I recently came across this blurb over at Slashdot which says that when non-geeks buy UMPCs (ultramobile laptops), they tend to buy them with Linux installed, while geeks, on the other hand, tend to buy them with XP installed. You read that right, non-techies now value Linux over Windows when the price is right.
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At first glance this doesn’t seem to make any sense because the geek in us is thinking that Linux is probably too complicated for novices. So what’s going on?
The answer is that the OS is no longer the dominate or even a relevant platform for most users, the browser and the web are. According to one retailer, most people simply “don’t care” about the underlying OS when they’re shopping for computers. They simply want access to MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
John mentioned this shift in a recent PC Magazine column where he argues that various website are now themselves platforms:
Still, the possibility does indeed exist that a sub-platform could become so important that it could lessen the importance of the OS and radically change the way we think of computers.
That’s why I mention Facebook and MySpace. There are endless articles as to how Facebook, in particular, is becoming a platform unto itself within an OS-neutral world. Facebook does not need the Windows or Mac OS—in fact, it doesn’t need anything except a computer that runs a browser.
Let’s face it, if all a housewife is doing with a PC is getting online via a browser, she really doesn’t need to know how to use the underlying OS. So it doesn’t matter if she lacks the knowledge to edit an XF86Config file in Linux, because she probably doesn’t know how to change her PC’s display settings in Windows either, let alone mess with the registry. And if she can save 50 bucks reaching her favorite websites with a browser running on Linux, why shouldn’t she?
This also explains why OSX sales are dominating the high end of the PC market. The remaining power users who want a high end PC for doing “real” computer work are not tied to the latest Windows boondoggle, but are buying OSX PCs and notebooks based on Apple’s reputation for quality hardware combined with a Unix based OS they can really sink their tech teeth into. And when the general population wants something cheap, they’re going with Linux when the choice is given. The choice is currently being offered with UMPCs because Vista is too bloated to run on them, but how long will it be before other configurations offer Linux to lower costs?
Well over 10 years ago Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen claimed that the browser would make the operating system irrelevant. It appears he was right. And it also appears that Gates jumped ship at just the right time.
— Steve Newlin, Sr. Contributing Editor
No.
Saying Windows is irrelevant it a huge leap of a conclusion but I would agree UMPC is much more suited to Linux than a general purpose PC.
I’ve always said that when the device functionality is limited or fixed, then Linux makes. When it’s multipurpose or when many applications are loaded (like a PC) – it’s Windows.
he UMPC category is most often a fixed function, few application device. Linux makes sense.
It is so true.
Now watch as Apple spice up and get Mobile Me working properly (work out the serious kinks) and warm people up more to the notion that they do not need to be on their home computer, then they realize that, “hey any computer will give me access to what I need”.
The only problem with many sites, like MobileMe (MM), is that it only works on certain browsers. I believe the browser can become key to all of this. Which browser gives the most focused use related to the users experience (I am speaking of the non-geek plug & play users). Consider Flock, social focus, very attractive GUI… which BTW does not work with MM. Go figure.
I am an avid Mac user, but received a hand me down Dell laptop which I installed Ubuntu on to play around with… but as a dual boot beside Windows. I find myself using the windows side as the browsers are easier updated and used. I ignore windows all together, and can use the Evernote plugin, update my blog and forget what the platform is completely, all on a fairly stable XP backbone.
Well, the availibility of Free, Open Source Software (FOSS) – the GNU/Linux O/S and the OpenOffice.org Office Suite – would seem to be a no-brainer for low cost portable systems where WiFi connectivity and Web-enabled and Web-centric applications are pre-installed. The place where WinBloze does make a difference is in after-market software, mainly games. M$ has done a good job getting the now 4 or 5 PC makers to pre-install Winbloze and Office on their systems as shipped, leaving the customer with not much else to add for productivity applications. But games are another story, they are written for WinBloze and ONLY WinBloze, so if you want to play games on your PC, it must have WinBloze and not GNU/Linux !!! But ironically, M$ may be DIGGING A GRAVE FOR WINBLOZE with their own XBOX !!! Giving users an alternate Game Platform, allows users to choose other platforms for Productivity, Media, Telecomms, etc !!! So it is possible that UMPCs and Cellphones and other gadgets with other O/Ss may indeed send WinBloze to the Technological Dust-Bin !!!
#3
In the Real World (meaning the business world), Windows XP is still dominant, with some Vista. Some applications still run in Unix, though not on Macs (Apple computers are overpriced, so Unix is run on servers, and accessed through Windows workstations with software like Exceed). The only places I’ve seen Linux running is on some web servers where the operating system is hidden from the user.
One more thing: I avoid Facebook (tried it once, worthless, deleted the link) and Myspace (Also worthless. Too many Mypages are truly ugly, and are infested with malware).
No, Microsoft made Windows irrelevant.
