Why is windows more popular than linux? Because it's older?

Wasn't that when they sold a OS they didn't have then purchased the OS from some guy?

Pretty sure Linux is bigger in the server market, which is the only market that the devs give a fuck about.

If you ask the freetards of Holla Forums they'll tell you it must be apart of some conspiracy because how dare people think Linux isn't the greatest and most usable kernel of all time.

this.
It's the same reason Hurd and the BSDs have way less development than Linux.
Because by the time those things got their stuff in order in the 90's, a hacked together alternative was already working for some time.
Also, MS being smart with the IBM+OS/2 deal.

Dos back in the 1980's and 1990's just worked (because it was just a unofficial fork of CP/M). Windows in the 1990's was one of the only two Operating Systems that offered a upgrade path from Dos (the other being OS/2), at that time Linux didn't have good Dos support (the first version of DosBox came out in 2002). Normies wanting legacy support went with Windows and even they bitched when Microsoft took away Dos mode from Windows ME. This caused Windows itself to get lots of software written for it and normies wanting Windows binary support (that Linux can't get perfect yet).

Because it comes with the computer, the same reason Mac OS still even exists.

What?

Something like that, yeah. I think they also anticipated how important software would become by asking relatively little money from IBM but keeping the rights to the OS or something.

Why do Linux autists not understand that the average user just wants to click buttons and make shit happen? Windows does that. Linux does not.

When Windows shits the bed, goddamn it fucking shits the bed.

Microsoft had made a name for themselves among the hobbyist community in the 1970s with Microsoft BASIC/6502 BASIC

Microsoft then made a name for themselves in the 1980s among the business community by working closely with IBM

in the mid 90s their experience with these two communities hit critical mass with Windows 95, which became the mist popular OS of all time upon release

As much as freetards would like to think Linux had any ties with the hobbyist or business communities, it never did. GNU/Linux was and will forever be the product of college yuppie culture with its development base of left-leaning "Fight the establishment!" teenagers and socialist Yuropoor pseudo-intellectuals

Linux was part of the hobbyist, academic and business community, Minix was developing at a glacier pace (and still is) meaning the academic and hobbyist community only has Linux. As for business even Big Blue (IBM) dropped OS/2 and NT for Linux oh and SUSE is owned by Novell, there is big money in Linux and has been for awhile.

The first part is true, see Android. Money is just a better motivator than "muh freedumbs". Of course it also leads to bullshit like unfree versions that are mandatory for certain hardware.

You are completely delusional. IBM only gives a fuck abut Linux for client compatibility. All the so-called "money in Linux" comes from UNIX System V. Linux was unusable for any real clients until 2005. And its really sad you have to cherrypick so hard as to bring up Novell, a company that hasn't been relevant in years

IBM gave a fuck about Linux because OS/2 failed, they told all their clients they sold OS/2 to that they should upgrade to Linux. OS/2 magazines in the early 2000's was telling users OS/2 was dying and they should jump ship to Linux.

Because thats why AIX exists right? You going to keep making assertions freetard?

AIX is for a different market, then OS/2 was and Linux today. Today AIX competes with FreeBSD and back in the day it was still in the Unix wars. IBM never positioned AIX to compete with Windows while today Linux does compete with Windows.

>25 posts and no legit answer
Drivers. Period. Microsoft has literally invested millions of dollars into beg, borrow, stealing, and coercing hardware OEMs into producing 100'000's of specific drivers. That simple.

tbh, this.

Also, loonix is shit with anything to do with graphics. Windows handles as many monitors as you want, flawlessly.

Yet Windows 10 patches recently broke compatibility with Intel Bluetooth along with a wide range of printers, so now Linux has better hardware support.

Drivers and comes pre-installed on devices. This has also lead to a chicken and the egg situation when it comes to software support.

In a lot of ways linux has better driver support. Just not for gamers. As for normies, what is momentum?

What is Linux more popular than Hurd? Because it's older?

Are you retarded?

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

lol you art funneh.

holy autism batman.

wow so many faggots in this thread who never used any distro and it fucking shows.

Free software is in fact communism.

If free software is communism, users will need to send Stallman 100 dollars check alongside with personal information like credit card numbers, back accounts, social media accounts and passwords, your wife's cupsize and her phone number just to be able to login without X.

To login with X you'll need to personally give RMS a blowjob.

Free software is not in fact communism.

I don't know op isn't it because 99.9% of Pcs that are sold to average people is under a windows operating system ?

I don't know op isn't it because a PC with a Gnu distribution has less margin for sellers ? (the price of a pre-installed windows license is around 40$ for)

I don't know op isn't it because most hardware manufacturers don't make drivers for gnu/linux distribution, plus they don't release for or little (NDA) and we can't make drivers or firmwares ?

