OSDev.org

StartOS wrote:

KemyLand wrote:When do you think Windows will decay, and Linux will completely raise?

1.When WINE will work with 99,9999% of apps, not just 95%
2.When someone will figure out a way for magicly transforming windows drivers into linux kernel modules
3.When LibreOffice will get a better UI
4.When a CRITICAL 0day in Windows is found every 12 hours
5.When Linux will gain enough media attention

And 6) when Linux will come pre-installed on new computers instead of Windows.

muazzam wrote: And 6) when Linux will come pre-installed on new computers instead of Windows.

And pre-compiled

You mean like the ones that Dell used to sell with Linux pre-installed?

Or like the ones that Dell currently sells with Linux pre-installed? Or maybe the other ones Dell currently sells with Linux pre-installed?

Computers with Linux pre-installed do exist, but I meant, you know, majority of computers come with Windows.

muazzam wrote:Computers with Linux pre-installed do exist, but I meant, you know, majority of computers come with Windows.

I think you may be confusing cause and effect here.

Do the general public not use Linux because computer manufacturers don't sell computers with Linux pre-installed or do computer manufacturers not sell computers with Linux pre-installed (although, as we have seen, actually they do) because the general public don't want it? I see no reason to doubt the usual laws of supply and demand.

A slight digression, but it does throw some light on the subject.

Back in the '90s a major manufacturer and retail chain (I forget their name, but they were German) sold computers in the UK that came pre-installed with OS/2 Warp. Also major manufacturers such as Dell or IBM would supply OS/2 as the installed operating system if required. Even though that was, without question, a better operating system than Windows it died the death. The reason was not a lack of computers with the OS pre-installed.

As with BetaMax, Elcaset, Mini Disks, DAT (no, I'm not anti-Sony; they just seem to have a certain knack with these things), etc. the reasons for the popularity, or otherwise, of a particular technology often have little connection with ease of use or technological superiority.

Actually I'd rather buy a computer with no OS and install my own choice of Linux than to use whatever distro the manufacturer decided to put on it.