back to article Windows 10 grabbed about five per cent market share in August

Windows 10 looks to have grabbed about five and a half per cent of the desktop operating system market in August, its first full month of release. We're not quite giving it a firm number because the two organisations whose numbers we report each month, StatCounter and Netmarketshare, are producing some statistical oddities at …

  1. W. Anderson

    So What!

    There is always a talk about the overwhelming marketshare of Windows on the Desktop - which is in decline - as compared to Linux, but absolute silence and being dumb, deaf and confused on any topic of Windows Mobile marketshare - smartphones, tablets and notebooks when compared to the "overwhelming" dominance of Apple and Android in these mobile categories.

    Professional and productive Desktop Linux use in USA and particularly in Europe, Asia and South America is quite satisfactory since there is fortunately significantly more "inherent" security, reliability and performance in popular Linux that is proven, more than any iteration of Microsoft Windows. In fact Windows 7, 8/8x and Windows 10 have drawn several features and functions from Linux that were available in most Linux distributions for more than 10 years.

    While Windows 10 may have gained approximately 5% of the Windows desktops so far, it is very unlikely, albeit almost impossible for Microsoft to gain the 3 plus billion Windows 10 installs in 3 year period as ultimate goal. One notable reason is ban on Windows in Russia (population approx.25 million) and substantially in China - population 1.3 billion.

    Already all Windows mobile, including Surface Pro 3 sales have declines recently while Apple and especially Chinese based Android devices, FirefoxOS (Linux based) devices have substantially increased their marketshare again this summer.

    1. bobgameon

      Re: So What!

      Exactly where are you getting this info?

      Smartphones and tablets yes but if you actually think Apple and Google are beating Windows in terms of notebooks sales you are kidding yourself.

      And you are mixing data. Apple iPad sales have been declining while the surface sales have been increasing year over year and are inline to become Microsoft's next billion dollar business this year.

      As for your inherent security read this and then talk.

      http://bit.ly/1LSvEq8

      Oh and as far the ban on windows 10. The request was made by some Russian lawyers but has not been accepted yet in either Russia or China. Exactly where are you getting your news from some Linux fanboy website? .

      And the goal albeit a sad one is 1 billion devices in 3 years not 3 billion.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So What!

      <sigh> Free\Open is to Linux partisans "what teh shiny" is to FanBois...

      I'm a developer. Mostly Linux and embedded so I spend over half my time in terminal windows. That doesn't change the fact that obligatory command lines are unacceptable in a mainstream desktop environment.

      apt-get?? .....NO

      chmod?? .....NO

      sudo every 5 seconds?? HELL NO

      Android is nasty in all sorts of ways, but at least it gets this essential point. So called "Desktop" Linux distros like Ubuntu and Mint (my choice) are STILL worse than Win 3.1 in this regard. Linux will remain a geek sideline until the devs buy into the fact that opening a terminal window for anything other than once in a blue moon disaster recovery is automatic, total FAIL in the mainstream desktop space.

      1. DainB Bronze badge

        Re: So What!

        have an upvote, probably will be the only one today.

      2. Chemist

        Re: So What!

        "buy into the fact that opening a terminal window for anything other than once in a blue moon disaster"

        So don't use such a distro. Although I'm perfectly happy with the command line I use OpenSUSE so don't need to use the command line on a regular basis except where I've written CLI only programs and even then I usually wrap them up in a launchable icon form for regular use.

        All system admin/program installs/updates via GUI (Yast2/Config desktop)

      3. GrumpenKraut
        Boffin

        Re: So What!

        > sudo every 5 seconds?? HELL NO

        You could just open a root terminal.

        Plus for development work I have yet to see a single case where clicky-shiny beats the command line.

        > ...are STILL worse than Win 3.1

        If Windows is what you prefer, just use Windows. Linux will (hopefully) never be the "better Windows", although some (muppets) are trying to achieve this.

        1. Lysenko

          Re: So What!