Running a dual boot machine, I always have the option of picking XP or Ubuntu and most of the time Ubuntu is a better choice. It runs fully in half my RAM, while XP always needs hundreds of megs in the swap file.
A lot of what is running in XP is security software that I don’t need in Linux. And I don’t need to update and don’t need to run every week.
With Open Office running fine in Linux, and Google, Adobe and others offering office apps free online. I could do most of my computing in Linux and the browser, either Firefox or Opera run fine.
If I wanted a cheap laptop to have with me, and could save money running just Linux on it. I wouldn’t think twice about just running Linux. For basic browsing and office apps what is the benefit in Windows?
Yup, it’s another platform. It’s also a pain to write for since testing involves a lot of different browser/os combinations.
Has it replaced Windows? Who cares? The real question is whether it can replace MS Office. Not likely.
Earlier this year I bought an ASUS EEE with Linux. I learned that Linux is just great UNTIL you have a problem, or want to install something new. Then it’s a sort of mad scavenger hunt where you knock on doors in the “open source community” and everyone points you down the street to someone else’s house for yet another “package” or configuration script.
What has happened is that Microsoft has gotten way off track, with a truly bad release (Vista) so everyone is wishing for alternatives. If you have a lot of money, there’s Apple. If you have a lot of time, there’s Linux. The rest of us are still hoping that Microsoft will suck it up and create a release that actually moves things forward.
#3
HA HA HA HA. WINBLOZE!!! I get it! Cause it rhymes with Windows, and it’s like saying that Windows BLOWS! HA HA HA HA HA. That is sooooo funny. And M$, that’s like MS which is short for Microsoft, but you used a dollar sign, which is like saying that Microsoft is a rich, greedy company that blows! HA HA HA HA. So, true. Whew. Good stuff. Now, if there was just an easy way to say that I’m rolling on the floor, laughing my ass off….
fATTY, I detect the slightest note of sarcasm in your post. 😉
I think the OS is still important for those that do “real work”. The web is great for high latency simple tasks (calendars, IM, etc), database manipulation (blogging, mashups, etc) or monitoring processes remotely (VPN, VNC, etc) but that is no substitute for having a fire breathing computer(s) at your command.
Web 2.0 has nothing to do with it. I wouldn’t trust my grocery list to an online web-based word processor or spreadsheet.
But, I can get a decent Word processor app, and spreadsheet, E-mail client, web-browser, media player for any major OS (Mac, Windows, Linux) so now I’m free to choose any hardware I like.
#8 pedro and fATTY
I use Macs all the time. I develop for Windows and Unix and Mac. I use VMWare heavily so I can run different versions of Windows and .NET on my Mac. I can use anything I want and I think of my Mac as comfortable tool to get a lot of things done. Personally, I feel more productive on a Mac than any other platform.
I can’t stand senseless Mac posts either. Keep up the good fight.
If all you you want to do is shop, and chit-chat with friends, great.
Otherwise, would someone please wake me up when Photoshop, Visual Studio, Winamp, and AutoCAD have online equivalents? (Or even Linux equivalents…)
I think the people buying the low end machines with Linux simple don’t know what they are buying. They wouldn’t know an OS if it bit them on the ass. All they know is “computer”. They understand what the OS does, or doesn’t give them.
After they get home and set it up, then later on they try to install a game for their kids… a game that runs under Windows. It doesn’t work. They call support and either don’t understand, or they feel ripped off.
@Ron Larson
Does that mean that when they figure out they have been “ripped off” that there will be a glut of these little devices on eBay? That would be great. I want one.
I guess this is why so much media cover’s browser news. Also why Safari
is branching out to Windows. Its all about the browser?
#20 – Why are you still here? I kick your ass on a daily basis, and you keep coming back.
You must like the abuse. Just like a Windows user.
#15 for the win!
Web 2.0 has nothing to do with the OS being irrelevant (as it nearly is).
It has to do with FireFox being available on Windows/Mac/Linux so there is a level is operating system neutrality plus that most sites are no longer IE only.
6 years ago, I’d say 50% of the most important sites were IE only (banks that required IE to log-in, certain content sites were broke in non-IE browsers).
Major factors in operating system neutrality ARE:
1) IE’s virus spreading epidemic in 2002-2004 gave FireFox legs because trust in Microsoft was shattered among much of the computer literate population.
2) As FireFox grew little by little (and Opera and Safari), companies stopped with the IE-only thing.
3) Today, IE-only sites are exceedingly rare. With an unlocked web, you don’t have to use Windows to use the ‘net.
I would love to use a different operating system, if only the companies that make the software that makes my computer usable, would make it for those system. Then I might also talk about abandoning windows. Don’t know if I would though. See to many people crying because they can’t use and do what others can do with their computers. They were convinced by people who only use their computers for email and browsing the web, that the computers they use are the best and windows sucks.