LXer: Will 2015 finally be the year of the Linux desktop?
 

Published at LXer:

In today's open source roundup: 2015 could be the year of the Linux desktop...or not. Plus: Canonical's involvement with the upcoming Ubuntu tablet confirmed, and the War Thunder MMO now available for Linux.

Read More...

No, I doubt it.

According to news every year is the year of the linux desktop. Though I never know what it means.

Dear goodness, why does this topic pop up at such frequency?

Please find something useful to write about guys.

Tech journalists/bloggers use it as 'filler' when they have nothing original to say, and as that is pretty much most of the time, it pops up a lot.

I think GazL has nailed it. The Linux desktop is mature; it's been my desktop for almost nine years.

Most computer users have never and will never install an operating system. The idea of doing so scares the pants off them (my one son who is a master gamer and who does military stuff on military laptops, the kind you parachute out of an airplane with, is a-feared of messing with the OS).

There will not be a "year of the Linux desktop" until persons can knowlingly and intentionally buy computers with Linux pre-installed at mass market retailers.

I think they keep on about it because, for some reason, Linus keeps on about it. I really do not understand why a man of his obvious intellect and shrewdness keeps mentioning the desktop as a goal, or is he being sarcastic and I am missing it?

I do think it is a valid goal. It would be good for users, good for computing, and good for Linux if more persons used Linux for daily computing.

Nevertheless, a bunch of Linux users standing around on an internet street corner talking among themselves about how everyone else should see the light is, at best, a waste of time and, at worst, counterproductive.

I think it detracts from Linux being an alternative. I am a big hypocrite here, as I want thing like Netflix on Linux, but I don't think it helps anyone to have a goal to be the choice of the lowest common denominator,
Things have changed since Linus started his journey and nowadays any OS built with the majority of computer users in mind is gong to be horrific for anyone who wants more control and understanding -- case in point iOS and Windows 8.

You're right. We are better off when the linux is in the shadow than in the front. I imagine that if ever Linux gains a large amount of users, there will be "only one and true distribution and graphic environment", because some company(-ies) will force it, then developers will focus on it, abandoning the emerging bugs in other versions, and finally the circle will begin anew, where small group of PC users (let's say 1% or whatever) will stay with the less popular linux OSes and complain there should be the year of the-less-mainstream-linux.

I do not want linux to get lost in the obscurity, I want it to be somewhat popular (thanks Valve for pushing the gaming industry towards Linux! And Intel for great graphic drivers! And IBM/Lenovo for hardware compatible with linux software!), but pushing it towards popularity and a possible gain of too many computer illiterate people can only hurt it.