Analyst: It's Game Over for Linux

Linux was never going to dominate. It's free and open-source. How much you pay, that much it's worth. The biggest problem is that 98% of the programs don't work. Sure you have a replacement, but the replacement is a pile of...

I think the real issue is that its not exactly easy to do anything other than run a net box using it.
the Linux community themselves are a very aloof bunch who get on a high horse at the slightest and usually self perceived provocation from people they see as Windows chumps.
Its a pity really because there are versions out there that are really very easy to get along with.
If only the people who frequent the Linux forums would invest some time in helping people instead of moaning at them and banging on about how easy it is when the poor sod posting obviously finds it anything but.
Bottom line is that really if you are like the vast majority of users you wont ever even need to know what a command line is and the built in store will be more than adequate for whatever you might want to do.
As I said its a pity the Linux people seem to want to shove "Sudo" or whatever it is command lines down the throat of everyone that asks a simple question.

Mactronix

Lol, this guy seems pretty clueless to me, and followed by a dumbass comment by Sasastank who has probably never even tried *Linux*. 98% of programs dont work, utter BS. You get what you pay for? Some cases, yeah, other cases you can pay a lot and still end with something that doesn't work properly.
For one thing saying Linux is a very small part of Android is like saying the sea is only a very small part of the Earth. Linux is the kernel which Android is built on, without a kernel it wont do much. So Linux has succeeded in the form of Android.

@Mactronix, that can be the case, sometimes it depends on the distro. Most times I've had trouble people have been pretty helpful. There are dickheads in the various communities but that's definitely not confined to Linux.
As for having to use the command line, a lot of times typing a simple command is far easier and usually is the same across distros.

Single reason why Linux will never get a significant share of the desktop market: It's just too complicated to get running (sometimes). Even Ubuntu when things arent going quite to plan turns into a complete bastard.
Command line is simply not useable for the vast majority of PC users.

Sure there's a lot of helpful community forums out there, but for the general public they couldnt care less about that. They just want a system that runs when they press the power button every morning.

@ gregor,
Totally agree about the dicks not just being around Linux. Just my experience around various forums back when I was starting trying Ubuntu.
To be honest the best help I got was on these forums.
With the command line its just that a lot of people were advising command line installation of things that by more luck than judgement to be honest I found were available and easier to install from the software center.
Each to their own as always.

Mactronix

Who is this "analyst".

Firstly every linux is not just linux but a whole ecosystem of manny pieces. Android is exactly the same. Linux has always been just one of the components. And so, just because google decided not to use the name linux, does not make it less important in the operating system.

Android has made linux the number 1 os on mobiles not "virtually killed it" as the author here says.

in linux you can use executibles to install the programs in a gui

saying windows is easier to fix problems is like saying drowing is better than sufocating to death

there are many linux distro's some are better for users than others.

linux will never become popular till companies start releasing drivers for linux ready compiled and game developers start supporting it

a lot of linux members dualboot linux and windows. most linux users mainly use it for games because linux is easier to set up servers and dev enviroments

Now here's a suggestion to all here who make sun dried comments about linux without actually having tried it (in the last couple of years): Go tu ubuntu.com Download a Ubuntu 11.10 .iso file, burn it onto a DVD or create a bootable pen drive, and: TRY IT! Then come back and tell us your experiences.

Android is A Linux OS (!).

This "death of Linux" is so stupid. Even more stupid than the "year of Linux" on desktop predictions.

Fact is that Linux is stronger than ever. More and better free software today than a year ago. And this software is public property. There is more gpl developers than before and there are more users of gpl than before.

Linux dominates on super computers, servers, smart phones, and have a good share of tablets and netbooks. And millions are using Linux on the desktop.

"Open source never seems to be the innovator" - where has this "anal"yst come from?

Seriously, Windows 8 - copying ubuntu and gnome search!
Apple - copied the app store for mac from UBUNTU software centre
Apple also copied Ubuntu's cloud service UbuntuOne - iCloud
Android - uses linux as it's kernel - without it it won't work!

If the analyst is suggesting that linux (used as a general term for the 100's of different distributions - or Operating Systems) linux is simply one of the hundreds of components used to in the Operating system.

Without that component none of the operating systems would work, and linux has become the term to generalise the many varied operating systems that use it.

if he is referring to the operating systems that are using linux as a kernel, just like android does on a mobile, then he is not taking into account the growth that is happening in that space.

Then there are servers, that run server operating systems - red hat anyone?
There are Televisions, PVR/DVRs (tivo and similar), ATMs, yes where you get your money from, plus a myriad of in car entertainment systems, cars themselves, airplanes and the onboard enterainment systems, POS terminals should i go on....

In any case linux may not be as popular on the "Desktop" but it is everywhere else and to say it's dying is to have your head in the sand.

Even the desktop continues to grow with distribution like Ubuntu and Linux Mint to name just 2.

This analyst should really take a long look at his analysis and see if he maybe missed the mark.