          Re-read. *I* use Mint, Yocto, Arch and OpenWrt all the time. I have no problem at all with a root shell or the make I'm running right now with about 25 command line switches. This isn't about me - it is about mainstream desktop users and they don't build kernels and rootfs images from source every few days.

          If I ran Ubuntu I would knock up an internal build with no accessible command line capability at all and make the devs I employed use it. Any time they ran into a wall - write a GUI solution - rinse, repeat and a year later they might just reach WinNT4 standards.

          1. GrumpenKraut

            Re: So What!

            As far as I am concerned there are two ways to use Linux (or about any Unix based system).

            The developer will usually use the command line a lot. True for me, I do not have ever used any kind of "desktop".

            The non-technical user has a choice between various desktops and should really find one that does what is wanted.

            I seem to be unable to follow the last sentence of your message. At least the apparent statement that Linux needs a ton of newly written GUI programs to reach the level of some old version of Windows sounds dubious to me.

            1. Ragarath

              Re: So What!

              This is why Linux is not much more widely used. Sort yourselves out. The in-bickering between the distros and the users like this sets it back time and again.

              I don't think the fragmentation is the biggest issue, I think it is the attitude of the users as that is what others see posted all over the Internet.

              Most of the time it just sounds like the old playground taunts, "My Dad is better than your Dad!"

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            rinse, repeat and a year later they might just reach WinNT4 standards.

            Seems like a racing certainty before Windows 7 goes to meet the "great residual legacy" in the sky

      4. Michael Habel

        Re: So What!

        Really your supposedly using Mint, of all Distros... And decide (of all things), to b!tch about "apt-get"?! Really?! OH WOW.jpg

        Apparently someone must have forgotten to tell you about the Synaptic Package Manager (i.e. App Store), or the Update Manager (Lower Right Task Bar - Shield looking thing with the Checkmark), that governs all the System Updates Then....

        Neither need the you (The User), to ever touch the CLI. So your arguments can, and should be discounted!

        1. Richard 22
          Thumb Up

          Re: So What!

          > Neither need the you (The User), to ever touch the CLI. So your arguments can, and should be discounted!

          Well said that man. Desktop linux no longer requires the normal everyday user to touch the command line (and hasn't for years). Mint is perfectly usable by a normal user without ever requiring a terminal (my wife uses Mint daily in this manner - she wouldn't know where to start at the command line).

          I'm a developer, and perfectly at home at the command line - I still prefer to use GUI tools most of the time for the cases mentioned above (apt-get? no, synaptic unless I know the exact name of the thing I want to install, chmod through the permissions tab in the file manager etc). Everyday actions shouldn't require sudo - and even if you're doing something which requires you to use sudo every 5 seconds, so what? Only the first one will require a password. GUI tools which require a password will pop up a password entry dialog - Windows does precisely the same thing for things which alter system files.

          Most instructions you find on the web for installation will give the command line to type, which can be intimidating for new users, but it is the only thing guaranteed to work on all distributions. However, most distributions also include some kind of "Software Center" for graphical discovery of new software to install.

        2. Lysenko

          Re: So What!

          I know about package managers thanks. I'm setting some stuff up right now for a guy you might call a "power user" in Windows terms since he can program a bit in Delphi. So, what do we find setting up Lazarus for him with Synaptic? Version 0.9 something!! Current version is 1.4x. So, download the deb from project website. Install. Doesn't work. No error from the GUI shell, just "nothing". Stop.

          Fire up a terminal (FAIL!), execute from command line, bunch of viciously user hostile error messages, conclude we have some lib problems, apt-get, part success, part fail, scratch head, aptitude the fails, it works (wat??), try again, more extreme hostility from the command line, get frustrated, apt-get subversion (I'm already in a terminal so why back out), wget FPC V2.6.4, clone FPC V3.1.1 source from svn repository, recompile the compiler, pull Lazarus source, recompile entire IDE, RTL etc. in situ. It works.

          Windows: Download current Delphi service pack release. Double click setup.exe. Make tea. It works.

