Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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The future of Linux (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm not proposing anything here, I'm curious what you all think of the future.

What is your vision for what you want Linux to be?

I often read about wanting a smooth desktop experience like on MacOS, or having all the hardware and applications supported like Windows, or the convenience of Google products (mail, cloud storage, docs), etc.

A few years ago people were talking about convergence of phone/desktop, i.e. you plug your phone into a big screen and keyboard and it's now your desktop computer. That's one vision. ChromeOS has its "everything is in the cloud" vision. Stallman has his vision where no matter what it is, the most important part is that it's free software.

If you could decide the future of personal computing, what would it be?

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (3 children)

The “mom and dad” folk might enjoy it, but won’t know how to install or update things, simply because it’s different.

This is rapidly becoming irrelevant as the PC crowd is being reduced to professionals and hobbyists, who don't have a problem learning things. The less computer-literate users stick to phones nowadays and they're mostly content consumers on that platform so all they contribute is body count. They wouldn't bring any contribution to Linux even if they tried to use it.

I don’t think Linux will ever be in the majority

But it is being dominant on every platform where it makes sense and/or there hasn't been a concerted effort to keep it out. The PC is basically the only major holdout thanks to Microsoft and even them have adopted it to some extent.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The less computer-literate users stick to phones nowadays and they’re mostly content consumers on that platform

I think this is a bad thing

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

I mean, they'd be consumers on any device they used. Streaming/social/email/browsing that's pretty much it.

It's definitely bad for kids who aren't exposed to PCs anymore.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I wouldn't bank on professionals being technical. The desktop has tons of use in the white collar space which is full of people all over the spectrum of technical literacy, but also specialty.

[–] Synthead 2 points 8 months ago

These are great points. Ironically, most phones run Linux, too 😁