Granted, I’ve been using Linux for some 30 years now, and over the years got accustomed to using it. Having said that, I wouldn’t consider myself an early adopter. It was already out for some years before I bought a CD-pack that housed several distributions. Not knowing which to choose I opted for Slackware, though the package also included Suse and Redhat. Knowing what I know now, these distributions would probably have provided an easier entry into Linux usage, but I learned a lot using and customizing Slackware.
Most computers I had were delivered with a well known operating system pre-installed on them, and I always split the harddisk space 50/50 to share with Linux. But now it’s different. I really like my little laptop, and it works fine for just about everything I want to use it for. But it’s getting a bit older, and it doesn’t have TPM 2.0, which refers to a small hardware device holding encryption keys. This means I can’t upgrade to version 11 of the other OS, and I’m now bound to using only Linux, allocating all harddisk space to it. I just don’t want to buy another laptop yet. I already have an impressive stack of defunct laptops in a cupboard.
Interesting enough, when looking at Linux usage, the web-server and high-performance computing domains are almost exclusively reserved using Linux with shares of 90-95+ %. Also the mobile market is dominated by Linux-based Android. This is very different for the desktop/laptop market. There Linux takes up only a few percent. But Linux hasn’t been standing still, and today one can choose between a number of really nice consumer grade distributions. Today I’m using Linux Mint 21 – Cinnamon Edition, and it is a so much more agreeable experience than anything else I’ve used. Easy to install, easy to configure, and an overall very nice user interface. No ‘telemetry’ data collection, no advertisements, no unwanted user interface widgets or menu items. Overall a more personalized experience with only the bits you want, not those of someone else.
Hardware incompatibilities have become rare, and more and more effort is put in ensuring software compatibility, even though it already comes right out of the box with an impressive suite of software and, depending on the distribution, a nice user friendly software manager. It is therefore not entirely surprising that more and more positive experiences are shared through social media on the use and transition to Linux. In the last 5 years, the usage of Linux on the desktop has doubled, though that only means from about 2 to 4 %. Will we see a markedly bigger uptake in the next 5 years? I wouldn’t be surprised it we would. What do you think?
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