[TriLUG] Steam says that two percent of its users are now on Linux

Brandon Van Every bvanevery at gmail.com
Wed Mar 6 22:19:26 EST 2013


On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 9:32 PM, John Vaughters <jvaughters04 at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
> Although I have not investigated the numbers, but If you include Apple as
> Linux


Why on Earth should one do that?  Apple may have a Unix underbelly, but
it's not a Linux and never will be.


> and include all the phones, tablets, laptops, servers, pc's and embedded
> computing devices. Linux is already the largest OS out there. This is the
> trend that counts for me. It is impossible for Windows to keep up with the
> Linux Dev cycle and hours of code time.
>

I'm not buying that Kool Aid.  If you want a People's Temple with nice cold
bodies littering the floor, you could start by defining a "Linux Dev
cycle."  Preferably with a focus on a specific market like consumer
software.  My view of the Linux universe is people can't even make up their
mind who's going to do the video driver work.


> So the big question is when will the PC/laptop fall to Linux as the
> operating system of choice?
>

When it stops sucking for consumers.  Apple isn't kicking the snot out of
everyone for their inability to integrate a product design.

Maybe Canonical will become the dominant design integrator based on Linux.
They want to be Apple; Microsoft wants to be Apple.  But people are
starting to wonder if even Apple can continue to be Apple.  I don't like
the market and mindset that Apple produces, the straitjacketed consumer
Walled Garden based on wimpy devices.  So I will be a curmudgeon and stick
to more capable 3d devices, until such a time as *all* devices have amazing
3d capabilities.  Like we're looking at a holo of Princess Leia straight
from R2D2's brain.


>
> Don't hold your breath. People still love Microsoft and as much as we the
> techies know how much better linux is for it's power and software choices,


In game development???  Surely you jest.


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every



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