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?
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.