Bonum Certa Men Certa

It's Not About Linux on the 'Desktop'

Red chair



Summary: As more desks are being emptied or vacated owing to portability, it is portable devices that GNU/Linux needs to target; software patents are Apple's and Microsoft's only viable response

PHONES (featurephones or smartphones) are a growth area which is further complemented by mobile devices like tablets. This comes at the expense of the so-called 'desktop' to a certain extent. Microsoft knows this and even admits this sometimes. Vista 7 is not suitable for such devices and Microsoft is unable to make Vista Phony 7 [sic] stick (the company needs it for form factors like tablets). In such a situation Microsoft can just give up, acquire a winning team, or try again to leapfrog the competition with a new product. But instead, Microsoft is extorting for products it does not make to pay up, in order to serve as a sort of corporate welfare. A mobile technology news site says in the headline that "Microsoft sees revenue potential in smartphone-related patents" and this claim sometimes comes from Microsoft's own mouth. Rupert Murdoch's AllThingsD has another opinion: "Microsoft's top lawyer, Brad Smith, said the company's road to success in mobile isn't based solely on its Windows Phone 7 operating system. According to AllThingsD, Smith said the company also believes it can make money from its vast pool of smartphone-related patents. However, he conceded that the money Microsoft could make per phone from patents isn't as much as it could get via sales of phones running Microsoft software."



According to news that we pinned down yesterday, most the phones sold in China are now running Linux (Android) and despite its loyalty to client like Microsoft, the Gartner Group acknowledges that Microsoft's bread and butter gradually recede [1, 2, 3]. "Tablets putting a drag on PC sales" is one way of putting it and clearly enough Gartner is trying to bury its false predictions (there are many):



A few hours ago we showed that Apple -- like Microsoft -- resorted to using software patents against mobile Linux, which is self explanatory.



The latter post from Ryan Cartwright is as optimistic as it ought to be. Linux is in many ways winning, but it is not known as "Linux". Just as "Linux" stole GNU's thunder, brand names like Android and Ubuntu are now stealing Linux' thunder. Articles by Joab Jackson and others make it clear that Microsoft is now focused on patents, not products.

The software giant filed a patent yesterday, in which it proposes to deploy a layer of shape-memory plastic that would change the surface of the screen when hit with different wavelengths of ultraviolet light.


Microsoft wishes to become a so-called "licensing company" (euphemism for patent taxation centre) because it cannot grow past the desktop, which seems like a shrinking market. GNU/Linux need not aspire to take over the desktop if the desktop itself (as we know it today) is quickly changing with advances in nano-technology.

Paul Grim explained a month ago "Why Apple can’t beat Android" either:

For the better part of 20 years, Mac lovers fumed in frustration as Apple languished in sub-5% PC market share territory. Wintel dominated. Big, ugly, buggy, clunky, and everywhere. It seemed as if graphic designers were the only people stubbornly refusing to admit defeat and join the rest of the planet in using Windows.


Gerard Braad, an amicable mobile Linux developer who was recently elected for Fedora leadership, says that "Oracle and #TheSteve [Job] couldn't keep the promise yet, but Henri Gomez made [...] #OpenJDK on #OSX http://blog.hgomez.net/?p=670"

On the desktop too GNU/Linux is said to have greater market share than Apple's (see Ballmer's slide below). The world is bigger than the United States, but last week a lot of Web sites were referencing the bunk from Net Applications.

Ballmer's slide on Macs and GNU/Linuxf

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Video] Leaving Microsoft Behind for the Sake of National Security
Threats to "National Security" aren't some users with an Android phone but Microsoft at the root of things
World Press Freedom Day: WIPO censors Debian suicide cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 07/05/2024: Pulitzer for Supreme Court Expose, New Threats to Media Reported
Links for the day
 
