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Ask Slashdot: Could Linux Ever Become Fully Compatible With Windows and Mac Software? 359

Posted by msmash from the another-stab-it dept.
dryriver writes: Linux has been around for a long time now. A lot of work has gone into it; it has evolved nicely and it dominates in the server space. Computer literate people with some tech skills also like to use it as their desktop OS. It's free and open source. It's not vendor-locked, full of crapware or tied to any walled garden. It's fast and efficient. But most "everyday computer users" or "casual computer buyers" still feel they have to choose either a Windows PC or an Apple device as the platform they will do their computing on. This binary choice exists largely because of very specific commercial list of programs and games available for these OSs that is not available for Linux.

Here is the question: Could Linux ever be made to become fully compatible with all Windows and Mac software? What I mean is a Linux distro that lets you successfully install/run/play just about anything significant that says "for Windows 10" or "for OSX" under Linux, without any sort of configuring or crazy emulation orgies being needed? Macs and PCs run on the exact same Intel/AMD/Nvidia hardware as Linux. Same mobos, same CPUs and GPUs, same RAM and storage devices. Could Linux ever be made to behave sufficiently like those two OSs so that a computer buyer could "go Linux" without any negative consequences like not being able to run essential Windows/Mac software at all? Or is Linux being able to behave like Windows and OSX simply not technically doable because Windows and OSX are just too damn complex to mimic successfully?
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Ask Slashdot: Could Linux Ever Become Fully Compatible With Windows and Mac Software? More

Ask Slashdot: Could Linux Ever Become Fully Compatible With Windows and Mac Software?

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  • Yes and No (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dunkindave ( 1801608 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:03PM (#56136940)
    Could it? Yes. Will it? No. The other OSes will always be putting something in that makes it break, and playing catchup isn't viable. You also don't want always to be the tail getting wagged by the big dogs.

    • Re: Yes and No (Score:5, Interesting)

      by WarJolt ( 990309 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:12PM (#56137026)

      The question is malformed. Will Windows and Mac ever be made compatible with Linux?

      Windows 10 has implemented Linux system calls. You can run Linux apps on Windows.

      • Re: Yes and No (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Junta ( 36770 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:18PM (#56137088)

        I suppose the goal is 'can linux desktop become the universal application platform' and the answer is theoretically yes, practically, no.

        For OSX apps, there hasn't even been much of an interest in theory. GNUstep had an injection of liveliness for people wanting to make at least code compile for OSX and Linux, but that enthusiasm died out. It never ever began to think about binary compatibility.

        For Windows apps, sure, wine has been doing it's job admirably, but it's chasing a moving target that has much more resources than it does.

        Now the phenomenon you mention speaks to another possibility: kernel system call emulation and just use the Windows/OSX system as-is. This is of limited utility as there isn't a supported/licensed way to do this. It's one thing to borrow the userspace of a free operatiing system, but doesn't really work for closed-source applications.

        • I don't call this emulation, just like wine is not an emulator. It is a implementation of the Linux system calls.

          • Emulation of the system calls. Rather than emulation of CPU and hardware. Same concept, but line draw at a different layer.

            The overhead of something like 'wine' is very low, compared to something like qemu or even VMware. Which I think is the point that was trying to be made, rather than any semantics about the definition of emulator. (in my industry most of these are called simulators, and emulation is a different beast all together)

            • FreeBSD already has Linux binary compatibility [freebsd.org], but that's helped a lot by the fact that the FreeBSD team has access to the source and can even re-use some of the code if they want.

              So if you want similar functionality for MS Windows, a big step would be having a copy of the code to build it from, but not 100% necessary. There is a lot of API documentation out there, so as Microsoft forces programs to actually use documented features and not take shortcuts (currently in the name of security), it's likely to

              • Re: Yes and No (Score:4, Informative)

                by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @06:57PM (#56138346) Homepage Journal

                There is Linux syscall emulation on NT kernel and on L4 kernel already. And I used the Linux-compatibility in LynxOS back in the day for an RTOS project.

                FreeBSD/NetBSD carried a lot over from the older iBCS (Intel Binary Compatibility Standard) to provide Linux compatibility. NetBSD is interesting in that it still supports really old 386BSD binaries.

                Windows compatible is harder than Linux compatible. You can start from wine, Longene or ReactOS, but really unless you have the resources of Microsoft and their level of internal documentation it's not going to go well for you. But feel free to run your Linux binaries on Windows 10, it does work as advertised.