          1. Chemist

            Re: So What!

            I've just updated Lazarus from 1.0.10 to 1.4.2

            OpenSUSE software center website (http://software.opensuse.org)

            Search for Lazarus, choose distro, 13.1 in this case, - choose 1.4.2 and press 1-click install. A few clicks and root password and it's done ( after a modest download time - it's quite big)

            Note : The root password is for the local client GUI installer not the website

            I'm sure you know the pitfalls of blindly installing software outside of the distro environment. Most people should be very conservative.

          2. keithpeter Silver badge
            Coat

            Re: So What!

            @Lysenko

            Debian Jessie has Lazarus 1.4x and the associated free pascal stuff. Yes, you might have to install some -dev libraries to make sure you get the headers for all the free pascal unit files (I used apt-get install fp-units-*), but then this is a spohisticated programming environment you are installing, not a skinnable music player.

            Slackware 14.1 allows compiling random stuff from upstream source because of its *lack* of dependency resolution in the apt-get style (although you can bring that in if you want of course). Slackware is forgiving, my workaday frankenslack has all kinds of slackbuilds built on different versions &C which you are not supposed to do. It works.

            Using a distribution with tight dependency resolution in which libraries are version matched and then trying to compile some fairly hairbally application with a lot of requirements from upstream source is going to lead to some hassle.

            Now I'm going because this is a Windows thread basically...

      5. Maventi

        Re: So What!

        "Linux will remain a geek sideline until the devs buy into the fact that opening a terminal window for anything other than once in a blue moon disaster recovery is automatic, total FAIL in the mainstream desktop space."

        But getting folks to use the Registry editor is acceptable by comparison? And the terminal is acceptable for doing mandatory tasks like disabling telemetry features?

        Don't get me wrong; you raise a somewhat valid point. But the difference isn't all that wide. As a sysadmin who deals with both platforms daily, I see regular Joes (i.e. don't even know what a terminal is) use Linux desktops every day without or any issue, while it's not uncommon to need regedit.exe or cmd.exe to get by on a Windows box.

        It does somewhat depend on the Linux distro in question of course, but most of the more popular ones are pretty darn good nowadays.

      6. Avatar of They
        FAIL

        Re: So What!

        Used Linux for years, since 2008. But never have to use terminal unless I am trying to meddle.

        However you are right in the devs need to get on board. Only real problem with Linux has been drivers and web focus which need adobe, which is down to the fact it is a complete ball ache to update. So web browsing does for Linux because adobe and java suck at it for most users (heck I struggle to get rapid updates of flash as it never quite seems to work first time out the box.)

        Still windows 10 getting 5%, not hard really in a six month window of malware ramming it down our throats and then the supposed "FREE" update so they can data mine.

        Any stupid fool would think FREE is a good thing and then just click next next next.

        And consider 5 million of them were the alleged fanbois that "market research" told MS in the first place that data mining and METRO was a good thing. So do they count as genuine home user upgrades? I don't think so.

        And how many of them are IT staff the world over using TechNet and MSDN (or whatever) to get some VM's up and running to test if this is actually better than Windows 8, so their upgrade cycle can finally spark into action and get in new kit, now that 8 is finally dead and buried.

        Pinch of salt to the numbers and use them as an indication.

        1. JP19

          Re: So What!

          "Only real problem with Linux"

          Oh FFS the real problem with Linux is the Windows applications it can't run. The people who don't care what OS runs their internet browser and 'office' now and then are the ones that never needed a PC and have or will make do with phones and tablets.

      7. TCook1943

        Re: So What!

        While you have my personal admiration for your support? and work as a Linux developer? you might have picked up that while Debian and its multifarous forks are doing well as distributions for the masses RPM based distro's like Red Hat and Suse are masters when it comes to commercial usage.

    3. Roger Mew

      10 not ready for the masses.

