Market research has led even the largest OEMs to pre-loading GNU/Linux distributions (because that's what a growing number of people wanted)

THIS MORNING my wife told me that news had become overfilled with reports about laptops with GNU/Linux, pre-loaded even (and suitably configured for users; they don't need to tinker). She asserted it had become too hard to keep track of things, as there are so many brands to choose from now, both large and small (bigger ones being Dell, Lenovo and so on). This is a sign of an economy in decline and people working from home, not having Microsoft and Windows imposed on them by some boss or IT department. They used to call it "BYOD", now it's just "remote work". My wife and I both use Debian ("Buster") and are reasonably happy with its KDE integration. We both installed about 7 desktop environments on it, but KDE is good enough for everything.

"Microsoft is laying off loads of workers, with a thousand more announced yesterday, while GNU/Linux makes big gains."The past week has been the busiest week ever for Tux Machines, which she runs. It had the most traffic ever. Many of the stories these days aren't about how to install GNU/Linux but where to buy a "PC" (usually laptop) with GNU/Linux on it. We're not even counting Chromebooks, which are essentially GNU/Linux-powered (but don't offer software freedom).

Times are changing. Microsoft is laying off loads of workers, with a thousand more announced yesterday, while GNU/Linux makes big gains. Those gains are measurable even without spyware. The longer this downturn lasts, the stronger GNU/Linux will become. People no longer want to waste money on Windows. Some cannot even afford it. ⬆