Hmm, I suppose their fears were realized when Windows RT came out too.

Wait, no, that flopped like a bloody fish.

This LGR tech tales also goes into good detail on how CP/M nearly held the market, but lost it due to a minor snafu.
Didn't you know, the friendly and intuitive Android platform is a plot by Google to CONQUER EARTH.

(Which, considering most other options, I'd welcome.)

Windows 10 is malware. It's best to avoid it entirely.

Ops, sorry for that, my bad. Apologies.

Haha!

ps: yay my first polemic post, huzzaah!
Jokes aside, this is pure gold. Love to hear your opinions, dudes.
;D

Pretty much that. Last time I tried linux it was a pain to install and shortcuts didnt stay. And its the compatibilty that breaks it for most people. Whilst compat has gotten better what with the likes of GOG and WINE, its still very much lagging behind Windows.

Linux is great if you are computer savvy and like to mess around under the hood. If you just want to install an OS,sit down and use it it is not so good.
it is not that I am that crazy about WIndows...I am not...but I just think the claims of the Linux fanboys that Linux is about to take over Windows share of the PC market to be silly and ridiculous. I have been hearing that for Twenty Years, and it is no closer happening now then it was then.
It is like the Third Political parties in US politics...they always claim they are just one election away from achieving power.

It really isn't that hard. e.g. Here's how my new Ryzen install went:

- Plug in & boot from USB drive with the Linux Mint installer
- Double-click the "Install Linux Mint" icon on the desktop to start the installer & follow the instructions. I set the disk partitioning up manually because I didn't want any swap space, but the automatic option is fine for most people - just have to enter location, computer name, username and password & whether you want the system to log in automatically or not.
- Reboot into newly installed Mint
- Enable firewall (through System Settings --> Firewall) and install updates, including kernel 4.10 for proper Ryzen support (all done through the Update Manager)
- Ready to use!

Whole thing took about 10-15 minutes & was completely hassle-free. Easier and faster than any Windows install I've ever done.

Now YMMV depending on hardware support (e.g. I've heard Gigabyte AM4 boards are terrible for Linux support and Gigabyte themselves apparently don't give a shit either), but this is how things have gone for nearly every system I've installed Mint on. The only ones that have had issues were laptops with crappy Realtek wifi cards, due to Realtek's crappy wifi drivers (and it wasn't that big a deal to download & install them separately, as long as you can follow instructions).

Linux isn't "about to take over" on the PC market. Growth will inevitably be slow and for the forseeable future it's very unlikely to overtake or even come anywhere close to Windows' marketshare due to how secure Windows is in its hegemony (due to things like vendor lock-in, network effect, path dependence etc. as in the links posted earlier - which is why Microsoft can afford to basically ignore what their users want or even be actively hostile towards their users, and keep getting away with it), but as it improves and gains better support from manufacturers and developers Linux's marketshare is growing.

Already announced: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/5/2/15517120/windows-10-s-computers-hp-acer

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My question is this really locked down to the store or are journalist claiming it's locked to the store because nearly all UWP apps come from the store and that's how MS is positioning it? If it actually just locked to using UWP apps and not actually the store then that put's companies like Steam and GOG in somewhat better position. There is nothing "in theory" stopping GOG or Steam from being able to release a game as a UWP app, and MS has stated they can be installed and used outside of the store using .appx files.

The problem is only one company has done this as far as I know which was Adobe, we would need more big companies to do so to fully understand how usable this format really is as just a container than can be used separate of the store. It may be beneficial to GOG or Steam to jump in and test the waters, because why devs/users may kick and scream about UWP, MS isn't going to give up on it and this is probably just the beginning to the level their willing to go to push it.

My hunch is within a few years this will become the new "Windows Home" edition and win32 apps will only work with PRO versions and above. It's likely that non-gaming devs will at the very least convert their win32 apps to UWP for the store for the education market that this device is targeting, and when that happens it will put MS in a far better position to do something like this.

Personally I don't mind being limited to UWP, I actually like that it's more secure and sandboxed off from the OS. I also like that is cleanly uninstalls without leaving leftovers. I however, don't want to be limited to the MS store, nor do I want to give up games and stuff I have purchased from GOG. I also completely understand why people have issues with it.