      Windows, Microsoft has to really do some work on 10. Currently it is only for geeks which I guess I am to an extent. NONE of my family and extended family could have sorted the problems I have had, none serious, but without another computer, a sense of using a computer, and some diagnostic skills then my machine would now be dead in the water at least half a dozen times. 8.1 was bad but this is horrendous. We have a machine running Vista and since the day I set it up and built it it has run without problems, Nothing at all apart from the cat destroying a DVD slot whilst using it a a step onto my lap as the drawer came out!

      Dont get me wrong 10 is good, BUT it needs really sorting and no way would I suggest it is for the masses.

  2. a_yank_lurker

    Probably Misleading

    While the nominal market share is probably about right. there are probably three issues that make it misleading. First W10 was a "free" upgrade for many so the initial surge is likely to be higher with quicker tailing off. The initial surge is almost entirely MS users so MS is cannibalizing there own user base with only potential profits. Many have reported problems with the installs and have reported reverting back to W7/8/8.1. Thus there is some churning of the numbers. The industrial scale spying may force companies to carefully review their options in about 3 years. Many industries have rather strict data protection requirements that make W10 problematic. The initial surge is interesting but how long will it play out and will enterprise move to W10 are real questions.

    1. DainB Bronze badge

      Re: Probably Misleading

      "Many industries have rather strict data protection requirements that make W10 problematic. The initial surge is interesting but how long will it play out and will enterprise move to W10 are real questions."

      Seriously ? You deal with it by simply blocking all telemetry on firewall and managing your own updates. Always been like that, what exactly changed ?

      1. Michael Habel

        Re: Probably Misleading

        Seriously ? You deal with it by simply blocking all telemetry on firewall and managing your own updates. Always been like that, what exactly changed ?

        In the case of Win10 the ability to control updates for a start. Every Update MicroSoft throws your way become an experiment to see what sticks. While sucking down your Data. Those fortunate enough to remain on 7 or 8.x receive a free Game of Whack (the Spyware), Mole. Apparently now at the whims of Redmond, since Patch Tuesday really does seem to be well and truly gone now.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Thumb Down

          Re: Probably Misleading

          The point being addressed was this sentence: "Many industries have rather strict data protection requirements that make W10 problematic." Industries and businesses have control over their update streams, pick a branch, and even this Windows CLI averse admin (give me Unix any day, puhlease) has a couple of scripts to turn off everything until that business gets a hold on themselves.It doesn't even rise to the level of nuclear engineering and I can do that in my sleep. And have.

        2. bobgameon

          Re: Probably Misleading

          You're projecting consumer problems on the enterprise. The enterprise version of windows 10 comes with the option of disabling automatic updates. As far updates go they work the same way in windows 10 enterprise as they did in windows 7 enterprise. And as it is these telemetry are already blocked at firewall level in most if not all enterprise scenarios so it isn't a problem for them.

          1. Michael Habel

            Re: Probably Misleading

            You're projecting consumer problems on the enterprise. The enterprise version of windows 10 comes with the option of disabling automatic updates. As far updates go they work the same way in windows 10 enterprise as they did in windows 7 enterprise. And as it is these telemetry are already blocked at firewall level in most if not all enterprise scenarios so it isn't a problem for them.

            While (On the face of it), you're correct One has to think that those who'll eventually make the calls on such things will care to tale notice of it. Fact is MicroSoft have already played their hand on the respect of other Peoples privacy. Just because we know what these Updates are, and still enjoy some control over these (Windows 7 & 8.x), doesn't mean its always going to be like that. Sure Enterprise might get the less sh--y end of the stick. But, it doesn't mean that I'd still want it.

          2. Kiwi

            Re: Probably Misleading

            You're projecting consumer problems on the enterprise. The enterprise version of windows 10 comes with the option of disabling automatic updates. As far updates go they work the same way in windows 10 enterprise as they did in windows 7 enterprise. And as it is these telemetry are already blocked at firewall level in most if not all enterprise scenarios so it isn't a problem for them.