        • Re: Yes and No (Score:5, Informative)

          by bondsbw ( 888959 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:46PM (#56137362)

          Also it depends on what you call "Windows software". You won't have great success with consumer software on the GUI stack, but server software is a different story nowadays. Command line is much better and Microsoft has taken big steps to making Windows Server headless. PowerShell and .NET Core now run on Linux. And ASP.NET Core is cross-platform for hosting web applications.

      • okay, lets see you run GQRX on windows, it requires qt5, python, gnuradio, gr-osmosdr, and the libraries of any SDR hardware you plan to be running with it, it is a little more complex than than what microsoft would want you to believe

      • Windows 10 has implemented Linux system calls. You can run Linux apps on Windows.

        Using what X server, if the app happens to be graphical? Microsoft doesn't provide one, and the free version of Xming hasn't been updated in a decade. Or would the app run in a localhost web server, with JavaScript in a web browser handling user interaction?

        • Re:What X server on Windows 10 (Score:4, Interesting)

          by postbigbang ( 761081 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:54PM (#56137452)

          One day a VM or container will contain enough guts to safely run the apps in less than a hypervisor mode. Until then, the answer for all three is: Not really. Better still, it shouldn't happen. One flaw in Windows affects Windows, but rarely MacOS or Linux/BSDs. One well-done flaw can kill/maim one host, but not all three.

          We survive.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sconeu ( 64226 )

          Have you tried Cygwin/X?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Scoth ( 879800 )

            I've had this work, but part of the attraction of the Linux layer in Windows for me is not having to mess with the whole cygwin layer on top of everything. Keeping it running and updated was a bit of a pain and it's been nice not to have to mess with anymore.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Scoth ( 879800 )

          Xming was last updated in 2016, and I use it fairly often just fine even in Windows 10. Works with the Linux subsystem fine.

    • Seeing how even hackintosh systems running proper macOS are prone to potential problems, I think software emulation would be even less reliable.

    • Re:Yes and No (Score:4, Funny)

      by Ichijo ( 607641 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:53PM (#56137434) Journal

      No. The other OSes will always be putting something in that makes it break

      I doubt that. Windows XP seems pretty stable now, and someday Windows 10 will be just as stable.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by aqui ( 472334 )

      When will Application developers finally cross compile their code to work on linux, and release linux versions of their software?
      If they aren't doing it why not?

      There. Fixed your question.

      Answer: They already are. The entire cloud / internet runs on open code that runs on a nix stack. Steam is available under linux. Open and Libre office run under linux. I've found suitable replacements for almost all software I used to use under linux.
      I haven't booted into Windows (at home) in years. If a company just want

      • When will Application developers finally cross compile their code to work on linux, and release linux versions of their software?
        If they aren't doing it why not?

        There. Fixed your question.

        Answer: They already are. The entire cloud / internet runs on open code that runs on a nix stack. Steam is available under linux. Open and Libre office run under linux. I've found suitable replacements for almost all software I used to use under linux.
        I haven't booted into Windows (at home) in years. If a company just wants to support wall gardens then I'm happy not to use their software.

        If you want to spew Apple Hate, then at least man up and invoke the enemy by name!

        Oh, and don't insinuate things that aren't true:

        1. MacOS NAS NEVER been a "Walled Garden".

        2. iOS hasn't been a "Walled Garden" since iOS 8, over FOUR years ago.

        Next time, do at least TRY to not embarrass yourself.

  • Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by F.Ultra ( 1673484 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:03PM (#56136942)
    Why is this even a question? If you want to run your Windows 10 applications, why don't you simply use Windows? Why switch to Linux if you just want it to be another form of Windows?

    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Stormy Dragon ( 800799 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:08PM (#56136976)

      Because it could be another form of Windows that's not recording everything I do, installing applications without permission, deleting files without permission, etc.

      • Spend just a little time learning Linux and you will find you don't need Windows. I really don't get it, people's main complaint against Linux is it is hard to use or doesn't run what they want. The "hard to use" is just that you need to learn a little bit. Once you get used to it Linux is no more difficult than Windows. The "doesn't run ____" is fixed by spending a little time looking at Linux software till you find a replacement. Sure, you don't some proprietary software, on the other hand you normally
        • Please find me the equivalent of Visual Studio for Linux.

          • There's never a 1 for 1 replacement. And if you want to develop stuff in Visual Studio doing dotNet and things like that, you're barking up the wrong tree.

