When did you start to realize Linux will never become the future of desktop computing?

[TaterChip]

Actually, I do not feel Linux will never become the future of desktop computing. I feel there will come a time (although I'll probably not live long enough to see it) when businesses will become fed up with Windows' and Apple's shenanigans enough to begin to switch over to Linux systems company wide. the increasing cost of Windows and Apple compatible software (I'm looking at you, Adobe) alone may be enough to trigger the switch. Bigger companies can afford to create their own software (or farm out the creation) to replace the Windows/Apple only software they have been depending on if there isn't Linux compatible software that can be used again.

As far as home users go, if someone sets up a computer for a user correctly, they may never need to touch the terminal ever or, at worst, type in a simple alias for the occasional command they may need. If people's first computers were Linux based, they probably would feel to intimidated by Windows to ever try it.

I'm figuring win12 might be the catalyst for change. Will they really take the chance of Microsoft Windows AI scraping their system of sensitive or secret information and potentially sending it all back to MS? What about govt agencies that routinely deal in top secret documents. Is it worth the risk to them.

Every version of win gets more and more intrusive. The fact that I'm here is a testament to that. I absolutely don't like change. IF I could I would still be buying computers with winXP.

I am personally not willing to take the risk of MS scraping even more of my personal or business data behind my back.

Speaking of MS shenanigans. When I talked to dad the other day, he informed me that he would be bringing me his win10 HD that we removed when we installed Linux. He want's to put it in an enclosure and nuke windows so he can use it as an external backup. He says he is done with MS's crap and is never going back. He's all about Mint now.

[spamegg]

Hmm, I think by "future of desktop" the OP meant the improvement / innovation of the desktop. Because they lamented about Linux desktop getting worse and bloated.

The discussion seems to have shifted more towards Linux desktop getting more users because of Microsoft / Windows.

That's not how I understood "future of desktop". More users ≠ improved desktop.

Maybe I'm the one who misunderstood things

[MurphCID]

Probably 2000. But what Spamegg said as well. Linux is still too much of a "tinkerers OS" and not ready for those who just want to turn it on and have it work.

While I have done my fair share of tinkering on my journey of switching (mostly other distros)

Mint has been the closest I have come to "just workin" straight out of the box. Hats off to the devs of Mint.

Just absolutely, and one of the things that won me over was printers. Mint just finds and installs them, other Linux distros, not so much.

[MurphCID]

I used to be strictly PC because I could build them, then I got my first laptop, and I haven't built our bought another tower. I like the battery backup capabilities since our electric company sucks. Now that we live a mobile life the smaller form factor of a laptop just makes since.

I am looking at the future though. When my MSI gaming laptop dies... do I pay big money for a Linux based laptop, or just buy another NUC and mount it to the back of my 27" monitor since it will most likely do everything I need. Either way I will be running desktop until the very end. I hate trying to do things on my phone. If we ever stop traveling, then I will most like go back to a dumb phone, or go phoneless. I suspect there are others here that can relate. Fort the first part of my life there wasn't cell phones. I can easily go back to that. The main downside is there aren't payphones that you can walk to when you break down.

In contrast, my wife spends most of her time on her fruity tablet or phone.

My recommedation, perhaps not in the mainstream, but look at the System 76 units, since dollar to dollar compared to comparable Window laptops they are very very close in price, plus they are UPGRADEABLE in the ram and storage which all too many Windows laptops are not. If I was looking for something powerful, and with an Nvidia card, I would look at the Oryx Pro from System 76. https://system76.com/laptops/oryx Or even this one:
https://system76.com/laptops/pangolin

[TaterChip]

Probably 2000. But what Spamegg said as well. Linux is still too much of a "tinkerers OS" and not ready for those who just want to turn it on and have it work.

While I have done my fair share of tinkering on my journey of switching (mostly other distros)

Mint has been the closest I have come to "just workin" straight out of the box. Hats off to the devs of Mint.

Just absolutely, and one of the things that won me over was printers. Mint just finds and installs them, other Linux distros, not so much.

Yep, I was rather shocked about that coming from a Win environment.