            Don't forget that, at least as far as "security updates" are concerned, Enterprise users will only be able to block them for a few months, after which they either install the missing update or don't get any more updates (according to my recollection of a recent Reg article).

            That and very few business will be running the enterprise versions. Very few. Most will probably run home editions. Even those who do run Enterprise will have home users or contractors and so on who have non-enterprise versions of Windows, so will still face exposure to these MS-induced risks

            1. bobgameon

              Re: Probably Misleading

              If they are using the home version of windows for enterprise purposes then it's there fault not Microsoft's if there systems get screwed up by updates.

              1. Richard Plinston

                Re: Probably Misleading

                > it's there fault not Microsoft's if there systems get screwed up by updates.

                Presumably, you apply this logic to all computer users. If Microsoft screw up your computer then it is your own fault - for using Windows!!

  3. Gray
    Holmes

    And in the long run?

    These Win10 'market' stats seem pointless. So XP loses a bit more, Win7 remains fixed, and Win8/8x gets nudged aside with a coerced free upgrade insertion. What's the sum total, then? About the same? Or an overall slow decline?

    It will be far more interesting to focus on the inability of Windows to compete as a trusted, innovative product, becoming instead mired in a La Brea Tar Pit of awkward irrelevance.

    * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Brea_Tar_Pits

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    Linux is on the up!

    Projecting forward the growth rate, Linux will soon advance from statistical noise to rounding error, then onwards to the next target of irrelevance.

  5. DainB Bronze badge

    Linux on Desktop ? Let me see...

    nope, nothing changed in last ~20 years, still good enough to run browser but that's about it.

    1. Chemist

      Re: Linux on Desktop ? Let me see...

      " nothing changed in last ~20 years, still good enough to run browser but that's about it."

      I see you are someone who knows nothing about it.

      1. DainB Bronze badge

        Re: Linux on Desktop ? Let me see...

        Of course I don't, since when posting on Register required any knowledge ?

        1. Chemist

          Re: Linux on Desktop ? Let me see...

          "Of course I don't, since when posting on Register required any knowledge ?"

          It doesn't but ignorance shines through every time

          1. DainB Bronze badge

            Re: Linux on Desktop ? Let me see...

            Yep, does not require any what-so-ever.

      2. BobChip
        Boffin

        Re: Linux on Desktop ? Let me see...

        Nice one, Chemist!

        Linux is plenty powerful enough to run a heavyweight desktop, and is often much faster than Win 7 - 8 - 10 etc.. It (Mint, in my case) is vastly easier to keep up to date and maintain - certainly when compared to the agonising Windoze update process. Being open source, it is also free from all the (government - dare I say that?) spyware that is foisted onto you with Win 10, and is apparently now to be retrospectively loaded onto Win 7 and 8 machines as well.

        My absolutely ungeek wife and family all use Linux desktops, for some pretty demanding academic and community based projects, - and all the usual stuff as well - without even thinking to ask what OS they are using. And they certainly don't know what Terminal is for. Way back when, I certainly made much more use of Command Line in Windows than I have ever had to use Terminal in Linux.

        In passing, I set up a Win 10 system on an old pc, just out of curiosity. I was horrified to discover that, having turned most everything off and gone for maximum security, more or less the first MS "security" update I got reset half the settings back to "spy by default".

        Linux desktop? Damn sight better than a Microsoft one!

  6. DainB Bronze badge

    It's actually totally pointless

    How many of those Win 7 installation are corporate SOEs which won't be upgraded for at least few years if ever. I'd say majority.

  7. kryptylomese

    Redhat's revenue has increased significantly. Their business model is not based on sales of an operating system, but instead on support (which is excellent by the way). Companies are using Redhat. Now you Windows desktop people can argue all you want about Windows 10 but businesses are speaking with their wallets.

    1. DainB Bronze badge

      "Companies are using Redhat."

      Yep, on headless servers. Exactly where it belongs.

      1. kryptylomese

        Yes, keep it away from you DainB as you clearly fear it!