Microsoft Layoffs and Closures Now Reported in Africa
Microsoft Uninstalls Nigeria as it closes African Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos
Links 08/05/2024: Android Malware and "AI" Hype
Links for the day
[Meme] Technical Committee With People Who Are Not Technical
the computing/computer industry being occupied by people who lack suitable background
The Demise of Computer Science Education
Education is essential for the future; without it, whole nations will perish
[Video] Prisons for the Minds and for Tech Workers
Today's video talks about what happens to workforces (across disciplines) in recent years
[Meme] Struggling to Leave Its Nazi Past Behind
digital arson
Microsoft Declines to Talk About How Many People It Has Just Laid Off
Hours ago in IGN: "Microsoft did not say how many staff will lose their jobs, but significant layoffs are inevitable. IGN has asked Bethesda for comment. Microsoft declined to expand further when contacted by IGN."
Microsoft Windows in South America: From 99% to 87%
the latest from statCounter
It's Rather Obvious Why They Try to Silence Richard Stallman, Eben Moglen, and Daniel Pocock
Some of them already sent physically menacing messages to Daniel Pocock
IRC Network of Techrights Turns 3 (or 16 if We Count the Freenode Days)
In a few months IRC turns 36
Sedating Oneself (and Shareholders) With Fuzzy Buzzwords and Pointless Acquisitions
IBM trying to buy time
Clickfraud Spamnil Ran Out of Clickfraud Budget, Apparently
sooner or later charlatans and frauds run out of steam
Techrights Gets Under the Skin of Bad, Corrupt, Immoral People (That's a Good Thing)
Journalism is the lifeblood of democracy and free societies
Companies Do Not Shut Down Offices and Lay Off Staff en Masse (Morale and Reputation Issue) Unless They're in Deep Financial Trouble
Microsoft has been faking its financial performance for years
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 07, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 07, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
GNU/Linux and ChromeOS Now at 6% in France, According to statCounter
numbers from statCounter
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Music Spotlight and Network Knobs
Links for the day
Only Weeks After Microsoft Closed Offices and Studios It is Closing Several More (Many Layoffs, Still Deeply Debt-Saddled)
When the sad news writes itself
Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela: GNU/Linux Reaches 9% (ChromeOS Included)
Venezuela must have lost interest in some American proprietary software when users were locked out of their own data (Adobe) and the costs could no longer be justified
[Video] Microsoft is Like Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and Other Perpetrators of Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering
openwashing, Microsoft lobbying, and Microsoft subsidies (e.g. bailouts in the form of 'defence' contracts)
Security & Debian: Urgent: New Feed URLs after another WIPO censorship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Smashing Windows (Moving to GNU/Linux) and Mastodon Time-wasting
Links for the day
Links 07/05/2024: Cheap EVs and Cloudflare Layoffs
Links for the day
Berlin police declined to investigate FSFE Nazi comparisons
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] Communities Governed by Parasitic Elements and Girlfriends (Who Can't Understand Those Communities)
Karen Sandler and Molly de Blanc present at DebConf18
[Meme] You Can't Kill an Idea (or Facts)
Thankfully, in Western societies, there's still due process, rule of law etc. You don't just hire assassins or imprison critics
[Meme] Software in the Public Interest (SPI), Inc, Values Articles of Daniel Pocock at ~$5,000 Each (and Fails to Hide the Facts)
we are laughing, not grieving
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 06, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, May 06, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
[Meme] About 2,564 Internet Sites Now at Risk of Hostile Takeover by Microsoft-Sponsored Software in the Public Interest (SPI)
WIPO censors Debian suicide cluster
Links 07/05/2024: Burning Plastic Waste, Facebook Censoring Politicians
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Smashing Windows (Microsoft Losing Users to GNU/Linux), Sixty Years of BASIC
Links for the day
Southern Asia is All Android (Majority) Now
It's looking better (almost) every month
Windows Already Down to 1% "Market Share" in Some Countries
it is a dying breed
Tesla Has Become a Ponzi Scheme or a 'Meme Stock'
They tell us Tesla is "worth" almost twice as much as a company that sold about 30 times more cars
For People at Red Hat "Job is at Risk"
Red Hat is consulting some notorious firms to implement cuts
Linux.com Became Mostly Dead, de Facto Marketing Site of "Linux" Foundation Products (Unrelated to Linux)
what has happened to the authoritative domain Linux.com
Microsoft GitHub: A Hair Salon Where You Get Awards for Nothing (NFT Vanity)
People aren't defined by some private (proprietary) database and Microsoft does not universally "score" developers
In Europe, Android is Bigger Than Windows (Android Now Measured at 45.1% Worldwide)
Right now in statCounter...
Links 06/05/2024: Al Jazeera Raided, Wildfire Season Coming
Links for the day
On Character Assassination Tactics
The people who leverage these dirty politics typically champion projection tactics
Links 06/05/2024: Scams and Politics
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/05/2024: Reading and Computers
Links for the day
United States Entering the $100 Trillion Debt Trap, We Compare GAFAM Debt
Google's debt is about 6 times less than Amazon's
GitLab's Losses Grew From $172,311,000 to $424,174,000 Per Annum
Letting this company have control over your (or your company's) development/code forge may cost you a lot in the future
statCounter's Latest: Android Bouncing to New All-Time Highs, Windows Down to Unprecedented Lows
Android rising
Can't Bear the Thought We're Happy and Productive
If someone is now harassing online friends, attacking the wife, attacking my family (not just attacking and defaming people I know online) there are legal ramifications
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 05, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, May 05, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Erinn Clark & Debian: Justice or another Open Source vendetta?
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work