Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 28th Aug 2012 20:46 UTC
"For years now, Linux has been a black sheep standing in the shadow of Apple and Microsoft. Despite having a fervent and enthusiastic following, the operating system hasn't been able to grab a sizable share of the computing market and has instead been content to subsist on the customers that come away dissatisfied with the mainstream competition. But that may be about to change. With the release of Microsoft Windows 8 on the horizon, some are saying Linux may have a great opportunity to steal a significant share of the market away from Microsoft, allowing it to finally take the helm as a major operating system service provider." This has to stop, and the only reason I'm linking to this nonsense is to make this very clear: Linux will not magically conquer the desktop or even make any significant gains because of Windows 8. People who don't like Windows 8 (Vista) will continue to use Windows 7 (Windows XP). This is getting so tiring. And does it even matter? Linux is winning big time in the mobile space, server space, and countless other spaces. The desktop is and always has been irrelevant to Linux.
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RE[4]: I dont think this will happen this time either
by lucas_maximus on Wed 29th Aug 2012 07:37
in reply to "RE[3]: I dont think this will happen this time either"
Member since:2009-08-18
Windows is miles better.
Firstly within the life time of Windows 7, a binary driver that was written in 2009 will work in 2020. Even some Windows 2000 drivers work with Windows XP.
Also While Linux may have more supported hardware devices, a lot of the support is incomplete.
A lot of people say, they should release the driver as Open Source. This is simply no possible especially with the nvidia driver because the nvidia driver replaces huge parts of X and other things such as DRI so that you can get decent 3D performance. The AMD/ATi open source drivers are miles behind in hardware support and performance, and everyone says they have been "getting there for years".
RE[5]: I dont think this will happen this time either
by shmerl on Wed 29th Aug 2012 07:57
in reply to "RE[4]: I dont think this will happen this time either"
Member since:2010-06-08
RE[5]: I dont think this will happen this time either
by Valhalla on Wed 29th Aug 2012 08:11
in reply to "RE[4]: I dont think this will happen this time either"
Member since:2006-01-24
Firstly within the life time of Windows 7, a binary driver that was written in 2009 will work in 2020.
Because the driver infrastructure won't recieve any major changes during Windows 7's lifetime, that will be reserved for Windows 'X' which will be released somewhere between now and 2020, which will require new drivers for everything.
And as the Windows drivers are proprietary binaries which only the hardware vendors can modify and recompile against the new driver infrastructure they will selectively support it with drivers for the latest and greatest, rendering lots of perfectly working hardware useless should you upgrade to the new Windows 'X'.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/16/13 9:29 UTC
The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/15/13 22:44 UTC
Almost exactly three years ago, I wrote about why OSNews was no longer OSNews: the alternative operating system scene had died, and OSNews, too, had to go with the times and move towards reporting on a new wave of operating systems - mobile, and all the repercussions that the explosion of smartphones and tablets have caused. Still, I was wondering something today: why aren't we seeing alternative operating systems on mobile?More Features »
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Member since:
2010-06-08
Well, "mostly" is not any worse than mostly on Linux. In essence - incompatibilities can happen and will happen, unless manufacturers release drivers in a timely fashion. And new hardware is more likely to have drivers updated even for Linux, rather than expecting some vendor to keep updating drivers for older hardware for a new kernel (good example - GPUs).
So I don't see how Windows is any better here. The only argument one can make if there are hardware manufacturers who release Windows only drivers. But that always can be an issue. So if you target Linux, just choose those vendors who release drivers for Linux for their new hardware and support them for new kernels long enough.
Edited 2012-08-28 23:56 UTC