this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
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It is hilarious to me that Lemmy users, who seem to mostly be obsessed with Linux (borderline Arch users except slightly less annoying about it), talk like Windows is such a massively hated OS when it is literally still the most widely distributed and used OS in the world. Like yes, so many people globally hate Windows which is why everyone keeps using Windows and not switching to something they hate less. Of course.
Actually the most widely used OS worldwide is Android. Nearly ½ of all devices are Android while only ¼ of all devices are Windows.
Now if you want to adjust the scope and only look at "desktop" operating systems then yes, that is the majority. However over the past 10 years Windows has declined by ~15%, the majority going to macOS, but a small percentage going to Linux. Linux is generally on the rise, albeit slowly.
Also keep in mind the data I've referenced above applies to ALL devices. The landscape changes dramatically when you look at console vs "PC" gaming. Console gaming is roughly ~60% of the traditional gaming market. So while a Windows user may not become a Linux user, they may disappear and become a console user, decreasing the number of Windows users.
While I fully expect Windows to be around for a while, unless a change is made it will continue to lose market share. It would be a mistake to look at these numbers and think Windows is safe and beloved. By all metrics Windows is going away. It's not going to happen overnight, but 10 years from now?
The kind of people who came to Lemmy when Reddit enshittified are also the kind of people who went to Linux when Windows enshittified. Tech savvy enough to figure it out and zealous enough to stick with it, even if the FOSS solution objectively isn’t as great. (I’m that kind of people, it’s me.)
There are a tremendous number of people out there who do dislike Windows, but have no idea what to do about it. They see their computer's operating system as an intrinsic part of it kind of how iOS is kind of immutably baked into an iPhone. They don't really have a grasp on what an operating system is or how to install one, and even if told they'd be paralyzed with fear over the risk of breaking something.
You described me pretty well.
And you're not alone, in fact I would guess you're part of the majority. But we tend to live in bubbles surrounded by tech savvy people so we forget about it sometimes. And the problem with not knowing something is possible is not realizing its limitations, someone who's eaten hot dogs every day of their life has no idea what a burguer is, is one intrinsically better than the other? Nope, but they're different, and different people might like different things.
In any case, just like the other comment, if you have any questions feel free to ask, there's a thriving community of people who use Linux and some of us were like you so we know where you're coming from.
Know what, I just might get a few questions together and ask them in one of the Linux subs.
I installed Ubuntu the other day on my laptop it took about 15 mins and it was even easier than trying to set up windows
Well, if you would like to learn about and explore Linux as an alternative to Windows, I would be glad to answer any questions you have. I've been using Linux as my main or only operating system for all of my work and play for 12 years now.
people can, and often do, use things that they hate.
Switching costs. It's the same reason people keep using Facebook and X despite the fact both are widely hated.
If Linux was the dominant OS preinstalled on the majority of computers almost nobody would make the effort to install Windows.
I don't think it follows that a product having many users means it is not hated. Just look at health insurance in the US. I'm not saying everyone is secretly itching to ditch Windows and move to Linux as soon as possible but I do think the vast majority of people simply don't care and just use whatever the default option is provided that things work well enough. If it becomes just as easy to use Linux as Windows (including PC vendors offering Linux preinstalled and working with all appropriate drivers) I think we'd see more people switching because of the slightly cheaper cost alone.
i'm the only one in my friend group that uses linux, but everyone else has like one or two specific apps they need for work that keep them tied to windows, and if those apps were available on linux, they'd jump ship in a heartbeat.
i'm a fry cook, so my work doesn't care what OS i run.
Switching to Linux is literally free. It costs way more to get a license key for Windows than it does to just download Linux. People stick with what they know, and what they know is Windows is for PC, OSX is for Apple, and they may or may not even know anything about Linux at all. I would even go so far as to say most people would run Android for an OS instead of a traditional Linux distro.
Spending time on it, stops making it free. I've used Linux on off for more than 25 years now, but always switched back to Windows because in all those previous instances something weren't working well enough on Linux. I'm not blaming Linux for this and will at some point try again as I dislike what Windows does in the background.
But my time is not 'free'.
And practically I mostly find using Windows extremely easy. Being in IT specifically for my knowledge about Windows obviously helps there. I follow the notices they send out for my job, so know how to turn off or prevent many of the user annoyances quickly.
I mean... right now I'm using windows on my desktop computer because when I installed mint I encountered a bunch of problems (no Ethernet, no wifi, no HDMI out, crashes on steam games...)
I really wanted to use Linux, but the out of the box support just isn't always there. I'm not using windows because I like or prefer it.
That is unfortunate. I also installed Linux Mint last year, and although I've had weird little issues here and there, none of them were major, and overall I was able to use it exclusively for the last seven months. One issue I encountered when installing was actually because of Window's fault (during the drive partitioning portion), since I do dual-booting.
This thread is fun too. Like valve is giving a wink and a nod when saying Windows is fine. Valve sells games. They don’t care if you play on steamOS, Windows, or a steam powered adding machine.
i think yes and no: they make their money from selling games, so they want more people to buy more games from them
… but, SteamOS achieves that in a multi-faceted way:
i think that last point in particular is critical: every $ valve spends on steamos is multiplied, because microsoft has to spend their own money to keep up, and it propels the whole ecosystem forward
Of course Windows is fine. Its the largest and most used gaming PC operating system. It couldn't ever reach that status if it was as bad as Lemmy users make it seem. Valve could care less what you play on as long as they can sell you games to play on it. Which is great, I think more game publishers/distributors should be this way.