            But IDEs? Linux has plenty of them, and some are even pretty mature.

        • The "doesn't run ____" is fixed by spending a little time looking at Linux software till you find a replacement.

          Since I posted this list of applications that are not ported to GNU/Linux [slashdot.org] several years ago, Netflix has become ported. But the majority have not been. So what replacement would you recommend for each of the following?

          Adobe Photoshop, including adjustment layers, print color matching, and full compatibility with PSD files you receive from clients or team members
          Adobe Animate (formerly Flash), including exporting vector animations to HTML5
          TurboTax
          Stone Edge Order Manager
          Sonic Mania
          Diablo III
          StarCraft II
          Street Fighter V
          Call of Duty: Black Ops III

          • Re:Applications still not ported after 7+ years (Score:4, Funny)

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16, 2018 @05:14PM (#56137696)

            A girlfriend

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dgatwood ( 11270 )

            You can use TurboTax on the web for nearly all use cases.

        • It's 2018. Why among that trillion distributions isn't there a single one that just works? I've tried ten different distributions and each one always fail with one piece of hardware, and funny enough it's always a different piece of hardware. Why isn't there one that just works like Windows where it's uncommon that a piece of hardware doesn't work out of the box, and if it doesn't then getting and installing a driver is easy. The Linux community is also incredible toxic which just kills the one final grain

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        Are you certain that this spying behavior isn't built into the DLLs that Windows libraries depend on? Or compiled into the apps themselves as static libs?

        If you want a secure system, you have to inspect every component that you touch.

    • yup, i favor Linux a LOT, but i keep windows around because there is some apps not available on Linux that can be found for windows, and vis-versa, there are apps that run on Linux that is not available on windows but is for Linux

    • Why is this even a question? If you want to run your Windows 10 applications, why don't you simply use Windows? Why switch to Linux if you just want it to be another form of Windows?

      The applications are not the OS. Wanting to run a common application that runs easily in Windows is not the same as wanting to run Windows. Since this is Slashdot maybe a stupid car analogy will help.

      Suppose operating systems were cars and applications were features in the cars. Microsoft makes cars and ValveCo makes valves and caps that fit on the gas tanks but they only make them for Microsoft cars. Gas stations have licensing agreements and if you go to one its nozzle almost certainly fits a ValveCo

      • Your analogy is flawed. You bloody well know if you want to run a MS app, you run it on windows.

        Some development might be cross platform, but only because they made the effort.

        Stop trying to say it's all the same. The base OS is not all the same. Learning how to use the APIs is not all the same.

        And I say this as someone who hates and loathes windows and used to run linux/wine on my laptops since before 2000, and now use OSX as my main desktop platform.

  • No (Score:5, Insightful)

    by IWantMoreSpamPlease ( 571972 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:04PM (#56136950) Homepage Journal

    Next dumb question?

    • I don't agree. Why shouldn't there be some kind of "App runtime" that provided a sandbox and basic UI components that were standardized across platforms? I mean no, not stuff like antivirus or a device driver, but rather an email program or a reminders app or a video chat program. The same kind of stuff we abuse web browsers for today?

      There have been tons of such runtimes but nobody ever really launched one for general purpose computing. Think of the potential of Flash (yuck) without the browser, or Qt or S

      • Oh wait, no, SOMEBODY DID do it: Steam. If you install Steam for Windows, Mac or Linux I think you can run any Steam game exactly the same on any of the three.

        Nobody has created a Steam word processor or a Steam photo editor... but I can't see any compelling reason not to.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Robyrt ( 1305217 )

          Oh wait, no, SOMEBODY DID do it: Steam. If you install Steam for Windows, Mac or Linux I think you can run any Steam game exactly the same on any of the three.

          Nobody has created a Steam word processor or a Steam photo editor... but I can't see any compelling reason not to.

          Steam apps are not cross-platform unless the developer builds support for that platform into their app. Most Steam games run only on Windows.

      • Why shouldn't there be some kind of "App runtime" that provided a sandbox and basic UI components that were standardized across platforms?

        There is. It's called the Common Language Runtime, standardized by Ecma International. Microsoft maintains .NET Framework, a CLR application player for Windows. An open source project maintains Mono, a CLR application player for GNU/Linux and macOS.

        Oracle [bought a company that] previously tried the same thing with Java, but several policy missteps by Oracle have since dissuaded many from the Java platform.