        Linux is not just used for the back end stuff. Google run Gubuntu and lots of other companies and Governments have switched:-

        http://www.techrepublic.com/article/five-big-names-that-use-linux-on-the-desktop/

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_adopters

        1. DainB Bronze badge

          "Linux is not just used for the back end stuff. Google run Gubuntu and lots of other companies and Governments have switched:-"

          That's it ?

          Let's start from first one - "In a presentation at the LISA ’13 conference earlier this month, Google explained that it’s managing a fleet of over 43,000 Macs its employees use, without much help from Apple."

          Enough said.

          And phleease, get yourself educated on what it means to run corporate desktop and which tools you need for that.

        2. DainB Bronze badge

          "Yes, keep it away from you DainB as you clearly fear it!"

          And in case you did not get it yet - I'm maintaing infrastructure of around 100K Linux OS instances for living and have experience with pretty much every UNIX/Linux OS released in last 20 years.

          But I refuse to waste my time using Linux desktop, simply because it's poorly designed (? not sure about it) crap which does not offer any value over Windows 7 whatsoever.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            "But I refuse to waste my time using Linux desktop, simply because it's poorly designed "

            What Linux desktop - there are lots - you make it sound like there is just the one

        3. Andy Nugent

          The fact there's a list of desktop Linux adopters says it all really.

    2. Michael Habel

      Yes but, on the whole those "Bussness - Enterprise" People only use Linux for the back of the house stuff that only the BOFH, and the PFY ever ger up close, and personal with. I doubt the Beancounters on Floor 68 actually care about the state of the Backend... As long as it works, is mostly reliable to be secure! and is on the whole cheap. That's all Linux & BSD turf....

  8. GrumpenKraut

    O/S stats, another source

    OS Statistics at w3schools.com.

    Especially the trends are interesting.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Re: O/S stats, another source

      Actually looks like real use but do remember there's a self-selection bias (i.e. the collect stats of people visiting W3Schools). Waiting for August's data.

      Thank you!

      1. GrumpenKraut

        Re: O/S stats, another source

        I certainly take all stats with a ton of salt. Just wanted to mention one that looks very consistent over time and the web site does not have any apparent interest in biased results. My feeling is that the sites often cited in the news are more likely to have an interest in same bias. For a good article one should try to cite a couple of sources but I have never seen that happen.

        Hopefully the Reg will do this some day. <-----= beep, beep, beep!

    2. Michael Habel

      Re: O/S stats, another source

      Why does *NT get its own counter? I thought XP / Vista / 7 / 8, and the non-existent 10 WERE ALL *NT?!

      1. GrumpenKraut
        Pint

        Re: O/S stats, another source

        Indeed, the way systems are lumped together has to be considered very critically. So far I am not happy in this regard with any of the stats I have seen.

        Beer, because I am off to the country, a good day to you all.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Big Blue Two

    Personally, 2015 has become the Year of Linux and Microsoft is just another desktop window.

    If history repeats itself then Windows will be relegated to a Virtual Machine [or Remote Desktop] window on the desktop just as the 3270 terminal was relegated to a Terminal Emulation window on the desktop [until it became obsolete in that business environment].

    1. DainB Bronze badge

      Re: Big Blue Two

      "Personally, 2015 has become the Year of Linux and Microsoft is just another desktop window."

      Too late to be nominated for joke of the year.

      p.s. someone really thinks that ? seriously ?

      1. Stuart 22

        Re: Big Blue Two

        No joke. 2006 was my Personal Year of Linux. I still run Windows (2K as a VM) which imho was the nicest smoothest and still the fastest yet compact iteration.

        Linux just suits me (a bit of a geek) and my wife (beyond ungeekiness) a whole lot better - if Windows 10 or whatever suits you better then fine, I have no problem. Not even with AppleOS. Its just those FreeBSD evangelists that need be shot on sight ;-)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        p.s. someone really thinks that ? seriously ?

