vista, so how are you claiming it is dominant. I am glad that the 64-bit version of Vista is having some success so it will not be the epic fail with drivers that 64-bit XP was. 32-bit Vista still has better driver support and more testing done with it, even then it would be hard to declare it the dominant OS of 2008 either given that it's best news was that some of the flaws from 2007 were corrected with SP1.

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Gmail a linux app

Submitted by Michael on December 31, 2008 - 11:19 A.M.

If Google apps are running on Linux, then I along with 10's of millions of users are using Linux desktop apps every day.

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That's just plain stupid

Submitted by Scruff on August 20, 2009 - 5:08 P.M.

So, because the webserver they are running is Linux, all webpages are effectively Linux applications? I postulate along your line of thinking then that all the security issues relating to IE6 are thusly security issues with Linux. Or, because google apps run so slowly in my home town that it is actually Linux that is slow.

Get a damn brain.

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Linux is everywhere...

Submitted by WolfWitch on December 31, 2008 - 10:32 A.M.

While not necessarily a "desktop", it should be noted that many people have at least one thing running Linux in their home, even if it isn't a Tivo. Almost all new TVs, DVD players, and "Set Top" boxes run some form of Linux, as do many of the new NAS devices and media players. Besides Tivo, many other PVRs for satellite and cable also run Linux.

For me- 2006 was the year of the Linux Desktop- that's when I dumped Windows at home and at work for Ubuntu. Thanks for Vista, Microsoft!

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You are wrong, Linux is dying

Submitted by Anonymous on December 31, 2008 - 9:16 A.M.

It's a nice thought but I'd like a bit more reality mixed in...

1. Linux has not been able to break 1.5% marketshare since I have been reading these "200x is the year of the Linux" articles since the year 2000.

2. Dell + Ubuntu was a shame.

3. Novell Linux success was a result of a Microsoft partnership.

4. Microsoft has sold more Vista Licenses then any other OS in history.

5. The only people that think Vista "sucks" are angry 14 years olds that and have nothing better to do.

6. Canonical cannot find a business model that works to save it's life and Ubuntu is slowly dying.

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!

Submitted by Anonymous on August 30, 2009 - 1:54 A.M.

I was a Windows XP user for about six years, then I purchased my first Mac computer. I came across, by accident, on You Tube, the installation of Ubuntu! I did Not Know about Linux until that event!

The thing that will send Linux into the limelight as a cheaper and more affordable computer operating system is the economy, the loss of jobs, the job insecurity, and tightening of credit, and people EVERYWHERE looking, searching for alternatives to Microsoft! Four years ago you found computer software display cases galore and the idea of a Mac computer being sold at a Best Buy was considered almost a "blashphemy!" Two years ago, you walked into a Best Buy and asked yourself, "Where did all the software selections go?! And Now, you see Mac computers being sold at Best Buy! More and more INTELLIGENT people who are sick of Microsoft bullying tactics and lack of concern with the voices of those who wanted to keep Windows XP tech support buy were denied by Microsoft are NOW turning to either Mac computers or are seeing for their first time on places like You Tube what Linux is and what Open Source IS!

Linux does NOT advertise like Microsoft! Vista "sucks!" Just go to any Computer store and ask any repair technician! They said (the PC techs) that Vista "sucked" when it first came out and their opinion is still the same!

Linux has NO intention of dying out because it is First coming out! The United States Army is taking off all Microsoft operating systems off their computers, both nationally and internationally and replacing them with Linux computers! Their ICBM's will run on Linux and not Microsoft! All of the European School Systems, and also many, if not most of all the Latin American School Systems are Linux and NOT Microsoft! Linux is based on the Unix Server, as Mac computers are and are known for their security, not Microsoft servers! IBM is pushing the usage of Linux for the next five years to a tune of six billion dollars! No, Ubuntu is NOT dying out! Linux is becoming a "grass roots revolution" with regards to users/converts and this revolution is starting at the "top down" and NOT with the typical PC desktop user!

Right now, people are asking themselves and finding out the questions to "What is Linux?" What is Open Source? What will really jump start the introduction of Linux to the Public is their heightened disgust with Microsoft and their arrogant attitude towards the consumers!

I got sick of "dishing out the dough" for security programs that were a laugh because a "good hacker" could get right through the firewall and dismantle it with little difficulty! I got tired of all the viruses, trojans, DOS, etc. When you get "fed up with the lack of security," when you get "fed up with paying" the high costs of their operating systems that DO NOT provide the security you need you start searching the internet and places like You Tube for other systems that do! The trouble is that MOST people want to be "spoon fed" on computer systems! A REAL GOOD operating system takes a little learning and too many people can't seem to wean themselves from "point and click function of the mouse!"

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Some people says Windows is

Submitted by Max Keith Gates on July 10, 2009 - 8:25 P.M.

Some people says Windows is dying I don't think so. Even Windows 7 Beta version is used on over 3% computers which is more than what Linux has achieved in past 10 years, so how Windows is dying.

Only reason Linux has any market share is because its free otherwise it won't even had 1.5% share.

And all those Vista and Windows 7 sucks blogs on Internet are from Linux lovers who are desperate to save Linux from dying. Vista was good, Win 7 is brilliant.

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