    • Actually the answer to "could it" is: Yes! Yes, it could.

      "Will it" is a different question.

      When a manager or market droid asks "could we make our software to X?", my answer sometimes is: "Yes! It could! It's software. We can make it do anything. It's just a question of time and money. How much of each did you want to spend?"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Teun ( 17872 )
      I would say there is a great deal of compatibility in Linux.
      Displaying a website, mail, picture or video using Linux gives the same result as doing it on OSX or Windows.
      Similar for printing it.

      If there is a problem it would be with the awful Open Document implementation of Microsoft Office, not with Linux or it's Office suites.

      Also, most of the internet is connected using Linux or other Unix like computers and any type of media or document passes through them without problem.

    • Linux will lose most of its security advantages if it ever runs Windows software off the shelf (especially those viruses, trojans and ransomeware).

      Those emulation layers are PROTECTION from the scourge of Win32. If I ever need Windows, I'll do it in VirtualBox with a fresh dev VM from http://modern.ie/ [modern.ie] then nuke the image the minute I'm done.

  • Personally I have a been using Linux as by desktop for 2 years (Redhat/Mate). I have Windows on as dual boot. I had to dual boot twice in that time - just to use IE due to poorly designed websites. I know my work process is different than others. I know many must have the Adobe suite of tools, or maybe Quickbooks, other than that what App/Tools do others must-have these days to keep Windows around? Just curious.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by imgod2u ( 812837 )

      A lot of people pick up these walled garden platforms now. For instance Slack (for work chat) is very popular along with the Microsoft suite of Office/OneDrive.

      People rail against these platform companies but they offer a lot of productive features when working in teams.

    • Games and MS Office are the big ones. In addition to that, just about every industry has their own set of standard applications that most people use and those are generally Windows only apps.

    • For what you're doing - why dual-boot? A VM would serve just as well.

      • Yeah that is an option. From what I understand I would need a MS Windows license to run in a VM... Don't want to do that.

      • why dual-boot? A VM would serve just as well.

        Dual booting has two advantages over a virtual machine that for some may outweigh the inconvenience of rebooting:

        Use of existing OEM license
        The Windows software license agreement allows dual booting but not converting an OEM license included with your laptop or other pre-built PC for use in a virtual machine. Only a $120 retail license can do that.
        Reduced RAM use
        Use of two operating systems, one for the host and one for the guest, requires roughly twice the RAM compared to running the guest alone. If you ha

    • XCode (for iOS development) requires OSX. Visual Studio (for ASP.NET development) requires Windows (although the editor has been opensourced and works on Linux).

      Also, a lot of clients still want Windows applications, so all the work I do for them.

    • most computers are sold to OEMs and if an OEM pushes Linux Microsoft threatens to pull their OEM discounts. The CEO of Acer (Asus?) bitched about it publicly around the time netbooks took off.

      On the plus side Linux _is_ competition. Microsoft was forced to drop prices substantially on a Windows license. On the downside this lead to them doing all sorts of nasty stuff to monetize Windows (subscription fees for business editions, installing demo software without permission, the Windows Store, etc, etc).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DogDude ( 805747 )
      Our entire ERP system is Windows based. Literally all of the software that runs our entire company. It works well.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by imidan ( 559239 )

      I use the Esri ArcGIS suite quite a lot in my work. There are open-source alternatives to many of its functions, but they're not always practical to use while maintaining interoperability with colleagues. That's the main one that comes to mind, but there are other spatial tools like Crimestat that I use on occasion that only have Windows binaries. It may be possible to run some of these things using Wine or whatever, but I haven't tried.

      I have both a Windows 7 and an Ubuntu desktop with dual displays and us

    • Rocksmith 2014 is the last program that I use regularly that requires windows and keeps me from switching. The other issue is time. Linux has continued to improve but it isn't the turnkey solution that windows is. The time it takes me to get all the little issues working stops me from using it. It also stops my extended family from using it. It can work 99% of the time but that one time it doesn't work they'll want windows back.

      I've upgraded all my computers to Windows 10 Pro and have not noticed the issues

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Most other opsys have significant security flaws to allow "more efficient" gaming via giving direct access to hardware. And if you look at windows (I don't know as much about OSX but hey, BSD) - things like OLE/COM/ActiveX/stupid mixing of code and data - keep that away from me.
    Even using Wine lets you get some of the badware infections. Why on earth would I want that?
    Far better to get enough people moved over to real opsys so that software vendors will support them.
    Of course, they'll find out their ch

  • Wrong Question (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ipb ( 569735 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:14PM (#56137046) Homepage

    Could WIndows and Mac ever become fully compatible with Linux software?