I don't know op isn't it because most of manufacturers of other product make their product only compatible with windows ?

The free software community goes against all odds since 1984 and we are still here, bigger, stronger.

And your share of the desktop market is as low as ever. Give it up. GNU/Linux will never be a mainstream desktop OS.

Why give it up? Even if it will never be a mainstream desktop OS it's the best choice for my specific needs. It's not mainstream but it is useful.

Do you believe the only purpose for GNU/Linux is to get the biggest number for the number of installations on desktop computers?

Because most people are normies. Linux, at least in its current state, is not suitable for them. In order for Linux to become more popular, it has to be more palatable to people who don't understand computers that well.

Because of marketing and usability

Something that should become apparent to you is that people are more likely to buy a product if it's marketed to them as being really easy to use while still being functional

Windows has always been marketed as an easy to use operating system you can run business applications on.

This got them in deep with IT companies. Not the least of which being because it was an extension of MS DOS which was already big with the IT world. (It's still used in a lot of parts of the world).

Bare in mind that Linux is known by what? Less than 2% of the overall population? It's installed on 1.54% of people running internet browsers. It's entirely because of marketing.

There's also the fact that even if Microsoft imploded tomorrow and never released another Windows operating system. This would not cause a mass exodus to Linux. Rather some other company would aggressively market a usable alternative to Mac that remains somewhat compatible with Windows applications and people would flock to that. People don't want to have to learn to use Linux inorder to run Microsoft Office and update their Facebook, which is what most people use their computers for.

I think it's both. Windows, Mac OS and some other defunct OSes were the first to hit the personal computing market back in the early 80's. GNU was started in 84 but it only became usable (to skilled users) with Linux in 92 or so.

Earlier arrival certainly gave Microsoft some leverage to dominate the market. It's now very hard to break the feedback loop of OEMs shipping Windows and users asking for what they are used to

I had never seen so much ignorance packed in a single comment in Holla Forums. I think we are well past the Diaspora from Infinity Next, and nostalgic me shouldn't keep coming back to this place

this is not even a strawman because you are making it all up. what's this freetard conspiracy theory you are talking about?

We aren't even dealing with kernels here. Normal people never interact with a kernel in their whole life; and in any case, I would be eager to hear how the Windows NT kernel or the Darwin kernel are better or more usable than Linux.

so it boils down to Microsoft having zero technical worth, doing the right deals and having a lucky ass, right? Kinda accurate I guess.

Apple doesn't have nearly as many drivers as Windows either, yet it has better penetration in the normie market thanks to their small and restricted line of hardware

Proprietary Nvidia and Intel drivers are on par with Windows, so that can't be a good explanation.
I don't have experience comparing multi-monitor support, but how many Windows users use more than one monitor, really? 2% maybe?

that's a nice description of Windows 10. Also, pic related

Because normies can't install nor use linux. Sure Ubuntu is pretty easy to use (and pretty shitty too) but it still has issues and the linux communities response to that is a complicated guide to how to fix it yourself, which is fine for me and probably everyone who reads this, but I don't think my grandmother could follow it.

The linux community has no interest in becoming the mainstream OS. Yeah sure some people may, but the people who do the bulk of the work are professional software engineers, with real jobs and bills to pay. And they only work on projects that will help them.

Because shit works, and has programs that people want and use.

Not hard.

You are describing Linux and BSD, Windows is a pain in the ass even to IT professional that have to maintain Windows. It doesn't really work because Microsoft keeps breaking Windows with its stupid updates.

linux.slashdot.org/story/16/10/28/203203/linux-marketshare-is-above-2-percent-for-third-month-in-a-row

mix of Bill Gates being an complete asshat to the competition + everyone grew up using some sort of pirated windows + the competition wasn't much better

Linux was only barely useful as an desktop system until Mandrake linux

/g/ tier thread

The competition was incompetent, Commodore managers didn't understand the computer market and derailed R&D; IBM managers didn't understand the PC market and couldn't market OS/2 and got bullied by Microsoft that if IBM was competent should not have been possible as back then as IBM had far deeper pockets. BeOS was competent but lacked the resources for development and marketing. Meanwhile the Unix wars meant the Unix OSs were too busy completing with each other to give Microsoft notice, while BSD and Linux were in their infancy.

Because it's piss easy to use. Which admittedly doesn't translate to people using it the right way and not fucking up their systems. And of course the stigma of linux being for hairy smelly autists.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.

