The true year of linux is not any specific year or a userbase percentage but when linux is widely preinstalled on consumer hardware without nerds needing to recommend to people to install it themselves
The steamdeck is the first step to that future
In my region (India), for a while, there seemed to be plenty of laptops available with Linux installed as an option. Then again in the last few years that seems to have withered down to almost none, sometimes even if the same model is available with Linux in some other regions. I am not sure what changed. Perhaps some deal with Microsoft. The good part is that the fact that they do support Linux elsewhere on the same laptop configuration generally means its easy to get it up and running yourself even if it does not come pre-installed.
In any case, as an old-timer, it’s very impressive to me how much hardware Linux supports nowadays without any drama at all. Not to mention all the progress made in software especially in supporting Windows-only games, which is truly magical work by the Wine / Proton teams. As far as I am concerned the “Year of Linux Desktop” is here already since I can use it daily without missing absolutely anything at all from Windows.
Steam Deck is the first taste I get of Linux. I’ve always had this fear of not being able to fully utilize a Linux OS due to my lack of skills in coding, but I find myself looking into it more ever since I got a Steam Deck. It may just be the right excuse I need to git gud in coding.
Edit: Thanks for the clarification and encouragement guys. I’m going to make it a mission to move to Linux ASAP since it feels like Windows has been really pushing the limits of privacy these days.
You don’t gotta know how to code to use Linux. Maybe some basic skills in scripting will be useful as a tool but other than that it’s more about learning how the system is laid out and where to go to do things. Just becoming familiar with doing things in a Linux environment
you don’t have to know coding to enjoy Linux! it’s got a reputation of being techie-oriented thanks to users of Arch Linux (a very techie distribution of Linux) dominating the Linux community, but there are plenty of distributions for everyday users, like Zorin OS and Elementary
The steamdeck is the first step to that future
I’m sure people said the same about android
I get that SteamOS is an actual desktop distro, and that’s closer to a daily driver than any android or bespoke *nix compatible SOC OS, but I doubt we’ll see this spread from steamdeck to daily drivers, unless…
Unless linux can offer some feature windows/mac/ios do not, or at least market itself as doing so the way that Apple does, and get the overwhelming majority of tech consumers—who want nothing more than to keep up with the joneses and see the hardware specs numbers get bigger—to FOMO into it
Unfortunately that would conflict with the most enticing features it does have that no one else does: a code of ethics that are inherently anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian. And honestly, who wants every Linux community, online or off, flooded with consumers who only care about the newest Feature™ and have no care about maintaining software freedom?
The only thing I see holding people back is software availability. If it could run adobe and games natively I don’t see why anyone would want to pay for windows.
Software is definitely at the top of the list in terms of reasons. But the UX/UI definitely leaves something to be desired. I sigh heavily every time an application asks me to edit a text-based config file instead of giving me a GUI. It’s an unnecessary, error-prone process and most importantly I have better things to do than read yet another page of documentation. That doesn’t mean I want the config file to go away, it’s still very useful for a variety of reasons. But I shouldn’t have to mess around with it just to remap keys or other common tasks. Editing a config file should be a last resort for an end user.
You see similar problems when relying on the terminal. I don’t like this idea of the end user being allowed to mess around without a safety net or some sort of guidance.
run adobe and games natively
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adobe sucks for the same reasons I alluded to in my last paragraph. Money-grubbing corporation company hurts developers by patenting, trademarking, and copyrighting every minor feature in their programs to the point where FOSS alternatives have to bend over backwards to find ways to implement some of the same functionality. The problem isn’t linux, the problem is adobe, the problem is profit-motive, the problem is capitalism.
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IDK what distro you use, but I’m using Debian, and it does run games natively–nearly half of the ones I own on steam. Not all of them, but that’s not Linux’s fault, that’s not Gnu’s fault, that’s not Debian’s fault: they already offer compatibility layers and yet that’s not good enough for everyone, and there’s not much they can do beyond that outside of building a windows clone (or at least a partial clone) that would probably get them sued. To run natively, the devs would have to compile it to run on Linux and the ones that don’t are making the choice to not do so–consciously or not, because of profits or not; it’s hard to say why, even indie devs who make free games as a hobby sometimes choose not to, so it’s not as easily dismissed with “because capitalism”
That all being said, the “software availability” criticism can cut both ways. I’ve found so many tools and utilities and apps and FOSS programs that are only made available for linux (unless one is willing to port them oneself), and there isn’t an app or program I use everyday that I haven’t found a linux-compatible alternative for. The glaring exception being games; to me that wasn’t a huge deal, I’ll bite that bullet because I’d rather go without kernel-privileged spyware for an OS–and the same for an anti-cheat engine–than play a triple-A on maximum graphics, play online multiplayers that require microsecond reaction time, or other such use cases where Proton actively hinders UX. Like I said, I’d rather have anti-authoritarian computers than worry about keeping up with the performance spec joneses
True, but Apple has already pivoted to being the “privacy-friendly” OS/devices. Whether or not that’s true–I don’t know for certain (I have a hunch, though)–they have much more visibility and influence and marketing, and therefore will cement themselves in people’s minds that way.
Besides, I like the idea of Linux existing outside the capitalist paradigm; instead of competing with the big names in the market, it’s on the outskirts playing its own game and absolutely crushing it. It has survived decades based almost entirely on word of mouth between computer nerds instead of vying for attention in the mainstream. As a technology it has achieved the platonic ideal: it is so good at what it does that it doesn’t need marketing, it survives solely on reputation and quality and user upkeep.
Some would say desktops are not really consumer hardware anymore. Unfortunately. Sent from my useless black rectangle.
https://www.amazon.com/android-laptop-computer/s?k=android+laptop+computer
1-16 of over 1,000 results for “android laptop computer”
There is something of a blurry line between the two these days.
I get the “Android software isn’t desktop software” argument, but then, I can also fire up up emacs in Termux on my Android phone, so that’s kind of blurry too.
