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Does Windows 8 help set the stage for mainstream Linux desktops?

I really don't care what MS does, but have you actually used any linux distro in the last few years? Ya don't like the UX, simply change it. Hell, I keep gnome as a backup for if I screw something up in KDE. And MS has yet to make a UX that competes with KDE. "Metro" reminds me of Unity for Ubuntu, nothing new there either.

users tend to want to stay with something that's very familiar to them. In that regards, you're right about pushing people to Linux, also in regards to users who use other technology not suited to the touchcentric systems like CAD users or people who create a lot of documents or writers.

However, having spent some years using Ubuntu, I was extremely happy yo switch to a variant that provided a GUI that was much more familiar, which is why I now use Zorin OS as it has GUIs to imitate Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and even a Mac OS so people can switch to Linux and still have a very familiar GUI.

From everything I see, people who get tired of Windows flock mostly to Mac. There just isn't a Linux company that has the financial means to challenge Microsoft. It's a shame too because every time I play with Linux, I wish I could leave Microsoft for good. Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat with all of our legacy apps only working on Windows. We're in the "stick with Windows 7" boat.

nt

Based on the longevity of XP systems, it's likely Windows 7 systems will still be running when Window 9 is released. Just as companies running XP sat out Vista and leapfrogged to W7, they may skip W8 in the hope that W9 will be 'better' (as defined by the user, not MS).

I hope Dell and the other OEMs are able to successfully market systems with Penguins pre-installed this time around. Unless they can, I see consumers tolerating W8 instead of taking the scary step (to them) of replacing the OS from scratch. I see them more likely to switch to Apple instead, again simply because the OS is already in place.

Our company still runs XP on most of their computers. We have 12 locations and over 2500 employees. When we get new Dells, our IT department wipes them and installs XP, even today.

is that it's going to become difficult to get XP drivers for new system hardware. You're good to go until that happens.

are doing to Win XP what Torvalds did to Unix to make Linux.

ReactOS isn't ready for a production environment yet. Now that MS is making their apps incompatible with anything before Win7, I really have doubts about the feasibility their entire project at this point. If you can't get the apps you need to run on a XP environment, well, what's the point? If you're going to disconnect from MS anyway, you might as well go with Linux.

will already have the apps they want running on XP, and thus it's right up their alley.

In August our IT department was still installing XP. We're now slowly migrating to Win7. It's been painful. Our recent upgrade from Office 03 to Office 10 was very painful as well. We now actually have a number of computers running 7, although the bulk still run XP. It's not surprising as in 04 there were still a number of computers here running 2000.

Even with Valve porting it's library over to Linux, the majority of total usage will still fall to Windows. The fps nuts and "I want to prove a point" people may switch but still, there will remain other games/software that will only run on Windows that will pull you back to that environment. The main reason they, those two companies, don't like Windows 8 is that Microsoft, in addition to maintaining it's own game studios, is now competing on the distribution front with a Store icon located on EVERY Windows 8/RT Start Screen. So, in all honesty, the Linux community can say "yay!" but really, they're the "guy on the side" that the wife used to make her husband jealous enough to make him want her again. So yes, be happy...because you're getting some attention, but just know...you're the cheap ho on the side. I primarily use Microsoft products but I do throw Linux into the mix often enough to like the platform but still, when these companies are bashing Microsoft and promoting your platform, they're not doing it because they're open source champions...they're doing it because they want to profit, compete and try to pressure their competitors. In the end, the Linux community still profits from the attention but the purists should understand the motives as the cheap ho's on the side get burned more often than not. In this case, you'll be promised attention and more than likely, eventually be let down by the lack of support that follows it. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

I look forward to the day Macs crash and burn, just like the first time. Then Linux can maybe finally make a stand.

It is pricey but try using a Mac. It just works. When you find out that the command line and most linux software are the same on the Mac as on Linux/BSD you may have different opinion.

So I am beyond saving, but traditionally Apple always crashes and burns as soon as a cheaper freely distributed version is made.

This goes back to their original desktops, to the iPod (who buys those anymore?) now the iPhone, being replaced by Android phones, and probably soon, the tablet arena. Apple always eventually loses (A tough word to justify with all the money they are making) because of their walled garden beliefs. I expect the same will happen this time as well.

I bought a brand new Macbook Air earlier this year and have spent more time troubleshooting problems with it than I have spent in 10 years trying to get Windows problems sorted.
Everything seems to have stripped down functionality, even MS Office 2011 is a pale imitation of Office 2010 for Windows.

just for Mac and approved by Apple, it does JUST work. The same can be said of of all the software and hardware made for a specific version of Windows and approved by Microsoft for that version of Windows, it does JUST work as well.

However, the issue that comes along with Windows and not Mac is that when Microsoft changes the command set the gear and software that worked with the earlier version of Windows is NOT likely to work with the new version and you need special drivers for it. Most Mac hardware and software continues to work with the newer versions of Mac.

The big issue for both is where a third party makes software, once it starts working with Mac it will continue to do so on later versions, but you can't say the same thing about Windows.

The above is why I prefer to work with Linux or Unix, once it works with it, it will continue to do so, ad infinitim. the trouble comes when you get software or hardware that's made to specific Windows standards and not the Industry Standards, then it often takes some work to get it going, about the same as what's needed to get a Win 98 item working in Win XP.

Apple products lately seem to go for a die silently approach. Forgetting that error messages are helpful for debugging.

In my case at home, Windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.04 have given me the combined push/pull to Linux. It also helps that someone gave me a free old laptop to play with. I've played around with Linux over the years but never made the commitment, now I have and I like it. I still have a Windows 7 desktop but I can see switching that over sometime in the future, especially if Steam for Linux works out well. I expect the business side to stay on Windows 7 for a long time, with no hurry to go to Windows 8 except on some tablet devices. I see these changes as a step for Linux but not quite a giant leap yet. Maybe a few more advocates will be out there so that we will all have greater choices than we do today.