[TaterChip]

I used to be strictly PC because I could build them, then I got my first laptop, and I haven't built our bought another tower. I like the battery backup capabilities since our electric company sucks. Now that we live a mobile life the smaller form factor of a laptop just makes since.

I am looking at the future though. When my MSI gaming laptop dies... do I pay big money for a Linux based laptop, or just buy another NUC and mount it to the back of my 27" monitor since it will most likely do everything I need. Either way I will be running desktop until the very end. I hate trying to do things on my phone. If we ever stop traveling, then I will most like go back to a dumb phone, or go phoneless. I suspect there are others here that can relate. Fort the first part of my life there wasn't cell phones. I can easily go back to that. The main downside is there aren't payphones that you can walk to when you break down.

In contrast, my wife spends most of her time on her fruity tablet or phone.

My recommedation, perhaps not in the mainstream, but look at the System 76 units, since dollar to dollar compared to comparable Window laptops they are very very close in price, plus they are UPGRADEABLE in the ram and storage which all too many Windows laptops are not. If I was looking for something powerful, and with an Nvidia card, I would look at the Oryx Pro from System 76. https://system76.com/laptops/oryx Or even this one:
https://system76.com/laptops/pangolin

The first time I looked at System 76 they seemed to be a bit pricey. I'll end up giving ThinkPinguin a try since I can also build like I want.

[wwblm]

Just absolutely, and one of the things that won me over was printers. Mint just finds and installs them, other Linux distros, not so much.

This was a big part of the change to Mint for my wife. I spent more time just trying to keep a printer functioning on her Windows machine than it took me to figure out the bios so that I could install Mint on it and then install and transfer all her stuff. The printer was a nightmare that I spent hours trying to get to work. Usually just had her print to pdf and email to me.

[MiZoG]

Linux surpass 4% for a first time worldwide on statcounter

[BG405]

I suppose fo those who follow these stats, a 100% increase in desktop Linux adoption (in whatever form) within the time I've been using it is not something to be sneezed at.

It may mean the balance is changing between the advantages or disadvantages of Linux in this regard versus those of other OSes. IMHO this is a good thing.

[mediclaser]

This question is for those of you who honestly thought Linux would be the future of desktop.
...

Linux may not be 'the' future of desktop, but it is 'my' future of desktop. I'm done with the spying and/or being force-fed what some corporation marketing types (M$ and Apple), think I want or need.

I am enjoying reading everyone's posts on this topic. It's a good post topic OP, thanks.

It is the same with me personally. There is a definite difference between "my future" and "the future" when it comes to the choice of desktop computing.

[mediclaser]

<snip>
Then for what ever reasons, Linux started getting less user-friendly. I now have to figure out missing packages and install them, or find and learn next-level config settings to make things work like they used to. Flatpak and similar bloatware are now getting pushed. Installs now tend to fail or won't start at all.
<snip>

You make it sound as if you didn't have to search for missing packages in Windows; not my situation as far as I remember, though it was a long time ago, not having used Windows for 19 years.

Windows was the OS and nothing else; you didn't get an office suite but had to pay for that. OK, it may have been part of your deal but it wasn't part of Windows.
You didn't get any good image editor such as GIMP, which inspite of being different to PS comes free and installed in many Linux systems.
And as for using a phone (or even a tablet) to write anything of length --- ugh! No thank you, not for me.

Sorry, I wasn't referring to standalone apps when I said "missing packages". It's more like when a user complains and ask... "why are the other PCs no longer visible when I go to Network after this new installation?".

It doesn't help Linux advocacy when things that used to work by default on older versions of a Linux distro suddenly requires a skill above an ordinary user to make it work on newer versions.

[spamegg]

Here's some more on the subject.
It's not limited to Linux.
Desktop has been stagnating or even regressing on Win, Mac, Linux for years.
Chasing visual fads.
Hiding or removing features / functionality in the name of "simplicity" or "sleek modern design" or whatever.
Changing things just for the sake of changing things.
Mobile design ruining the desktop.
Etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwY0FXqE8N4

[AndyMH]

The desktop is in decline, gen z do it all on their phones.

