Most servers around the world run Linux. The same goes for almost all supercomputers. That’s astonishing in a capitalist world where absolutely everything is commodified. Why can’t these big tech companies manage to sell their own software to server operators or supercomputers? Why is an open, free project that is free for users so superior here?
This is, sadly, the response I was bracing for. You are in a bubble. The rest of the world, certainly outside the US middle class, looks absolutely nothing like your life. The numbers are clear. Outside of offices, computing now means Android and almost nothing else (yes that includes iOS).
I don’t understand the hostility, nor the downvotes to my original point. You’re going sideways a bit trying to deliver your message to a captive and mostly agreable audience where I was attempting to answer OP’s question asking for insider information about why all the servers and supercomputers run Linux and pivot into adoption and advocation for Linxu in general.
I agree that we need to embrace FOSS on mobile. I’d LOVE to have a viable Linux-distro phone that actuall works. I spend money and effort in this space, already. The vast majority of the world gets connecitivity via mobile devices. I know that and probably most in this community do too. My original point (heavily downvoted in a linux sub of all things) is that Linux IS READY and can WIN the desktop. That’s it… that’s all. Yet it seems you’ve taken umbrage that I didn’t agree with you 100%. In fact, we could really just consider linux on mobile as a smaller desktop with more input constraints and a smaller screen + need to utilize mobile radios properly (this is typically the hard part to open source). And I agreed with most of your statement, correcting on one point that implied Linux was only suitable for Servers. Which is a bit ironic because to win mobile it HAS to win on the desktop. Steam and stable / high UX distros have made this actually viable in the last 2-3 years where Windows users can migrate with the lightest of disruption and capability yet get all the resiliency, security and privacy.
You’re not winning anyone over with the attitude. I don’t get the edgelord response like I personally affronted you for having a nuanced interpretation. Geninuinely asking - what makes you think attacking me with your italicized ad hominim is working, especially when it’s the hottest of takes? Are you getting out your anger on someone? Makes you feel like you’re “winning” a comment thread on a tiny internet forum? Who hurt you, man! :-) In all seriousness, in the real world, we’d likely be chattering on about this over a beer, so I truly don’t get it.
Happy to continue the conversation, in the hope we can find common ground. Not everyone’s an idiot because they don’t agree with you 100% or see things from another angle. In fact, I’d like to discuss this:
Firstly, chill, it wasn’t meant to be personal, sorry if the tone was hostile.
I was addressing you as an avatar of something I see a lot here (perhaps to be expected) and that frustrates me: a well-intentioned, probably very intelligent geek who talks earnestly about something (desktop computing) that I believe is now all but irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It frustrates me because the irrelevance seems obvious to me - from the stats, from looking around me in everyday life. And because every day we waste talking about desktop OS is a day lost in the already losing battle to save free computing.
PS: I didn’t downvote you. I don’t downvote, as a matter of principle.
OK and no worries - try not to let your frustration turn into hostility with likely allies and potential converts. BTW, I realize that I do the same when I’m ultra passionate about something and think I’m 100% right so I am aware and struggle at times to retain positivity. It’s like a full time job! LOL
I still disagree about the relevancy as clearly outlined in our chat, but I absolutely recognize your perspective (you’re largely correct) and the need to push into mobile being paramount. I hope my points about leveraging desktop, gaming, and QoL improvement wins we already have are able to temper your frustration by influencing from another view. I think we largely want the same things here - I guess I’m just cautioning that we should use every lever we have to build FOSS’s future even if the “now” is already mobile. Certainly when someone reaches out to this fine community asking a “why” question, giving us all an opportunity to be welcoming and educating. All the best, lemmy friend.
What a generous and thoughtful post.
Having a PC is also very mainstream in the EU. What you’re describing aligns with my understanding of how things are in the global south.
With respect, I think this view is really quite out of touch.
About the Global South, we agree. Most people there have never seen a PC and never will. Already, the Global South is most of the world. The combined population of Europe and North America, i.e. the whole West, is now less than 10% of the world population.
But beyond that, who are these “mainstream” people you see buying PCs for personal use in the West, today, beyond students (PS: and gamers)? What are they buying them for when you now do literally anything on a mobile OS with more convenience (and indeed the mobile OS is increasingly a requirement)? Do you really think that in, say, 5 years, the obvious trend will have spontaneously gone into reverse?
I don’t want any of this to be true either, but true it patently is.
According to Eurostat, a majority of people in most EU countries used a laptop or desktop computer to access the internet in 2025.
I disagree with this claim. Some things are more convenient on mobile operating systems than desktop operating systems, but small screens and the lack of physical keyboards are significant limitations.
About the computer claim, it obviously includes the workplace. Seriously, this is a silly non-debate. We have a situation of mass addiction to small touchscreens. It is now possible to do anything on these objects and it’s increasingly impossible to live without them (I had to install a damn app just to open a delivery locker this week). They are not laptops. For personal use, desktop computers of any kind are already an irrelevance.
You’re preaching to the choir in this community, and I personally happen to agree with you. It’s irrelevant. The world has moved on.
My claim is that having a PC is also very mainstream in the EU, not that smartphones aren’t dominant or socially problematic.
Yes, and mine is that if it is still somehow “mainstream” then it is currently losing that status almost before our eyes.
I haven’t checked numbers lately, but my impression is that the shift is complete. The primacy of phones is clear, but most households in the EU have a PC, and people who own PCs aren’t going to further decrease their PC use over the next five years.