That's a chan thing, no one in mainstream society associates autism with intelligence, which is just as bad, or anything having to do with computers. Autism, according to the man on the street, is not giving a shit about anyone else and Linux is ether to too technical or it doesn't exist, people don't know it.

Defaults.
Normal people do not change the defaults EVER.

Third month above 2% in 20 years of existence. You're a joke.

I see more and more people using a gnu distribution (mainly because I help them)
Why ?

Because most of the mainstream users (except videos games users) only use a pc for:
-Browsing (facebook, twater etc...)
-Photo's
-eMails (via cucked browser(funny thing about that is that most people that I encountered really prefer an email client, than the browser))
-Downloading
-Videos (mostly in retarded streaming now)
-Reading/Editing/Making text documents

All of these are the basic functions that a average joe does.
And it is very feasible to migrate them.

But migrating them isn't the final goal the goal is to make them understand that it's for freedom in the first place.

Then there is the professional world who is a pain in the ass.

Ever tried migrating someone who use paint tool say or photoshop to gimp/krita ?

I did and I didn’t waist my time, but god, people are retarded when it comes to changing their habits.

just werks

Legacy compatibility. You can't run 20 year old binaries on Linux.

Nice opinion

You can in both Linux and Windows, in fact in the case of Linux when it comes to the kernel ABI compatibility has been tested on something like 18 year old binaries.
In both cases you're not going to be able to easily run many, though. Even running a decade old game on windows 7 is fraught with peril. Windows 8/10 compatibility is even worse.

The libraries are what fucks everything up, though. Have you ever tried using software that depends on OSS audio? It's not great.

That's more of a packaging problem, really. If the user can't recompile, better to bundle your libraries through static linking.
Because userspace compatibility is dogshit.

...

Yeah nah you need dosbox for x86_64. Also microsoft included a glorified xp virtual machine license for free in 7 because shit compatibility.

The reason for all the Linux difficulties is the support of hardware. And that is because manufacturers are microshit shills.

The argument that user is not user friendly and breaks and that is why it is unpopular is wrong as it is exactly the other way around, that is, it breaks and is not user friendly because manufacturers don't support.

Because they cut some excellent (for them) deals and made Windows the defacto general-computing OS.

Why is there so many newfags?

kek

Because people pay for it, because it werks, because developers spend their waking hours actually gluing everything together properly and squishing bugs (instead of FOSS hobbyists having to go to work at Lowes, only coding between shifts, eating, and shitting).

You don't get Photoshop CS6 (2012 tech) on GIMP dime.

So long as Windows [Server] can run any software Linux can through its beefed up SUA-continuation WSL, it's always going to trounce it when license cost is not an issue (and you have competent sysadmins who know UNIX/SUA/WSL).

Windows has its Active Directory. That alone puts it above GNU. The fact it can do most of what GNU does is just icing.

If GPL software 'licensed' itself to proprietary developers, for them to create code using GPL code, which for a time (starting at binary release of a certain code-change) could be exempt from the "open source" requirement.

This would open GPL code to being used as the already-invented wheel, the time-lag for the new proprietary code needing to be un-proprietary would provide a profit window, and in the end paid code makes its way into GPL projects as free code.

Think of it as play now pay later.

From what I have seen it is because normies are lazy.

It's not. GNU/Linux is used on the majority of servers, and Linux on the majority of devices. It's very popular. But what Microsoft did was market to home computers during a time where they were catching on. So they won the home computer market. So while Windows appears to be more popular, it only is to people who don't particularly care about what their computer runs as long as it works. This benefits GNU/Linux as we could steal the seat given the right circumstances, where as Windows servers will never overtake Linux servers.

Because Windows runs real software. Linux doesn't.

Pic related.

Weak bait, all graphic designers buy macbooks anyway.

How the fuck is it weak bait?

Very little of that shit is written for Linux, that's why people use Windows.

You should stick with games tbh, because people falling in the other categories will buy macbooks.
wew lad

I do have a MacBook. That's nothing to do with the point.

People use Windows for all of this shit, and more

The question of the thread is not "what should people use instead of Linux", it's "why is Windows more popular than Linux"

These are all reasons why Windows is more popular.

Nope.

Why?

Then why doesn't my keyboard work on windows when plugged into certain usb slots, but works fine on Linux regardless of which usb I plug it into? Detecting a usb keyboard should be one of the most basic things possible right? I get to the grub menu, keyboard works fine. Hit the windows login screen, all the LEDs turn off and I can't type my password. I've been using on screen keyboard in the very rare occasions I have to boot to windows. If windows works so well this would never happen

Except if you had a Unix workstation (The Toy Story movie was animated and rendered on IRIX running on SGI hardware) and today most render farms run Linux.

For fucks sake we've become /g/