GNU/Linux is a Platform for Work (Usage Surges in Daytime)
Last week by SJVN (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols): "Linux desktop use surged to 22% on one workday, Cloudflare data shows"
The world's biggest population, India, has GNU/Linux at ~15% in daytime:
There used to be common sayings like, "Linux won't work" or "you can't work with Linux".
There's also "Linux isn't for games" or "Linux is too hard".
A lot of those things have become myths. GNU/Linux is becoming a very potent platform for gamers and some distros are easier to use than anything from Apple and Microsoft.
As for using GNU/Linux at work, data suggests that a lot of GNU/Linux usage is happening in workplaces, not private homes.
Are the myths vanishing?
What will happen when in the name of security, cost, and various other factors most businesses decide to dump Windows (and, by extension, all Microsoft things)?
We might as well envision the long-term trends and explain how the OEM monopoly (that Microsoft secured by bribery and secret agreements) has to be overcome to reach even these low numbers, such as 15% above.
What would happen if OEMs offered GNU/Linux as an option and made it a lot cheaper than Windows (which is only getting more expensive)?
In the above piece from ZDNet, "SJVN's point #4 is highly relevant because for 30 years even businesses have steered away from Linux on the desktop because of lack of gaming," an associate notes. "Seriously, that has been a long standing excuse even at work places."
This associate adds: "Also, note that this is about the desktop only. I recommend reviewing the stats for the server, mobile, embedded, supercomputer, and automotive markets. Microsoft is not even a rounding error when those are all combined. It's a no-show in supercomputing and mobile. It's non-viable in embedded systems. And only has a just a foothold in servers because: 1) managers want to believe that the server software and desktop software must be of the same brand, due to their ignorance of protocols. 2) there is many to one ratio of hardware to service with Microsoft. That is unlike the BSDs and the Linuxes which can run many services on a single system."
"Anyway, as SJVN points out, GNU/Linux on the desktop has been easy to use for a very long time. He does dodge the question of proprietary file formats and "cloud" lock-in, e.g. Adobe (tertiary source there, however)."
For me, GNU/Linux has worked for almost three decades. It helps me do many things colleagues could not. █