    • I have to admit that Windows Subsystem for Linux is good enough for me. That has eliminated any desire for me to run Linux on my desktop, either in a VM or on hardware.
      • I'd prefer that I know what code I'm running. Windows as so many back doors that the user isn't made aware of. I on the other-hand know every open port and remote connection going out, I'd rather virtualize Windows in isolation, and for when that doesn't cut it, I have a windows drive that's on my 'hot eject' SATA port for.. reasons.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        What X server software do you use with WSL?

    • Could WIndows and Mac ever become fully compatible with Linux software?

      There's a lot of unix software which will "configure - make - sudo make install" just fine on Mac. For other stuff that's more complicated, projects like Fink [finkproject.org] or Brew [brew.sh] or MacPorts [macports.org] can often help. And, even if these projects don't offer the software you're looking for, those tools can probably provide the underlying libraries your software requires for building.

      (although I have yet to manage to get mlocate installed on my Mac)

    • Haven't really had any trouble running whatever I want that's Linux on a Mac since 2001-2002. Before there were a lot of good OS X applications I would install Linux apps via Fink and run them in X. Nowadays most of the Linux apps have wrappers on the Mac so you don't even need to piss with compiling them or having X running.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JeffTL ( 667728 )
      As far as Unix applications are concerned, macOS is one of the BSDs; it's a certified, trademark UNIX 03 system that (to simplify greatly) can be thought of as FreeBSD running on a Mach microkernel with a NeXT-derived front end. A lot of common free software is already out there on Homebrew and MacPorts. So most of the porting work is done if your software will run on BSD, though Mac users usually prefer a native graphical interface to X11. Of course, binary compatibility with Linux would be even better.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by asylumx ( 881307 )

      Could WIndows and Mac ever become fully compatible with Linux software?

      For that matter, could Windows ever be fully compatible with Windows software?

    • Who cares about that? Any sufficiently mature (read: usable) FOSS piece of software has a Windows port or Windows equivalent (OpenShot video editor is the latest example of a piece of software getting a Windows port once it got mature enough to be usable). It's Linux that has various holes in application support. Try to watch BluRay (or protected video streams) on Desktop Linux or doing content creation without Adobe's tools.

  • No (Score:3)

    by Vairon ( 17314 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:14PM (#56137048)

    No, because OSX and Windows 10 contains proprietary code and probably 3rd party licensed code that Apple, Microsoft and their partners will never license under a free (libre) license that is usable in a Linux distribution. Projects like WINE will never be 100% compatible because they are trying to implement a moving target. As soon as they have reproduced the old API, there is a new not fully compatible API they have to work towards.

  • To be fully compatible, Linux would have to run all software. The would include things like Windows hardware drivers. Linux and Windows handle the interface between hardware and the OS very differently. As long as the software you plan on using does generic type things, like write files to the hard drive or display a picture on the screen, you could possibly run software. But, the OS is the interface between the hardware and the various running programs and components. I don't think they will ever develop a

  • Can Windows be fully compatible with Windows Software
    Can OSX be fully compatible with OS X Software

    Normally whenever the OS gets an upgrade, legacy compatibility is broken, or security patches are in place, which may prevent some software using that vulnerability as a core of its function.

    To have full compatibility or 99.9% compatibility. You are in essence virtualization an other OS in Linux.

    Tools like Wine which offer a compatibility layer, does so at a cost of redirecting system calls to a compatibility

  • WINE (Score:3, Informative)

    by transformania ( 843612 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:18PM (#56137094)
    If this is what you want, I encourage you to become one with the community behind WINE. And, chances are they have already put a lot of effort into making, the few Windows apps worth your time, work (cough..Photoshop...cough...games...)

  • Step out of the technical realm and try to understand economics.
    A whole metric ton of said software and functionalities only came to Macs and Windows PCs because there was financial incentive for it, when not direct sponsorship from the OS companies themselves.
    Deals with Apple and Microsoft, bundling schemes, the estabilished potential market, marketing itself...
    Hardware is pretty much like that too... high end features are often paid for and made exclusively for, when not directly developed by Apple and Mi

  • With billions of dollars in funding, we could fund developers to successfully implement all the APIs needed to make Linux a desktop alternative that runs Windows and OSX applications. Without significant funding, it's not going to happen but it definitely could be done.

