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bjt23 t1_j48a2ya wrote

Reply to comment by broadenandbuild in Don't add "moral bloatware" to GPT-4. by SpinRed

They said that about Windows, remember people used to think GNU was the operating system of the future because it was open source. The future can still be terrible and proprietary!

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Down_The_Rabbithole t1_j49lf0z wrote

>remember people used to think GNU was the operating system of the future because it was open source.

That actually came true though. Almost all servers, supercomputers, embedded systems and mobile systems like smartphones use a Linux-derived system. Essentially the only place where Linux didn't dominate was the desktop PC which is honestly extremely niche in the grand scheme of computing in 2023.

You can safely say that GNU/Linux is the main operating system of humanity in 2023 and be technically correct.

For example you probably wrote your comment on a smartphone running a Linux derived OS. You sending that message to a cell tower running Linux. The Reddit servers receiving the comment running linux. And me reading it back on my linux phone.

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[deleted] t1_j49u5ma wrote

[deleted]

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DespicablePickle69 t1_j4a15kr wrote

100% agree, RMS is the worst thing that's ever happened to the open source movement. It's staggering to think about how far we would have come without his nonsense.

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odder_sea t1_j4d9sm4 wrote

Is there a resource where I could delve deeper into why this is the case?

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FiFoFree t1_j49ux9u wrote

Hell, the routers and switches in-between might be running Linux as well.

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tehsilentwarrior t1_j4auhsj wrote

Literally the biggest reason why Windows is still a thing in desktop is DirectX exclusivity, which makes games (the good ones anyway) exclusive to Windows.

If gamers had a choice, they wouldn’t be on Windows anymore, which would then forcefully drive everything else away from it on the desktop. Drivers thus performance and compatibility would be moved and with it the viability of a fully customizable system (gamers love that) would quickly erode Windows.

The other thing Windows has to keep it alive is Office but that alone won’t keep it mainstream. That would only keep it alive until a worthy competitor came along, which would probably not take long as soon as all gamers moved to Linux as then that would become a big market gap (temporarily filled with web based office tools)

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DevilsTrigonometry t1_j4c23nb wrote

>If gamers had a choice, they wouldn’t be on Windows anymore

What would we be on? MacOS is hardware-locked, and Linux on the desktop is a fucking nightmare.

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pdhouse t1_j48bboc wrote

Android is based on Linux and it has a huge market share in the phone market. Also Linux is what runs most web servers. I barely ever hear about Windows being used for web servers. Windows has a lot of control in the desktop/laptop market and that's it. Granted that is still a huge market.

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Fortkes t1_j491bp0 wrote

But that's not what most people interact with. It's mostly Windows, macOS/iOS and some proprietary version of Android.

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drsimonz t1_j48h548 wrote

Linux is the dominant kernel by far, I think it's like 90% of servers running it? And of course the billions of Android devices (which are often the only computer in a household). But every single linux desktop is dogshit, and probably always will be, unless they swallow their pride and make an exact copy of either Windows or MacOS. Ubuntu, Raspbian, KDE, Gnome, it's all half-assed "programmer art". My theory is that unlike writing code, UI/UX design cannot be done by volunteers, since it requires centralized authority to keep things cohesive. It also requires impeccable taste, which is infinitely more rare than passable programming ability.

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bjt23 t1_j48l9o1 wrote

Counterpoint: Windows also has terrible UX.

I agree with your overall sentiment, UX is both important and often neglected.

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drsimonz t1_j48milg wrote

Hahaha yes it does, 100%. I haven't tried 11 yet so maybe it's even worse now... but as someone who uses Ubuntu 18/20 regularly, there are many levels of terrible. Simply dragging a file onto the desktop, when a file with the same name already exists, literally crashes the desktop and requires a reboot. (Yes I'm sure there's a way to recover without a reboot but it's going to take even longer to figure out). Want to create a shortcut to a program? Or worse, want to change the icon? Hope you're literally a software developer. Yet somehow micro$oft managed to build a UI for this in like 1995.

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needle1 t1_j4abhiw wrote

At this point, Windows and even macOS have devolved into pretty cruddy UX, but keeps running on massive inertia—which, despite being inertia, has such strong power that few other players can take on them.

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te_alset t1_j49ibdx wrote

Yet it’s still preferable to macOS.

I have to use a mac for work and I hate it so much. I’m getting carpal tunnel in my left hand from the cmd key. The only way macOS is usable is with keyboard commands.

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canadian-weed t1_j494qqq wrote

> The future can still be terrible and proprietary!

the future is pretty much guaranteed to be that

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NorthVilla t1_j49owbd wrote

Or convenient and proprietary, as it has been in the last 20. There are downsides to be sure, but anybody espousing that Windows has not been convenient for most people is a filthy basement dwelling Linux weirdo.

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