        Actions speak louder than words [in my world] and I have transitioned to Linux in the last couple of weeks.

        2016 looks like it will be the year when Android dominates the marketplace.

        http://gs.statcounter.com/#all-os-ww-monthly-201408-201508

        It looks like the writing has been on the wall for a long time when it comes to Windows.

        If Microsoft continues to transition Windows 10 into a free [and failing] consumer product which alienates its user base then I suspect others will also migrate to Linux [but I could be wrong].

        Just my personal view and just my personal choice.

        Time will tell - but I think we live in interesting times.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I suspect others will also migrate to Linux

          My guess is Android. Most users don't need the capabilities of a full linux or windows install.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            My guess is Android.

            Looks like a good guess.

  10. Stuart 22

    These figures don't show CHOICE. If the EU & US governments had the balls to uncouple monopoly behaviour and require manufacturers to unbundle operating systems I predict 2016 would be the beginning of the Decade of Linux. But then using these stats to suggest one is better than the other is big willy thinking. Women know better. Well the ones I know!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Question

    How many of those are hookey W7 conversions ?

    It's actually quite easy to do and get a pukka copy of w10 so I suspect that is a big driver.

    1. TCook1943

      Re: Question

      A more interesting stat might be the ratio of retention of pukka Win 10 over hookey W7.

      FYI my Windows system is a "hookey" W7 as I retreated from W10 after 48 hours of "Fun"

  12. GitMeMyShootinIrons
    Joke

    My OS is better than your OS...

    Well, you're all wrong. I'll keep running on OS/2...

  13. future research

    Is Linux on the desktop important?

    Those who think yes are making the same mistake Microsoft where making years ago when Windows 7 came out.

    Over time the desktop is becoming more of a niche product and the OS the client device runs is becoming less important, as there is real competition in the client device market at the moment.

    GNU/Linux is now the basic main player, and other OSs have to offer a compelling reason to be used instead. Which Windows and OSX do on the desktop etc...

  14. Adair Silver badge

    Long may Linux remain...

    a niche activity. that is really where it excels (when it's not being a server). I reckon we really don't want Linux/BSDs, etc. to become mainstream, certainly not in the way Windows is, and certainly not in any kind of monopolistic way. We need OS's that are a bit hairy and awkward, but hugely adaptable and open to innovation and customisation. These are always going to be marginal use cases, compared to the locked down appliance type needs of the vast majority of users.

    But if that marginal use case also acts as an irritant and reminder that other ways are possible, and that 'freedom' is worth fighting for and upholding, then all the OSs that represent that will be doing a truly worthwhile job, whatever their 'market share' may be.

  15. Naselus

    Meh

    These O/S stats articles really just exist so that Linux users can repeatedly explain why all distros combined being stuck on about 5% desktop market share for 15 years is hugely successful, and why Windows is doomed because each iteration only blows past 5% market share in the space of a month.

    We do this every god damn month, guys. Give it a rest. It's ont that there's umpteen billion linux desktops out there which refuse to allow statcounters to see them. After all, there's a lot of web servers now running various flavours of linux, and yet we have pretty accurate stats for those. It's not that next year there's going to be a sudden massive explosion of people throwing off the shackles of Microsoftian oppression, either - because that keeps on not happening too. Just stop kidding yourselves. Linux is a good OS - I use it on any device where I really need control over it - but it's never going to crack the mainstream any further than it already has.

  16. Lars Silver badge
    Linux

    Linux on the desktop

    I must admit it makes me smile a bit. But I would also like to point out that that sentence was not invented by the inside Linux people any more than the "fruity company" by the fruity company, funny "reporters" are responsible for fun like that.

    I am a Linux user since 98 or 97 and also a user of MS since they where Micro-Soft or was it Micro Soft like also a Apple Computer User. I have also used cars of different brands, whisky, girls, you name it.