In my opinion, Linux still has the potential to be something great. Yes, I think we can all agree that Linux can be complicated at times and breaks (just like Windows and Mac OSX) but I think the biggest thing that has held it back is the internal competition between versions. Not only does the poor OS have to go up against the behemoths with massive budgets but its competing with itself with the likes of Fedora, Ubuntu red hat etc. Each of these versions have so many subtle but important differences, it's impossible to keep up.
Ubuntu was (and possibly still is) Linux's best shot at a mainstream version. It looks good, is fairly simple to use and most can be accomplished with a GUI. If all the developers got behind a version like this and pushed it forward, with the number of Linux contributors out there (which I think probably vastly outnumbers programmers for other OS systems) it could be amazing.

Also just because it’s free, it doesn't mean its rubbish. I use a lot of freeware on my Windows machines because they are simple and work. Finally Linux is a stubborn old mule it’s been around for years and to write it off as a dead OS is a silly statement at best. While academic and military institutions keep using it, it will survive and maybe even attempt to kick out again into the mainstream.

I've not a big fan of Linux but that's because I could never get on with it but as a guy who works in IT, seeing Linux disappear would be a sad day. In an industry that's dominated by money, power and arrogance, Linux has been that oasis of clever ingenuity and a leader in open source development. The one thing it won’t do is go quietly.

The inability to use a command line says more about the average user, than the system.

WOW! This Mike Gualtieri obviously hasn't used ever used a modern Linux distribution, nor has he been watching what's been happening in the server market since Oracle assimilated Sun.

I say that for "ordinary people", not techie's and geeks, Fedora 16 and Ubuntu 11.10 are the most usable and intuitive OS's available, after OSX. You get all the stability and reliability of OSX (well BSD actually) without the cost or the restrictions.

Saying that "Linux is only one of many piece parts of the Android mobile operating system" is also a bit short sighted, or maybe just ill informed. "Linux" as in "the kernel" is only one small part of any Linux distribution. Android is just a fancy front end for mobile ARM devices, the same way as Gnome and KDE are fancy front ends on desktop machines.

If one of the major PC manufactures started selling well configured Fedora/Ubuntu systems to the general public, I think it would be a run away success. I appreciate that this is probably never going to happen for political reasons, but not because the software is in any way sub-standard.

So Linux has 60% of the server market, around the same amount of the mobile market through Android and, may I suggest, 100% of the market for PC's supplied with a choice of desktop OS. Linux OS distributions are supplied with a choice of GUI front-ends such as KDE, Gnome, LXDE and Unity and a wide range of applications that users can choose from. The need to use the command line is as minimal to most linux users as it is to Windows users. Most of the applications are well written, stable and frequently innovative, most are Open Source and available across other OS's such as Android, Windows and BSD (and its proprietary derivatives from Apple).
You would need to be a complete fool to suggest that the varied and open community around Linux and Open Source has ever conspired to achieve 'world domination'. The same cannot be said for others, however.
This seems to be either a 'special post' from a self-proclaimed analyst with 'needs' to match his analytical disabilities. .... or just another wind-up from an idiot that doesn't know what he's writing about.

why do people always so i don't like Linux because of you have you use the command line?

it is a lot quicker to do things on windows through command line as well, robocopy/xcopy anyone?

then there is the fact that since vista and windows 7 you need t ouse the command line even more to do things because the gui stops you from doing these things

for the average user linux is the easiest operating system to use day to day,


if all you do is surf the net, check emails and maybe a little office work then it is the easiest os to use


the reason there are many different bistros is because they are created for different user bases

for example ubuntu,puppy linux and mint are just three examples which are made to be simple for the average user


then we get ones like debian that have features like apt-get built in which allows you to install apps without having to worry about the dependancies


you cant compare windows and Linux they are two completely different operating systems and work in a different way and are made for completely different user bases

As far as surfing the net etc I wouldn't say one is easier than the other but certainly if that's all you want then there is no reason to use anything other than Ubuntu etc.
I'm building my brother just such a system at the moment, My windows rig for gaming cost me just over £400 in parts while his net box is going to come in at around £100.
Both systems are robbing parts from previous builds just to be clear on that.

"Forrester analyst Mike Gualtieri recognizes that Linux has 60 percent of the server market," That sound like DOMINATION to me! Muhahahaha.. Did you ever jailbreak an iPhone- looks like its on Distro(i know its Unix based..but you know) Android(based on Linux) Windows(hates Linux) - Where ever you look there is something about Linux. The only reason it dominate the Desktop Realm is because 90% of Desktop users are noobs, 10% are forced to use Wins and the rest are Geniuses sitting in tones of code hacking the world. What a rubbish report!

the only reason i use windows at ALL is for games

if i need to stream video/convert video

linux is the obvious choice becuase most video converters on windows use FFMPEG which is coded in LINUX

so if you convert video and things of that nature linux is better becasue you have better support