There is a third option to running XP or Windows 7 till the machine dies. You replace the part that failed and keep going. For laptops this can be tricky or impossible due to the unavailability of parts. For desktops, you can keep swapping out pieces indefinitely.

Unless that part is a component on the motherboard. Then it's not so easy.

A motherboard is still just a part. A very expensive part, true. but still, just a part. You can buy the parts on line.

Really, old (or new) laptops have fewer parts than do towers. Most of the time, it is the Hard Drive that fails first, then cables that connect the motherboard to the screen.

For those old desktops that run xp it can be hard to impossible to get the old SCSI or IDE disk replacements, or RAM that still fits, or the CPU, or if the parts are still available you might have to pay an arm and a leg.

for everything from a 386 up as some of my clients still use them and I need to be able to keep them running for them.

this is a windows 8 vs new Linux distro discussion. Are you suggesting that Win 8 or a current version of Linux (with xWindows) will run on a 386? Even if it would boot why bother?
A decent netbook or desktop only costs around $300 for crying out loud.

LMAO

after it's last known user or operator has passed on.

Wasn't that a James Bond movie?

programs around written in COBOL, and it's making a comeback on PCs too.

It takes some custom work, but, YES, Linux can still run on an old 386, There is a custom library that you will have to include and compile the kernel. Modern kernels are compiled for newer processors. You might have to look up an older version of the compiler, but that is easily found online.

If you do try this, please Please PLEASE don't use a modern desktop, as it might take a half hour for the mouse cursor to move. You want a very light desktop. TWM would be a good choice.

That said, a 386 might make a good router or a dedicated server for many applications. 20 MHZ is enough speed for a surprising number of uses.

...or maybe Puppy will run.

Better yet, open 'em up and slip a Raspberry Pi inside

a case of a program that's critical to them and it won't run on any newer version of Windows and the older versions won't run on the newer hardware due to lack of Windows compatible hardware drivers, so I keep the old gear going for them as best as I can while I try to talk them into letting me set up a new system with Linux and WINE for them - some have accepted that.

All of my m$ users are frantic. From what they see on m$'s website, m$ has already quit supporting Win7. There are No Gadgets on their site and previous links to Win7 "stuff" either dead-end or "apologize" because ALL of m$ is working on Worthless8.

MacroCrap could not have done more to help Linux and shoot themselves in the foot to boot.
This is just what I "told" m$: Hire management with common sense instead of what surely must be drug induced comas.

So with all the junk software Microsoft has put out in the past some people will still accept trash. Hey fools, I have a bridge to sell you!

How have most people migrated to new versions of Windows? They've bought new machines. They haven't migrated, the manufacturers made the decision for them, and they've learned to live with it. H**l, you'd be hard pressed to find a manufacturer still offering the Win 7 to XP downgrade option. It used to be that purchase of the hardware and purchase of the software were separate transactions (MSDOS?, PCDOS?, CP/M?) Go back to that ecosystem and I'll be hopeful.

Jack missed the most obvious way to deal with not-wanting Windows 8. Get a computer that runs anything but W8 (wait) and run your legacy operating system as a Virtual Machine. I've used VMware Fusion to run my Windows tasks for years... it's actually more stable than Windows on physical hardware. There is also VirtualBox (free), VMware Workstation, Parallels, and others. VMware Workstation and Fusion allow you to migrate your physical desktops to VMs so you can leave your old legacy hardware behind.

The nice thing about this is, once Windows (XP/7) is a VM, you can keep it alive as long as you like by migrating it to new hardware as you acquire it (I just moved my W7 VMs to a new notebook). VMs are *much* easier to back up, recover, upgrade, etc. There's even support for hardware 3D accelerators so you get decent (but not outstanding) 3D game performance.

There is simply no reason to be forced into adopt W8.

If you are using an OEM version of the m$ OS, which most home users are, then migration doesn't work. Also, you forgot to mention VMware player above, which is the free version of VMware Workstation and works the same way.

When someone makes a Linux desktop comparable to Windows XP, they will win. Just make it work.

For now though Mac OS X will have a windfall.


Oh and if you want to keep using XP, just install Virtualbox on your computer. I have Windows XP running on my Mac and tell my customers to do the same if they want Windows.

There may be a small increase in end user interest in Linux as a result of the march toward the touch-enabled interface. Might even be a significant boost in terms of percentages, but a 50% "spike" in the Linux desktop still only makes for 1.5% market share.

So Linux advocates will use the % increase figures and detractors will talk raw numbers, meanwhile Linux is pretty much where it's always been. Nothing to get too excited about.

This post written on my Mandriva 2011 HP laptop... point is I'm being reasonable, not a windows fan boy.

Well, considering that Linux is at about 1.9% of the desktop now, that's not altogether accurate. The gradual rise in Linux share on the desktop, though, does not seem to be drastically affected by things like this. In recent years, it keeps growing slowly (relative to the whole market; fairly quickly relative to itself). I expect that to continue for a while. The real question is how long will it continue (i.e. what percentage will it reach before it tops out or before the next paradigm shift).

from the 4 or 5% I found in several places six months ago.

The 1.9% figure is based on web hits to a more reliably neutral site (Wikimedia/Wikipedia). It's still focused on American and European audiences according to a lot of people though. Some claim that it is 4 or 5% worldwide, but it's hard to aggregate any reliable figures for that claim. It's an estimate. It might even be closer to the truth worldwide, but Wikimedia sites provide a more reliable overall record of the progress of growth, and they show it to be pretty steady over the last few years.

fake the measuring systems into believing you're using Windows when you aren't.