[t42]

what decline? Not when Gnome 46 is release with new breathtaking feature Location entry on click: quickly access the file location address bar by clicking on the file path area, which never ever was available before ...in the previous generation of Gnome DE https://release.gnome.org/46/

[Hoser Rob]

Probably 2000. But what Spamegg said as well. Linux is still too much of a "tinkerers OS" and not ready for those who just want to turn it on and have it work.

While I have done my fair share of tinkering on my journey of switching (mostly other distros)

Mint has been the closest I have come to "just workin" straight out of the box. Hats off to the devs of Mint.

Just absolutely, and one of the things that won me over was printers. Mint just finds and installs them, other Linux distros, not so much.

AMazing how many users think their experience is universal. Mint is no better with printers than other Linux distros. If that were true this section would be empty, wouldn't it? viewforum.php?f=51

[MurphCID]

AMazing how many users think their experience is universal. Mint is no better with printers than other Linux distros. If that were true this section would be empty, wouldn't it? viewforum.php?f=51

I have never had any Mint installation NOT find and install my printer, and in most cases completely automatically. Same with POP!_OS. Now I can see if it is an Epson Photo printer, or something odd, but I, personally, find Mint and POP!_OS a complete success with printers.

[TaterChip]

AMazing how many users think their experience is universal. Mint is no better with printers than other Linux distros. If that were true this section would be empty, wouldn't it? viewforum.php?f=51

I have never had any Mint installation NOT find and install my printer, and in most cases completely automatically. Same with POP!_OS. Now I can see if it is an Epson Photo printer, or something odd, but I, personally, find Mint and POP!_OS a complete success with printers.

I'm running an Epson Ecotank printer, and Mint didn't miss a beat. Recognized it on boot and configured my printer

[cbraxton]

I started with Sixth Edition Unix running on a DEC PDP-11 minicomputer, so for me running Linux Mint is the natural end result of a long period of working with Unix and Unix-like systems. Knowing where the bodies are buried, I minimize dealing with the "tech giants" as much as possible - no Microsoft, Google, or Apple accounts; or for that matter Android or Apple phones or tablets to be found here.

Desktop systems (including laptops) going away? Not in businesses. Not for gamers. Not for applications that need, or people who want, a decent sized screen (or multiple screens) and a real keyboard. Although the typical non-technical home user may be satisfied poking at their small phone screens there is still a significant desktop computing presence and I don't think that's going anywhere any time soon. However mass-market desktop systems are essentially being turned into fancy terminals on Microsoft's and Apple's networks. (Windows 11 is particularly obnoxious in its out-of-the-box state and I'm sure it will only get worse. It's appalling.) No doubt at some point the OS will become a "service" that you pay for in perpetuity for the privilege of using.

I think the only real shot that Linux had at gaining a toehold in the desktop space was back around 2009 when Netbooks became popular. Those small, low-power laptops ran Linux better than newer versions of Windows. Some even offered Linux pre-installed. (Microsoft kept Windows XP alive until 2014 in part to combat this threat, no matter how small, to their hegemony.)

No, Linux will never be dominant in the desktop space. We'll just have to be happy with a huge chunk of the rest of the computing world.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...I think the only real shot that Linux had at gaining a toehold in the desktop space was back around 2009 when Netbooks became popular. Those small, low-power laptops ran Linux better than newer versions of Windows. Some even offered Linux pre-installed. (Microsoft kept Windows XP alive until 2014 in part to combat this threat, no matter how small, to their hegemony.)...

I had three different netbooks of two brands and all three were garbage. They just didn't hold up for very long, being plagued with monitor wires going bad, developing keyboard bounce, permanently black screening, etc. I saw plenty of reports of others having similar problems with them so it's no wonder their popularity quickly waned.

[ajgreeny]

Yes, I've still got one using Debian Stable. It's a 32bit machine but even with that Debian version using openbox window manager rather than a full DE, it is still painfully slow and useless for any video viewing such as YouTube.
Time I scrapped it really, but it will soon become antiquated and start increasing in value; OK, maybe not!