  • No, never! Better options... (Score:3)

    by slashname3 ( 739398 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:43PM (#56137330)
    Why? In order to run native windows software an emulator would be needed.

    The better option is to find open source options for each of the windows type applications that are considered "essential".

    Openoffice or what ever the current variation is, provides a majority of the applications typical users need.

    Gimp provides another alternative, and so and so on.

    Trying to run apps natively is folly. Better to get or make better alternatives to required functions.

    Back in the day Wordstar was the required application until it was supplanted by Word. It can be done.

    Also, don't go the dual boot route. Commit to linux and run it at all times. That is the way to find solutions to all the little programs people think they need.

  • Do Developers want to be compatible? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Prien715 ( 251944 ) <agnosticpope@@@gmail...com> on Friday February 16, 2018 @04:45PM (#56137352) Journal

    Software can be cross-platform if that's one of the goals of the developer.

    VLC [wikipedia.org] is the best video player out there -- and it works for Linux/Windows/MacOS. So is Libre Office and Microsoft has even managed develop a cross-platform code editor [wikipedia.org] -- and each one is in an entirely different programming language (C++/Java/Javascript respectively).

    Will there be a day when developers mostly write cross-platform software? One can hope.

  • > Could Linux ever be made to become fully compatible with all Windows and Mac software?

    You have it backwards. Software runs on the OS, so it is the software's responsibility to run on the OS, not the other way around. Adobe would have to write CC for Linux for this to work. MS would have to write Office for Linux for this to work. Etc.

    > What I mean is a Linux distro that lets you successfully install/run/play just about
    > anything significant that says "for Windows 10" or "for OSX" under Linux,...

    W

  • It's not really going to be perfect unless there's an abstraction layer (like a JVM or a browser) between the OS and the application. Native support is still important, but clearly less so than it was a decade ago.

  • They already are compatible. Have been for decades. I save a text file on linux, open on my pc, I can read it. Linux machine can browse the same websites, edit the same files, leverage the same protocols... So what exactly are you asking for? Run a single app binary on linux mac/windows? Java.

  • Mistating the situation (Score:3)

    by DaveV1.0 ( 203135 ) on Friday February 16, 2018 @05:12PM (#56137676) Journal

    Computer literate people with some tech skills also like to use it as their desktop OS.

    No, People with a lot of tech skills who don't mind spending a lot of time manually adjusting things on their computer use Linux as their desktop OS. People with better things to do use Windows or OS X.

    But most "everyday computer users" or "casual computer buyers" still feel they have to choose either a Windows PC or an Apple device as the platform they will do their computing on.

    No, most "everyday computer users" or "casual computer buyers" don't know or care about Linux and those that do know there are too many things in Linux require a lot of tech knowledge and the ability to use the command line that they don't wish to learn.

    This binary choice exists largely because of very specific commercial list of programs and games available for these OSs that is not available for Linux.

    The problem is the mindset of the Linux faithful.

    "Closed source applications are EVIL!"

    "Software should be free!"

    "We want source code!"

    "You need help?!? RTFM, you fucking n00b!"

    "No one should use Windoze! You want us to make Linux more user friendly and accessible? Fuck you, Windoze Luzer!"

    Until Linux gets a larger desktop user base, those applications you want to see on Linux won't be available because there is no profit in it. Linux won't get a larger desktop user base until the community gets it's collective head out of it's ass. Until then, the only hope for Linux on the desktop is a killer app and I don't see that coming anytime soon.

    Bottom line, almost all Linux development is geared toward server use and even the people who want to see Linux succeed on the desktop either can't or won't do what is necessary to see it happen.

    • Wrong, I've been using a Linux desktop as my main home platform for almost 20 year and I can have a new desktop up and function in less than 25 minutes, much less than it takes to set up a windows box.

  • Someone asked me to compare Windows with OSX and my answer is that I can't because I use OSX almost all the time. The only exception is two programs that I need to run. One of them has ported to OSX though and I will be purchasing it for OSX and running it. The other program is Windows-Only. No evidence that it will run under WINE. So I run a WIndows 7 VM on OSX to run it. It leaks VM on Windows 10. I would be so happy to get rid of Windows. Would I move from OSX to Linux. Unlikely. Too much nice UI candy

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