EDIT: Looks like it may really be store only and not based on if the app is UWP or not. I posed this question on a Windows 10 sub, and was told even UWP apps not signed by the store won't run, so if true, that confirms it really is locked to the store.

MS claims UWP is open to all can be used by anyone even other stores but then do something like this... if they succeed it's going to get worse in the future.

What is harder in Linux for the average user?

Installing Linux on a fresh PC is much easier than installing Windows. With Linux you just download the ISO and install it (from a DVD drive or USB memory). You don't have to care about how to validate your copy of Linux, you don't have to care what "edition" you are eligible for (Home, Pro, Single Language, blaa blaa blaa, like with Windows), you don't have to fear that just because you have a Home and not a Pro version of the OS, your OS is oddly gimped like that you can't easily select and change the system language etc. etc. etc.

Businesses wouldn't use Windows if it completely cut support for non-windows store software

This is the main reason I have zero worries about all this

It's harder because it's not Windows.

The love factor of your first OS is very strong with most user and Window was practically a monopoly on personal computers for a long time.

Frankly, I only reluctantly switched from Windows to Linux circa 2009 (mostly due to my increasing reliance on open-source software and also my need to hone my devops skills on a server-like environment). I'd never go back to Window now, but it took some particular circumstances to persuade me to switch in the first place.

As most users don't do server-side development or develop with open-source software. they just don't have the incentive I had to switch.

It's kind of a shame, because over the years, I've come to the realization that Linux is the better os (both the core and the surrounding ecosystem), but most users don't operate at that level so they simply don't know. Sh*t doesn't matter if it has a fancy covering and all you see is the covering.

Also, for gamers, it's a vicious circle. Linux itself is not inherently a worst gaming platform than Windows, but because a minority of users use it, many gpu manufacturers and game developpers don't go the full distance with Linux support. This means that gamers are reluctant to switch because Windows has better support (not because Windows is better, but because game devs and gpu manufacturers make more of an effort to support it).

Anyways, the desktop is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Professionals and serious gamers (and even then, some of those are strictly console gamers) will keep owning desktops/laptops. The rest of the market will increasingly be exclusive smart phones and tablets users. As it turns out, OSX/Android dominate that market, not Windows.

In a way, Linux is in a better position in this regard as the lion's share of its usage lay elsewhere anyways. It has a big server and embedded systems market to "fall back" on, unlike Windows. With revenues from the desktop dwindling every year, it seems like Microsoft has been quite desperate lately to make inroads in those markets as well.

Talk to me in 2020.

By then you will still see the Linux PC video games market share at either 0.xx% or at 1%.

Linux just will not grow in the PC video games market share at at 5% or 10% at all.

I would say that 10% (or even 5%) by 2020 is extremely unlikely, but let's be fair, stuff can happen.

Even the tallest giants fall eventually... Microsoft has done very well over the past 20 years, but it is not eternal.

Also, some extremely popular Linux-compatible gaming hardware might pop up or some widely popular platform-agnostic GPU solution or gaming engine might span an increasing amount of games that are Linux compatible in the not so distant future.

Now, 3 years is a short time for this to happen, but 2030... maybe.

Either way, let's get one thing clear: Your computer at home might run on Windows, but the world overall depends on Linux a lot more than it depends on Windows.

If all Windows system got wiped out tomorrow, it would be a major setback for the modern world. but If all Linux systems got wiped out tomorrow, modern civilization would be on its knees.

In the grand scheme of things, Linux has a more widespread user-base than Windows where it really matters and it (or its successor) will outlive Windows.

What?

All of the Elementary schools, Jr. High schools, High schools in the United States of America run on Windows or MAC.

All of the government agencies in the United States of America run on Windows. The Pentagon ordered 4,000,000 PC's to upgrade to Windows 10.

NASA still uses Windows and on some of their PC's they use Windows XP.

Like in California at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Some of NASA's ground control operations use Windows still.

All of the 10,000+ business in my area and jobs all use Windows.

Schools in most other countries also use Windows in Easter European countries they do as well.

China is Windows XP land.

There are 1.4+ billion PC's worldwide with Windows on them.

As of September 2016 Windows 10 was installed on 400+ million PC's.