    Still I do wonder about those percentages. What are they based on. First of all, if you claim say 10% then you have to reveal what the hell that 100% is in numbers. So what is that number, the amount of computers since Adam and Eve, or during the last year or ten years minus the land fill computers or what. Then, even worse, they claim they know something even to a decimal. Complete rubbish. I have no problems with the obvious fact that Windows rules the desktop and Apple is second and Linux is third. But if they want to show percentages with decimal points then just fuck off.

    Those numbers are based on what MS and Apple claim they have delivered/sold to their chains. Who the hell sells/delivers Linux desktops. I haven't bought even one, all ex Windows.

    That does not matter, I am a Linux desktop user all the same.

    To my surprise nobody here claimed you have to compile Linux all the time. I actually did once in 98 I think, not that I had to, I just wanted to compare to all the day by day compiling I did. The compiler I loved the most was the one that did not exist when using pure machine code.

    Still I must admit that compiling Linux had features I had never seen before. So how is it that you never find Windows users ever complaining about having to compile Windows.

    This comment is too long by now, so lets leave the shell, I am sure the Windows developers will all claim the supershell is a pain in the arse and completely worthless, a *nix virus.

    A "modern" Linux distro will not force anybody to use the shell. But I am not unaware of the agony a *nix system tends to inflict on Windows people, like cp for COPY.

    Some get over it, some will not.

    There was a time when the future of Linux was a topic, will it succeed, will i become an embedded only and so forth. In a way I give Bill Gates credit for being the first person to understand that Linux was a real contender, but unfortunately all he was able to come up with was FUD. I also give Jobs a lot of credit, for many reasons, also for going for *nix and also for trying to employ Linus. But most of all I give Linus credit for not accepting.

    There was a time, but time passes, and to day the topic is rather about the possible future of MS than Linux. MS will stay alive but will have to change and compete. Linux, open standards and open source are hard to beat.

    1. Richard Plinston

      Re: Linux on the desktop

      > Still I do wonder about those percentages. What are they based on.

      According to the article these particular figures use "StatCounter and Netmarketshare". You can go to those websites to undersatnd what the numbers count. They gather statics from web site accesses. In particular certain web sites (self selected) put some Javascript into [some of] their web pages (also self-selected) and when this script runs it (not the web site) sends data to statcounter for accumulating. Many users are self-unselected by not running Javascript (eg NoScript), or by blocking tracking sites (eg Ghostery, RequestPolicy) and so, for example, my Linux machines will never show up even if I went to sites that used these trackers (theRegister does not it seems).

      It is likely that these sites may be useful to show Windows migrations because individuals will follow the same actions when they move from one version to another. It is unlikely to be a useful comparison between different operating systems because they will likely visit different sites and will use different software and may have a different view on privacy (such as being aware of it).

      Also this is the desktop statistics only. The 'all' statistics show that Android will soon grab the top spot from Windows 7, both being around 30% of all.

  17. Kiwi

    I thought I'd do something odd and read all the comments before posting. And I see Richard Plinston

    did kind of beat me to the point I was going to make.

    None of my machines show up in those stats, simply because I use Adblock/No Script et al to block the trackers. Home and work machines consist of 7 purely Linux machines, 1 dual boot (7/Mint), and one bastard (XP/7/Ubuntu 10/Mint/something I can't remember right now), but all of them are blocked.

    I suspect that a large % of *nix users (probably excluding Apple and Android) would be inclined to install blockers and would tend to be those more likely to, simply by being more technically minded than most Windows users. Even for those I've installed it on, while I may not install No Script (too many find it hard to use and set it to allow everything) I do install other tools that make sure the trackers are blocked.

    I am not claiming or expecting that there's a double-digit "error" there because of this, but I would expect the numbers could be statistically significant. Sadly even I find real-world Linux installs hard to gauge as they just don't break like Windows does.

  18. Defiant

    Binux

    "Unless this really is the year of the Linux desktop"

    Yes keep dreaming

  19. riki

    I don't believe anything Microsoft tell us, load of rubbish. Linux Mint is the way to go, free and hassle-free operating system. A joy to use.

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