Windows 7 has been out and about for little over a week now, and as it turns out, Microsoft's new baby is doing relatively well. That is, according to the figures by NetApplications: Windows 7 already reached the 3% mark this weekend, and is already closing in on the 4% mark.
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Member since:2007-02-17
If proprietary software vendors advocate choice, why not let OEMs and retail stores install Linux, and offer it for sale without penalty in stores side-by-side on the same machines as Windows?
That way typical customers could truly choose.
Member since:2009-08-14
Member since:2009-08-26
People would rather pay $50 more for Windows to make sure that the software and hardware they buy will work with it. When you buy a Windows pc you buy compatibility.
Best Buy sells both Windows and Apple computers. There is no conspiracy that keeps Linux from being sold. The problem is that it doesn't have enough selling points as a desktop OS. It doesn't have a commercial software library and Windows isn't expensive enough to justify that loss.
As a cell phone OS though Linux works great. Linux seems to do well in areas where it is locked down and doesn't have to connect with new devices. It isn't marketed as a cell phone OS and yet it has no problem competing in that area.
Member since:2008-06-24
That choice won't matter when they go to install that piece of Windows software they bought at a retail chain on Linux. Many (most?) people don't care about their OS they just care about the programs and compatibility with those programs.
If an average user has 20 (or 10 or whatever) programs installed on their computer and switch operating systems only to find that none of them work, they will not be a happy user. There are a LOT of folks out there that just simply don't (or maybe even can't) understand why they cannot install their Mac software on a PC and vice versa. They just don't get it.
The "choice" of operating systems goes way beyond which OS is installed. Windows is the top dog on the desktop and has the largest installed base. The burden of Linux and other operating systems competing for the desktop space is to educate potential converts in how to access and use their software of choice or educate them on alternatives.
For instance, when you're looking for a piece of software for Windows you either hit a retail channel or look to an online store (usually). For Linux, your first stop is usually your package manager of choice. For the vast majority of casual computer owners I know, the Linux way of doing it is completely foreign. Once they "get it" then they fall in love (most of the time, in my experience). But getting them to think that way in the first place is a problem.
My point is that Linux (or anything non-Windows) isn't just fighting for a place to be installed, it is fighting an entire ecosystem and the modus operandi surrounding it.
Edited 2009-11-03 14:58 UTC
Member since:
2009-08-14
If GNU/Linux and open source in general advocate choice, whats wrong with people choosing windows? The generation that is in school now is (on average) less reliant on specific desktop programs and more open to change. Let people make the choice to install GNU/Linux on their own.