The „Year of Linux on the desktop“ seems to be kind of a running gag. For years now, people have predicted that „this is going to be the year where Linux will win the desktop“. I (and others) think, this is not gonna happen in 2018. And I also assume that it won’t happen in 2019.
Before I start my rant about the reasons, let me state a few things. When I say „Linux„, I mean any Linux distribution out there. Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch – you name it. Also: I am a big fan of Linux myself. I’ve been using it since the days of Debian 2.something around 1998, and RedHat/Fedora has been my main desktop (and laptop) operating system for more than 15 years now. By all means I am a huge fan of the whole idea of Linus’s work and everything around it. Nevertheless, I don’t see it going anywhere further on the desktop.
Secondly, the reason for me writing about it now is the continuing dissatifaction around Apple and macOS (aka OS X). At work, I use a MacBook Pro with Retina display and I like the combination of hard- and software! But I hear many colleagues complaining about the ever-increasing price tag on the hardware. For their private hardware, quite a few are switching back to non-Apple choices. I for myself bought a Lenovo X1 Carbon instead of a MacBook Pro, only because of the price. And the experiences with Linux on this machine made me realize, why Linux is not working for the masses.
Here is an unsorted list of reasons which I think are at least part of the reason, why not even 2018 will be the year of Linux on the desktop. (mehr …)